Laptop Supplier

[NozSpark]

We're looking at getting our daughter a new laptop for Christmas, yes its that time of the year again!

So with a budget that's more budget than high end we could do with some recommmendations of where to get one from; one with good customer service

 

[Barx]

Got the daughter one of these t'other day (for xmas too)

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2487157.htm#pdpFullProductInformation

Thought it was a typo at first to be honest. I Core i5 for that price, but it is not. The same model laptop does indeed also come with a Core i3 at the same price (but it is only advertised as a £50 discount).

 

[OnOff]

Personally I'd NOT get another Acer laptop.................bought my lad one from PC World in 2009 when he passed his 11+. 17.3" screen, dedicated graphics, a big chunk of RAM. TBH it was a bit  too big and heavy. Came with Vista and a "free" upgrade offer to Win 7 which we took up. They send you a disc but even that was a bit fraught and we ended up sending it back for them to do it. Give them their due it was back in a couple of days with a note that they had found the "memory loose". It always seemed to run hot as he likes his gaming and kids will have it on the lap / floor / duvet etc and cover the vents. On board graphics went pop in 2013 so he only had it about 3 1/2 years. Got it repaired for circa £160 but a couple of days after the 90-day repair warranty it went again despite getting a cooling pad to sit it on. It's now sitting there gathering dust. At the time it seemed a lot of money for the spec but I wish I'd paid the extra £100 and got him a Dell I was looking at.

Think I'd look at John Lewis and pay a bit extra maybe for peace of mind. Deffo wouldn't buy from eBuyer.

As to what make, I like my Samsung R530. Sons best mate was running one too all the time my boy had his Acer without issue. Bro in law has one and we bought my Dad a slightly later model. 

I run it on a 3- fan Cooler Master pad  which I would say is a must for any lappy:

http://www.coolermaster.com/mobile/notepal-series/notepal-u3/

Found the cooler cheapest on the BT store.

 

[steptoe]

I bought a cheapo Dell about 12 years ago, it still works fine, apart from when he was little my lad pulled all the keys off, so I have to use a usb keyboard,    :slap

its lying in the back of the shed with XP on it for if I ever need it, was real good for jailbreaking an iphone a while back,

I use an HP, (with a dodgy battery that only lasts an hour or so), I got it gave me with a broken screen which I replaced for 40£,

 

[Murdoch]

I've had a succession of HP laptops and never had a problem

 

[steptoe]

or get a Mac Book Pro  :innocent

he wants something thats good

and

reliable

and that he wont need to remortgage the house for

and that has software he wont need to sell his soul to get

 

[Sidewinder]

Lenovo, Laptops Direct, IMHO.

 

[Blue Duck]

Like what Onoff said I wouldn't buy another acer either had similar issues and the charger port nearly caught fire! I did play games on it but this was not its demise. keyboard went after the warranty gave up tring to get it fixed and bought a mac book

All laptops will die if the user is a heavy gamer even gaming ones! The heat of the gpu's these days is immense all it takes is a few months of lying in bed playing modern warfare and the solder starts to go

Toshiba? samsung? maybe dell?

 

[NozSpark]

I'm not after anything spectacular,, this laptop only needs to last her for the next 4 years, until she finishes her GCSEs and A levels.... I fully expect to have to replace it again after that.... It is only for school work and light processing use,, she isn't a gamer (far from it intact)

A Mac is a lovely thought,,, are you thinking of sponsoring her through school Canoe? It already costs us enough, £40 ish every 4 weeks for the bus to get her to school on top of all the usual stuff... Uniform is an absolute killer, skirt £65 Blazer £90 Summer dress £45,,..... and there is only one supplier

 

[Sidewinder]

Noz,

I thought that WAG had stopped the one supplier thing?

Anyway.

That is the same idea I had with mine.

I would not go Dell for a laptop, nor HP, we had too many issues with them when we used them as field service machines, they may have got better, but, I have stayed away from them since.

This was at TWO industrial service organisations.

We went for IBM (Lenovo now), and Toshiba.

I did buy an Acer, as my first laptop that I had to buy when I had my own company, I thought that if they were good enough for Ferrari F1, they would be fine.

I bought 1, no more.

We have two Toshiba's, & 8 Lenovo's & a MacBook Pro, in the company now, don't ask, Canoe will confirm that some software will not run in VM's and will not run on the same pc, it is sometimes simply easier to use a different computer for the different software.

 

[NozSpark]

Only one company "make it", therefore we can only get it from "Monkhouse" near Manchester

TBH the laptop budget isn't great as I also have to buy her a new iPod as I've just killed her 3g nano

 

[Sidewinder]

Acer, but:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_TM_B113E_11_INCH_CDC_1007U_2GB_320GB_Shared_Npt_Win8_NX.V7PEK.012/version.asp

If budget was really the most overriding factor, if I could stretch I would try to go for this over the Acer, IMHO:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Lenovo_B50-45_Dual_Core_4GB_320GB_15.6_inch_Windows_8.1_Laptop_in_Black_MCD2GUK/version.asp

 

[Blue Duck]

At that priCE you could buy one a year

 

[NozSpark]

Actually that Lenovo is just under the budget I had in mind

 

[Sidewinder]

Noz, TBH then GO FOR IT!

As I say I have 8 Lenovo's now and have had about 6 IBM's previously, I find them very good, and they go on to some seriously rough sites with me.

They are not ToughBooks by any stretch of the imagination, but they are good IMHO, and more robust than Dell & HP, in my experience.

 

[OnOff]

he wants something thats good

and

reliable

and that he wont need to remortgage the house for

and that has software he wont need to sell his soul to get

Don't forget you can put Linux on a Mac!  :lol:

 

[steptoe]

Don't forget you can put Linux on a Mac!  :lol:

macs come pre-installed with linux,

except its just the basic the SUPERIOR version,  :Applaud