What are the best websites for buying a laptop?

[lolly]

I don't want anything particularly amazing; it's just for my mother who only needs a pretty bogstandard one for her occasional silver surfing, storing photos on and for the grandchildren to play games on.

[TomLondon]

have you tried Dell ?

Or PC World

Woolworths do some bog standard ones, quite cheap to

[lolly]

Normally I wouldn't consider buying a laptop from woolies. But as it really does only need to be bog standard no frills, are they as good a place as any?

[Christian]

Don't get a bog standard one from Dell - they run like absolute DOGS. My sister bought one over Christmas and it was so awful, she returned it 3 weeks later.

[TomLondon]

Normally I wouldn't consider buying a laptop from woolies. But as it really does only need to be bog standard no frills, are they as good a place as any?

we bought my mum a desktop pc from woolies two years ago, she uses it for email, surfing the net and word documents. its perfect for what she needs

[TomLondon]

Don't get a bog standard one from Dell - they run like absolute DOGS. My sister bought one over Christmas and it was so awful, she returned it 3 weeks later.

gosh, that surprises me, my mate bought one at Christmas and is loving it. DOnt know how standard it was though, maybe she got a suped up one ?

[lolly]

I've got a bit of an aversion to Dell after a friend had all kinds of hell with their customer service, in any case. I know these things can be a one off thing, but you can't help but be influenced by it.

[wendy the goat]

I got ours from Comet after comparing online with PC World, Dixons etc though www.kelkoo.co.uk...
Cost £350. :)

[Christian]

I've got a bit of an aversion to Dell after a friend had all kinds of hell with their customer service, in any case. I know these things can be a one off thing, but you can't help but be influenced by it.The customer service was good actually, they took the thing back without a struggle. The machine itself was UTTER crap though. Sounds like Tom's friend had a better experience though.

[Kitty Kat]

stay away from dell.

i got mine from pc world a couple of years ago. it's a toshiba and is fine. they must be pretty cheap nowadays.

[WiDGe->]

have you tried Dell ?

Or PC World

Woolworths do some bog standard ones, quite cheap to

Dell are alright for BAREBONES laptops, ie, if you want something cheap but not shit.
As soon as you start to custom or go up in specs, they become VERY expensive compared to the opposition.

PC World. Well. If you buy from there how about this for an idea. You give me all your money, I'll give you back a few boxes of green tea. They will be better than a PC World laptop.

Rules to life:

"Never buy technology from mainstream shops. PC World, Dixons etc etc etc. They will rip you off."

I went to Dixons, "have you got a optical cable?", after 10 minutes of bafflement, some bloke eventually pulls out the right product. £35.
Optical is 1's and 0's ... the quality of the cable means shite all. I went to an indie shop and got one which was equally nice looking for £7.

Also their makes that they stock:

Packard Bell - absolute SHITE. I read a review of Packard Bell on the net, basically the guy said that the ONLY component he now has left of the PC is the mouse. I told Gems dad this, he still bought one, he has now replaced 75% of the christ awful parts with good ones.
Acer - good make, but why not buy it direct from Acer?
Mesh - also good make, but why not buy it direct again.
Advent - PC World's own brand. I read the spec to one once, thought "my god! thats amazing for the price!" ... read reviews of it, found that it was awful. Went in the shop and touched one, you could fry eggs on it.

Also try and stay clear of Vaio. They look nice and all but again, you pay Sony tax on them.

Rules for graphics cards:

Shops like to say "look! this laptop comes with a 512mb graphics card!". The mb means shit all in graphics cards world. I've investigated these before and usually they turn out to be some bollocks like a 512mb Nvidia 7300. A little breakdown of how graphic cards numbers work.

Nvidia:

7300
7400
7600
7800
7900
7950

with the lower the 2nd number meaning the more bollocks it is. The lower range graphics cards can't even utilise the 512mb that its allocated. UTTER COCK. The upper range ones are able to do better. The numbers work the same with ATi cards as well. Try and stick around something like an x600 if you want some gaming on it.

Processors. I'm not too up to date on mobile processors, but Intel have suddenly come good after years of shite. Core 2 Duo all the way.

I can't emphasise enough, don't go for bog standard Laptops UNLESS you know what you're getting into. They are not all the same and filled with the same bollocks. Its like saying a Ibiza Seat is as good as a Porche because it contains a steering wheel and has wheels, seats etc...

What is your price range btw?

[WiDGe->]

USEFUL:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/

[WiDGe->]

COR! I've just been looking around at laptops... I was looking at a Fujitu Siemens... but this is from a little boutique that has got a good writeup on Notebook review!

http://www.rizeon.com/rizeon_fl90.php

Its more expensive than the F&S one... but only by 60 notes. GREAT spec although smaller screen.

[Sild]

D

Advent - PC World's own brand. I read the spec to one once, thought "my god! thats amazing for the price!" ... read reviews of it, found that it was awful. Went in the shop and touched one, you could fry eggs on it.


Don't I know it :D

[lolly]

What is your price range btw?


She's not looking to spend in the region of £450-£500. But she'd be happy to spend less if it was decent enough.

[WiDGe->]

Ok lets get down with some questions proper.

Are looks important? Will she want something that looks nice (as opposed to something that may be wicked, but look well bland on the outside).
Screen size. Is this to be lugged around or will it be a desktop replacement laptop. 17" is about as big as they go, but ain't exactly portable, 15.4" is about the standard although you get smaller ones for people who need portability. What size do you reckon fits the bill?
What games for the grandchildren? Are they to be PC games of yore from the past, perhaps the big hitters of 3-4 years ago, or do you want it to attempt to keep pace with the 3D gems of the last 2 years?
Hard disk drive. Do we want mahoosive storage? 80gb is about the smallest... they can go up to 240gb if you really want. But remembering that photos don't really take up much space.
Processing power. I reckon we can go with basics here. Dual Core if possible. I can't see her wanting to do lots of media applications, video/sound editing and the like. Sound about right?

[lolly]

It's for a 60 year old woman's spare bedroom. Bland would probably be preferable for her :D

It is to replace a clapped out desktop, and isn't intended to be carried around much, if at all.

The PC games will be pretty basic. To be honest it's only really my 5 year old nephew who plays games on it; and his are pretty much just the straightforward educational games that require very little. It would be nice if it could cope with better games as he gets older, but as he's so young now, I don't think it's a major concern as the games he will play will be pretty basic. Presumably by the time he'd be looking at the more demanding games, we'd be looking at a replacement again anyway.

Doesn't really need massive storage. I can imagine my nieces would like to put some of their music on it, but even so I'm sure 100gb would be more than enough, and 80gb probably satisfactory.

And yes, your processing power assumptions are spot on.

[WiDGe->]

This seems alright. GPU (graphics) are non-descript, screen is an average 15.4":

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=187591

and the same, but with much less processing meat:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=209713

Ugh, trying to look up Acer but they have a SHIT AWFUL site where its near impossible to see everything in a list in price order.

Quite nice:

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=279088&CatId=0

That Misco seems an alright site.

I would recommend checking out the Recommend Me A Laptop thread on notebookforums....

[lolly]

LOVELY, thanks. I'll take a look at that thread later.

[WiDGe->]

GOOD site, actually nice to have dedicated manu forums too, plus you can see what lappies are like from people who really pick em apart.

Apple users, there is even a section for you!

[Kitty Kat]

oi widge! my pc world bought laptop is toshiba and it's FINE.

[WiDGe->]

PC World are shite but Toshiba are alright.
Its PC World I have a beef with. It seems that they have been supplimenting their GUFF with better stuff though, I've seen Acer start to turn up there.

Oh, avoid Phillips too.