Need Advice On Laptops

[sofiag1964]

hello good people;

I'm due to buy a laptop in the near future.... I've seen consumer thingy on the net, looked at all kinds online and in catalogues. I've never had one and my business is expanding and I can't get away with not having one, sooooo, advice is needed please!

ps... preferrably one with xp not vista / is vista worth having though?

[QCPOTS]

hello good people;

I'm due to buy a laptop in the near future.... I've seen consumer thingy on the net, looked at all kinds online and in catalogues. I've never had one and my business is expanding and I can't get away with not having one, sooooo, advice is needed please!

ps... preferrably one with xp not vista / is vista worth having though?

i HAVE JUST WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR,

Toshiba Portege 7020CT

old yes but in excellent condition, served me well for 4 years,
if you want to know more, contact through PM, ( private messages ),

[sofiag1964]

hi there; thank you; I appreciate your offer - but I wanted to know, what out there, in the world of laptops, are the best ones to purchase new? They have so many different ones and I see so many with the vista and have been warned they're not has good as the xp... can anyone tell me, the brands that are worth purchasing?

[DaisyChain]

Personally as an absolute basic laptop id say:

1.7 Ghz processor
Internet/wifi connection
dvd writer
40 gig harddrive

Memory for an XP computer - ideally 512 mb upwards

If Vista Basic, although min is 512mb, iid go for at least 1 gig, although ive heard it runs "just right" on 2 gig



You could probably get away with a much less powerful computer, but its easy to get a laptop/computer and then want to be able to do more stuff on it, so id at the minimum go for the stats above, and if your buying new, these will probaly be the absolute mininum anyway

Id highly recommend aginst going secondhand, can be too many problems, and something to consider is laptops have a "hinge life", basically they have a certain amount of times, before the hinges start going on them, which isnt good

AS a laptop itself consider

Battery Life
Weight
Hinges (play about with opening closing, do the hinges feel stiff?)
and durability - I.e fujitsu laptops are fantastic, but cosmetically they are the worse ive seen across most models of fujitsu and paticulary the hinges.



Personally id say, write down a list of what youw ant out of the laptop, things like, are you going to play the latest games? are you going to do this or that. Then go to pc workl with this list, get a couple of prices your happy with, go home compare to the top ten retailers, if cheaper online, print out the price, head to pc world and they WILL price match it, and give 10%


One more thing, if you feel pressured into buying the most fantasic laptop the guy has to offer....then thank him for his time and walk away, you do not need the best laptop ever, you need whatever suits your needs.

[sofiag1964]

Personally as an absolute basic laptop id say:

1.7 Ghz processor
Internet/wifi connection
dvd writer
40 gig harddrive

Memory for an XP computer - ideally 512 mb upwards

If Vista Basic, although min is 512mb, iid go for at least 1 gig, although ive heard it runs "just right" on 2 gig



You could probably get away with a much less powerful computer, but its easy to get a laptop/computer and then want to be able to do more stuff on it, so id at the minimum go for the stats above, and if your buying new, these will probaly be the absolute mininum anyway

Id highly recommend aginst going secondhand, can be too many problems, and something to consider is laptops have a "hinge life", basically they have a certain amount of times, before the hinges start going on them, which isnt good

AS a laptop itself consider

Battery Life
Weight
Hinges (play about with opening closing, do the hinges feel stiff?)
and durability - I.e fujitsu laptops are fantastic, but cosmetically they are the worse ive seen across most models of fujitsu and paticulary the hinges.



Personally id say, write down a list of what youw ant out of the laptop, things like, are you going to play the latest games? are you going to do this or that. Then go to pc workl with this list, get a couple of prices your happy with, go home compare to the top ten retailers, if cheaper online, print out the price, head to pc world and they WILL price match it, and give 10%


One more thing, if you feel pressured into buying the most fantasic laptop the guy has to offer....then thank him for his time and walk away, you do not need the best laptop ever, you need whatever suits your needs.

oh wow! that's fantastic! You've given me some great advice on what to look out for; thanks also on the 10% for pc world that will come in handy... my son also will use it for downloading music and making his own, so memory space would be ideal... again, thank you!! I appreciate it,
sof

[handscartridges]

oh wow! that's fantastic! You've given me some great advice on what to look out for; thanks also on the 10% for pc world that will come in handy... my son also will use it for downloading music and making his own, so memory space would be ideal... again, thank you!! I appreciate it,
sof

Hi,

Some advice I can give you if this helps is if you find one in PC World that you like then if you PM me I can advice you on how reliable they are as I work as a Laptop Engineer full time and repair PC Worlds / Currys laptops.

So if you want advice on any models get in touch and I will see what help / advice I can give you.

[sofiag1964]

Hi,

Some advice I can give you if this helps is if you find one in PC World that you like then if you PM me I can advice you on how reliable they are as I work as a Laptop Engineer full time and repair PC Worlds / Currys laptops.

So if you want advice on any models get in touch and I will see what help / advice I can give you.

really!!?? wow! will pm ty also

[BAGHAG999]

My question is related to Sofiags, can you get a new Laptop with XP on it and not Vista.

[no_worries]

Somebody once gave me this advice when I asked her (Yes, HER, lol) about buying a PC and I guess the advice holds true for laptops as well.
Here it is......

Find out what you need, not what you want.
Buy what you need, not what the seller wants you to buy.
Don't be afraid to say, "No, sorry. That's not the deal I want"

It's always worked for me.

[CoastalCoder]

I buy a fair number of laptops for various customers. I would agree with what manstomar said as to the spec.

Once you know what you want good options for buying are www.ebuyer.com or www.laptopsdirect.co.uk (it's worth ringing laptopsdirect as they are really helpful and will do you a deal over the phone sometimes).

Personally I would stick to HP, Asus or Sony brand-wise (I always buy HP if I have free choice), and avoid Acer like the plague from my experience (I'm sure plenty of people have had good Acer laptops I just don't know any of them).

Good luck!