Buying a new laptop advice

[ManxMatt34]

Hi guys my dad is buying a new laptop for storing music on itunes, work spreadsheets and storing photos that he takes. We are looking for some advice on what to buy, he's found a deal through pcworld and we were wondering if it's as good a deal as it seems. Were not 100% computer literate and therefore are looking for some advice or if there are any others worth considering...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-c660d-150-3gb-memory-320gb-hard-drive-red-08702375-pdt.html that is the link to the current laptop were considering. Any advice much appriciated, cheers Matt.

[Ceri JC]

That looks like a decent price and the spec should be adequate for the sort of thing you list him wanting to do.

[Dave Mac]

yeah, or if he has one that is working fine, get an external hdd to store all the other stuff on. much cheaper

[The Basket]

Any new laptops will do the basics. Just dont wanna spend too much

[The Idle Biker]

Might be guilty of not reading the ad too well, but remember that this might not include Windows software, which could add a good bit to the the offer price.

[The Idle Biker]

Guilty as charged, ignore the above. Looks a reasonable deal for a light user.

[Jimmy2Feet]

personally with laptops in particular i would suggest look at the build quality over the spec. For what you are using it for, as already said they will all do the job, what you don't want however is to need to purchase a new one too soon because it has broken due to bad build quality.

I have always been a fan of HP laptops because of this fact. and we purchased a new one in January and after a good period of time looking at what is around these days still went for a HP as they are noticeable better quality.

I would say go into the shop and pick up the different laptops, open and close the lid a couple of times, and generally see how it feels in hand, i would bet that you would notice the HP having a better feel to it.

Then it is a case of looking what deals they have on at the moment. You will probably find that the HP's are a little more expensive, but will almost certainly last you longer.

That tosh one you have seen though, it is a good laptop, you wont have any issues with it, and it will do everything you need it to.

[metalangel]

Don't get a Dell. Against my advice her parents have gone and got a new Inspiron, and it feels so cheap and flimsy it'sa disgrace. My ten year old Inspiron at least felt robust (even if it wasn't). I know I'm spoiled by having a unibody Macbook but their last laptop was a Compaq and it was built like a tank.

[Jimmy2Feet]

Don't get a Dell. Against my advice her parents have gone and got a new Inspiron, and it feels so cheap and flimsy it'sa disgrace. My ten year old Inspiron at least felt robust (even if it wasn't). I know I'm spoiled by having a unibody Macbook but their last laptop was a Compaq and it was built like a tank.


AGREE!!!

Dell are a discrace! it will break in no time at all!!!!

[454697819]

Don't get a Dell. Against my advice her parents have gone and got a new Inspiron, and it feels so cheap and flimsy it'sa disgrace. My ten year old Inspiron at least felt robust (even if it wasn't). I know I'm spoiled by having a unibody Macbook but their last laptop was a Compaq and it was built like a tank.

SECONDED,

i buy our companies laptops and now only buy HP or Vaio,

my wifes is an entry level HP and is v good for the money.

All the Toshiba machines I have dealt with broke..

[metalangel]

Slightly off-topic, but are the Lenovo Thinkpads as tough as the original IBM ones were?

[Luckypants]

Lenovo seem to be just the same as the IBM predecessors. I have one for work and it runs 24x7 with no issues.

[Berlin]

AGREE!!!

Dell are a discrace! it will break in no time at all!!!!

+27. Garbage with buttons on.

[ManxMatt34]

Right some extremly useful replies as ever from the org. Thankyou very much to all who replied. I'll let you know how we get on, cheers Matt.

[454697819]

No worries matt

Same one my wife got..

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-g62-b30sa-15-6-laptop-red-08702382-pdt.html

Down sides -
Fan vent sits on top of leg causes it to run noisy, I position it ok and it settles down no problem
shortcut keys on keyboard means its different to my work keyboard so when I borrow it I am forever launching dvd player, Wife is fine with it as she uses it all the time.
Oh its burgandy... she wanted red.

all the best

[timwilky]

People have obviously had issues with Dell, my own company buys 1000s of laptops per year off them and have no issues, my current one a Dimension quad core M6500 has been excellent, apart from battery life. But as I very rarely need to run without power it is not too much of an issue.

I would say these days I would never buy a laptop without at least e-SATA and/or USB3, ieee 802.11n etc

[454697819]

People have obviously had issues with Dell, my own company buys 1000s of laptops per year off them and have no issues, my current one a Dimension quad core M6500 has been excellent, apart from battery life. But as I very rarely need to run without power it is not too much of an issue.

I would say these days I would never buy a laptop without at least e-SATA and/or USB3, ieee 802.11n etc

I think its more down to the entry level machines,

Professional machines are built better than entry level machines, the pro dells I have used have been fine but the home ones are appalling.

I have a friend of the family who runs IT support business and he too only supplies dells, he was surprised I ran HP.. its swings and roundabouts I guess.

[timwilky]

Probably true about it being an entry level thing. Although I do know the onsite tech has to get a dell service technician in about once a month to swap out a motherboard etc.

One other issue I have had is getting drivers/software for it that support XP64 (yes still running XP, company policy), so I cannot use the company iPass/smart card authentication system

[Sir Trev]

Everyone's experiences differ. I used to work for EDS and when we got taken over by HP and their laptops started to arrive the failures rate was much worse than our older Dell lappies.

It's true that consumer/home spec machines are a lot different to corporate spec stuff but for the use the OP wanted a machine for they should all do the job equally well if looked after. My mum has a base model Dell Inspiron, uses it for pretty much the same thing, and has no problems.

[beabert]

Id stay away from x2 and get the cheapest i3 personally.

[Dave20046]

Slightly off-topic, but are the Lenovo Thinkpads as tough as the original IBM ones were?

They are very nicely built, however they're an absolute **** when it comes repairing/modifying. The end user will not see much of this though.


Matt - HP or toshiba, no need to spend a lot for your dad's needs.

[Dave20046]

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Toshiba_Satellite_C660-1E2_1044806.html
probably too late