Budget laptop advice needed
 

My sister needs a laptop but only has a tiny budget - £300ish.

All she uses it for is Facebook and general internet browsing, sending hotmail etc.

She also saves some photos to it before backing up to CDs.

My nephews like to play games on it but at 9 and 3 we're talking CBeebies website.

The older nephew will also increasingly use it for homework research and typing up simple Word documents.

Is something like this worth considering?

http://www.tesco.com/direct/dell-ins...502&pageLevel=

Any other recommendations?

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Today's daily deal

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2610101412...ht_4052wt_1344

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

For what's wanted of it, I'd probably go for something like this refurbished one from Argos (eBay) and throw a bit more RAM in it (which'll still keep under budget).

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Ebuyer £279 discout on this if bought through Quidco or Topcashback I'd guess

http://www.ebuyer.com/341123-fujitsu...y-ah530mp502gb

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

But is it James proof?

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Silly question. Nothing is James proof.

Tesco do the dell N5040 (orN4050) 500gb harddrive, 4gb ram i3 processor.. Cost =£297 or £287 in store.

Bargain if you ask me!




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Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Sure is, our old but still working lappy only has 60 gig ;)

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

You can also try the Dell Outlet Store. Refurbished or surplus/returned items go for a healthy discount. Lots of simple spec Inspiron models on there today that should fit the bill and the budget.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Thanks for the tips. Still looking. Too many options I think my brain has melted. Also how much should she budget for Microsoft office? Nephew says he'd find Word and Powerpoint useful for homework. In my day I was still using a fountain pen!

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

I get a list of the Refub units that Laptops Direct have, I'll get a copy to you.

Office is £90, thats Home and Office Version, which allows you to install it on 3 machines.

You could use LibreOffice, which is Sun's free, Open Source Office package that is in many ways better than Microsofts, or Google Docs allow you to 90% of what the installable packages do, and that 90% probably covers 99% of what the average user will use.

Only downside is having to learn the slight differences in the software, and not using MS might not be cool for a kid (or it may be uber-cool)

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Hm, I have Office on one PC at home only - so does that mean I can install it on her laptop when she buys it?

Thanks Dave, that will be a big help.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Probably not - the key being "Home" and Microsoft usually tie these things down in legalese, however if it had been your laptop that you gave to your Nephew (a Student) then... :p

You will need to confirm you have the right license to do that - I believe its an Office 2010 thing, maybe 2007 versions too.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

You can also pick up a copy of Office 2003 for about £30 from Ebay. In fact I have an uninstalled copy that I may not need at all soon.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

LibreOffice, has a few issues with some of the Microsoft documents that David is set as homework.
Open office is only slightly better.
So best stump up for the Gen kido if you want an easy life.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

And then if the school is using Office 2007 or newer, prepare to fight with the wonders of the new .docx format.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Pay actual money for a microsoft program? What a quaint idea...

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

I would say it is wrong for a school to dictate any format unless they are providing the hardware/software. My kids hated it the only computers they had access to ran linux, Solaris or VMS. Daughter had Oracle and forms, when she asked if she could submit her project using that her teacher said no she had to use industry standard tools????

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Well you do have a point ,but unfortunately we have to jump through hoops

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

At least the Home version is fairly cheap. Wait until they come home with a file done in Publisher. Which nothing else on God's earth will open. I told the eldest that if he wanted to work on it at home, he was going to have do use Power Point instead!

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Yeah, never had to do it with a .docx, but had to do it loads with .xlsx

Which industry? what standard? Almost everyone I know who has to write reports and the like uses LaTeX anyway.

Most of my industry uses office 2003, but that might be the dinosaurs in charge who can just about open an e-mail.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

Not everyone is a Thieving Pikey Northerner :p

I see your point, but when there are free alternatives, its hard to justify nicking it.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

The school should be encouraged to use cheap alternatives.
Can't are it happening at Davids school ,so its a case of being a sheep.

Re: Budget laptop advice needed
 

I can get office Pro for £9 leagally, sadly though its all part of some Xerox Scheme thing.