Laptop Advice

[Laughing Gravy]

Hello Peep's

Need some help.

I am thinking of buying a laptop, about 400-450 smackers.

I want to avoid Pc world & Comet poo.

Have any of you used good companys on the web. I know that ordering of the internet can have its down side if it goes tits up, but it seems the best way these days.

Thanks

 

[vulture]

Dell

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Asus and Toshiba are reliable.

This would be a goond one for your price range

Scan.co.uk: K50IJ-SX424V - 15.6" Asus K50IJ, Pentium Dual Core T4500 2.3GHz, 3GB DDR2 800, 320GB HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium 64

 

[beorhthelm]

i wouldnt dismiss PC world/Comet/Currys. its the same kit sold elsewhere and they do some decent managers deals and sales. just dont ask them for advise or repairs.

Dell laptops are ok for corporate, not sure about the consumer ranges. Scan mentioned, i do use them for my bits.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

http://www.dabs.com/

Toshiba Satellite range are great.

 

[gripper stebson]

I recently bough a top notch refurb from Hotlips69. Retails at £850 got it for £375.

...and he's an Albion fan. PM him.

Highly recommended.

 

[Laptop Ell]

PM sent to Laughing Gravy.

Cheers Gripper Stebson!

 

[bhaexpress]

I'm waiting for somebody to tell you that you could get a Mac for that price, in fact you could and to be honest depending on what you want it for you could do a lot worse.

 

[Peteinblack]

Dell. We bought one a month ago, as several friends recommend them, including one who is an IT consultant, and they were right.

Excellent customer service too.

 

[bhaexpress]

Dell or HP, I use a Dell for work and an HP at home, the HP is the more solid machine but it cost more. People like Comet, PC World and Argos quite often have deals so don't rule out a Tosh, Advent or Asus as they are all decent. The only one to avoid is a Sony as they are expensive and have a well founded reputation for being unreliable.

 

[Laptop Ell]

I disagree bhaexpress, I've always found Sony Vaio's extremely reliable (but expensive) and all consumer-aimed HP's very poor build quality indeed, regardless of price....shiny looking & smart, but they usually tend to die just after the warranty has run out if not sooner!

The business orientated HP's are very reliable indeed.

With other brands, you mainly get what you pay for.

 

[bhaexpress]

I disagree bhaexpress, I've always found Sony Vaio's extremely reliable (but expensive) and all consumer-aimed HP's very poor build quality indeed, regardless of price....shiny looking & smart, but they usually tend to die just after the warranty has run out if not sooner!

The business orientated HP's are very reliable indeed.

With other brands, you mainly get what you pay for.

Mate, I do it for a living, I know far too many people who hate Sony's, they're also very expensive and even at the best just not worth it. Nobody uses them for company use unlike Dell and HP. I use Dells at work and like my HP I have at home, my desktop is an Asus. I just wonder how you figured out that HPs are badly built, they're actually Compaqs, the most solid if all laptops.

If you must spend a lot of money don't waste it on a Sony buy a Mac.

 

[Laptop Ell]

There seems to be a definite difference between HP Compaq's aimed at consumers and those aimed at businesses in my fairly extensive experience.

The HP's you'll buy in PCWorld etc... will look nice and work fine, but they nearly all suffer from cheap build quality in terms of the motherboard and overheating (I get loads of this range to be repaired) whereas the HP Compaq's from the business range are 100% rock solid and I don't think I've ever had any problem with any of them.

Clearly the fact that companies are keen to keep prices low for consumers must be a factor.

 

[bhaexpress]

There seems to be a definite difference between HP Compaq's aimed at consumers and those aimed at businesses in my fairly extensive experience.

The HP's you'll buy in PCWorld etc... will look nice and work fine, but they nearly all suffer from cheap build quality in terms of the motherboard and overheating (I get loads of this range to be repaired) whereas the HP Compaq's from the business range are 100% rock solid and I don't think I've ever had any problem with any of them.

Clearly the fact that companies are keen to keep prices low for consumers must be a factor.

I have an HP DV2000, it's a home laptop, it's neither cheaply built or flimsy, that's why I bought it. Asus laptops are not that expensive but there's nothing wrong with their built quality and the same goes for the others I've mentioned. My firm provides support to about 75 companies of varying sizes and we would never recommend a Sony. As I say, if you want to spend a lot of money get a Mac, few people have problems with them.

 

[Laptop Ell]

I wouldn't disagree about Macs being super-expensive if you're interested in that sort of thing.

HP clearly are aware of the overheating of several of their ranges of laptops produced over the past 2 years and the problems this can cause as they have issued quite a few recalls in the US (although conveniently this has been kept pretty quiet in the UK!)

We'll have to agree to disagree on this range as I stand by my personal experiences.

 

[ridda]

Still have my old T40 thinkpad they seem to last forever, my girlfriend has an Hp the build quality is great never had a problem with it.

 

[Laptop Ell]

Still have my old T40 thinkpad they seem to last forever, my girlfriend has an Hp the build quality is great never had a problem with it.

ridda, you're totally correct about IBM Thinkpads...the T40 range were brilliant and totally reliable despite now being 5+ years old at least.

Whatever the make/model, there will always be exceptions to the rule in terms of reliability/unreliability.