Laptops (again I know apologies)

[Luci]

Sorry to start a new thread as I know theres a couple floating about but some of the terminology/features of those machines are alien to me so to avoid confusion (on my part) I thought I'd start a new one.  

I basically want to get a laptop for personal use but my requirements are pretty minimal as don't need anything too complex.  Need it obviously to be internet accessible - wireless, have MS Office packages ideally, be able to use music download programs on it (limewire type thing) and basically have the storage capacity to store tonnes of photos and a bit of music.

I have no idea what kind of memory I would need but I want to ensure it doesnt slow the pc down as I do have thousands of pictures to put on.

I don't really want to spend much and I don't want a Mac book or Vista really.

Any ideas/brands to avoid etc.?

(Again sorry for the duplicate threads)

[sonic youth]

most new laptops will (probably) have vista installed. you may be able to get rid of it and put XP on but i had problems on my laptop with regards to that.

honestly, i'd just get used to vista...you'll end up using it eventually.

i'll let others make recommendations but it might be worth buying an external hard drive, they're cheap, portable and easy to use.

[Simon Pieman]

What's your budget?

[Nemo]

Most laptops probably won't come with Office on, so you may have to reduce your budget a bit to get that. Or just use OpenOffice, its the same thing and free.

[Simon Pieman]

That's a very good point Nemo. Office home and student will set you back £70 so it's worth considering.

I've spied this laptop from ebuyer, seems a bargain.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139121

[Peter Venkman]

That's a very good point Nemo. Office home and student will set you back £70 so it's worth considering.

I've spied this laptop from ebuyer, seems a bargain.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139121

I got one of those lappys for my next door neighbour and was very unimpressed with it TBH its slow and cumbersome and the switch on the wifi adapter is very loose and easily turnoffable (is that a word?) but tbh most laptops on vista can be improved with the addition of £15 of memory to speed them along as Vista is pathetic unless it has a minimum of 2gb.....as that lappy does that Si found.

As for office and limewire, I have legal versions of these if you need them just PM me when you get the lappy and if you prefer XP then that too can be added to the list and installed...but it will invalidate any warranties supplied with the laptop.

You can get a nice laptop for easily under £330 inc delivery and VAT just about anywhere now, they are pretty much a much or a muchness! yes even Dells now!

I got my HP6720 Laptop free when I signed up to a new 12 month contract with O2!

[Simon Pieman]

There you go, nothing like a real life heads up

I looked at similar ones with Dell and it would cost about £380, just for reference. I really hate Dell though.

[Peter Venkman]

There you go, nothing like a real life heads up

I looked at similar ones with Dell and it would cost about £380, just for reference. I really hate Dell though.

As you well know Si....I totally agree with you!

And to be honest the only reason I said not that one is because I know its got a slow chipset...otherwise I would agree totally.

[Simon Pieman]

Yeah, it isn't the greatest. It would be helpful to know budgets though. I think the main issue is voiding the warranty with any cost effective upgrades/spec changes at the outset  

[Luci]

Cheers guys, sorry been in training all day with the last 4 hours in taxation training - suicidal.

Cheers for the heads up and JJedmunds - thanks for that you're a star re XP and limewire.  A pint or few if you ever venture to merlin!

Budget to be honest would ideally be 350 and under simply cause i've seen loads around and can't see why I'd need to pay more.  (Unless I bought MS office etc.)

If Im completely honest I dont really know much about how wireless works - whether its a monthly payment or a one off payment.

I saw that 80GB of memory would give me space for around 50,000+ photos and plenty of mp3's and those laptops were arounf the prices you guys mentioned.

[Simon Pieman]

Lady - for wireless to work you need 2 things:

* A wireless adapter for the computer
* A wireless modem router

The router is basically a standard modem - it plugs into your telphone socket as per normal but instead of plugging your computer into that, it sends a wireless signal out.

The wireless adapter picks up this signal and so you can access the internet as normal.

In other words there are no monthly fees, your broadband functions as it always has. You will have to buy a router though and this will cost about £50

[Peter Venkman]

You are very welcome Lady, anytime at all.

this is my laptop which is fine for doing all the stuff you require all I would suggest is buying a stick of 1gb extra ram as I have done for about £12, takes less than 1 minute to fit...just a cover removal and plug it in.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140189

[Simon Pieman]

You are very welcome Lady, anytime at all.

this is my laptop which is fine for doing all the stuff you require all I would suggest is buying a stick of 1gb extra ram as I have done for about £12, takes less than 1 minute to fit...just a cover removal and plug it in.*

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140189

*Unless it's Bushey Boys laptop and you try every cover apart from the one for the memory because it has a warning symbol for a laser on it  

[Peter Venkman]

Nah this ones got a picture of some ram on it so its easy to find

EDIT.

Actually it could be a picture of a small comb!

[Simon Pieman]

It'll be ok if the manual comes with it