Laptop advice please

[alisonbestford]

O/T Hi there

Just pulling some thoughts together and was wondering if anyone had any advice on laptops?

Basically I've been thinking about trying to buy a cheap, reliable laptop for when we're travelling.
I seem to spend so much time finding internet cafes to keep up to date with my kids and everything else

I don't want to pay a vast amount of money but would like something basic with the ability to connect to the internet.
I'll consider re-conditioned, if bought from a reliable source.

Anyone have any recommendations?
Don't really want to entertain E Bay for a laptop after my recent 'scamming' experience
What, realistically should I be looking for?

I found an 'factory reworked' Acer Travelmate notebook for less than £300 at this company:

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?ProductID=3446&adnetwork=af#reviews

Anyone heard of them.....know of the laptop make?

Thanks for any help

 

[Spook]

Hi Alison - we have an Acer travelmate 460 (I think). DH bought it to watch DVDs on but youngest DD has claimed it as her own. It gets constant use (and abuse) and cost about £900 all ready loaded with everything and wireless card. Ours came from a local independent supplier but I have seen them advertised in the paper and at PC World

Hope this assists

Jan

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Morgan have been going for absolutely years, as long as I can remember in the PC business, though Ive never bought anything from them.
Laptop prices 2nd hand tend to be over inflated. If the laptop is not to be used for games, you can get away with buying the new lappers at the cheaper end of the market. The Dell Inspirions are popular, keep an eye out on Mondey Saving Expert "grabbit" forums where discount coupons frequently appear....a couple of the lads got them for around £280 shortly before I went away.
One thing I would say though is make sure the memory is at least 512Mb....a lot are sold with just 256, which on XP is not enough.

 

[Shane]

Hiya Alison, when buying any computer equipment its always hard to decide with all the parts and extras thrown in with them. Firstly, Acer is a very big and popular make and very reliable, infact alot of my monitors and previous laptops were Acer and have never had any problems at all, my mother is still using one of them for personal use. Although im not a fan of PC World and there exspensive prices in some cases they have big sales (Mainly bank holidays) and you can pick up a good Laptop deal. Other than PC World I would suggest Dell or Pc Specialists, both only on the web, reliable and cheap. To connect to the internet on a laptop, there needs to be a wireless connection somewhere around you so inless the plane/hotel or villa says there is wireless internet access or normal internet access you wont be able to use it. Good Luck in finding a laptop, also if you want to be ready for the future you could get a "Dual Core Processer" but they can be exspensive.

 

[Boss Hogg]

Noticed that they were selling an Acer laptop in Tesco yesterday for about £380! Didn't notice the spec though, but seems cheap to me.

 

[alisonbestford]

Thankyou everyone

Never thought about looking on Money Saving Expert but I will be checking now
I want to use the computer purely for online access and, maybe, Word documents. Saying that I guess DD (7) might have something to say about that...........................

There's absolutely no rush to buy a laptop at the moment but, I have to admit, it would make life easier with the amount of travelling we do

Now, if DD (22) would materialise back from Venezuela she could help save me some cash.......................

Thanks again

 

[kkymmy]

Hi Alison....it's quite simple really my dad made friends with the manager of PC World, did him a few favours and in return we got everything half price.....until he left dammit!

 

[alisonbestford]

Hi Alison....it's quite simple really my dad made friends with the manager of PC World, did him a few favours and in return we got everything half price.....until he left dammit!

Mmm, think DH might have quite a bit to say if I start doing the manager of PC World any favours.........

 

[kkymmy]

hahaha my dad works for the manufacturer of the car that this guy owned...got him a few cheap repairs and parts and stuff....nothing remotely risque!!!!!!