# Laptop Advice



## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Fancy getting a laptop after years of using a desktop.

Must be wireless enabled and will primarily just be used for email and surfing the web etc.

Any recommendations? I know one can be had for Â£299 these days - any good for what I will use it for, or worth spending more?

Also, where to buy? Are PC World and the like as good as online?

TIA.

PS Desktop PC is not wireless enabled and Orange want Â£25 for their adaptor - can I just as easily buy a suitable one for less from the shops?


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

This any good? :-

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/ ... tabIndex=1


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi wozzaTT, definately no good, Vista requires a minimum of 1Gb of ram & that one has only 512Mb less 128Mb for graphics leaving only 384Mb of ram. Will be terribly slow. Look for one with a minimum of 1Gb preferably 2Gb of ram.
H.


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## barton TT (Nov 13, 2004)

I went for this one for just surfing the net a little more money gets you a bigger hard drive plus i added 1gb more ram for Â£30 .

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/ ... egory_oid=

http://www.orcalogic.co.uk/asp/prodtype ... &ft=m&st=3


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Cheers chaps [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Is the extra ram easy enough to add?


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## Hark (Aug 23, 2007)

rams fairly easy to add but even cheaper if u buy it when ordering new pc. Not expensive anyway tbh..

If your using it just 4 emails, surfing Id go try get something with 2gb RAM maybe. 40GB harddrive is bit small also. Mine is 80 and 90% full. If your thinking of keeping this for a while its worth spending extra so your not here again this time next year.


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## vlastan (May 6, 2002)

Vista recommended spec is 40Gbyte for hard disk and 1Gbyte of RAM.

So memory must be upgraded and going to 1.5G should be enough.

The hard disk could be upgraded as the operating system requires at least 15Gbytes so this will only give you 25 free Gbytes which is not so much. But if you keep deleting and do not keep many things in it should be fine.


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Thanks everyone - I know what I'm looking for now.

I've got a brand new laptop at work but I'm too bone-idle to take it home every night!


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## redTT (Nov 16, 2006)

Bought the mrs an Acer which works a treat...look at these 2 which have the added bonus of a 17 inch widescreen...

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-5525.aspx

or

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-2810.aspx

Tesco is not always the very cheapest but you do get 28 days return policya nd you can see them in their bigger stores or at home store. Plus triple clubcard points available at the moment if that's your thing.


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Thanks again - hmmm, hadn't considered the widescreen option, maybe that's the way to go?


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Advent any good? Anyone know who makes them?

They are in PC World & Currys - I asked the kid but inevitably he didn't have a clue.

Anyway, 2GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, dual core processor, 15" widescreen for Â£400. Seem reasonable?

Although I see redTTs link to the Acer is the same spec plus a 17" widescreen. Hmmm.


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Plus, at the risk of kicking it to death - is it worth going for 2GB of RAM rather than 1? Make much odds to anything?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Always get as much ram as u can afford - one of the easiest and worthwhile additions to any pc


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Thanks for all the advice.

Final question (I think) - the shops are offering Norton security for Â£30 if you buy a laptop. Is it as good as any out there - someone's told me it can really slow a PC up?


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## barton TT (Nov 13, 2004)

I would stay away from norton but that's my view.plenty more free one's out there better.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

DO NOT GET NORTON ever!!!! ever!!!!

Spend your Â£30 on Kaspersky Antivirus or Kaspersky Internet Security Packages. If not Kaspersky get Nod32 from Eset!!

NOTHING ELSE!


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## Rebel (Feb 12, 2005)

Norton is a fine program. 
Many users all over the world.
Regular updates.

Leave all the b-brands-crap and take a Premium-brand like Norton.

Good choice


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## redTT (Nov 16, 2006)

Norton works fine for me too and all the other PC's in the house.

If you use BT Broadband then you can get this for free with free updates.


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Aah - always an easy choice to make when there's a consensus of opinion! :?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Rebel said:


> Norton is a fine program.
> Many users all over the world.
> Regular updates.
> 
> ...


Am sorry - but that's bollox Rebel! Norton USED to be ok and still is not bad as a corporate program - but it's much touted home version are sh*t


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## Rebel (Feb 12, 2005)

Saint, eveyone i know use Norton for their pc at house.
Don't get mad my friend, i'm just telling the truth.

I can't help that you don't like Norton?
Norton-Antivirus is a classic and perfect program.
So why would i lie?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

\you don't lie - you just don't know any better!


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## Rebel (Feb 12, 2005)

Indeed, people who use Norton Antivirus don't have to look for other stuff.
Because Norton is just perfect.

Never change a winning team :-*


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## markTT225 (Apr 8, 2004)

I use AVGs free antivirus software, it easily beat Norton in a recent computer mag test and it works just fine for me  . I also use Zone-alarm firewall - also free. I've had no problems with viruses or spyware since I've installed these well over a year ago.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Rebel said:


> Indeed, people who use Norton Antivirus don't have to look for other stuff.
> Because Norton is just perfect.
> 
> Never change a winning team :-*


I hope you never look up any benchmarks for Norton then and it's effectiveness to actually find and deal with virus attacks


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Right - I'm still faffing about with this :evil:

Laptops for Â£400ish are ten-a-penny with 1GB RAM, so is it worth the extra bucks for 2GBs (when using Windows Vista?)? Machine will be used for email, web browsing, Messenger, maybe some music.

BTW - what a great forum this is - have posted the same question on a laptop forum, 24 views, no-one's been arsed to answer. Twats.


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

Any good?

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/prod ... ccessories


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## redTT (Nov 16, 2006)

WozzaTT said:


> Any good?
> 
> http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/prod ... ccessories


Very basic and poor battery life.

Always go for as much memory as you can afford as it will help future proof your purchase i.e. it will cope better with new stuff as it comes out.

There is a 2Gb one on Dell for Â£459 plus you can customise it..

Got to the dell website and enter the value code:

UKDHSONL-N1015017


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## robrob (Dec 7, 2004)

A couple of points if you've not yet taken the plunge and bought anything. I've just bought a Vista laptop with 2Gb Ram. As Saint says, ram is often the cheapest bang per buck upgrade you can do. Get 2Gb even if you don't think you need it. Who knows what you might be doing with it in 1 year.

Secondly, the 17" laptops seem like a great idea. I know, I bought one 18 months ago. Replaced it with my new one (14") because I do a fair bit of travelling and I was sick of lugging it out at airport security (with people smirking at its sheer size), as well as physically lugging it about. If you never move your laptop about, it's no problem. If you do, you'll soon tire of the sore shoulder from the laptop bag, and people thinking you have 80s technology!

In terms of brand, I've owned Fujitsu Siemens, IBM, Dell and HP laptops without a single problem with any of them. I know I could have been lucky, so compare warranties between your choices and where is selling them. e.g. John Lewis has decent warranties on some brands at no extra costs, and Dell often builds them into its prices, so make sure you're comparing like for like.


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## WozzaTT (Jan 15, 2006)

robrob said:


> A couple of points if you've not yet taken the plunge and bought anything. I've just bought a Vista laptop with 2Gb Ram. As Saint says, ram is often the cheapest bang per buck upgrade you can do. Get 2Gb even if you don't think you need it. Who knows what you might be doing with it in 1 year.
> 
> Secondly, the 17" laptops seem like a great idea. I know, I bought one 18 months ago. Replaced it with my new one (14") because I do a fair bit of travelling and I was sick of lugging it out at airport security (with people smirking at its sheer size), as well as physically lugging it about. If you never move your laptop about, it's no problem. If you do, you'll soon tire of the sore shoulder from the laptop bag, and people thinking you have 80s technology!
> 
> In terms of brand, I've owned Fujitsu Siemens, IBM, Dell and HP laptops without a single problem with any of them. I know I could have been lucky, so compare warranties between your choices and where is selling them. e.g. John Lewis has decent warranties on some brands at no extra costs, and Dell often builds them into its prices, so make sure you're comparing like for like.


Cheers Rob - well I finally took the plunge and opted for an HP machine with 15" screen, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, dual core processor and lots of goodies like a built-in webcam, remote control for DVD playing etc etc.

Totally blew my budget apart, of course, but I figured I'll probably have it for a good 3 or 4 years and what really sold it in a sense was the 2 year warranty offered by John Lewis (as you referred to). Also, when I paid I was given paperwork relating to some 24/7 technical helpline which they offer free of charge for 90 days so can't be bad.

After the little 'debate' over whether Norton was any good or not it actually comes pre-installed with it with free updates for 90 days so I reckon once that's up I'll download something free - AVG has been highly recommended to me?

Thanks all for your advice/help.

Warren


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## pepsicola (Sep 14, 2007)

WozzaTT said:


> robrob said:
> 
> 
> > A couple of points if you've not yet taken the plunge and bought anything. I've just bought a Vista laptop with 2Gb Ram. As Saint says, ram is often the cheapest bang per buck upgrade you can do. Get 2Gb even if you don't think you need it. Who knows what you might be doing with it in 1 year.
> ...


I bought my Toshiba from John Lewis as the free extended warranty really sold it to me so much so I ended up spending more than my budget.

As for the 90 day trial on Nortons I've just cancelled mine as it was really slowing the computer down and couldn't get my Phatnoise software to work with it.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Now comes the fun of trying to remove Norton


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## pepsicola (Sep 14, 2007)

Now comes the fun of trying to remove Norton

Yes you could say that

The Computer crashed 2 whilst removing it but its gone now


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