Buying a laptop for my brother

gazzer

I wonder if anybody can help me out in regards to buying a laptop.

My parents are buying a laptop for my brother for his 21st and have asked me to get it for them.. anyway i was out in PC World, Dixons and Currys the other day.. i had a look at a good few laptops... the only thing was i didnt get to talk to any sales staff as all the shops were mental busy (3pm on Saturday).. anyway i looked at all the specs on the various machines and i saw two Sony laptops.. one was 1299 ,, the other was 1099.. now the specs seemed to be almost similar apart from the cheaper maching having a celeron processer and the the dearer one having a pentium processor.. now im not very technically minded so could anybody tell me what the difference is in the two processers?? is it just a speed thing or is there other differences.?? also.

The easy thing would be to ask my brother but unforunately he is slightly austistic.. so as far as he is concerned he only wants the laptop for the internet . but my parents would like to make sure that he could watch tv on it as well and also to be able to play computer games... I was going to show him how to burn cds/dvds on it as well as he loves movies and music... anyway thanks in advance.

Endurance Man

If he is going to want to play games you should stay away from Celeron. What type of games? Also try stay away from those big name stores , they are very overpriced. What kind of a budget do you have? If he is not going to be playing demanding games and he just wants to browse the celeron would be okay .

commited

www.microaid.ie have them a little cheaper and free home del:

SONY VAIO FS315E,CelM380 1.6Ghz/1Mb,512Mb,80Gb,DVDRW,15.4WXGA,IEEE1394,3xUSB,802.11b/g,XPH
Price: €1,070.75 (Including: VAT at 21%)

SONY VAIO FS315B,PM740 1.73Ghz/2Mb,512Mb,80Gb,DVDRW,15.4WXGA,IEEE1394,3xUSB,802.11b/g,XPH
Price: €1,223.96 (Including: VAT at 21%)

Personally, for the extra €150, I think its worth getting the P-M.. Will also make it easier to sell if you ever want to!

Tom Dunne

Pentium - faster, usually have power saving features built in. Can be bundled with wireless under the Centrino brand.

Celeron - cut down processor, suitable for basic word processing and internet surfing. You should be able to burn CD's and stuff, DVD making would be a hell of a lot slower. Most modern games wouldn't play to well.

As a general rule, stay away from the likes of PC World, Dixons, Currys, et. al. They tend to be overpriced, especially when compared to the likes of Dell. Unless, of course, you need to see/feel a laptop before purchasing and don't mind paying over the odds.

Ponster

tom dunne wrote:

As a general rule, stay away from the likes of PC World, Dixons, Currys, et. al.

So is there any place in Ireland where I can actually 'see' a laptop in the store first and where I won't get ripped off?

Rockiemalt

i used to work in one of the above stores...i wouldn't buy from them ever. best thing to do is go into one on a quiet evening, and ask all the question you want to and then leave!
theres soem really nice toshiba laptops with tv tuners and big screens and stuff...you can put a dvd in and it will power up the dvd palyer and not wondows so they are like tv repalcement. theres a few models and they are pretty pricy but called Toshiba Quismos

Tom Dunne

Ponster wrote:

So is there any place in Ireland where I can actually 'see' a laptop in the store first

You would be better off going into the likes of these shops, get a feel for the laptops and walk right out....

Ponster wrote:

and where I won't get ripped off?

Bricks and mortar shops tend to be more expensive than online - it's a fact of life. Unless of course it is an Irish supplier on the 'net who will probably charge you more than in a shop.

/end cynical mode