Laptop advice please

JohnK

Hello all. I'm looking for help choosing a laptop (bet youd never have guessed!). I suppose I should mention that I know bugger all about laptops so assume nothing when/if you reply. I've put a broad outline of what I'm looking for below aswell as 2 sample machines that I think fit the bill but how well I'm not sure. I'd appreciate any comments on the choice of those aswell.

Price Range: €1,200 (max)
Intended use: The main useage for this is (secondary) school work for a "special needs" child so mainly word processing, internet and the like however as with any child they will probably want some gaming ability. Some multimedia ability will also be needed for any educational software. Its invisioned that this laptop will have to last for the next 5 years so anything that could be usefull for future proofing or making future upgrades easy would be good.
Mobility: I dont imagine it'll be moved too much but obviously some mobility would be a big plus.
Where To Buy: There is a major prefrence for buying in Ireland so any support issues can be handled easier and Vat could be reclaimed but it really depends on the deal
Support: A 3year support/maintenance contract is also required
Misc: A large hard drive (100gb) would be very desirable but again, it all comes down to price. Dell would also be the most desired supplier simply because of any potential support issues.

The machines I was looking at earlier are:

Acer Aspire 5003WLMi - LX.A5105.407

---

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5003WLMi_LX.A5105.407/version-1.asp
AMD Turion 64 mobile
1GB DDR SDRAM
100GB Hard Drive
15.4" WXGA Widescreen TFT Screen
SiS M760GX Integrated 3D AGP graphics with 128 MB of VRAM
Integrated wireless 802.11b/g
XP Home
3-hour Battery Life
Weight 2.8kg
£667.95 (€956.65)



Lenovo C100 Notebook - TB03GUK

---

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Lenovo_C100_Notebook_TB03GUK/version-1.asp
Intel Celeron M 370 Processor 1.5GHz
512MB DDRII SDRAM - Low cost double memory offer – call for details!
80GB Hard Drive
DVD Super Multi Dual Layer Drive - To read DVDs and CDs and write CDs, DVD+, DVD-, large Dual Layer DVD, DVD-Ram and large Dual Layer DVD
15" XGA TFT Screen
Integrated Intel 915GM Shared Graphics
Integrated LAN and 56k v.90 data fax modem
Integrated wireless 802.11 a/b/g LAN - Call for advice on Wireless networking
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Pre Loaded
4.5-hour Battery Life
Weight 2.86kg
£623.95 (€891.41)


Thanks,

John.

ARGINITE

To be honest you will find it hard to find something like that with a 3 years support in Ireland.
The site you got the information for the two laptops that you have listed below is a pretty good place to buy from. Laptops direct are an english comapny but you can still clame your vat back off them.

Lenovo C100 Notebook - TB03GUK stay away from this tho as it has a Intel Celeron M processor and only 512MB of ram.

You should look for:
AMD Turion 64/Mobile Intel Centrino processor ~1.8GHz
1024MB ram
100GB harddrive.

Those are the basics. The acer that you have in your post should do the job quite well.

Tom Dunne

ARGINITE wrote:

Lenovo C100 Notebook - TB03GUK stay away from this tho as it has a Intel Celeron M processor and only 512MB of ram.

Have a look at other Levono notebooks, you can get other models with Centrino or dual core processors. I have used varios models of IBM/Levono for the past number of years and have found them utterly reliable (I'm typing this on an IBM/Levono).

As Argentine says, though, go for a min of 1Gb of RAM and as big a hard-drive as you can afford. DVD burner and wireless are probably a must.

If you want gaming, look for laptops that have dedicated graphics memory. A lot of lower-priced laptops dedicate main memory to the graphics card, with a corresponding reduction in overall performance. The Acer you specify has dedicated memory, the Levono has shared memory.

JohnK

Thanks for the replies . I'll try and push them in the direction of the acer since I cant find anything on Dell that would have the same-ish spec + support for the alloted price. The only thing that worries me about the acer is what did we do if something goes wrong? Its very easy to just ring dell and have them collect it but trying to arrange packing and then shipping something to the UK could be a lot of trouble.