Laptops

Timans

new or 2nd hand

Cheers.

MunsterCycling

Um what is it that you want?

muletide

at a guess - a new or 2nd Hand Laptop - you have to read between the lines in his post but I think thats what he wants

Our man in Havana

http://www.dell.ie

daveyjoe

muletide wrote:

at a guess - a new or 2nd Hand Laptop - you have to read between the lines in his post but I think thats what he wants

Or is it a question? i.e.. Which are better value, new or 2nd hand laptops?

I wish people wouldn't make such half-assed posts and then expect other people to take the time to humour them.

bus77

The fellas with the panther avatar are allways messers.

Revalco

MunsterCycling wrote:

Um what is it that you want?

Timans correct me if im wrong but your looking for a Dell Inspiron 9100 Laptop with a working mobo

Timans

Revalco wrote:

Timans correct me if im wrong but your looking for a Dell Inspiron 9100 Laptop with a working mobo

How did you know?!

I am actually just looking for a laptop with quite good specs for general use. I'm 15 so bear that in mind. I've about €500 to spend. I was just wondering basically is there any sites out there which have very good value.

The Panther is a superb avatar, The avatar of kings you might say so don't disresepect the panther, please.

shoegirl

Dunnes Stores are selling a Celeron based Fujitsu Siemens L7310 for 600 euros. Its a mobile celeron 370 1.5, with 40gb hard drive and a very generous 512MB memory. It also has a DVD rewriter (dual layer) and wireless built in. For the money I haven't seen anything cheaper with better spec and bought one myself last week - very happy so far. And oh there is also 1 years collect and return warranty.

You might also get something cheap on the Dell outlet with a similar spec but these are returned systems so they might turn out to be troublesome.

Timans

I would prefer to steer clear of celerons as I would like a laptop better than this pile of junk desktop I have.

That's why I am looking for 2nd hand lappy's as I know that I could never afford a decent laptop that is new.

I'll have a look at that laptop mentioned though, Thanks shoegirl!

JayV

Check out the Dell Outlet Store
I got great deals on a laptop and a desktop. Also check out their "Scratch & Dent" systems on ebay.ie. They all come with a standard dell warranty.

irishbigfoot

If you can stretch the budget to just above 600 then check this out at Laptopsdirect.ie http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_TravelMate_4062LMi_LX.TAK05.297/version.asp.

Has Intel Pentium-M Centrino 740 Processor 1.73GHz
256MB DDRII SDRAM - Low cost double memory offer – call for details!
40GB Hard Drive
DVD Dual Layer Drive - To read DVDs and CDs and write CDs, DVD+, DVD- and large Dual Layer DVD
15” XGA TFT Screen
Intel 915GM
3 USB 2.0 Sockets
Integrated LAN and 56k v.90 data fax modem
Integrated wireless 802.11 b/g LAN - Call for advice on Wireless networking
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Pre Loaded
Weight 2.9kg
1 year warranty -

Coming up at €581 at the moment and delivery is €21.73.
Not the biggest hard drive or memory out there but has the Centrino....as always give and take.

Timans

Is Centrino good then?

Cheers for the replies lads and keep em coming!

GrumPy

Would you consider building your own pc? you could build a decent desktop just by getting parts, I assume you have at least a monitor?

craichoe

Don't bother building your own PC, its ultimately a pain in the ass and noisy as f*ck.

GrumPy

craichoe wrote:

Don't bother building your own PC, its ultimately a pain in the ass and noisy as f*ck.

:rolleyes:

Timans

I have considered that but I would probably break everything

I would like the mobility of a laptop but is it worth the price? *shrugs*

Would I get a good pc for 400-500 euro's?

Saruman

craichoe wrote:

Don't bother building your own PC, its ultimately a pain in the ass and noisy as f*ck.

Only if you are an idiot who knows nothing about computers :rolleyes:
I say idiot because you can know nothing about computers and build a perfectly good PC.

Its Lego.. nothing more. If you played with lego you can build a PC following basic instructions.

Yes Centrino is good.

This should NOT be in bargain alerts... it is not alerting to anything.. move to Laptops someone.

Timans

No-One posts in laptops..

BAH HUMBUG! And lego?

Sounds fun

B00MSTICK

you'll get a nice tower from adverts for 500

TerrorFirmer

You'd get a nice tower second hand for 500 notes if you keep an eye open on adverts, however even second hand you won't really get much of a laptop for 500 if you plan playing games (which I assume you will be wanting to do)...most laptops sub 1000 euro have fine processors and memory but are handicapped by pretty poor graphics solutions.

freetoair

Bought a Dell Inspiron 1300 earlier last week for €540

Pentium M processor 735a (1.70Ghz 2MB L2 Cache)
14" Lcd Display
512 MB Ram
60GB Hard Drive
DVD +/- RW
Wireless PCI card
3 USB ports

I've waited and watched for several months before purchasing and would find it impossible to match that price elsewhere for the specification provided!

when purchasing from dell use www.dell.ie/epp

MunsterCycling

Got a list of EPP companies so that the offer can be availed of?

wheres me jumpa

Im in the same boat as the OP. Been keeping an eye on the Inspiron 1300, waiting for it to hit an all time low! Im thinking surely theres someone out there selling a 2nd hand 1300!

Timans

after much help from irish GrumPy, I think I'm going to try my hand and building a pc. Realistically, I am asking for too much from a laptop for my budget.

I'll probably change my mind again but.. "meh"

savemejebus

a self build is the best man, and for 500 you can put together a pretty good spec with a mix of new and 2nd hand components. Do you have a monitor you can use? if you do then you can definitely put together a nice mid range rig for 500

Timans

Actually, I don't!

Uh Oh, Only realised then.. Crap..

Oh well, that's my idea gone *slaps forehead viciously*

GrumPy

You will pick a monitor up handy enough man, Somone on adverts will be trying to get rid of an old crt at some stage.

But yeah, for €500, you can build a nice little pc that will run games like Source, and battlefield on medium-high settings.

craichoe

Saruman wrote:

Only if you are an idiot who knows nothing about computers :rolleyes:
I say idiot because you can know nothing about computers and build a perfectly good PC.

Its Lego.. nothing more. If you played with lego you can build a PC following basic instructions.

Yes Centrino is good.

This should NOT be in bargain alerts... it is not alerting to anything.. move to Laptops someone.

Oh yes ... any old idiot could build a PC ... but seriously .. i've met LOADS of people that think its easy, alot of asshats ripping people off too.

Seriously .. its not worth it, if you do go down the "lego" road you'll end up with a noisy hunk that will sound similar to that Clariion DMX they have in your workplace i.e. a hoover on steroids.

Being a person that leaves machines running 24/7 i use a Mac Mini at home as it can be left on and not disturb your sleep etc, use it for music and all that.

Also, when you get a Micro ATX or ATX case or whatever, you have to go putting wires all over the place, and its never as good as a manufacturers fit.

For the money you'd pay for a Dell box you'd want to be cracked in the head to go to the hassle of sticking together various bits and pieces, using drivers that haven't been tested in conjunction with other drivers and usually a box with a fairly unappealing appearance.

Now, on the other hand if your an experienced system builder (no i do not mean a cowboy that has thrown together a few of his own boxes or works for some mini company that sticks this stuff together PCPRO etc) then you know that theres many things that you have to consider such as Airflow, vibration (will the dvd drive cause the outer casing to vibrate) aesthetics, cable routing, alignment, user accessability. Anyways i could go on and on, but the bottom line is, you'll get a much nicer box for a lot less of a mass manufacturer.

savemejebus

what a load of horseshít :rolleyes: . OP i'd ignore that guy and i think you'll find most of the people on boards would have the opposite opinion.

Bottom line is if you want complete control and a fun learning experience then build it yourself.

If you're not comfortable with that then by all means buy a pre-made pc but make sure you know what you're getting (and if you do do that wait a few weeks till Dell start shipping machines with conroe processors and check out the outlet store)

all the crap that the previous poster is spouting is just scaremongering

craichoe

How is it scaremongering ?

I've said any old idiot can build a machine, just that it will be NOISY compared to any box you buy off the shelf .... let me see ... i only have about ... ohhh ... 16 years of experience with this and my first x86 box was an 8086 build from the bones of a Zenith xt. O/S wise i've only used about 7 or 8 different ones actively ... and the drivers thing is a real problem.

Who remembers trying to get over 512k of Conventional memory trying to get Doom to work I had to upgrade my IBM 286 to a 386DX just to get god damn Doom to run

I'm saying building your own machine is not worth the hassle unless you know what your doing, sure you can stick it together, stick on Windows XP or Fedora Core (You will need Fedora if you want to use linux and you want it to support your crazy cocktail of hardware) And you'll be faffing around with it for ages getting stuff right.

Man i could go on and on, but it's just not worth the hassle, think about how much your time is worth!

Oh, and if you buy a piece of kit and try to get support off whoever makes it, alot of time you'll get the unsupported configuration line, because from a support point of view if it doesn't work on this hardware and it was never tested on this hardware your left to sort it yourself.

savemejebus

Building a machine is a learning experience, that's how people get to know what theyre doing. Building a machine using standard parts is a breeze these days. Unless you go bleeding edge there are very few driver issues.

I respect both your experience and experiences with building machines, however i stand by my assertion that nowadays building a machine is a relatively hasslefree task.

No one here will advocate going out and blindly buying parts and then trying to put them together without doing any research. The people here will guide the OP (if he chooses) towards the necessary reading material and also the best choices for his budget and experience, and i think that that is possibly the best non training, academic way for him to learn how to do it.

Regarding noise, I use a self build machine at work nad it is beside me now and I can barely hear it (antec sonata case). It is quieter that both the dell optiplexes and precisions that my colleagues use.

I've never had a driver issues and the numerous OS installs I've done on self built machines,Win98, 2k XP, Fedora and Mandrake have always been fine.

randomname2005

A few things,
just heard on the radio that Harvey Norman are having a laptop sale this weekend, might or might not be of use to the OP.
Picking up a free monitor shouldnt be too difficult, keep an eye out on sites like jumbletown.ie and also the freecycling yahoo groups, also buy and sell have a freebies section.

Building your own PC is not too difficult if you have some idea of what your doing, maybe try to find a guide on the web to take you through it step by step, but its not that tricky.

R

Timans

Still getting replies! :O

Cheers guys, you've all been very helpful. It's looking like I'm building the pc. I look forward to it and hopefully it turns out alright. I've managed to pick up 1GIG RAM for €50 which I'm very pleased about. Also, A monitor should be on it's way for free.

It's going well for the moment but everyone look out for a "Timans - Where does this go?" thread I hope everyone will give me as much help as I have gotten in this thread.

thanks again *thumbs up*

branners69

I reckon I have a 17" dell or hp crt monitor knocking around if you need it!!

Maybe if you post up what you need people might donate some stuff to you seeing as how you had the balls to try and build you own!! Its easy enough but pretty scary the first time!!

Best of luck

kaizersoze

MunsterCycling wrote:

Got a list of EPP companies so that the offer can be availed of?

There is no particular list. Just put in one of the large banks or universities. They will still deliver to your home address.
I use AIB and never had any problems.