Which laptop?

TelePaul

Straight off, I'm sorry, I know this question has been asked a million times. But I'm trying to do my mum a favour, she wants to get my dad a laptop for his birthday next month. She hasn't a clue, and I know less than I probably should about the state of play regards Vista etc. If you guys could indulge me, that'd be great.

First off (and as per the sticky) here's some info:

Budget - circa €500. Not alot, I know but read on...

Intended Use - E-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, Wireless card - pretty basic.

Warranty - Not essential

What I would like is something reliable and pretty stable. It needn't be pretty, but if it can do things like e-mail and word processing pretty efficiently, that'd be great. I'm also wondering where to buy it - I know Dell is most convenient - they start off around €550 with a gig of ram and Vista home basic. What I'm trying to avoid is a 'basic' laptop that's actually a piece of crap - it doesn't have to do much, but I'm hoping that what it does it can do well.

Again, sorry for the nature of this post, but if you could help me out, you'd be helping out a nice old dear too! I'm open to all suggestions, links, whatever. Cheers guys.

Royale with Cheese

Look in the Business section on Dell, the Vostro is what you want. Got a model with 2gb of ram, decent speed AMD dual core processor, Vista Business, and all the usual stuff for €513 delivered.

Didn't come with Microsoft Office though. But you can either go with the Microsoft works stuff provided (only used the word processor so far, but it's not great)... or there's some decent open source software out there I've heard.

They come with a 1 year hardware warranty too.

AlmightyCushion

TelePaul wrote: »

I'm also wondering where to buy it - I know Dell is most convenient - they start off around €550 with a gig of ram and Vista home basic. What I'm trying to avoid is a 'basic' laptop that's actually a piece of crap - it doesn't have to do much, but I'm hoping that what it does it can do well.

€550 with a gig of ram wouldn't be all that accurate.

This is €320 excluding delivery and vat. It has a fairly decent dual core processor, 2GBs ram and 120GB hard drive. Vista should run pretty well on it but you can put xp on it if you like for an extra €30 excluding vat. I recommend upgrading the battery to a 6 cell for an extra tenner. It will do everything you need do and it'll do a pretty good job of it.

For email use thunderbird - it's a free email client. For word processing and spreadsheets you could use open office which is a free alternative to ms office.

TelePaul

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Look in the Business section on Dell, the Vostro is what you want. Got a model with 2gb of ram, decent speed AMD dual core processor, and all the usual stuff for €513 delivered.

Didn't come with Microsoft Office though. But you can either go with the Microsoft works stuff provided (only used the word processor so far, but it's not great)... or there's some decent open source software out there I've heard.

Cheers mate, a search of the forum turned up a link to the vostro. Can I ask, does the fact that it's suited to small businesses mean it's less good for home use? It looks like you can have it loaded with XP too! Good ol' XP!

AlmightyCushion

TelePaul wrote: »

Can I ask, does the fact that it's suited to small businesses mean it's less good for home use?

It's fine for home use, I don't know why they don't have it on the home part of the site.

Royale with Cheese

Um, I've looked at the differences between Vista business, and home premium... (avoid home basic). There's about 3 things home premium has that business doesn't, and if I remember correctly they're all to do with media stuff.

Business has a good bit more than that, that home premium doesn't have... but I'll never use any of them.

TelePaul

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's fine for home use, I don't know why they don't have it on the home part of the site.

Looks great! I'm really excited now haha! Uhmm what's the story with the AMD® Sempron Mobile Technology 3600? Does it have an equivalent in Ghz?

AlmightyCushion

TelePaul wrote: »

Looks great! I'm really excited now haha! Uhmm what's the story with the AMD® Sempron Mobile Technology 3600? Does it have an equivalent in Ghz?

The sempron is crap. It's a very low end processor. Why bother when you can get a much better dual core turion for a few quid extra.

TelePaul

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

The sempron is crap. It's a very low end processor. Why bother when you can get a much better dual core turion for a few quid extra.

Okay. Athlon **** too? Dual Core Turion, will have a look for that, thanks!

AlmightyCushion

TelePaul wrote: »

Okay. Athlon **** too? Dual Core Turion, will have a look for that, thanks!

It'll actually be called the turion x2. The athlon is only in desktops.

TelePaul

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It'll actually be called the turion x2. The athlon is only in desktops.

not that I doubt you, it's just one of the options is AMD® Athlon 64 X2 Mobile Technology for €70 extra, as opposed to €100 extra for the Turion?

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iebsdt1&kc=N4X10001&l=en&m_30=139043&oc=N0210001&rbc=N0210001&s=bsd

AlmightyCushion

I think that's a mis print. The tk-57 is a turion processor. If you plan on getting the tk-57 then I wouldn't bother with the one you link to. When you upgrade it to the tk-57 it works out at the same price as the one I linked to yet your one only has 1GB ram. So essentially it's less spec for the same money.

TelePaul

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I think that's a mis print. The tk-57 is a turion processor. If you plan on getting the tk-57 then I wouldn't bother with the one you link to. When you upgrade it to the tk-57 it works out at the same price as the one I linked to yet your one only has 1GB ram. So essentially it's less spec for the same money.

Okay, I went for the first one you linked to with the TK 57 - except I went with XP office. Thank you so much for your help on this, I really appreciate it. It's great to be able to get a steer on this. I owe ya a pint mate!

TelePaul

Howiya lads, bit of an issue.

Just got the Dell Vostro Tower, delivered, put it together. Tried hooking up my old monitor and am getting a 'No Signal' message. I opted not to order the dell monitor, as I assumed my old one would work fine - a Lifetec flatscreen monitor. Sadly not. Any thoughts?

TelePaul

No worries, ignore that, everything's gravy! Cheers lads.