XP on laptops?

Nanaki

I'm starting at dcu next month, and I'm looking into a laptop atm.
Is it still possible to get XP on a new laptop/computer? I thought I read somewhere you can't get licenses anymore.

Guy in the shop in my town recommended an Acer (hadn't time for specs)
He said it was €750, had a good (slightly above avg) processor, and as such 120GB hard drive. According to him, in relation to the rest of laptops he had there, €150 more than the rest of what he had (roughly all around 600) was well worth it for what I'm getting. I'll get specs tomorrow, but does anyone have experience of Acer laptops?

Also, is it worth my while going after a spare battery?

Thanks for anybody's help

Alanstrainor

If you get a laptop with Vista business installed you can then download a free copy of xp pro i believe. Nothing wrong with vista as such, any modern laptop should cover it no bother, especially in your price range.
Post back with the specs, but a 120gb HD is nothing to shout home about, maybe it would have been considered large about 2 years ago, but unless it's a budget laptop, i'd be expecting a 250GB (5,400) HD. If it's for college i'm presuming you'd want something at least some what travel friendly, perhaps a 13" screen? And what will the laptop be used for, web browsing/office?
Dell have a couple that are quite cheap, the 1310 vostro range you can spec up quite nice machines for in and around the 550 mark. There's the m1330 to consider also, bit more expensive, but it is in the xps range.

Nanaki

Can't remember what the Vista label said under it. Not basic anyway.
I don't think I particularly want a massive hard drive tbh, what's there I think would do me.
I'm not too worried about the size of the screen/laptop, I don't mind lugging something around, the biggest journey might be from here to DCU (just over 2 hours on a train) and I'm going to see about getting a laptop backpack as opposed to a traditional carry case.
Hmm, I've heard about alot of bad experiences with Dell, my cousin had one of their laptops and it needed repairs every few months. How reputable are they?
The guy in the shop in town, I know him through my parents, and he more or less said you get what you pay for, less than €500 isn't much worth considering. So I asked later on as my parents know him pretty well, is he the kinda guy that talks bull to sell stuff? And they said they've never found that.

I'll take a look at the dell anyway, thanks

oh, yeah, as far as I know just browsing, music, maybe if I can do any college work (don't know yet till I start, doing computer applications)

Alanstrainor

The price of laptops have reduced considerably, so i wouldn't be dismiss those in the €550 range, especially for your kind of light usage. I spec'd up quite a nice machine, probably even over kill for what you'd need. Well here it is anyway:

BASE Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.1 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business with Service Pack 1
LCD 13.3" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with Anti-Glare Coating
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Glossy Black without Camera
MEMORY 3072MB (1x2048 & 1x1024) 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD 128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS (64 bit)
POWER SUPPLY 65W AC Adaptor (3 Wire)
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 4-cell 37 WHr Lithium Ion battery

That was a Dell vostro 1310 and came to €700 incl. VAT & P&P
Actually if you were looking at that machne i'd upgrade the battery to at least a 6 cell.
As for dell reliability, i have heard very little issues on this forum and with friends/family etc. I have had a dell for the past 3 years, still no issues. There are a few known issues with certain models, but other than that they seem reliable.

Nanaki

Okay. Also, I was considering going with my local guy, because I know he'll sort out (if possible) any problems that might crop up.
Seems similar to what I came up with -

€ 679.00

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.1 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate with Service Pack 1 - English
Microsoft® Works 9.0 - English
13.3" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
Glossy Black without Camera
3072MB (1x2048 & 1x1024) 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
250GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS (64 bit) Graphic Card
65W AC Adaptor (3 Wire)
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

Services & Software
1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day Onsite - No Upgrade Selected
Declined CompleteCare
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection

Accessories

Dell™ Wireless 1395 (802.11 b/g) MiniPCI Card

Alanstrainor

What Model machine is that? And is it including VAT?

Nanaki

My mistake, missed a few pages!

including the vat -__-
what I thought worked out at 721 was over 800!
Re-checking what I'd chosen.
Just a mo

Nanaki

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I spec'd up quite a nice machine, probably even over kill for what you'd need. Well here it is anyway:

BASE Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.1 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business with Service Pack 1
LCD 13.3" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with Anti-Glare Coating
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Glossy Black without Camera
MEMORY 3072MB (1x2048 & 1x1024) 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD 128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS (64 bit)
POWER SUPPLY 65W AC Adaptor (3 Wire)
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 4-cell 37 WHr Lithium Ion battery

That was a Dell vostro 1310 and came to €700 incl. VAT & P&P
Actually if you were looking at that machne i'd upgrade the battery to at least a 6 cell.

Hmm, couldn't work out how you got that, maybe it was my addition of vista ultimate.
Could you possibly send me the customisation...actually, nevermind, thank you for spotting those things, I'll do it over with the 6 cell and see.

Alanstrainor

This is the evalue code. IEBSDONL-N0913120A
That comes to 700 incl vat and delivery, but it only has the 4cell battery, which could probably do with upgrading seeing that it'll be used on the road.

Nanaki

Ah, okay.
Thanks a million for your help man, I'll check the 6 cell tomorrow, right now I need sleep!
Thanks again, I'll let you know who I get on with the acer specs

Nanaki

[sorry for the double post..again]

got a better idea of specs now.
Acer 4920 I think (or 59, can't remember x_x)
1.8 GHz processor, 120 Gb hdd, dvd drive...feck I should have written stuff down!!
Pretty standard laptop by the looks of things, €750, he'll give me a well padded backpack worth €50 for €30, and I asked about mouses (mice?) and he said he'll throw one in for nuthin.

Alanstrainor

Nanaki wrote: »

[sorry for the double post..again]

got a better idea of specs now.
Acer 4920 I think (or 59, can't remember x_x)
1.8 GHz processor, 120 Gb hdd, dvd drive...feck I should have written stuff down!!
Pretty standard laptop by the looks of things, €750, he'll give me a well padded backpack worth €50 for €30, and I asked about mouses (mice?) and he said he'll throw one in for nuthin.

The laptop seems pricey tbh, it sounds outdated for the cash, although i dont know what the processor is exactly. Just to give you an idea, for €200 less i spec'd up a Dell vostro 1310, more just to show you the value to be had, but it still has better spec than the machine quoted above.

BASE Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5670 (1.8 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1 - English
LCD 13.3" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with Anti-Glare Coating
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Glossy Black without Camera
MEMORY 2048MB (2x1024) 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
POWER SUPPLY 65W AC Adaptor (3 Wire)
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

Now i've only recently had a go of the 1310, and i personally thought it was a brilliant laptop for the cash. That one above has the 6 cell battery, twice the HD capacity, i'm going to assume equal processor, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was superior.
Oh that one above comes to €561.44 Incl. VAT & Delivery, (it's the one marked €429 on that dell page i mailed to you)

Nanaki

I think the only differences are the screen on this is 15.4" and it has a smaller hard drive. The battery on this one will last 2 hours at full usage, I can always change the power settings to get more out of it.
The processor, gpu, os, webcam, dvd drive, and as far as I know, memory, are all the same.

This guy is throwing in my software though - whatever I want. And I know for certain if I have any problems, I can drop into him at the weekend and if can fix it, he will.

But that is very interesting pricewise what you found. I must investigate.

Alanstrainor

Actually if it's a 15.4" screen you're after, a vostro 1510, ie 15.4" screen, with identical spec comes to only €482 incl VAT&del. I know i'm throwing a lot of dells, and more specifically vostros your direction, just think they're great value and nice machines to boot. If a laptop says it has 2 hours battery life, it usually means 2 hours at it's lowest settings, ie. V.little screen brightness and running basic apps.

Nanaki

Yeah, I know what you mean.
No, this guy uses the laptop he's selling me, he said he only uses it at max power usage, the low screen and hibernation etc annoy him, so it's always at full, and lasts 2 hours.

Alanstrainor

I get ya. Well you seem to be pretty set on getting this laptop, i'd still try to haggle that €750 price down tbh. Pay with cash and try and get the best deal. Just after doing a quick google and found pretty decent reviews for the acer. I wouldn't worry too much about small things thrown in, and what kind of software might you be getting?

Nanaki

Yeah, cue my dad :P plus he knows the guy, hopefully it might help!
Office, wmp, ie, firefox (to compare them) avast, ad aware, adobe, he told me anything I want really

Alanstrainor

Nanaki wrote: »

Yeah, cue my dad :P plus he knows the guy, hopefully it might help!
Office, wmp, ie, firefox (to compare them) avast, ad aware, adobe, he told me anything I want really

Most of those are free, wmp and ie will already be installed, firefox will take about 5 minutes to download again 100% free, same with avast, adobe acrobat reader is free and there are great free versions of office. Open office being the one that i use. Just dont see the benefit of someone else installing something that you can do for free.

Nanaki

Meh. Considering I only have temperamental dial up here at home, him doing it is a good thing.