Recommendations

thesecretforme

I have 1000 euros, could someone please recommend a laptop. My previous model was a Dell Inspiron 1501.
I want something robust, and reliable.

Alanstrainor

thesecretforme wrote: »

I have 1000 euros, could someone please recommend a laptop. My previous model was a Dell Inspiron 1501.
I want something robust, and reliable.

We need more info. Read this and answer all relevant questions: How to get help on this forum

thesecretforme

USE: College, Internet
Certain need it to be mobile

Not too bothered about warranty

Jarren

thesecretforme wrote: »

I have 1000 euros, could someone please recommend a laptop. My previous model was a Dell Inspiron 1501.
I want something robust, and reliable.

this one is portable and robust but in terms of reliability I'm not quite sure

ideal for college,work and etc

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/HP_TouchSmart_tx2-1160ea_Laptop_NP663EA/version.asp?PID=848

thesecretforme

I like that, but I'd just like a bigger monitor...

Alanstrainor

1000 euro is a hell of a lot to spend on a laptop solely for "College and Internet" usage, you could buy a 500/600 euro laptop and be just as happy as one costing twice as much for those uses. Again, the more info you give us the better, so if you elaborate on what you want referring to the thread i pointed you to earlier you'd get a better response.

spartacus93

This will handle everything except high end gaming. As alanstrainor says, really need more info on what you want / need before we can give recommendations!

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iedhs1&kc=NRS15353&l=en&m_30=111789&oc=N0553503&rbc=N0553503&s=dhs

ComponentsIntel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish
Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
512MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard

spartacus93

thesecretforme wrote: »

Not too bothered about warranty

The Dell in home warranty is very good. €130 for three years. Worth it in my opinion. Have had 5 Dells and they all had work carried out under warranty. Laptop parts (bar RAM and hard drives) can be very hard to come by, and expensive.

thesecretforme

Well I want something that is fast and speedy and can store alot of files. I don't want something that is slow and takes forever to start up. It's primarily for College but I use the internet alot and and watch youtube and fair bit so. ....

Alanstrainor

spartacus93 wrote: »

This will handle everything except high end gaming. As alanstrainor says, really need more info on what you want / need before we can give recommendations!

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iedhs1&kc=NRS15353&l=en&m_30=111789&oc=N0553503&rbc=N0553503&s=dhs

ComponentsIntel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish
Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
512MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard

Even that machine would be overkill OP, i've heard good things about the above Dells so that ones certainly an option. You could even get less spec for less money and be equally as happy, seeing your basic requirements.

thesecretforme

I don't want something that is useless in a few years time.

I want a long battery.

I want a keyboard that if I spill something on it, it won't damage.

Alanstrainor

thesecretforme wrote: »

I don't want something that is useless in a few years time.

I want a long battery.

I want a keyboard that if I spill something on it, it won't damage.

This is like pulling teeth, do us a favor and make one post with all your expectations/requirements in detail. If you don't want to do that then i can see no reason to keep this thread open. You're asking for advice, and we're trying to help.

ynotdu

spartacus93 wrote: »

The Dell in home warranty is very good. €130 for three years. Worth it in my opinion. Have had 5 Dells and they all had work carried out under warranty. Laptop parts (bar RAM and hard drives) can be very hard to come by, and expensive.

Hi spartacus.in My experiance of dell(a desktop 3 years ago and a laptop just before xmas 08)i do not agree with you about the warranty being good value.It only covers next day collect and return&only covers hardware.that might people think any hardware problems would be fixed for free,however that is often not the case.


It does not cover software support(Dells software support is charged at premium rates)

I have found with Dell that if you can devote three months of heckling to them they will stumble through&eventually get a computer sorted.

The only thing I have to thank them for is that due to their procrastination on a problem with the desktop 3 years ago.I can resolve almost any issue with a dell brand all on my lonesome.


I would also suggest to anybody buying from them to insist on re-installation cd/dvd,s to be shipped with the system,and for people new to computers as i was 3 years ago,check everything within the first 28 days of delivery and report even the slightest flaw.I did not do so and the top legal guy in Dell(India)told me if i had,i would simply have got a whole new system.

spartacus93

ynotdu wrote: »

Hi spartacus.in My experiance of dell(a desktop 3 years ago and a laptop just before xmas 08)i do not agree with you about the warranty being good value.It only covers next day collect and return&only covers hardware.that might people think any hardware problems would be fixed for free,however that is often not the case.

Not true. I suggested the OP go with the €130 warranty so he would have in home support. If a hardware fault is diagnoised over the phone a technician will come and replace the part (all free of charge of course).

I'm not sure what you mean by "people think any hardware problems would be fixed for free, however that is often not the case". It is the case if hardware develops a fault they will replace it for free. Depending of course on the warranty, this may mean collect and return, or onsite repair. The service i mentioned will cover any hardware fault, on site, for free. This is very good value imo for 3 years (€130)

ynotdu wrote: »

It does not cover software support(Dells software support is charged at premium rates)

Again, not true. If you are having a software issue that's stopping your computer from booting or causing other problems Dell will help you over the phone to resolve this. They will not send a technician out to reinstall windows, they will however walk you through the process and stay on the phone.

They will not help with third party software. They do have a premium support service for this purpose.

ynotdu wrote: »

I have found with Dell that if you can devote three months of heckling to them they will stumble through&eventually get a computer sorted.

The only thing I have to thank them for is that due to their procrastination on a problem with the desktop 3 years ago.I can resolve almost any issue with a dell brand all on my lonesome.

What happened?

ynotdu wrote: »

I would also suggest to anybody buying from them to insist on re-installation cd/dvd,s to be shipped with the system,

Yeah. Not 100% sure what their position on this is anymore. The backup partition provided is very good and will roll back your computer to it's factory state in the event of anything but a complete hard drive failure. If this happens they will send a technician who will replace the hard drive and reinstall windows for you on site.

ynotdu wrote: »

and for people new to computers as i was 3 years ago,check everything within the first 28 days of delivery and report even the slightest flaw.I did not do so and the top legal guy in Dell(India)told me if i had,i would simply have got a whole new system.

Why wouldn't you report a flaw?

I realise that we are talking about different levels of cover. But the one i suggested to the OP will do all that I said, so i'm not quite sure of the point of your post.

spartacus93

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Even that machine would be overkill OP, i've heard good things about the above Dells so that ones certainly an option. You could even get less spec for less money and be equally as happy, seeing your basic requirements.

I agree. Very overkill even. I have a three year old inspiron 6400 that can happily do all that the OP mentioned. And it can even survive half a cup of tea being spilt on the keyboard!

While the dell i posted is overkill, it is a very nice laptop. Alot better than their older models, and it will be more than able to keep up for the next few years at least. I'd rather spend the extra few pound initially, rather than being left with a lemon after two years! It's not a bad price either, the op said a budget of 1k, so he's not doing too bad with all that spec and €300 "change"!

If you wan't better battery Dell do an upgraded 9 - cell battery that will last a bit longer. This, as mentioned previously, does protrude from the bottom of the laptop. Not a big deal, but at least look at pictures before you buy.

Have a look on www.komplett.ie and www.laptopsdirect.ie for

ynotdu

Spartacus93 i believe you:)

Their terms and conditions must have changed Radicly since 2006,all I described about paying a large extra for extending next day collect and return was true then.

I did get ALL the reinstallation dvd,s for the laptop i bought just before xmas at my insistence as my experiance with their support on the desktop was a 3 month nightmare(incidently a quick search on the net still shows many horror storys about Dell support)


Why would a person not report a flaw?

I was completly new to computers and did not know even what to look out for,let alone report it!

obviously i am not talking about a scratch on the paintwork,some flaws are not easy to detect if ya dont know what to look for.
Regards

spartacus93

ynotdu wrote: »

Spartacus93 i believe you:)

You caught me at the end of a very bad day

They can be a bit unclear with the names of their different support packages. Really have to read the features of them.

If you're caught with a problem outside of the scope of your warranty they will screw you. Could land you with a big bill!

thesecretforme

I don't understand what am I not being specific enough about?
I will be using this for College.
I will be doing a fair few assignments and storing notes.
I will be using the internet alot and youtube more than likely.
They are my primary functions of the Laptop. I want something fast, and durable.

gamer

GO ON dell.ie ,pick out a dual core laptop 2.oghz cpu dvdrw drive 15inch Non glossy screen ,at least 300gig hardrive.Specify a laptop that has an extra large battery .GET one that has standard onboard integrated graphics cos a radeon 200meg card will use up the battery faster.
I would not recommend a 12inch laptop to anyone that wants to watch youtube,my friend got a ten inch netbook new in pc world ,winxp os.The battery life is 15minutes.Get 3gig ram and switch off aero interface in vista to lengthen battery life.
In terms of energy effiencey i think windows xp is better than vista,ie vista woud require more energy from the battery to run the 3d graphics shell.
Windows 7 is a slimmer more effecient os than vista which gives longer battery ife..
Its even possible to buy 120gb flash drive 4 laptops which uses less energy than standard sata hardrives.
IF this is your main pc get an extended warranty,use an external usb hardrive to back up your college work. Reads bookshop nassau st are selling 1000gig 1tb usb drives 99euro this week.

thesecretforme

You recommend Dell then?

gamer

YES i recommend Dell,remember the extra large battery size.STAY away from laptops wth glossy screens, I prefer screens with NO reflections.