recommend a laptop please

gooner99

Hi.

Old laptop has packed in,motherboard.I need to get a new one as the wifes does the accounts for the family business.We can claim the vat off. The old one was a Dell which was pretty reliable.Only one hard drive fail in 6 years, but sure that happens.Looking to spend up to €500ish ex vat which I think might get us a decent one. Most use will be as said excel, word. Apart from that most other use would be internet, streaming movies and watching DVDs. So not that big a demand on it, but in saying that the old one was rarely off in the evenings between myself, herself and our son.I guess a good display would be a good idea. Windows 7 would likely be best.Would also like a good battery life and I guess an extended keyboard with the full numbers keypad would be good.Anyone any recommendations?

Thanks

Twoandahalfmen

Toshiba c855.

riclad

GET a toshiba laptop with hdmi out,
i don,t know any shop that sells them with windows 7.
read a review before you buy it.
MAYBE buy a pentium 4 laptop 1gig ram dvd/rw 100 euro on adverts.ie for your son.
All the laptops i see in shops have windows 8.

gooner99

Thanks for the replies. Had a look at the old laptop and it doesn't have an extended keyboard. Could have sworn it did, but there you go.using it every day and didnt notice. Asked the wife and she's grand with the numbers along the top. Also been reading and apparently windows 8 can be set to bypass metro, therefor have no probs going for windows 8.so that widens the choices a fair bit.in light of this any more recommendations?

riclad

http://www.powercity.ie/?action=Laptops&grpclass=10-30&action=eoldeals
get one of these,
windows 7, hdmi out,
model c850 30gig drive.5hours battery life.
Gosh,i found a shop that sells windows 7 units.
use POWERCITY website, to check stock before you go to shop.
there,s 12 units left
Model : MD98145 model as of today.279 euro s. WINDOWS 7 os.
3 hours battery life.

i got a hp model 4 years ago ,half price ,power city, ,its still going fine.
You can always put in more ram,in future if you need it.




Model : C850 19z 3units left 5 hours battery life, 299euro .

thats the one i,d buy ,hdmi out, wndows 8.
download win8 start menu free program

see powercity clearance laptops.

yoyo

Moved from Comp & Tech.

riclad

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57496506-292/how-to-get-the-start-menu-back-in-windows-8/

http://www.classicshell.net/

i think WIN 8.1 will be out soon where they,ll try and fix the missing parts of windows 8.
its free to all win 8 users.

The_Honeybadger

Get a 14" ultra note from pcspecialist.co.uk. Customise it with whatever hardware you want and choose windows 7 as the os. 3 year guarantee and they allow you to purchase ex vat as long as you have a valid vat number afaik.

riclad

14 inch laptop ,not great for watching dvds on,
support irish companys ,buy from an irish shop.
theres lots of free programs to make win 8 ,like windows 7.
And avoid metro if you don,t like it.
UNLESS you are running a business ,you are unlikely to have a vat no.

gooner99

Thanks Guys.

Are there brands I should avoid or ones that you recommend highly?

I do some bits of repairs for family and friends. I remember one hp which had a mother board problem.It was a known problem and HP didn't want to know just weeks out of warranty.So looking for something without known hardware issues.

I also noticed on a Dell I changed the hard drive in recently had to be taken apart to change it. I guess they are like modern cars where they make it harder for you not to go to a repair center.

Thanks,

Denis

riclad

my advice buy a toshiba ,
I would not mind buying a hp laptop.
if the price was right.

THEY had a problem with the dv6000 graphics card,a few years ago i know.

i would not buy any laptop from some uk website ,to save a few euros.
if theres a problem ,what do you do ,spend 30 euro sending it back?in postage costs.
I never have seen a bad toshiba laptop.
i had problems with a sony laptop bought in 2010,so i would NOT recommend sony.

gooner99

riclad wrote: »

my advice buy a toshiba ,
I would not mind buying a hp laptop.
if the price was right.

THEY had a problem with the dv6000 graphics card,a few years ago i know.

i would not buy any laptop from some uk website ,to save a few euros.
if theres a problem ,what do you do ,spend 30 euro sending it back?in postage costs.
I never have seen a bad toshiba laptop.
i had problems with a sony laptop bought in 2010,so i would NOT recommend sony.

Cheers.My boss had dreadful problems with a sony a few years back too. I can claim back vat as the wifes family business if vat registered. I guess for where I'm based PC World or Argos are probably my best bet. Any recommendations on exact models?

riclad

As far as i know the laptops in powercity ,clearance are new laptops,
they may be last years models,
2012 ,so they want they sell them at a discount.
I got the hp at half price,cos there was no manual, or windows install dvd,
and the tv unit was missing.
ie some unit to connect it to tvs.
it was new in the box.
I have a toshiba laptop 5 years old ,it still works fine.

gooner99

riclad wrote: »

As far as i know the laptops in powercity ,clearance are new laptops,
they may be last years models,
2012 ,so they want they sell them at a discount.
I got the hp at half price,cos there was no manual, or windows install dvd,
and they tv unit was missing.
ie some unit to connect it to tvs.
it was new in the box.
i have a toshiba laptop 5 years old ,it still works fine.

Interesting. Although if I have a problem I'm far away from Powercity as I'm in Donegal, so postage will apply.

riclad

i recommend the toshiba laptop ,with 5 hours battery life,
from my post re powercity,
I dont know if its in stock in pcworld,or argos.
see argos.ie,

this looks good,http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/TOSHIBA-Satellite-C8501NU-156andrdquo-Laptop/314594/104.10

gooner99

riclad wrote: »

i recommend the toshiba laptop ,with 5 hours battery life,
from my post re powercity,
I dont know if its in stock in pcworld,or argos.
see argos.ie,

this looks good,http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/TOSHIBA-Satellite-C8501NU-156andrdquo-Laptop/314594/104.10

Cheers.I guess an i3 3xxx processor would be better?

The_Honeybadger

riclad wrote: »

14 inch laptop ,not great for watching dvds on,
support irish companys ,buy from an irish shop.
theres lots of free programs to make win 8 ,like windows 7.
And avoid metro if you don,t like it.
UNLESS you are running a business ,you are unlikely to have a vat no.

He did say he can reclaim the vat as the laptop is for his business. Irish shops generally sell overpriced outdated laptops with poor after sales service. Pc specialist sell quality gear and stand over their product, and their laptops ship without all the bloat that most mainstream manufacturers put on their machines. In terms of value for money vs Argos or pc world there is no comparison. A 14" is fine, especially if hooked up to a telly via hdmi, pcs also stock bigger machines too.

gooner99

mickeyk wrote: »

He did say he can reclaim the vat as the laptop is for his business. Irish shops generally sell overpriced outdated laptops with poor after sales service. Pc specialist sell quality gear and stand over their product, and their laptops ship without all the bloat that most mainstream manufacturers put on their machines. In terms of value for money vs Argos or pc world there is no comparison. A 14" is fine, especially if hooked up to a telly via hdmi, pcs also stock bigger machines too.

Yes can claim back vat. Think I need 15.6" screen for sure. Also just remembered that we need quite a good wifi card,is there anything to look out for there?

I'm getting the lend of a spare one for a wee while.Would I be best to wait for the 4th generation iCores to hit the street on the off chance that the 3rd generation will drop in price?

nudger

These guys seem to be the best bang for your buck if you can wait a bit.

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/

I'm holding out a few more weeks until the back to school rush starts and prices should drop.

This looks nice http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/ASUS_K55A-SX376H_red_1337331.html
High spec i5 for about €420.
I have a Family Lenovo that have had no problems so was also looking at this,
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_G580_1366467.html

Could take a bit of delivery time but I'm not in a big hurry.

riclad

3 people using a laptop, watching movies ,dvds ,no reason to buy a 14 inch laptop, no difference in the price.
LAPTOPS have wifi card built in.
I HAVE no interest in getting a laptop with the latest i5 cpu,
as i,d say battery life will be lower.
an i3 or older cpu is fine for watching dvds,webrowsing ,
ITS like id never buy a quad core phone,
as it would likely use more power ,
I Don,t need 4 cores on my phone to use youtube or 5 browser tabs .

MOST people get an i5 laptop, for gaming ,3d design, photoshop, video editing .

IRISH SHOPS sell the same laptops as uk shops.
theres also sales in did, or harvey norman every 2 months.

MY laptop has 1.5ghz cpu,single core, its enough for dvds, youtube,
and webrowsing.

i think 399 euro for a laptop with 8gg ram, 1tb drive is a good price.

i would not buy a laptop from a uk website just to save 50 euro.

look in maplins ,pcworld ,peats for a card .
MAKE sure it has a windows 8 driver .

the fastest cpus,= more heat, more fan noise,
mediocre battery life.

MY older type cpu, means my laptop is silent, no loud fan noise.

The_Honeybadger

Recommended a 14" for portability. I always hook up to a tv via hdmi if streaming so screen size is irrelevant to somebody like me. I recommended pcs because you can choose your own components like CPU, hard drive, operating system etc and they offer a three year warranty. If you don't care about things like that then an off the shelf laptop will do the job just fine and the toshiba looks like a good buy for the money.

gooner99

nudger wrote: »

These guys seem to be the best bang for your buck if you can wait a bit.

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/

I'm holding out a few more weeks until the back to school rush starts and prices should drop.

This looks nice http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/ASUS_K55A-SX376H_red_1337331.html
High spec i5 for about €420.
I have a Family Lenovo that have had no problems so was also looking at this,
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_G580_1366467.html

Could take a bit of delivery time but I'm not in a big hurry.

Good prices. Did you deal with them before, what are they like?

So your going for the Lenovo, what are they like as a brand?

Also ASUS I take it they are a quality brand?

nudger

gooner99 wrote: »

Good prices. Did you deal with them before, what are they like?

So your going for the Lenovo, what are they like as a brand?

Also ASUS I take it they are a quality brand?

Haven't used them before but lots of posts on here recommending them and the prices are very good.

I'm not 100% on either, something else might come up but something the same spec, both are good brands.

I've a Lenovo for 2 years thats a family laptop and have had no problems.
From what I read Asus has a reputation as one of the best builds.

gooner99

nudger wrote: »

Haven't used them before but lots of posts on here recommending them and the prices are very good.

I'm not 100% on either, something else might come up but something the same spec, both are good brands.

I've a Lenovo for 2 years thats a family laptop and have had no problems.
From what I read Asus has a reputation as one of the best builds.

Cheers.Did some reading on Lenovo and their IBM Thinkpads are supposed to be bullet proof.What model do you have, is it well built?

chops018

Sorry to hijack but is this any good for the price?

http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-30-C8501LK&pages=1&prod=C8501LK&brands=TOSHIBA&image=

nudger

gooner99 wrote: »

Cheers.Did some reading on Lenovo and their IBM Thinkpads are supposed to be bullet proof.What model do you have, is it well built?

http://www.lenovo.com/shop/emea/content/pdf/notebooks/ideapad/z-series/z570/en/Z570_DS_EN.pdf
Mine is a i3 but can't get my hands on it, it doesn't leave the house but is on the move all the time, no problems yet.
Not that it's a major recommendation but NASA used 500 lenovo's for the later space programmes.

gooner99

nudger wrote: »

http://www.lenovo.com/shop/emea/content/pdf/notebooks/ideapad/z-series/z570/en/Z570_DS_EN.pdf
Mine is a i3 but can't get my hands on it, it doesn't leave the house but is on the move all the time, no problems yet.
Not that it's a major recommendation but NASA used 500 lenovo's for the later space programmes.

Looks like a nice machine.Ours doesn't leave the house much either,but get lots of movement and use in the house.How is your in terms of sturdiness.

nudger

gooner99 wrote: »

Looks like a nice machine.Ours doesn't leave the house much either,but get lots of movement and use in the house.How is your in terms of sturdiness.

I guess it's good/ average, it's never been dropped as far as I know and in fairness to the kids, I have told them if it is broken there won't be a new one so they are careful with it, it's like new.:)

Easy Rider

mickeyk wrote: »

He did say he can reclaim the vat as the laptop is for his business. Irish shops generally sell overpriced outdated laptops with poor after sales service. Pc specialist sell quality gear and stand over their product, and their laptops ship without all the bloat that most mainstream manufacturers put on their machines. In terms of value for money vs Argos or pc world there is no comparison. A 14" is fine, especially if hooked up to a telly via hdmi, pcs also stock bigger machines too.

Say you were to spend €500 on a Laptop from PC specialist, like an ultrabook, with touchscreen (if possible) what configuration would you go for? I'm looking for something similar to an Acer S3 in terms of size etc, just interested in what compares...i.e. mac book air V's a PC Specialist V's an Acer S3?

r3nu4l

Want to jump in here and hijack this too.

I'm looking for a laptop for exactly the same functions as the OP. MS Office, internet and TV streaming.

Can someone recommend a cheapish (£300-£400 - I live in the UK) laptop that preferably has semi-decent speakers.

I've had a MacBook Pro and that's the quality I'm looking for, compared to a Sony Vaio it was amazing.

I also need something relatively quiet that doesn't sound like and airplane taking off when the fans get going as it will be on a LOT (probably 8AM to 10PM).

Thanks in Advance

gooner99

Anyone got experience of using pcspecialist.co.uk?