Curry's/PC World Sale.

maudgone

This looks hi spec for the price, €330 discount.
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-15ab289sa-156-laptop-blue/335166/401.0.0

palec69

maudgone wrote: »

This looks hi spec for the price, €330 discount.
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-15ab289sa-156-laptop-blue/335166/401.0.0

Are you having a laugh ?

The Randy Riverbeast

I would look elsewhere. It doesn't mention any graphics card which should be above Average for that price. If you don't need a decent graphics card then a cheaper laptop would do fine.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

The i5 6th gen HP laptop for 569 looks like decent value, for in store.

maudgone

palec69 wrote: »

Are you having a laugh ?

Share your thoughts.

palec69

maudgone wrote: »

Share your thoughts.

Friend of mine bought one few months back for similar price, so that €330 discount is pulled out of monkeys ass. Any other shop will offer you their "discounted" price. Specs are ok for office use.

Currys ...shop for pensioners and tech illiterates. ALWAYS OVERPRICED.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Currys/PC world/Harvey Norman price: €1000

Actual price online on any half decent retailer is half that.

WearstheFoxhat

There's always one hero

Capt'n Midnight

maudgone wrote: »

Share your thoughts.

On paper the main difference between that laptop and mine is that it's got USB 3 , better battery life and a larger drive. (There's also the option of upgrading from 8GB to 16GB and maybe supporting an extra external monitor)

Yes the cpu is a bit faster http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-560M-vs-Intel-Core-i5-5200U but I'd guess that my SSD drive might just balance that out so meh.

The thing is that even with the cost of upgrading the CPU, a wifi card that supports bluetooth and adding an SSD the laptop I got four years ago still hasn't cost me as much at this one.


The main change in entry level laptops over the last five years is lower power usage to extend battery life. Until laptops start getting appreciably faster I can see people keeping their old laptops and when it comes time to upgrade just buying a tablet instead if portability is such an issue.

/RANT

Phibsboro

Just fyi, my dad had his eye on a cannon mfp printer and it went from 65 on Wednesday to 89 today! So this may well be the first sale ever where you'd be better waiting until it was over to look for a bargain :-)

djPSB

Can anyone suggest an alternative to the laptop posted by the OP?

In the market for something in that range.

Will be using mainly for streaming to chromecast and Microsoft office.

Bargain_Hound

palec69 wrote: »

Friend of mine bought one few months back for similar price, so that €330 discount is pulled out of monkeys ass. Any other shop will offer you their "discounted" price. Specs are ok for office use.

Currys ...shop for pensioners and tech illiterates. ALWAYS OVERPRICED.

Not ALWAYS overpriced. Most of their TV's are priced lower than competitors. They have some cheap 32" / 42" LED TV's that I can't see any of their competitors close to.


32" Jvc 219
http://www.currys.ie/Mobile/Product/jvc-lt32c350-32-led-tv/332925/397.0.5

32" Smart Samsung 279
http://www.currys.ie/Mobile/Product/samsung-t32e390sx-smart-32-led-tv/334667/397.0.5

40" Jvc LED 329
http://www.currys.ie/Mobile/Product/jvc-lt40c550-40-led-tv/331605/397.0.3

Plenty more...

TheDoc

I picked up a savage deal on a LG TV few years back in Curry's.

IT products and items in Ireland are never going to compete with the online market that is more advanced and cheaper. But there can be still good deals to be had.

I'd also argue that the laptops and PCs sold in retail stores are perfect for the customer involved. Someone who doesn't want big hassle, a decent price and just something to do the basics its fine.

Anyone serious into PCs knows where to shop and buy and build and doesn't need to condascend to those who shop in retailers or carte blanche discredit them.

Capt'n Midnight

TheDoc wrote: »

Anyone serious into PCs knows where to shop and buy and build and doesn't need to condascend to those who shop in retailers or carte blanche discredit them.

I bought my laptop in Tesco.


Laptops are a commodity these days. You don't need to buy in a specialist place. Especially places that try to hard sell warranty and unneeded extras.

Or order from the likes of Dell who will drop it to you door.

Plenty of places here to ask about laptop choices.


Christmas/new year isn't a great time to buy laptops because they know demand is high and price to match Unfortunately now that windows allows upgrades for life there will be fewer deals on laptops with old versions

Chimichangas

palec69 wrote: »

Are you having a laugh ?

My thoughts exactly.
I saw... Hp. Pavillion. flash up as i clicked link...
Those words together tell me to avoid. Best of luck to those who dont.
The best thing about this deal is its Currys/pcworld. and not dabs***

djPSB

Chimichangas wrote: »

My thoughts exactly.
I saw... Hp. Pavillion. flash up as i clicked link...
Those words together tell me to avoid. Best of luck to those who dont.
The best thing about this deal is its Currys/pcworld. and not dabs***

Can someone suggest an alternative rather than just pick on the OPs post. Not everyone is an IT expert.

RoyalMarine

Honestly, any laptop that's sold as latest version, high spec etc, it needs to have a SSD (solid state drive).

Anything without one is just going to be slow compared to one with an SSD.

barrybones_wx

maudgone wrote: »

This looks hi spec for the price, €330 discount.
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-15ab289sa-156-laptop-blue/335166/401.0.0

Happy Christmas MG!

zeitner

Also keep away from windows 10 as you will have fun finding drivers for printers,scanners etc. Stick to windows 7 pro if you can and wait until windows 10 bugs are sorted before upgrading.

mightybashful

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

I bought my laptop in Tesco.


Laptops are a commodity these days. You don't need to buy in a specialist place. Especially places that try to hard sell warranty and unneeded extras.

Or order from the likes of Dell who will drop it to you door.

Plenty of places here to ask about laptop choices.


Christmas/new year isn't a great time to buy laptops because they know demand is high and price to match Unfortunately now that windows allows upgrades for life there will be fewer deals on laptops with old versions

Which tesco? There's about 2 only in naas

Squeeonline

The laptop has a screen below the quality found on 5" phones 2 years ago (Xperia z1 had a 1080p display.) "HD" and not "full HD" on any screen larger than 6 inches should not be acceptable in 2015.

Also the lack of an SSD means that laptop will get "hella slow" in no time at all.

When I buy laptops I look at what it has that I can't change such as processor/gfx/screen. Some laptops allow you to upgrade ram/hdd/ssd and if I can get a bargain for that bit of effort, sure.

Bit thick for what it's offering too and where it's likely to be used. I'd avoid this tbh and invest in something better.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Patww79 wrote: »

Curry's etc are nice and convenient with decent websites. Yeah you can get cheaper but it's usually a mess and you're dealing with online stores who expect you to be a complete expert.

Currys Irish site is rubbish.

L1985

Thanks bargain hound was looking for a smart tv and that was the cheapest I saw by a long shot-not a brand I'm familiar with but willing to take a gamble

beauf

Squeeonline wrote: »

The laptop has a screen below the quality found on 5" phones 2 years ago (Xperia z1 had a 1080p display.) "HD" and not "full HD" on any screen larger than 6 inches should not be acceptable in 2015.

Also the lack of an SSD means that laptop will get "hella slow" in no time at all.

When I buy laptops I look at what it has that I can't change such as processor/gfx/screen. Some laptops allow you to upgrade ram/hdd/ssd and if I can get a bargain for that bit of effort, sure.

Bit thick for what it's offering too and where it's likely to be used. I'd avoid this tbh and invest in something better.

Can you give some examples at the same price?

Chimichangas

djPSB wrote: »

Can someone suggest an alternative rather than just pick on the OPs post. Not everyone is an IT expert.

I had a HP. pavillion. in the past and thats why I would never go there again.
My current laptop is a lenovo, dont remember the model offhand. I would recommend the brand. But picking a bargain at the moment...for me would be by brands I respect, and reviews of peers. Personally lenovo, toshiba havent let me down, and I understand dell can be good too. But depends on what you want from your laptop, and your price range.

Jarren

I got that one last night

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015Q3BD74/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item

If anyone can suggest better value elsewhere, I'm all ears.

Cheers

simdan

Chimichangas wrote:

I had a HP. pavillion. in the past and thats why I would never go there again. My current laptop is a lenovo, dont remember the model offhand. I would recommend the brand. But picking a bargain at the moment...for me would be by brands I respect, and reviews of peers. Personally lenovo, toshiba havent let me down, and I understand dell can be good too. But depends on what you want from your laptop, and your price range.

A big generalisation.. There have been several very good HP Pavilions and also several bad.. You need to read reviews online and do some research before you buy and buy correctly.

blade1

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

They are not so convenient sometimes.
I booked a tablet on line and took the option of collecting in store.
Drove the 35 miles to nearest store and gave the ref number to the girl at the counter.

After being gone for 10 minutes she comes back and doesn't approach me but starts talking to the manager for another 10 minutes.
Eventually manager tells me that the tablet that was supposed to be there for me was not.

He said the best thing was for me to pick out another tablet.
Guess what?
The next 2 tablets I picked out were not in stock either.

I gave out about wasting 3 hours of my day and it also cost me €20 on petrol to which the manager just gave me some narky response.

djPSB

Chimichangas wrote: »

I had a HP. pavillion. in the past and thats why I would never go there again.
My current laptop is a lenovo, dont remember the model offhand. I would recommend the brand. But picking a bargain at the moment...for me would be by brands I respect, and reviews of peers. Personally lenovo, toshiba havent let me down, and I understand dell can be good too. But depends on what you want from your laptop, and your price range.

It depends on the model I suppose.

I have a HP for years and it's working away fine. We also bought a lenovo a few months ago and it's slow already.

dubal

zeitner wrote: »

Also keep away from windows 10 as you will have fun finding drivers for printers,scanners etc. Stick to windows 7 pro if you can and wait until windows 10 bugs are sorted before upgrading.

I have windows 10 on multiple devices since launch, I don't recall having any issues with drivers/ bugs. Its been out a while now too.

Dubal

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

ecomac

dubal wrote: »

I have windows 10 on multiple devices since launch

And you don't mind that every single character you type in, all your logins and passwords, screenschoots of your activities, emails and everything you write goes to MS servers and God knows where else? Well, this is your choice.

GeneralC

Any deals on the Kindle?

Conorlly

The Honey Monster wrote: »

Currys/PC world/Harvey Norman price: €1000

Actual price online on any half decent retailer is half that.

Can someone link for the same product from any half decent retailer? I've come up with nada. From webites
looking around I thought this was a decent deal

TheDoc

ecomac wrote: »

And you don't mind that every single character you type in, all your logins and passwords, screenschoots of your activities, emails and everything you write goes to MS servers and God knows where else? Well, this is your choice.

No many of us don't. And the above is a pure exaggeration

ecomac

TheDoc wrote: »

And the above is a pure exaggeration

No, it's not. But if you are happy enough I'll let you live in your matrix. Not everybody wants to take the red pill. And besides - this is "Brain alerts" thread, so I'm not going to elaborate this subject any further.

beauf

ecomac wrote: »

And you don't mind that every single character you type in, all your logins and passwords, screenschoots of your activities, emails and everything you write goes to MS servers and God knows where else? Well, this is your choice.

They rolled all that stuff from Windows 10 into 8 and 7 as patches. So they are all the same. So either learn how to turn all that off, or switch to Linux. While W10 has its issues you're not going to be able to buy a laptop without it, its its hardly relevant to a bargains thread.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

ecomac

beauf wrote: »

They rolled all that stuff from Windows 10 into 8 and 7 as patches.

True.

beauf wrote: »

So they are all the same.

Not necessarily.

https://www.hackread.com/microsoft-updates-spy-on-windows7-8-users/

Patww79 wrote: »

Start a new thread. I love the tech tinfoil hat ones.

use Google or buy a roll of aluminium foil from Dealz and DIY

Special Circumstances

I'll check in again tomorrow lads but I'm just gonna make a mystic meg prediction here - I foresee pages of condescension, "I know something you don't know" and very little in the way of useful alternative suggestions for a budget laptop for average joe.

beauf

maudgone wrote: »

This looks hi spec for the price, €330 discount.
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-15ab289sa-156-laptop-blue/335166/401.0.0

I thought that spec was decent. But I don't think the price is really a sale price. As a sweeping generalization I find Currys expensive, and their sale prices are generally only matching, normal prices elsewhere.

HP do ok in relaiblity ratings.
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/laptop-brand-ratings

Personally I would prefer a laptop with a SSD and higher screen res. But what I do like on this one is that it has 2x USB 3 and WIFI AC. A lot of new cheaper laptops don't.

beauf

ecomac wrote: »

...Not necessarily.

https://www.hackread.com/microsoft-updates-spy-on-windows7-8-users/

You can do the same in Windows 10 so yes its the same. MS want to track what you are doing.

http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-telemetry-and-data-collection-in-windows-10/

They want to do the same as Google and Faceache and all the others are going. Watch dragons den, anyone with an IT product the dragons are all interested in the data captured. Thats where you make money.

ecomac wrote: »

use Google or buy a roll of aluminium foil from Dealz and DIY

They all track your usage. Google, Faceache, Lockedin. You have to work very hard to minimize it. Again its got nothing to do with buying hardware.

maxiiim

VAX Steam Clean Multi S85-CM Steam Mop - White & Blue 24.99

[www].currys.ie/Product/vax-steam-clean-multi-s85cm-steam-mop-white-and-blue/334461/396.0.4

Toast

Anyone who reserved anything actually get a confirmation mail? The webpage says reserved but no indication of a tracking number... no option to pay on site... email finally came through saying we didn't complete the order. Tried a couple of times now. Their twitter is thousands of days idle and no direct number for the store we've allegedly reserved at.

mightybashful

Toast wrote: »

Anyone who reserved anything actually get a confirmation mail? The webpage says reserved but no indication of a tracking number... no option to pay on site... email finally came through saying we didn't complete the order. Tried a couple of times now. Their twitter is thousands of days idle and no direct number for the store we've allegedly reserved at.

Check your junk mail. It's where mine was

Etnies

ecomac wrote: »

And you don't mind that every single character you type in, all your logins and passwords, screenschoots of your activities, emails and everything you write goes to MS servers and God knows where else? Well, this is your choice.

emm.. turn it off?

Squeeonline

Etnies wrote: »

emm.. turn it off?

Nahh you're far better off to just wrap your laptop in tin foil and keep it in the microwave when you're not using it.

Has the handy benefit of charging the battery (but only if it's a newer model).

gordongekko

ecomac wrote: »

And you don't mind that every single character you type in, all your logins and passwords, screenschoots of your activities, emails and everything you write goes to MS servers and God knows where else? Well, this is your choice.

seems like a great bargain ill take ten............. is there any bargain alert on this thread?

RossieMan

Any decent TV deals here? Not too up on specs of tvs, would just want something decent that could play ps4 on and watch a few films, doesn't need to be a smart TV, have plenty of boxes to pop onto it.

firsthouse

I bought a replacement TV for the bedroom earlier. The 32" Samsung Smart LED Full HD in PC World/Currys earlier for 279.99 and Im very impressed. The picture definition and sound is great and the smart TV capabilities are very good. Runs Netflix Youtube etc when synced to your wifi and syncs to the Samsung smart phone i have to run Showbox. Cant fault it especially at that price and be very hard to find a cheaper Smart 32" TV in Powercity, Argos etc... For a replacement bedroom TV with smart capabilities and full HD ya can't go wrong. Money well spent imo