Best options for new laptop

cormie

Hi,
I'm thinking of getting a new laptop. Where is the best place to get one? I don't need a super machine, I just need a basic one with a few essentials.

I need:

DVD+/-RW
USB 2.0
Firewire
Hard drive only needs to be about 20GB or so
Wifi compatibility
Good enough processor/graphics card etc, I'm not a gamer, perhaps a DVD or the odd game of Pro Evolution Soccer.
Good enough sound card
Thickness of laptop wouldn't really bother me.

That's basically it.

So where would be the best place to get something like this, how much should I expect to pay and any other info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

galwaydude18

dont go near dell!!!!!!

LFCFan

I got a 3.05 Ghz P4, 512MB RAM, Wireless, Firewire, USB 2.0, 40GB HDD, DVD-RW Advent Laptop in PC World (only went there because of interest free option) and it's the business. It was €1800 at the time But I think the latest ones are a bit cheaper.

cormie

LFCFan wrote:

I got a 3.05 Ghz P4, 512MB RAM, Wireless, Firewire, USB 2.0, 40GB HDD, DVD-RW Advent Laptop in PC World (only went there because of interest free option) and it's the business. It was €1800 at the time But I think the latest ones are a bit cheaper.

€1800!!! WOW!! That's well above my budget:( Even €800 would be pushing it! I probably wouldnt need 512ram and I'd only need a 20GB hd I'd say. I can use external HD cases for extra storage. I suppose, it wouldnt HAVE to be new!

uberwolf

cormie wrote:

I suppose, it wouldnt HAVE to be new!

I was about to say, you'd prob be better off keeping an eye on these forums and see what comes up.

cormie

uberwolf wrote:

I was about to say, you'd prob be better off keeping an eye on these forums and see what comes up.

But how do I know what I'm getting is good?

Are there any brands you would actually go as far as saying to stay away from them?

uberwolf

i guess all you can rely on are the specs. No offence but at that money you're always going to be facing a trade off between quality and specs. I'd play it on a case by case basis

cormie

Ok thanks, I'll keep my eyes open anyway:)

hairball

hmm, dunno about the don't go near dell comment, just got an inspiron 9100 with a 9800 pro mobility, a gig o ram and a beautiful 15.4 wide screen
Running perfectly and eating games for breakfast, expensive yeh..but worth it

galwaydude18

dell provide you the most useless customer support ever! and their computers are not much better from what i have read! they tend to be very very hard to upgrade!

Farls

I was gonna say head over to alienware.ie, but at 800 yoyo's you can forget that option.

I'll agree with the don't go near dell comment, i've heard nothing but bad reports about them.

you can pick up a decent laptop at alienware for 1300 actually which isn't too bad for what you get.

Ebay is your friend.

Farlz

bbbbb

Dell seems to get alot of bad press on boards.ie, & response from customer service is slow. My order from their outlet site took a month to arrive, but had it 2 weeks now, working fine. I got a new Inspirion 1150:

2.4 GHz celeron
14.1 XGA TFT
256 MB ram
30 GB hard drive
CDRW/DVD combo
ethernet & modem
(no wifi, no DVD +-RW)
for E635 inc vat & delivery. All in all, a good deal.

Jorinn

Farls wrote:

I was gonna say head over to alienware.ie, but at 800 yoyo's you can forget that option.

I'll agree with the don't go near dell comment, i've heard nothing but bad reports about them.

you can pick up a decent laptop at alienware for 1300 actually which isn't too bad for what you get.

Ebay is your friend.

Farlz

Yeah alienware are expensive, but the trick is to find the laptops they sell from another company.

The Just bought a sentia equivelent for example. Same design (bar of course the alienware branding, glowing eyes and all that) with a higher spec for 700 euro less.

1.7 GHz/ 2 MB / FSB400 Dothan),
512 MB DDR333 RAM,
80 GB HD,
12.1 Zoll WXGA Widescreen TFT Display,
DVD+/-RW Dual DVD Burner,
Modem, 10/100 LAN,
WLAN 802.11b/g,
Firewire,
2x USB2.0, VGA,
4-in-1 Card Reader,
Weighs 1.95kg
Smart Power II (PowerCinema, you can play a dvd or cd or whatever without booting into windows)

Costs over 1800 from alienware, just over 1100 with cyberport.de

Must post this on Bargains forum actually.

Jorinn

bbbbb wrote:

Dell seems to get alot of bad press on boards.ie, & response from customer service is slow. My order from their outlet site took a month to arrive, but had it 2 weeks now, working fine. I got a new Inspirion 1150:

2.4 GHz celeron
14.1 XGA TFT
256 MB ram
30 GB hard drive
CDRW/DVD combo
ethernet & modem
(no wifi, no DVD +-RW)
for E635 inc vat & delivery. All in all, a good deal.

Tbh, boards is full of people who generally know what they're talking about. I specifically avoided a Dell based on stuff I've heard here and from my mates who have had no end of trouble with their laptops from Dell. Though the x300 they do is ok, since it's actually a samsung.

maxheadroom

Jorinn wrote:

Though the x300 they do is ok, since it's actually a samsung.

Its also significantly cheaper as a samsung (model: Q25) than as a dell

Although, still firmly out of cormie's budget.

Cormie, have a look over on uk.insight.com and see what they have for under £600 inc vat. You're going to have to sacrifice some things (like firewire, seperate graphics and a DVD-RW) at that pricepoint though.