Laptop for wife for Christmas advice

[crockers]

You're a good judge.

I spent £944 on a DELL a few months ago (I listed the spec on here at some point) and it was the biggest pile of rubbish you could imagine.

Countless faults (keyboard inop, mouse pad useless, crashed etc).

I had to drag DELL kicking, screaming and bucking to get a refund and they deliberately made that process as awkward as possible - NIGHTMARE.

Disappointing because I had heard good reports too.


A warning to all. DON'T buy a DELL.

Dell market their computers on what colours they are available in.

The machine I had for a couple of weeks was made in Poland which surprised me.

So what did you get after sending it back?

 

[ringway]

See below.

 

[ringway]

So what did you get after sending it back?

Nothing.
I soldiered on with my HP dv9088ea which is a very good spec but the keyboard was inserting text at random places at will. Also it would crash 10-15 times a day and the pc shop could not find out why (ran it for days on everest and it would not crash).

Pc shop had the keyboard in stock and replaced it (£100) and it still misbehaves although not as badly as before.

I have eliminated the crashing by not using my (probably faulty) old usb hub.

If I'm truthful I'm not keen on buying anything new for a while after the DELL experience.

The HP's are tough though, I have whacked this machine (not at all like me) many, many, times when it kept crashing.
__________________

 

[Sp!ke]

Nothing.
I soldiered on with my HP dv9088ea which is a very good spec but the keyboard was inserting text at random places at will.

Seen this a few times .. nearly always been inadvertantly turning on speech to text function on laptops.

 

[ringway]

Seen this a few times .. nearly always been inadvertantly turning on speech to text function on laptops.

Sp!ke, could the problem be cured?

It is VERY frustrating.

 

[Mudster]

I would never buy a Dell ! Never used one and never will ! IBM Lenovo or Apple !

My 11 year old is like that with peas and broccoli. Never tried them, never will, hate them!.....

 

[chrissilkv8]

I have owned a number of laptops but the best has to be a second user IBM/ Lenovo ThinkPad - I wouldn't have anything else. These units were quite expensive new so appealled more to business than home users but the build quality is on another level and well worth paying for. There are lots of quite reasonable looking machines out there but how long will they last in daily use.
There is a reason we drive Mercs and if you apply the same criteria when buying a computer you wont go too far wrong.

 

[Sp!ke]

Sp!ke, could the problem be cured?

It is VERY frustrating.

Yes, remove all languages apart from the one(s) you use and disable speach to text or turn off your mic.

 

[ringway]

Yes, remove all languages apart from the one(s) you use and disable speach to text or turn off your mic.

Many Thanks. I'll give it a go.

 

[Dryce]

There is a reason we drive Mercs and if you apply the same criteria when buying a computer you wont go too far wrong.

You might be able to apply the same criteria if a MB was made up of generic parts fabricated in Malaysia and assembled in China.

But the reason that you perhaps choose a MB is because it's the opposite of a PC or Laptop.

My personal laptop is a 2.5 year old white Macbook. And the things that set it apart are the flat shape (slides into bags more neatly), the keyboard which resists crumbs, the power adapter, a better touchpad than it's contemporay PC laptops, reasonable battery life, it was bit expensive, and the fact that it runs Mac OS. (Sadly, to be fair, it is also made up of a lot of generic components, and it also has one of the worst LCD displays I've encountered in the last five years).

When I flip it open and use it after using my work laptop the effect is not dissimilar to getting into my car after having been in a hire car. I appreciate it a-new each time. It passes the Dryce switcharoo test in the same way as a MB.

So I would put it to you that if a MB owner buys his laptop as he would buy his car then the best of a bad bunch is Apple.

 

[whitenemesis]

As long as it shuts off in plenty of time for meal times to be prepared does it matter who makes it???

 

[andy_k]

We've got an Acer 6930 which gets an awful lot of use.

It will deal with my work stuff, it's got a blueray drive and loads of other toys.

All that it lacks is a firewire drive but the expansion card to add one cost me a fiver.

It looks pretty, has an HD screen and has decent enough battery life

 

[Dryce]

As long as it shuts off in plenty of time for meal times to be prepared does it matter who makes it???

The voice of the man who really wanted an Audi A4 but ended up with a Skoda Superb.

 

[Howard]

Any comments on this guys ?

Remember , we don't need one that will work out the meaning of life , the universe and everything .... just one for the wife to surf facebook , etc ...

dabs.com - Acer Extensa 5230E Cel 900 160GB 1GB 15.4" DVD-RW W7HP (LX.ECU02.006)

 

[wemorgan]

Any comments on this guys ?

Remember , we don't need one that will work out the meaning of life , the universe and everything .... just one for the wife to surf facebook , etc ...

dabs.com - Acer Extensa 5230E Cel 900 160GB 1GB 15.4" DVD-RW W7HP (LX.ECU02.006)

Looks decent enough for the money. I've no experience of the Acer brand though. If you can find one with 2GB of Ram I think that would help. Even opening up multiple Internet Explorer tabs eats in to memory quickly.

 

[Frank O' Phile]

Any comments on this guys ?

Remember , we don't need one that will work out the meaning of life , the universe and everything .... just one for the wife to surf facebook , etc ...

dabs.com - Acer Extensa 5230E Cel 900 160GB 1GB 15.4" DVD-RW W7HP (LX.ECU02.006)

Hi Howard, I've just picked up a similar bit of kit for our lad to lock himself away with. Ours is an e-machine but same thing really.
I rate ours as quite well built, looks nice and dont forsee any problems with it. Screen looks good too. Yours has W7 on it so should cope with 1Gb ram. Another 1Gb is easy to fit and won't break your bank. See how it goes first.


What you have selected will do the job without setting itself on fire and so long as Mrs Howard isn't heavily into on-line gaming it will cope fine.

You have to jump on the bandwagon at some point or they will all be gone.

p.s. Ours is 4 months old and I paid 200 for it. Not too shabby!

 

[renault12ts]

Good choice H. Just ordered a Dell Vostro 1520 for the wife's Christmas pressie. It has a very similar spec. to the Acer.

 

[Baron_Samedi]

As long as it shuts off in plenty of time for meal times to be prepared does it matter who makes it???

Yep, and it gots to be pink

 

[renault12ts]

Dell do it in Deep Cherry...is that pink?

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

The Dell would be my advice too Howard. we have over 3,500 operating across the country and the failure rate is very low indeed.

Dell Inspiron 1545 The Dell Online Store: Build Your System