Laptop on it's way out!

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jimmy

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My laptop is falling apart again. I had to buy a new battery at the beginning of the year, then the HDD failed so I replaced it, the hinges fell apart and the power adapter socket was getting temermental. Got all this fixed by a computer specialist, he warned me that it would not last forever. It is a Compaq Presario 705, it is about a 1GB, 256MB and 40GB HDD with 14" screen and CD-RW/DVD. Anybody know what it might be worth on ebay?

My main point is what brand of laptop would you recommend? I use it mostly for internet and email, spreadsheets and the odd bit of graphics but nothing too demanding. I want a laptop with a 15" screen and most importantly to be strong and well made so that it will last.

A friend has a Toshiba but the sound quality is very very bad, I like the Compaq but worry that it is not that well made. I have seen some nice laptops by Acer, are they any good?

Thanks for your help.
 
Hmm, some interesting laptops there, never bought a secondhand computer or one off ebay, always worried that they will be knackered.

I shall keep my eye on those.
 
With a history of faults like that... not a lot !! :p
In good working condition perhaps £150, £200 depending on the bundle...

They say nobody ever got sacked for buying IBM and that's propably why the company I work for has been issuing them for years. Not an exciting choice but legendry build quality, good features, very expensive... bit like a Merc !

I bought a budget model R-Series (£450) for home use, Internet, I-Tunes etc and it's been great.

The IT department, under pressure to cut costs, is swapping to Dell though. Meets all the performance specs but the tech guys tell me to hang on to the Thinkpad for dear life cause the Dells are no where near the build quality.
 
Depends how much you want to spend. There are some great deals on budget laptops at the moment. around £600 - 700 will get you a great budget laptop.

Spend around a £1000 and you will have a great deal of power and goodies.

Centrinos are more expensive, but tend to have better battery life with the mobile processorrs etc.

As for second hand a PIII like that should fetch between 250 - 350 depending on condition and accessories. Plus the fact that you have a new battery in it does help, as most laptop batteries are knackered after a couple of years.


Craig
 
HI
Just incase anyone is interested ive a dell inspiron 2600 for sale £320..
14" screen....1200 cpu...256 mb ram...20gb hdd....cd rom...floppy...etc etc...the unit has all the manuals ,recovery discs,origional box etc...it belonged to my father but was never used as he has a static system...it is totally as new unmarked and origional in every way...the beauty with dell units is if they go faulty the spares are readily available...
 
My dad just bought a medion, i thought it was a great deal, 40gb, good processor (dont remember exactly which), etc etc for just under £550.

My flatmate also bought one from dell outlet, they sell reconditioned dell units with full guarantee etc. Works out v cheap. If youre worried about it going wrong, buy the 3 yr guarantee, still works out cheaper than anything else. Its all on the dell website, theres a link from the main site to dell outlet...

Jay
 
James,
We have a IBM and a Dell laptop (Centrino and Pentium 4 with built in Wifi chip). Both are equally reliable and good. I must say for the same spec, IBM costs more than Dell. Afer sales service - once with IBM cost h/disk failed after 3 years (they replaced it for free coz of the warranty) and as for Dell - touch wood so far we don't have to use it.
IBM's Thinkpad looks cool and compact but come with a price tag for the name and design.
Hope this help.
Eric
 

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