Laptop recommendation

[davidjpowell]

It looks like Mrs DJP's laptop may be terminally ill. It's at 2.5 years old, and the CD drive has stopped working. To me it's not a major problem - to her it is apparently, and as I normally replace pc's at 3 years old, it does not seem worth repairing.

We need something to replace it. Tends to get fairly light use, most facebook etc. but (looks carefully over shoulder!) I'm hoping will see more business use in the new year.

Any recommendations? Only absolute must is that it should not be a netbook, and needs at least Win 7 Pro and budget of £400 or pref. less.

David

 

[LTD]

Is it just the CD that's died ?

If so, I could be interested in your scrap.

Look at JL and take extended warranty to cover you for the 3 years you will keep it. Really won't matter what it is at that price point.

 

[davidjpowell]

Is it just the CD that's died ?

If so, I could be interested in your scrap.

Look at JL and take extended warranty to cover you for the 3 years you will keep it. Really won't matter what it is at that price point.

Yup, is ok other than that. It's spent it's life on mains so battery is probably bad too. It's an ACER 5720.

 

[Dryce]

Yup, is ok other than that. It's spent it's life on mains so battery is probably bad too. It's an ACER 5720.

Get a USB external CD/DVD? Costs start at under £20 these days.

 

[LTD]

Yup, is ok other than that. It's spent it's life on mains so battery is probably bad too. It's an ACER 5720.

Le's talk after the New Year

 

[wemorgan]

I bought my last laptop off

Dell Laptops - Cheap Dell Laptops - Refurbished Dell Laptops - Lowest Price Laptops

They're mostly 2nd hand but generally good condition (read the description of each laptop)

With Windows 7 I'd recommend 4GB RAM minimum, since ~1.5GB is used by the OS on boot up.

 

[crockers]

I bought my last laptop off

Dell Laptops - Cheap Dell Laptops - Refurbished Dell Laptops - Lowest Price Laptops

They're mostly 2nd hand but generally good condition (read the description of each laptop)

With Windows 7 I'd recommend 4GB RAM minimum, since ~1.5GB is used by the OS on boot up.

Isn't 4GB needed if you run the 64bit OS? Both our laptops have 2GB and run 32 bit fine. Updated from Vista.

Still prefer Snow Leopard though.

 

[wemorgan]

Isn't 4GB needed if you run the 64bit OS? Both our laptops have 2GB and run 32 bit fine. Updated from Vista.

Still prefer Snow Leopard though.

Good to hear that Windows 7 runs OK with 2GB. My laptop with originally 4GB used most of it with only a few applications open. But maybe if David is only going to be using Explorer 2GB will be fine, as it is with you.

AFAIK the difference between 32 and 64 bit Windows is only the maximum amount of RAM it can accept, with 32bit having a maximum of 4GB.

David: Here's another
Compaq Presario CQ56-111SA Laptop - Laptops | Ebuyer.com

 

[davidjpowell]

Oops. My laptop just fell off the chair, and is now rather ill. Power not going in, and screen bust.

At least I have whatever happens on this one, albeit the computer is only three months old, otherwise would be shopping for two machines.

Might go back to bed for the rest of the day I think...

 

[AMG-Al]

Great start - Happy New Year -

 

[flango]

Some great deals on Dell at Tesco and Staples at the minute with a nice wide choice of processors & 4Gb RAM all for £379 just bought one for my daughter for Uni, machine is like lightening, so thats 2 x Dell I have bought in the last 6 weeks ( 1 x Lattitude & 1 x Inspiron) all brilliant all come with 3 years warranty and lifetime Dell tech support.

Know 2 people this Christmas who have bought HP and both have did within a week The old adage you get what you pay for is certainly true

 

[davidjpowell]

Some great deals on Dell at Tesco and Staples at the minute with a nice wide choice of processors & 4Gb RAM all for £379 just bought one for my daughter for Uni, machine is like lightening, so thats 2 x Dell I have bought in the last 6 weeks ( 1 x Lattitude & 1 x Inspiron) all brilliant all come with 3 years warranty and lifetime Dell tech support.

Know 2 people this Christmas who have bought HP and both have did within a week The old adage you get what you pay for is certainly true

The problem with the cheap supermarket deals is that it's always Home editions of Windows. I need pro to be able to log on to a domain, which is a £120 upgrade. I have found this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/244348 which looks interesting.

Now typing on a 3yr old HP, which is a sturdy old thing and refuses to die peacefully. Tech Guys are picking up the old machine and need it for just under 2 weeks. The screen and power socket are both buggered so I am wondering if they will repair or replace.

 

[flango]

Yes you are right home version of W7 on the Inspiron same on the Lattitude but I had a Windows XP Pro license so I rolled that one back to XP as like you did not fancy the £120 upgrade fee

Edit: Strangely enough the Toshiba machine you link to was the one I was going to buy and it's a good machine, but it was the Dell with i5 processor, 3 years warranty and 3 years tech support that swung it for me.

Happy hunting