I am saving and looking at replacing my rather old computer with a laptop - easier to transport to oz.

Heck have you seen how many models and how many brands there are. Any recommends out there, or don't touch with a barge pole recommends? I have been looking in particlar at the ACER brand.

I can recommend Dell. They always seem to have some sort of deal or freebie on the go. They have international warranties too, so you will be covered in Oz if you buy from the UK.

WWW.Dell.co.uk

http://www.microwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/item/TOSAT189

I use a similar model to the above....its a reasonable cost and quite powerful...took it on my recent reccie trip to Auz and it was the DB's...

Bob

Aventec if you want a highspec cheap laptop.

Acer are also good for cheapo's, Toshiba and Panasonic are pretty good too....but it all depends on what you want your laptop for...ease of customer use and if you've never had a puter, Dell aren't bad, but for the money, you do get munted a bit, same with HP.

I have a Toshiba Satellite A10 which I bought in early 2004, just days before coming to the UK. It's a tough little beast which has served me well, despite constant daily use - and I do mean constant! An average of 5 hours a day...

The newer models are even better.

We thought about doing this as well, our PC was just under 2 years old and was going to be weeks behind us arriving here so wh thought we'd buy a lappie and bring it. Pleased we didn't now as we bought a full size PC when we got here and the price was cheaper than Dell for a better spec. Unless you need a lap-top I'd wait and buy a desk-top when you get here. Also, what we did, was to buy an external hard drive (about 90 GBP for a 200gb one) and downloaded all the 'important' stuff from our UK PC, brought the HDD with us and loaded up the stuff at this end. Much cheaper than a lap top and easier to carry

We have always bought Dell or Compaq. Dell is good as it has the international warranty too but we have had no need to use it so not sure how good the service is.

it can range from being really good if you need it replaced to utterly horrendously shite trying to understand them explain how to fix something like knackered software....hardly worth it really, if your going to punish a laptop that much it would be better to get a panasonic toughbook

I have always bought Name brands for two reasons, warranty and engineering standards.

One thing I have always done though, is to opt it up with as much RAM as possible and I have had this done on purchase.

Howerver - -be craeful.

Dell like to deal with big franchises and are not that good at dealing with the "home" user.

I know of at least 2 people who have bought from them.......initially they thought the PC was fab........but when they had problems they could not get anyone to take responsibility and one bloke sent off his PC, as requested by Dell, and he didn't see it again for 18months!!!!

They seem very good at blagging and dragging out there so called follow up service, but not so good at actually delivering.............SO BEWARE!!!!

xRachx

problem is, Dell often use shite parts, whatever they can buy in bulk...I see lot of dead ones....so large brand names aren't always that good...it all depends on what you need it for, and if you have any idea's about a puter, so it would be a good option for a first time user, but if you already have a puter, you can definitely get better for the money.

I went through the same thing a couple of weeks ago - my ancient laptop brought out from the UK packed up, so I looked around. Dell had some good offers on their website, if you go for the specials. Outside of that, they hit you for the extras. I ended up with an Acer - same spec as the Dell, about $500 cheaper once I'd wacked the extra RAM in, and carried home with me that day to start setting up.
Alright, I've only had it 2 weeks now, but I'm really happy with it. And it comes with a 2 year warranty, so if I do have a problem, I can just deal with it.

Hubby bought an HP off Ebay, reconditioned, before we came out here. He's used it through travelling etc. Was about the same price as mine here, slightly better spec, but like I say, recon not new. He's bought an aussie plug cable for it (I don't know the technical term!) for $13. However, he's getting frustrated with the differences in keyboard between the US and UK styles, as he has a US style one at work.

Happy shopping

can change the keyboard settings in windows, if he remembers the keys..or, just buy a new keyboard, can get them on ebay for about $20 US, plus shipping.

I didn't know Dell was a brand name! At least in my industry (Small Scale IT, LANs, WANs etc) they aren't. People usually buy them on price alone. Then after they have been bitten, they go and buy HP/Compaq, IBM or one of the two or three reputable Japanese brands.

I have bought Compaq (now HP/Compaq or whatever) for personal use since 1986 and only had 1 Warranty repair job.

After evaluating various brands, most of my Corporate purchasing has been Compaq and with the 1000s of desktops I have purchased I have only had 1 "Warranty" repair there and that was caused by some dumb female (lawyer) spilling her glass of water on her desk and the motherboard of a brand new desktop shorting. Of the several hundred Servers I have bought over the years, again all Compaq now Compaq/HP none have ever turned their toes up.

At one site I inherited a room full of Dell Servers and they were dogs, they eventually all carked it simultaneously when the A/C collapsed on a Friday evening and they couldn't tolerate temps fo more than 50C. Also, as Management were too tight to put in proper power etc no-one knew until Monday. Then didn't the faeces hit the reciprocating parts . After that they listened to what I said and we replaced the lot with proper Servers.

As I said in my original post, if you buy because of engineering expertise you cant go wrong. On the other hand if you buy because of marketing hype ......

My wife has an Acer at home and I have a Dell at work. The Dell cost twice as much but I prefer using my wifes Acer. No problems with it so far after 12 months of use.