sibsie

Get yer minds out of the gutter. I'm talking about my laptop. It's a bollocks thing that I brought over from the old country. I need a new one with memory and stuff. That's just about where my knowledge ends.

I've heard good stuff about Dell but you can only buy them from the site and I wouldn't know where to start.

So gurus. What should I look for memory wise and any good makes you can recommend?

I mostly use it for watching the occasional bit of telly from back home (yes I'm that sad.) Casual surfing, immigration forms and keeping in touch with people.

cathy22w

Well............... I got a nice HP laptop a few weeks ago. For watching TV at home would depend more on your internet speed I would think. They sell them at Bestbuy and Circuit City - I got it for around $800 after rebates.

Not surre of memory or anything - 40 gigabytes? Not too sure. Will find out. At the moment I am using my computer that shipped over from England - arrived just about in once piece, considering everything else!.

Anyway - www.hp.com is good for a peruse, as is dell.com.

Just wondering - they closed the Gateway store around here. Have they closed ALL of them?

Ash UK/US

I have heard some not so good things about Dell. Circuit City has a quite informative web site about the various models. My in laws said they got a good deal on their HP package from Sams Club.

Ash

sibsie

I've got a cable connection but the laptop can't keep up. It's a Packard Bell and I hate it. I only bought it because it was silver! Aren't they part of HP?

excpomea

Try this, you won't get a better deal in the US at the moment.
A Toshiba laptop for $600.
Read below and follow the link._

Toshiba C2.8Ghz 15" Laptop $600 after $300MIR
Exp: 05/29/04 _
CircuitCity has the Toshiba Satellite 15" Laptop with Intel Celeron Processor 2.8GHz for $1000 - $150 rebate - $150 rebate = $700 w/ free shipping.

Supposedly, tomorrow May 27 to 29, they will drop the price by $100 so it'll be $600 after rebate. Since it will most likely run out of stock, it's best to order online today for in store pickup and don't open it. Then bring the receipt back tomorrow to have them pricematch themselves.

Specs:

Celeron 2.8GHz
256MB PC2100 DDR
40GB 4200RPM enhanced-IDE (ATA-5)
DVD-ROM/CD-RW
Intel 852GME integrated graphics controller
Windows XP Home & Microsoft Works





Laptops here

cathy22w

I have a feeling HP bought them out. I absolutely love HP computers and have never had a problem with them. I have the desktop here (from England), the laptop I just bought, and a 3-in-1 printer. It all works great and not a problem installing anything.

Customer service is good too. I emailed HP before moving here to get advice about taking my computer, and received back a really sweet email from a guy wishing me well, telling me how lucky I was AND answering the question for me!!!!

sibsie

Thanks for that Ex! I'll tootle off there first thing to have a closer look. I'll have a butchers at the HP's as well Cathy.

Is there an easy way to transfer all my docs and progs from the old one to the new one, so I don't have to put everything on disc and re-install?

excpomea

Just ask in Circuit city, they sell ($60) a package that includes the cable and the software that enables you to transfere all your data from your old laptop to your new one.
It's pretty easy to do, not rocket science.

Lesley1020

You can actually watch TV on your laptop? Course I'm assuming when you say its bollocks that it's as bad as mine but probably not lol. I only paid about $180 on Ebay for it and its an old Sony VAIO with probably the lowest processor speed. Hmmm maybe I'll give it a try anyway. Eastenders sounds so exciting right now LOL. Me sad but the only programme I even bothered watching was American Idol and that finished tonight. I really should look into getting cable - maybe next pay cheque!

jambo_2004

We bought this one about 3 months ago and it's lightning fast, i'm very pleased with it. I bought the widescreen version because I wanted to watch DVD's in bed. Highly recomended.

I wouldnt touch an HP with a barge pole though...used to work in the industry back in Scotland and 90% of the stuff we got coming in (for repair) was HP. Nice printers though.

sibsie

Lesley I can only get away with watching Brit telly when the husband's away. Fortunately he's away at least three days a week.

I'm defo going to go in and look at that Tosh tomorrow.

Now's it's just after 4.30am. The cats have managed to rip the baseboards off the kitchen. They've brought in two dead mice and some other poor critter which they've dragged downstairs. I don't know what it is but it's squeeking.

Of course I didn't know it was the cats at first. I heard all this noise and thought that someone was trying to break in. And of course I live in a scary house in the woods and the husband's away again :scared:

dunroving

Consumer Reports regularly reviews computers. Dell, Gateway, and Toshiba usually rank highest in the laptop division. I've worked at two universities who used mostly Dells and in my experience they've been very reliable. I bought a Gateway with a grant last year, just because they ghave mea better price than Dell. It's been OK, but behaves a bit strange sometime - doesn't "time out/hibernate/screen-save" consistently, and when it does, when it wakes up it doesn't recognize some of my USB-attached accessories (printer, Zip, external floppy) - though that maye be something to do with the USB hub, not the laptop.

Don't think any make has great customer support. However, when one of the Dells at my first place went on the blink, rather than repair it they just senmt us a brand new one and we returned the old one (after we transferred all the files of course).

Desktop will generally give you more bang for the buck than a laptop, although the price gap is a lot less than it used to be.

Duncan Roberts

My only warning would be that th Celeron was a bad processor when it came out and just making it faster doesn't really make it any better, especially if you run it off the battery a lot. $700 is about the price I would pay regulary, for a "deal" I would be expecting around $500.

I still think that Dell are the way to go. They are not always the cheapest but they are the most durable. I had a second hand one that was 2 yeasr old when I bought it. I kept it for 3 years, threw it around a lot, didn't look after it like I should and I didn't have one single problem. I gave it to my mum and she has had it for a year with no problems either.

Ray

Sibsie ...dont piss around looking at the crap in shops thats been sitting there months and is out of date..just go to http://www.dell.com pick want you want ...with a click and a credit card it yours...any of the 5 they currently show is good check the screen size ..bigger is better

BUT...as dunroving says more for your money with a desktop
but for printers I agree HP are good ...Dell sell re-badged Lexmark.. not so good.

I remember Packard Bell being voted the absolute worst in one magazine..

The toshiba mentioned is old stock...but cheap

BritGuyTN

I was just going to post that tosh deal - its a great price - one of my friends in nashville is going to the local circuit city to buy one at lunchtime

toshiba are extremely good - $600 you can't go wrong

the celeron is a bad processor only in the context that it is not as fast as a other processors at an equivilent speed

as long as you are not looking at gaming (don't buy a laptop) or video encoding or other strenuos task then it will be much more than adequate for most tasks.

I have 2 laptops - 1 a 2ghz compaq and 1 600 mhz hp - both do the same tasks equally well (office apps, email etc)

IBM thinkpads are the best laptops you can buy but they are very expensive

i haven't been very impressed with the build quality of dell - maybe becuase they are made by 3rd party taiwanese compannies (unlike ibm/tosh who manufacture themselves)

packard bell are owned by NEC and they are SHITE!