Spec me a Laptop, bitches.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » December 23rd, 2007, 21:36

Right, my mother (werd) has finally decided that a steam-powered computer is a little out-dated, and is going to buy a new laptop. Being the woman she is, she wants to get it from John Lewis, and is currently thinking of this Toshiba jobbie. However, prior to her going and spending £500 on it tomorrow, I was wanting to see if you guys reckon if any of the other John Lewis Laptops would be a better buy. Obviously don't want to go spending lots more, so £500 is pretty much the budget. She only really needs it for general word-processing, browsing etc, so doesn't need anything fancy for the graphics, but I'd like to get one that won't be obsolete in a year's time.

I'm aware that you can probably get comparable machines cheaper elsewhere, but it really is restricted to what they have in John Lewis.

I've suggested seeing if it's possible to get XP instead of Fista, but other than that the Toshiba one looks pretty good to me. Lots of RAM and a C2D CPU, but I don't know very much about laptop technology so thought I should ask you lot for an opinion.

Post by **deject** » December 23rd, 2007, 21:40

Assuming she does the usual mom-on-the-internet (werd!) stuff, that Toshiba looks like almost overkill. It should be plenty for what she'll be using it for<strike>, posting topless pics on the interwebs</strike>.

Stoat · Post by **Stoat** » December 23rd, 2007, 21:49

deject wrote:Assuming she does the usual mom-on-the-internet (werd!) stuff, that Toshiba looks like almost overkill.

Bear in mind that these laptops come with Fista and will therefore run like a diseased dog.
You could stick XP on it though and any one of those will run nicely.

Post by **Dog Pants** » December 23rd, 2007, 21:51

Assuming you can find the drivers. I tried taking some Fujitsu laptops back down to XP earlier this year and there weren't any drivers for anything other than Fista. Took about 6 weeks to get them working.

Post by **HereComesPete** » December 23rd, 2007, 21:53

P200-10P. Looks to be faster, bigger, better, same price. She will complain that it's slow mere weeks after exclaiming at it's speed.

Also, werd!

Post by **FatherJack** » December 23rd, 2007, 22:10

HereComesPete wrote:P200-10P. Looks to be faster, bigger, better, same price.

Looks to me to be 100 notes more. Glad I don't shop at Dixons.

The Fujitsu is faster, but has hardly any memory, the little Toshiba is almost a kilo lighter - if that's an issue but (obviously) with a smaller screen, the Samsung seems a decent machine and is lighter and faster but doesn't inspire the confidence a Toshiba does.

Post by **HereComesPete** » December 23rd, 2007, 22:20

Meh, I wouldn't either. I'd tell your mum that you'll go and get it for her and get the cheaper one with less ram and diy it, you'll save her money and you can say you haggled the price down.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 24th, 2007, 0:46

That (A200-1VG) looks pretty acceptable to me, fairly fast, decent enough price (you'd get a similarly specced dell for £50 less)

Also, it seems to have a full compliment of XP drivers

eion · Post by **eion** » December 24th, 2007, 10:07

What could possibly possess anyone to buy electronics from John Lewis? I have another friend who's the same way. Bizarre. If she doesn't want the money, I'd be happy to take it off her hands and dispose of it - for only a small commission.

Out of the machines listed, I think I'd personally go for the Samsung R20, subject to non-Fista drivers being available. Of course what I'd actually go for is an IBM ThinkPad X61.

Post by **HereComesPete** » December 25th, 2007, 0:31

I'd buy any of them, but I wouldn't bother with john lewis. I have to say my mum and dad love buying things like beds/sofa's/pichoors for walls etc there, and seem to really trust the whole setup. I have in fact got an assessment in the newcastle branch to see if they'll train me to run the place (via many years of soul destroying monotony no doubt, but that's alright, I have no soul). I don't think I'm especially cynical, but I've never placed any level of trust in any business, and I doubt I ever will.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 25th, 2007, 0:44

Also, this thread is why you should train your parents to ask you first, and trust the shops you buy from, often takes a few years to get it properly programmed into them, but it tends to stick.

Post by **FatherJack** » December 25th, 2007, 2:45

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:Also, this thread is why you should train your parents to ask you first, and trust the shops you buy from, often takes a few years to get it properly programmed into them, but it tends to stick.

Roughly ten years of Tinys, Times, Escoms and "that nice man around the corner"s before I was believed and we built from scratch. Still skimped on pretty much everything and took my second-hand dual-core (which nicely settled in the P5N specced with upgrades in mind - who'd have thought?) replacing the 25p Smeleron before I finally had a satisfied customer.

Laptops-wise, well so far the Compaq and IBM died long before their time, whereas the (even older) Sony is still happily working in some African village. We'll see how it goes with the new Fujitsu...

It's only my profession, what the fuck do I know?

So, um yeah - it takes a bit of training.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » December 25th, 2007, 8:42

FatherJack wrote: Roughly ten years of Tinys, Times, Escoms and "that nice man around the corner"s before I was believed and we built from scratch. Still skimped on pretty much everything and took my second-hand dual-core (which nicely settled in the P5N specced with upgrades in mind - who'd have thought?) replacing the 25p Smeleron before I finally had a satisfied customer.

Only took me a few years I think, an AST upgraded/replaced by that nice man (about 4 times)

Then they got my old spare machines, and know not to buy anything without asking me (the last thing they bought was an awful lcd screen from pc world while I was in merka last year)

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » December 25th, 2007, 22:47

HereComesPete wrote:I'd buy any of them, but I wouldn't bother with john lewis. I have to say my mum and dad love buying things like beds/sofa's/pichoors for walls etc there, and seem to really trust the whole setup. I have in fact got an assessment in the newcastle branch to see if they'll train me to run the place (via many years of soul destroying monotony no doubt, but that's alright, I have no soul). I don't think I'm especially cynical, but I've never placed any level of trust in any business, and I doubt I ever will.

Well I think buying stuff from John Lewis is just one of those parental things, but at the end of the day it's their money. As far as being employers go, the company is supposed to be amazing to their staff - they're all shareholders and I think got a bonus equivalent to 1 month's salary each. If they'll offer you a job I'd snap it up compared to Dixons.

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 24th, 2008, 12:49

Seeing as you chaps are on the ball with this sort of thing, you can spec me a laptop now. I'm looking to spend up to about £300, although I'll go over for a good deal. I've got a decent gaming rig, this is for playing offline games when I'm away and for Mrs Pants to browse/play Albatross on, so I'm not after anything super fast. If it'll run Diablo, Civ, Sim City, stuff like that then it's good enough.

Cheers

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 25th, 2008, 10:32

I'm sticking potential options here, for my own benefit so I can check them when I'm not at work, but feel free to comment (like you lot wouldn't).

Acer Exsensa 5220 - £293 (Misco) £300 (Amazon) - 15", 1.8 Celeron, 1GB RAM, 80gb HDD, DVD R/W, Intel gfx, wireless
Fujitsu Siemens V5535 - £305 (Misco) £336 (Amazon) - 15", 1.8 Celeron, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, DVD R/W, SiS Mirage gfx, wireless
Toshiba L40-17E - £305 (Misco) £320 (Amazon) - 15", 1.8 Celeron, 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD, DVD R/W, Intel gfx, wireless
Acer Aspire 5315 - £300 (Amazon) - 15", 1.8 Celeron, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, DVD R/W, Intel gfx, 3 x USB, Wireless

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 25th, 2008, 14:20

Willpower fail. I decided to add an extra £200 to my budget and came up with this beauty (or at least it seems a good deal:

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/Sea ... 66&CatId=0

Anyone think it's a good/bad deal? Anyone want to tell me I shouldn't buy HP because they eat your soul? It has £50 off this week and a free 1GB of RAM so it looks good to me.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » February 25th, 2008, 14:31

Looks decent enough to me, and more RAM is always a good thing.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 25th, 2008, 14:52

yeah, do that.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » February 25th, 2008, 14:56

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:yeah, do that.

I think Mondays are a bad day to ask Berk's advice. Over half an hour we waited for a response!