5punk

Morning all,

I'm looking for a laptop, need something cheap, but not HUGE, that I can use for browsing the internet and watching DVD's, and if I can play some games on it, all the better.

Thanks
Ty

Budget?

Your best option in terms of bang for buck is probably a refurbished Dell. It should be noted, however, that Dell laptops are horrifically unreliable.

Another option would be a decent used machine from a non-crap manufacturer. A second-hand ThinkPad R-series could be good if the price were right.

eion wrote:Your best option in terms of bang for buck is probably a refurbished Dell. It should be noted, however, that Dell laptops are horrifically unreliable.

Another option would be a decent used machine from a non-crap manufacturer. A second-hand ThinkPad R-series could be good if the price were right.

Umm, i like dell laptops
I've had a few and never had problems. And I've worked on hundreds, most survive very well. Where there were issues dell support is much better than its reputation.
Get a latitude one over a inspiron, the business class ones are tougher.

DON'T get a pc world type cheap one. They do break within a month.

ProfHawking wrote:
Umm, i like dell laptops
I've had a few and never had problems. And I've worked on hundreds, most survive very well. Where there were issues dell support is much better than its reputation.
Get a latitude one over a inspiron, the business class ones are tougher.

DON'T get a pc world type cheap one. They do break within a month.

I belive Dell get bad rep because people hear more bad than good things really. Easy as well as there such a large company but again i know a few people with dell and dont have a problem. Only when they fuck up on software or something.

ProfHawking wrote:
Umm, i like dell laptops
I've had a few and never had problems. And I've worked on hundreds, most survive very well. Where there were issues dell support is much better than its reputation.

Some of the problems I've encountered with Dell machines (by individual machine):
- motherboard power connector falling out (cheap Inspiron)
- sudden total motherboard failure (Latitude - later replaced with a ThinkPad on my recommendation)
- intermittent failure to POST unless you flexed the case in a particular way (Latitude)
- failure of Bluetooth module if you rested your palm on the left half of the palmrest (pricier Inspiron)
- six (6) motherboard failures, a screen/graphics card failure, a network card failure (top-end Inspiron - later replaced with a ThinkPad on my recommendation)
- hard disk failure (new-ish top-end Inspiron)
- hard disk failure (cheap Inspiron - although it was old, so it's somewhat forgiven)
- cooling system constantly cycling - spinning up and powering down etc. (cheap Inspiron)

This is over a three year period, and there are probably others I'm forgetting. One reason there may be so many is that most of my classmates in the US used Dells.

I got a ThinkPad. It's had one problem so far - the AC adapter died. It was replaced under (standard) warranty and returned to me within three days, and they replaced the main battery at the same time. Another nice thing about ThinkPads - the user guide that comes with them is really just a guide to taking the thing apart, replacing individual parts (and the order numbers to get those parts), and reassembly. Awesome.

Ive always gone for dell with laptops, but thats largely been a price thing. by happy coincidence, they always seem to do price cuts and sales just as im looking to get one.

never had any problems with them.

I've just bought this Toshiba from ebuyer, If it needs more ram, I'll put some in, its £27 for 1Gb of corsair value pc4200, which is fuck all really. Given its brand new, its nice and cheap, it has a centrino duo which I regard as a great chip and because its for the missus to do uni work/internet browsing its more than adequate, if she needs more storage, I've got 400Gb or so spare. If you want even cheaper, get a dell. You want cheaper? Get a refurbished dell. You want cheaper? er... I dunno, that cheap there's not really any choice.

Couple of years back, i bought a toshiba sattelite T20. Now i know it was shitty at the time, but it was cheap (£295 as i recall, but then i got my VAT back cos i was out of area at the time)), and it did its job. which was to play warcraft3, starcraft 2, lots of mame/genecyst/winuae type stuff, and play DVDs when i was bored. That lappy is still working (its been to iraq twice) and never missed a beat, so i can heartily recommend that particular make.

What i will warn you about, is if you buy a cheap laptop, be prepared to make sacrifices. there arent a lot of 'underpriced' laptops, that will do what you ask of them, and then give you a bit more that you didnt. get your budget set, then set what you want. I did, and i seem to have got lucky.


And if you buy a reallyg shitty one, you could always use it as a MyFirstLinux machine........

Anhamgrimmar wrote:And if you buy a really shitty one, you could always use it as a MyFirstLinux machine........

Or a doorstop!

Other than the setup, and even more inevitable repairs (because the missus seems to collect adware/malware as a hobby) I intend to ignore the laptop as much as possible. If I got my own, I'd be spending a lot more, for a portable gaming rig with ok specs.

HereComesPete wrote:and even more inevitable repairs (because the missus seems to collect adware/malware as a hobby)

Your missus is (the other) pete. and I claim my five pounds.

Hmm, I'll have to see if the hdd gets filled up with horsepron and incomprehensible essays! Also ie/ff history filled with myspace and 4chan pages... If they are, I'll kill it and bury it under the patio.

HereComesPete wrote:Hmm, I'll have to see if the hdd gets filled up with horsepron and incomprehensible essays! Also ie/ff history filled with myspace and 4chan pages... If they are, I'll kill it and bury it under the patio.

Anhamgrimmar wrote:starcraft 2

holy shit you're playing games that aren't even out yet!

Dells burn your penis and catch on fire. Michael Dell makes them in his shed.

Toshibas are good, IBMs are quite solid, Sony make small, powerful, expensive ones and have a rubbish returns policy.

FatherJack wrote:Sony make small, powerful, expensive ones and have a rubbish returns policy.

That doesn't sound at all in keeping with Sony!