Laptop recommendations please

For my daughter for home/Uni use. Obviously the cheaper the better since she is paying (she insists).

 

Not sure what they retail for in the U.K., but the MacBook is great. Easy to set-up, more reliable OS, works great with iTunes (duh), and ten times cooler than some crappy one from Dell.

 

I'd love a MacBook, but they are a bit pricy.

 

What do they retail for in the U.K.?

They start at $1,079 here at the Apple store. That's about twenty quid these days.

 

Dev, the Apple Higher Education discount comes with a free 3 year warranty too-well worth a punt via Apple store online.
Cooky

 

what equates to a $1k in the US normally equates to £1k in the uk...sadly...I think dev's daughter would probably wanna spend at least half that...

this is where Dell comes into play...

 

My daughter has a part time job in Tesco and has seen Laptops going for £300 (Acer I believe), but I don't know the specs so couldn't say whether they were a good deal or not.

How's this from eBuyer?

 

yeah, that looks good to me - tbh - these days I think it's hard to get a real crock of sh*t...about 3 years ago i bought a second hand advent for 250 quid and i haven't had any issues at all...the battery doesn't last long - but I always use the power supply and it sits on my coffee table and allows me to surf while at home...

 

Dev,
A friends daughter is taking music at Bath and so the uni negotiated a good bulk buy from a local supplier with the savings being passed to the student. She was well happy and so was the uni as the machines they had negotiated all had the same specifications and were more than good enough for the course.

One point to consider is that laptops come in two distinct price bands ( hardware being the sameish) and these bands reflect a one or three year guarantee, I myself selected a one year guarantee and went for an R61e bottom of the range bit of kit rather than something attracting a 3 years warranty.

Remember as she is paying the customer is always right, she may well listen to your advice but don't be too upset if she selects something you do not approve of.

If she decides upon a Vista/Windows machine I would turn it into a dual boot Ubuntu MS bit of kit safe in the knowledge that the Ubuntu side of things may well work even if the other side of the kit catches something nasty while up at uni.

I wish her well with her venture.

 

hallo,

it is best if she chooses.
i left that up to my son even before he started to study.
one thing though, the mac comes with a lot of software.
the windows computer makes you buy it, so that cost must also be considered.
you even have to buy a dvd player software for the computer. sheeshhhhh!
thats how they get you after you buy the cheap computer.

btw,
apple will let you make payments over 1 to 3 years.
you can configure the hardware you want online, and have it delivered with the post.
and it keeps it resale value better.

regards,
bastlnut

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

Apple is considered too expensive, as is Lenovo, even the cheaper ones Auric. For what she wants I think a cheapo Dell/HP/Acer for around £300-400 should be fine. So if any of you know of any good deals around please shout. Thanks.

P.S. software-wise, she doesn't need anything special apart from Office, so she'll get OOO.

 

I'd chose HP over Dell.

I've had a few Dells for work and hated them all (maybe I got the bad ones). Use an IBM Z61m (Lenovo) now and it feels so much more solid than the Dells...more expensive though.

 

Dev, she is paying and the customer is always right.

I would aim for maxing out the ram (try submitting various prospective products names and types to crucial) then comb through the Ubuntu forum looking for good or bad reports prior to selecting either Xubuntu or Ubuntu and giving the liveCD a go before installing all that free Open Source Software.

You may as well keep any installed MS software as you have already paid for it in the purchase price.

 

Following advice on another forum I have just bought an IBM/Lenovo thinkpad refurb for £285. Feels solid, battery lasts 3 hours, 6 month warranty and it came with XP pro. Happy with that.

 

I got my dad a Dell Inspiron 6400 from SVP.co.uk for christmas.

£448.81 delivered!

Just had a quick look and can't see it on the site anymore, but Steve who runs it seemed a top bloke and very helpfull. Well worth getting in touch with IMO. Offers discounts to dvdforums members.

 

MS Office isn't cheap and usually doesn't come standard with the cheaper laptops.

 

but open office is free

http://www.openoffice.org/

 

OOO as MO says is free.

Also take a look at this offer on Amazon.

 

I'm after two laptops. Looking to see what can be got for £300....of course will have to use Open Office as well

 

Hey kmac, did you click on the link in my post above? Amazon are offering MS Office 2007 for students and home use for £64.99, as always there are conditions.

Regarding the laptop itself, I don't know if 1GB RAM will be enough for Vista, I have not used Vista much. Otherwise it seems OK to me.