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Hi,everyone.
I'm thinking of buying my daughter a lap-top for Christmas. To be used for her school work. She also wants to use it for the dreaded MSN to chat to her friends. Anyone know a good reliable brand, not too expensive, to head me in the right direction?
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Kevin:
Personally, I don't have a lap-top, but we've had great luck with both Dell and E-Machines desk-top systems. Both Son and Son-in-law who are serious computer freaks (son is a Microsoft Certified Engineer) have top-of-the line Dells, which cost more than my first new car!
Frank Damp
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
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Several years ago and based upon consumer reports ,I purchased a Dell computer system , however when it was out of warranty and needed repair Dell were not interested, in fact they advised me to take it elsewhere !
Upon attempting this it became evident that many components were exclusive to Dell ,local small repair companies had difficulty in obtaining these parts and the packaging was so condensed that alternative replacment parts could not be fitted .
After this experience with Dell, we ( my family), have since purchased several regular desktop computers all built by a local small builder using standard parts available everywhere ,and priced competatively, this has proved far superior to the Dell experience when repair has been necessary, also problem solving advice is readily available !
The Dell experience told me that their interest was in supplying multiple computers to large companies rather than service to individuals !
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Kevin,
Alan has provided valuable information regarding Dell, and as he says many parts are unique to Dell, and if you come to software upgrades, drivers can also be a problem and will not be installed by even the latest versions of XP etc, and will be required to be got from Dell, and whilst support is OK! if you know how to get at their difficult to access information route, it is, at the very least long winded. If you must go the Laptop route I would recommend only one, a Toshiba, if you can get hold of one of last years models it will cost you about £399 a snip at todays prices for the power and reliability, the internals are robust and top of the range, as is the TFT panel, color rendering is one of the best seen, and quite simply you couldn't do better, but whatever you choose, good luck ...
... MjO ...
Addendum:
The Model escaped me when I posted, but it has now come to me:-
Toshiba Eqium
[Over 15 machines, S/W upgrades and networked, not one single problem, one even dropped on the floor and still works fine!]
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I have an office full of Dell computers and I haven't had one bit of trouble with any of them, I get manuals, downloads drivers etc from the dell website if needed but normally I just let XP sort drivers out for me. .....
Saying that I, had to buy a Fan yesterday from Scan for my Dell Server which has been sat there working non stop for the last four or five years without being turned off. This computer has worked 24 hours a day without any problems apart from when we had power cuts of course. The fan only cost me £5 so my parts bill is currently averaging £1 per year.
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Many thanks everyone.
Dell has always been high on the list and now Toshiba has been added. I shall look into both these makes.
Thanks again.
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Just to add my bit to this, I have used a laptop for 18 months with no problem. It's an Acer 1670 (no, that's not the year) Pentium 4, 3Ghz.
I bought it in Preston at the then Office World, now Staples, brand new they were selling them reduced pending the change of ownership.
A snip at £399. Full price was £630.
Power cuts are rare these days but if you have one then a laptop just carries on via it's battery and nothing is lost.
I have a USB wireless keyboard and mouse plugged into mine.
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I`d just like to add my comments to the Dell fan club. Our last four desk tops have all been Dell and (touch wood) not a problem between them. Updates and drivers have never been a problem and the only two I had to open (both for memory upgrades and one a network card), presented no problem at all. Card from PC World and memory sticks from Crucial. My only complaint in this matter was that Dell wanted £96 for the memory, Crucial- the manufacturer (same stick) charged me £42.
Jim
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Very happy with my cheapo Medion laptop from Woolworth's in July, and now they have one for the same price but with 'why-fie'!! Around £399.
