Anybody know where to get cheap laptops from

[BoredBloke]

Yes I do have a clue where to go - but I thought I'd ask here first.

As for the long term help, I have made it clear that I will tell them what things to look for (parts wise) but I'm not buying it and I'm not supporting it.

[lukemg]

Are you mad ? State that you only work with servers/mainframes/or have no techie hardware contact. Never, ever offer to help someone find a PC, install a new modem/software/cd off a sunday mag. It's a recipe for disaster/constant phone calls years into the future. Yes you work 'with computers' and are tempted to appear an expert on something. You clearly haven't got a clue about where to go so why pretend you have !

[BoredBloke]

Thanks for the advice and links. Had already checked out Dabs and suggected one off there. Had a look through laptops direct and they have some pretty good stuff - I may buy one from there myself when I need one after this contract.

Told them to steer clear of any celeron and pointed out the obvious point regarding memory etc

[Spacecadet]

You can get a basic Tosh from PC world for 399.

I know that don't want to buy there, but you ought to be able to get a similar deal from your favourite reseller.

tim

I got the same one, plus a free memory upgrade. Only went for it as I needed a laptop ASAP and didn't have time to go shopping round so decided to go as cheap as possible.

Only bad thing about it is the appallingly short battery life of < 1 hour. Turns out its actually a LOT quicker than my monolithic desktop at home

[mcquiggd]

Romania. Coming to a car park near you....

[AtW]

Dabs.com - a lot of brand laptops below £500.

[tim123]

You can get a basic Tosh from PC world for 399.

I know that don't want to buy there, but you ought to be able to get a similar deal from your favourite reseller.

tim

[hattra]

I recently bought an Acer from Comet for £399, with 512mb ram, 80gb disk & wi-fi. Not the world's faster CPU (only 1.7ghz), but ample reward for some decent GCSE results! Could probably have got it a bit cheaper elsewhere, but you do get the full retail guarantee & support bit. They had one cheaper (about £299) but without wi-fi & only 40gb disk. I think their cheapest dual core is around £499

[DaveB]

Woolworths and Aldi both sell Medion boxes cheap. The spec is astounding and you wouldnt want to play Battlefied 2 or some such on it but for basic surfing and doing home work it would do just fine. I've had a Medion tower system for almost 5 years now and havnt had a problem with it so I'd say the reliability is ok too.

[tacpot]

Laptops Direct?

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk.

I bought an Acer laptop from laptops direct and was happy with the service. They are also offering a cut-price Vodafone 3G card. I got mine free on the Pay-as-you-go tariff, but this offer has now ended; the card is now £49 but if this still includes £20 of credit, this is worth thinking about.

tp

[cojak]

If you give real advice, you'll get no thanks and they'll expect you to be on call for all their problems for the next 10 years.

Ooh - there's a story there....

[PRC1964]

I've given up offering any advice other than buy a Dell.

If you give real advice, you'll get no thanks and they'll expect you to be on call for all their problems for the next 10 years.

[malvolio]

Tesco?

Seriously, they do a cooking model with XP, 40Gb disk and basic spec for around £260, off the shelf... No use for a professional but more than good enough for hacking around with.

[MarillionFan]

Dodgy Jeff normally knocks 'em out at my pub for £200 this time of year. No questions asked y'here.

[BoredBloke]

Because I'm supposed to know about all things IT - when compared to some of my mates, around this time of year I usually get asked to find laptops and PC's at knock down prices. The sort of 'we want state of the art' but will only pay state of the ark prices.

So I have been asked to find a good laptop at less than £500 all in - anybody know one. Not keen on the Ebay route incase the kit goes pear shaped. It is for a kid to do homework on and surf the net.

Any ideas?