right....

 

basically, i'm assuming someone on here could be cleverer than me in this situation so if anyone has a minute or two of time, i'd appeciate it.

 

basically i have an acer aspire 3610 series laptop, it's about 2 years old and it was a cheap laptop generally. but it had a severe design fault which has resulted in it's current state, basically the two hinges are broken. one of them is completely snapped off.

 

 

in any event, i have £400 to spend on a laptop and i need to decide by Saturday. i'm going away for a week on Sunday so ideally i'd like to order it before i leave so i can come back to it. since it's difficult for me to go a day without using my laptop :P

 

 

so yeah, if anyone knows anywhere i could look for a new one. my only basic requirement is that it's not acer. i wouldn't recommend them again. if they can't even design hinges >.<

 

any way, all i really do is browse the internet and store music and video. i probably would play world of warcraft (very causally O.o) if i had a computer capable but it's not a make or break thing.

 

 

i found this one so far,

 

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/654/861/-/3515688/Fujitsu-Esprimo-Mobile-V5515-Pentium-Dual-Core-T2130-1-8GHz-2GB-160GB-DVD-RW-15-4-Vista-Home-Basic-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html?searchtype=genre

 

but i don't really know whether that's good value for money in this day, since it's over 2 years since i last bought a laptop.

 

 

so yeah, this is a long thread and probably pretty boring but any help would be appreciated.

 

 

my msn is in my profile i think and i'll be online quite a bit between now and saturday so any help would be greatly appreciated ;)

 

 

thanks a lot.

£400 is a good budget to have in the search for a decent laptop, as you can pick up some decent laptops for that in PC World. Just make sure you avoid Celerons.

 

For example: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/339848

But after you found a laptop you like the look off, and before ordering it, it's worth running it's name though Google to check the review sites, to see what other people think of the laptops.

i actually nearly PM'd you this yourself, since i know you've got a good opinion on computers and stuff :P

 

but thanks, yeah.

 

i know to avoid Celeron :P

 

 

 

and, yeah i've been googling for reviews :D i feel like i've been doing it the right way after listening to a few people :P

If you're looking for acer-like price but with better quality, Compaq is a decent way to go. That's what all our laptops are, and they haven't let us down yet.

And avoid the cheap-end laptops you find in Tesco, as they can't play videos

Puter Advice

 

I don't usually post here, but curiousity somehow brought me here.

What laptop you should buy really depends on what you use it most for.

Check out tigerdirect.com or newegg.com - they have open box, and refurbished computers of various brands, most nicely equipped. The biggest things I would suggest you look for when buying are:

*hard drive capacity

*processor power/speed

*memory/RAM

*video card specs.

~~In all of the above, bigger is better and usually pricier- get the most out of each for your money.~~

*connection specs (internal wireless via modem, etc.)

I hope that helps a bit, though it's not a direct answer to your question. :)

~ANISSA

And if you can, try and view the laptop before buying, even if your not going to buy it from that particular shop, just to see if it's well-built.

For that price, you could check out HP. They have good laptops and desktops. I've had HP desktops practically my whole life, and they've been great. They've been in great shape and they're worth the price tag. Their laptops have definitely gotten better and cheaper. I decided I wanted a Macbook, which I love, but HP is definitely a great choice.

i know its saturday already, but i thought i'd give my two cents ;)

 

i dont really know what 400 pounds can get you in terms of laptops (i know its equivilent to about $800, which is pretty low-end when you're considering laptops), but my biggest advice would be GO WITH EITHER MAC OR IBM/LENOVO OVER ANYTHING ELSE. they may be out of the price range, but if you can manage it i don't think you'll regret it. they last for ages; my five-year old IBM laptop is still going strong without a single problem, and the only reason i got a new one was to have a lighter one for college. and macs have great records, if youre ok with making the switch from PCs. i've never heard of anyone ever regretting getting a mac.

 

my next bit of advice would be DON'T GET A DELL. everyone i've ever known that's had a dell has had major problems with it and has needed to upgrade after a short amount of time because theyre generally crap.

You can get a great HP laptop for 1.000€. The best of the range. I recently bought it.

What were the stats for that €1000 laptop?

HP PAVILLION PV9500:)

Can't find that particular model :(

Sorry, its HP PAVILLION DV9649:), great computer.

2 GHZ processor, 2GB Ram, 160GB Hard-Drive, decent graphics card, 17inch.

 

Looks good, but in my view a tad on the expensive side.

If you find another computer as good for a lower price, let me know.

Buy a cheap laptop with crap specs then add components to it yourself. It'll be cheaper than buying a high-spec laptop and have it conk out on you.

The main problem with that theory Ian, is that unless desktop PCs, some laptops are a bugger to get access to the components to upgrade them.

They're under screwable panels on the base of the machine!

But on some laptops, they don't have those panels.