Do you need to move it from room to room or building to building ?
If yes, then sadly you will have to buy a laptop.
If you don't need that mobility then you are buying something which is more expensive, more difficult to use, more harmful from an RSI or similar perspective, is not typically upgradeable, which fails much more frequently than a desktop and is usually less capable.
Horrible, nasty things which I wouldn't give desk space to.
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£500, unfortunately, is not going to get you very far at all with a new laptop - prices are generally 50 to 100 per cent or more than an equivalent desktop specified system.
You could have a look at www.laptopbits.co.uk which sells a range of new and pre-owned laptops, plus accessories, spare parts and does repairs; it generally has pre-owned top brand models from IBM, Toshiba etc that are more than adequate for your needs.
Current offers include an IBM T23 Laptop PIII 900 Laptop for £445 plus VAT and some others for less.
My daughter acquired an 12-month-old Toshiba Satellite laptop from the outlet which included the balance of the three year warranty; she paid half the original purchase price and has been very pleased with her purchase.
Alternatively key in Secondhand laptops or similar into Google or Teoma and you will get a vast choice of similar outlets - however I do know that the link I mentioned is a well operated organisation.
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E-bay beckons - check out E-bay shops (HP and Sony spring to mind) Grab yourself a bargain with back-up !
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I wouldnt say 500 is way off the mark. Toshiba (A60 @450) and ibm (r50 @420) both have models around 450 (plus the nasty vat)
I know pcworld have a bad name - and I would be careful what I buy from them, but they usually have lots of models available for you to look at - I find laptops are quite subjective because of the v.variable screens / keyboards and weight.
there is a v.good websiote whose name escapes me that does laptops at pretty much wholesale pricing. - we couldnt compete with them and make money.
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Bought a Packard Bell - £599 (!) for home networking (works fine) in the same week got a Hewlett Packard from work this cost the firm £1749. The PB feels a bit more durable !!
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just as an aside, comparing specifications on laptops can be tricky because the newer intel chips have a lower clock speed but are actually faster than the old ones. Make sure it has a mobile chip. centrino or celeron M. (or the amd equiv)
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Thanks to all who have replied. I will look at some of the suggested websites and see what's around. Unfortunately 'er indoors wants to move it around so I think a laptop is the only answer.
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depending on how far she needs to move it...theres always the new apple
www.apple.com/uk/macmini/
need a k/b, mouse and monitor. 17" tft monitors are down to about 130+vat
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£500, unfortunately, is not going to get you very far at all with a new laptop
Nonsense. There are many well-specced notebooks available from major manufacturers at around this price. Have a look at these for a start:
tinyurl.com/5vswt (a HP)
tinyurl.com/4dwjp (an IBM)
tinyurl.com/6dl2j (a Samsung)
The best bit of advice I can give about buying a laptop is make sure you go for one of the big names (HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Samsung etc). Cheap no-name laptops can appear to give more "bang for your buck" but they are invariably made of cheap plastic that will fall to bits and lower-end components that won't do the job as well, or last as long, as more expensive ones.
Other than that, make sure it has a "mobile" processor, not a standard desktop one (these are not suitable for laptops as they run too hot & use too much power).
Finally, try them out before you make your purchase. This is the only way to check out the quality of the screen - there is a lot of variation in quality between manufacturers and even between models.
My approach would be to find what you want on the web, then see if you can find one in your local PC shop to try out. Or find one in your local PC shop, try it out, and then see if you can find it cheaper on the web.
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I'll agree the IBM is a good price, but still nearly £80 more than the figure of £500 given - the others "only" have Celeron CPUs.
A very large proportion of laptops are rebadged models from specialist manufacturers such as Acer and other Taiwanese companies; some European marques rebadge German manufacturer Gericom's models.
it should also be remembered that memory, hard drives, peripherals, accessories etc for laptops are generally very much higher priced than desktop equivalents.
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Check out this month's Computer Buyer magazine.
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500 pounds is not unrealistic at all. Have a look at a company called Morgan, they are they the Richer Sounds of computer shops, selling refurbed,last years and new stock. The advantage of buying from a shop is you get to return it if theres a problem. The best deals are the factory refurbed models but if you do go this route, be picky as the condition can be quite variable (laptops come in for a lot of abuse)
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I read this thread earlier and thought of Morgans so had a look. Their laptops are fairly expensive really. I got my father a similarly priced hp laptop about a year or so ago from eBuyer that has been excellent.
My suggestion would be Dell. Their kit is very well put together, the support is good if you ever need it and perhaps more importantly, they don't fleece you for accessories.
A typical Vaio power supply will set you back in the region of £100 - the same bit for a Dell will be around £25.
They've got an offer on at the moment that looks to be exactly right for you (£471) and the same page has another for £511 on the right.
www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/...s
Have a look and let us know what you choose.
I'd steer clear of eBay for this sort of thing unless you're pretty sure you know what you're after and can support it yourself
hth
-- Lee Having a Fabialous time.
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There are very simple rules for buying lap tops. YOu buy the very best you can afford at the time.
Simple reasons. They are very cost/quality dependent devices, the more money that goes into its construction always means better quality and robustness. Secondly they cant be upgraded so you have to get the best specification you can.
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My suggestion would be Dell. Their kit is very well put together, the support is good if you ever need it and perhaps more importantly, they don't fleece you for accessories.
I'd steer clear of eBay for this sort of thing unless you're pretty sure you know what you're after and can support it yourself
My knowledge is limited, but I'd agree with Lee on these points. I'm thinking of buying a new laptop soon, and will almost certainly go for Dell. Good value. In particular, look at the the stuff in the Outlet section of the website.
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>>Have a look at a company called Morgan>>
I agree with your viewpoint, which is exactly why I provided the laptopbits.co.uk link above, but jiwson would presumably have to buy in similar fashion, i.e. online, from Morgan unless he lives close to this retailer.
Morgan is well respected and has good offers, but you will need to keep a close eye on its website (www.morgancomputers.co.uk) as it appears, not unsurprisingly, to have a rapid stock turnover.
I have had some previous experience of buying laptops for friends from other secondhand/refurbished laptop online retailers, but they have not always been happy ones as supplied goods have had to be exchanged for various reasons in one or two instances.
I do know that laptopbits (situated a few miles from where I live) is reliable (I don't have any personal involvement with the retailer).
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tinyurl.com/65xg2
Within your budget, and for word processing, etc, fine.
V
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