new laptop needed - advice please

[blueroangirl]

I have been using my husband's work laptop for the past 3 years. Well yesterday it crashed and it doesn't look like it will recover. I have been looking at new ones - want it just for browsing the net, email, photos and skype when my daughter goes away to uni in the autumn. I've been considering the Acer Aspire 5750 or the SamsungSeries 3 NP300ESA. I don't want to spend more than £400 tops. Any advice or ideas?Thanks.

[Wenco18]

We have always bought Dell, no complaints at all and excellent value for money - about £349 I think. I always rely on my oldest DD to advise me as I'm afraid I'm clueless. 

I'm sure someone will come along who knows more about it though 

[Bluebell]

What about an ipad rather than a laptop, they start at £399! My OH bought me one for my birthday last year and I never use my laptop now 

[JeffandAnnie]

Dell all the way for me - had them for years; work and home. OH has one too. The only issue I've had was a charger that conked out after a year and they replaced it the next day. I work for a council, and we have Dells - considering how tight the council is, they will have made damn sure they are the most cost effective! I worked for a company a few years back who initially had Acers, but they were really unreliable, so they switched to....Dells. We got our stepson an Acer Aspire for his 18th and it died after about 18 months - not impressed.

Mines a 15R which I got as a clearence three years ago http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/deals4/fs.aspx?refid=deals4&cs=ukdhs1&s=dhs

OH's is just a 15 - seems just as good 

Remember you'll need to add a bit for MS Office if you want it. If you don't need it for work, you can download Open Office for free.   

[JohnMcL7]

I'd have a look here for deals on PCs:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/computers/deals/hot

My preference is generally towards Dell as you can normally get a pretty good deal on them (sometimes outstanding deals through the Dell Outlet) and the machines are usually well designed for getting access inside them, Dell offer free service manuals and the parts can normally be easily found for a reasonable price.  This means when they do go wrong outside of warranty there's a good chance they can be fixed and on their way whereas with other laptops it can be the case that a small part goes and can't get a replacement so it's the end of the laptop. 

The only concern I'd have is recently Dell seemed to have taken an Apple turn and are trying to mimic the Apple laptops including the appalling design so they seem to have poorer cooling systems and a mess when trying to work inside them (the main reason I normally won't touch a Apple device) so if choosing a Dell laptop make sure you read some reviews on them first.

John

[Emilyoliver]

I have an acer aspire. No problems with it.

[Ian Wright]

I have an acer aspire. No problems with it.

Same here think it is a great laptop 

[dazza71]

There are some good offers on Dell outlet at the moment and you are probably best looking for an i3 or i5 processor. Good luck...

[JeffandAnnie]

This is Dell outlet - sorry, that's where mine came from, and the ones here are it: http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=7&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh

[Jessie_Pup]

Dell laptop here as well.   Love it. 


Erica.

[ejp]

Samsung here, it's fab!

[blueroangirl]

Thanks everyone.Decided on a Toshiba and got it yesterday. Only £349 reduced from £399. Going ok so far!

[Jan D]

I have an Acer Aspire 5742 - probably the older model of the 5750 and I am very happy with it. Particularly like the numeric keypad. It's fast and looks smart - my second Acer.

Good luck with your choice!

[Yomper]

I have had both acer aspires and 2 dell laptops both under £500 and they are very similar except the acer had a dedicated but cheap graphic card where as the dell has the integrated graphic cards. both will do exactly what you need. The only reason i can thonk of picking anything else except dell is that dell use there own voltage which is different to every other brand of laptop, bit of a con really as you can only use there own chargers. For £400 with a bit of looking around you will get one with an i3 processor which will be fast and cope with most apps and games

[JohnMcL7]

That's not true about the Dell chargers, I have a Dell charger running a Compaq I'm working on for someone as the PSU and pin are both compatible with the HP/Compaq supply.  Pretty much all the companies want you to stick with their own chargers as increasing numbers of them are 'intelligent' and won't let an charger from another company work with their machine.

John