# Recommendations Based On Experience



## Julian Latham (Jul 25, 2005)

Based on recent personal experience can anyone recommend a sub Â£500 (or pretty close to) laptop that will meet the essential needs of a university student *and* the teenage need for MP3, DVD and electronic communication with the known universe.

Thanks in anticipation

Julian L


----------



## strange_too (Feb 19, 2007)

Julian Latham said:


> Based on recent personal experience can anyone recommend a sub Â£500 (or pretty close to) laptop that will meet the essential needs of a university student *and* the teenage need for MP3, DVD and electronic communication with the known universe.
> 
> Thanks in anticipation
> 
> Julian L


Not the lightest, but does a good job for the money the Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li 1718. It's the budget option that my mate gives to the people at his work.


----------



## Bri (Nov 2, 2006)

Should be able to pick up a Dell (Inspironor better still latitude) for that sort of budget. We have thousands at work, good machines


----------



## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

No experience of these yet, but have a look at the new Dell Vostro. Seems to be good deals at the moment


----------



## oldfogey (Nov 29, 2005)

If Dell seem too expensive (as they did to me after years of providing Dell to my children) I bought my youngest one of these to go to university with:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ASUS_F3_Lap...CFQSIlAodLxBwPA

Asus make motherboards and have a good reputation for reliability and service.


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

For a student I'd too recommend a Dell. Take a look at their website and configure one however you want. They start at <Â£400.

First and foremost I reckon a student's going to require maximum compatibility with their fellow students' and the teachers' systems. Like it or not that almost certainly means Microsoft Windows. You can choose between XP and Vista variants.

Dells are common as muck. That means if you find that you've let the battery run flat plenty of people will have a spare power adapter you can borrow to charge it back up so you can carry on working, playing or whatever it is students do. If you've got something a bit esoteric (or unpopular) you're screwed.

The software and drivers are dead easy to restore if necessary. Yes, it took me two days to fix mine last weekend but that was configuring all the third party software I'd installed. To restore the basic Windows OS and the Dell drivers from the supplied CD's takes about an hour. And again, if you don't know how to do it, there'll be loads of people who do know that can help you so you can be back up and running relatively quickly. Back up the data to a USB key perhaps or to CD/DVD. Lots of Dells have DVD burners these days


----------



## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Dell all the way I am afraid, much as I would like to not recommend them! When my daughter started at Cirencester three years ago she needed a laptop so we looked around an awful lot but funnily enough the best price and value was Dell....they were doing a special student offer about this time of the year (makes sense of course!) and I figured exactly the same it gonna be compatable with everything...and it was....and has been totally relaible aside from needing a new battery this year (then again she always abused the bloody thing).....I figured the most basic would be the best bet as it was far less likely to be "desired" if left laying around, where as your average Apple or Toshiba all singing all dancing laptops will soon be victims of "long term unauthorised redistribution of asset" scum bags.....all in all it proved to be a bloody good choice....and still going strong now she has got her degree and now uses it at her new home.....a good investment from her Dad!

Best regards David


----------



## oldfogey (Nov 29, 2005)

I also was a "boring, but Dell" man until this time, when the Dell prices are simply too high. They're trading on those of us who regarded them as the easy option.


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

potz said:


> As opposed to Wintel machines where a re-install/restore seems to be necessary about every three months an apple will restore just as easily if not easier - except this will not happen. I have four Macs. I used to use them in education and for work. I now use them privately only. Never had re-install one of them.
> 
> Compatibility is not an issue with them either. They'll talk to anything and you'll be able to log into any LAN that you need to. Microsoft Office for Macintosh is in fact more stable than the Wintel version. Only thing missing there is Access, but that is no loss at all - MySQL databases are miles better anyway.
> 
> ...


You seem to be totally obsessed with promoting Macs at every opportunity, regardless of the requirements of the end user. Are you/they _that_ desperate? 

What gave you the idea that it "seems to be necessary to [rebuild/restore Wintel machines] about every three months"? Sure, I rebuilt mine last weekend because I broke it. I've got other Wintel machines that I've never had to rebuild. It's all down to what the user wants and what they do with the machine, not who made it.

I'd be interested to see evidence of your stated "fact" that Office for Mac is "more stable" than the Wintel version. This may or may not be true, I don't know, but it smells of Apple marketing spin to me.

The concept that Apple "pioneered cheap software...as well as the system now known as windows" is just laughable. We all know that that neither Apple nor Microsoft can claim that! Why perpetuate that urban myth?

Anyway, Julian, you have a variety of viewpoints. Make your choice


----------



## r1ch (Feb 2, 2004)

<Jumps on his hobby horse>

Don't forget to save some budget for some sort of backup solution for it as well.

For about Â£40 or thereabouts you can buy an external drive and caddy inluding cables to keep a copy of the data. Set up offline folders or such like and you're reasonably well protected against hardware failure.

Unbacked up coursework is a disaster waiting to happen, I promise! 

<Aaaaaand breathe again....>


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

It's a bank holiday (UK) weekend Rich; relaaaaxxxxx


----------



## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

rhaythorne said:


> It's a bank holiday (UK) weekend Rich; relaaaaxxxxx


Not in Scotland


----------



## andythebrave (Sep 6, 2005)

I have a Mesh PC that has proved to give good bang for the bucks and I've no reason to suppose that their laptops will be any different. That's meshcomputers dot com - there seem to be 2 reasonably specified machines within the budget.


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Robert said:


> rhaythorne said:
> 
> 
> > It's a bank holiday (UK) weekend Rich; relaaaaxxxxx
> ...










Apologies to those north of the border. Don't work too hard on Monday though


----------



## tom (Jun 2, 2003)

I hate window but as others have said if you want industry standard and compatability with uni systems then i would go with a Dell. Try one of the second hand refurbished outlets such as laptops direct or morgan computers.Stick with XP and remember to budget for extras such as printer/scanner.


----------



## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

oldfogey said:


> I also was a "boring, but Dell" man until this time, when the Dell prices are simply too high. They're trading on those of us who regarded them as the easy option.


You can get a Dell Vostro starting at Â£329 (incl Vat and shipping)

That gives you:-

AMDÂ® Sempronâ„¢ Mobile Technology 3500+

Genuine Windows VistaÂ® Home Basic - English

15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display

1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]

80GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

ATI RadeonÂ® Xpress 1150 HyperMemory (integrated)

Fixed Internal 8x DVD/24x CDRW Combo Drive With Software

4 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (29 Whr)

Dellâ„¢ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-Card â€" Europe

MicrosoftÂ® Works 8.0 - English

What bugs me is that Â£60 of the Â£329 is actually shipping. If it was possible to collect it would be Â£269

I wouldnâ€™t consider their prices too high


----------



## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

If you go with a Dell, don't just look at the online prices, give them a call and haggle.

'I'm interested in the xxx laptop that I've on your website but I've been shopping round and I can get the same specification cheaper in another brand. I'm wondering; do you have any leeway on price?'... etc

If they say no go with the old... 'Oh, that _is _a shame, I may have to go elsewhere after all, then. Could you do deal on any extras?' Try and at least blag an extended on-site warrantee and an external keyboard and mouse (I'd try for a rucksack too).

We buy a fair bit of Dell kit at work, and we always drive a (very) hard bargain, but that is down to perserverance, not because we are a huge corporation (we aren't). We also wait until the end of the month or quarter, when they're looking at their sales targets.

Just because they have a faceless website with fixed prices doesn't mean that you can't drive a bargain.

And the kit is pretty reliable and their replacement service on faulty parts is excellent (especially if you get that warrantee).


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

Who. Me? said:



> If you go with a Dell, don't just look at the online prices, give them a call and haggle.


Very true. I did that with a server a couple of years ago and they bent over backwards to sell me the machine, adding extra hard disks, RAM and so on, to get the deal









Here we go, deep breath.... potz said:



> I am certain Apple do not need me to promote their stuff.


Why do it then?



> As far as end-user needs go: whoever said that students ought not to use Apple computers, or companies or OAPs?


Nobody, as far as I recall











> whatever gives people the idea that Windoze is the only true religion.


Nothing, and they don't. Where did religion come into it?











> Maybe we ought to eat
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Err, entirely up to you.



> It is also how I know that MacOffice is deffo less prone to crashing or otherwise f**cking up documents.


So it's not a "fact" then, just your personal experience. Why not make that clear from the outset?



> Apple's drive in education


It took me a while to get my head around that phrase. I had a ghastly vision of some kind of "drive-through" brainwashing installation where you enter with an open mind only to emerge from the other side chanting "I love my Mac, Apple is the way, I love my Mac, Apple is the way..."







But no, I understand what you mean. As far as I recall Xerox Parc came up with the whole "windows" GUI concept and this was adopted by both Apple and Microsoft in their OS's. I'm perfectly willing to entertain the idea that I could be wrong as I wasn't there at the time. Were you?



> ... not just taking Redmond's (or Rhaythorne's) word for MS having the best OS in the world.


There you go again! Who said MS has the best OS in the world? Not me. A good OS perhaps, but the best? It depends on what you want to use the computer for. It's just a tool to do a job. Sometimes OS X might be the best for the job, sometimes it might be Linux or BSD. For a student I reckon it's Windows.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know I've just broken the audio drivers on this latop which will no doubt entail numerous reboots and the like! Bloody Windows!


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I have never had a problem (other than self-inflicted ones!) with any MS product and I have been using Windows and Office software since 1990. Dell .... we use them at work and never had a problem and they have been thrown around in suitcases, carried around in back packs, have withstood the Russian winter and Turkish summer, not a lot of finesse but in my experience very reliable. I have a Sony VAIO at home really nice but not great value.

Macs are for liberal arty and leftie types who think they are striking a blow at Microsoft ...... and Linux is just for geeks and rebels


----------



## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

A Dell; we use thousands across the County.

When ordering online delete the '1 year warranty' option and take the 90 days basic. Under UK consumer law they are liable for the machine for the first year anyway. Saved me a hundred on each of mine.


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

JoT said:



> and Linux is just for geeks and rebels


I'll take that as a compliment


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

JoT said:


> Macs are for liberal arty and leftie types who think they are striking a blow at Microsoft ...... and Linux is just for geeks and rebels


I've used Windows XP since RC1 and I still like it (and paid for it until MS cheated me out of my copy of XP Pro).

Rebel? Yes I am but no more or less than you are John, I suspect. 

Are you a conformist? Why does everything have to have a political pidgeon hole as far as you are concerned? Is Microsoft a mirror of Blairism or Thatcherism? I'd guess it doesn't give a Shinola as long as it gets a wad.









I've got some bad news for you, M$ is relaxing its ati- open source stance. It may be learning that its customers aren't as servile as it thought I am.


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Stan said:


> I've got some bad news for you, M$ is relaxing its ati- open source stance.


I have no idea if that is bad or good Stan as long as my MS software still works I couldn't give a toss


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I use a work Dell laptop, not had any huge issues, also, just an observation, at home we use shop bought PCs from PC world, nothing fancy and havent had any big crashes or data loss or issues, some minor 'switch it of and on again' kind of problems and the 'reset to an earlier date' episodes, but nothing major...Ive also got friends that have had PCs built by the local independent kind of shops to big specs for gaming ( lots of big numbers ) and flash cases etc, and in every instance these machines have fallen over big time at some point....

I think we should remember we only have our ow experiences to draw on and surly these cant be used as truly representative of whats out there...

If you ask me about MSoft and PCs I cant give anything but good reports, but Im strictly a low level home user and wouldnt know a Linux if I found one in my pants....









Ive never done anything with a Apple except drink its fermented juice.....


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

JoT said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > I've got some bad news for you, M$ is relaxing its ati- open source stance.
> ...


No guarantees on that if you move to Vista, sorry.


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Stan said:


> JoT said:
> 
> 
> > Stan said:
> ...


Bugger


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

JoT said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > JoT said:
> ...


I agree John.









Although MS's Vista upgrade advisor tool says the my desktop should be able to run Vista Home Premium, I need to know how well it will run and if it's compliant with all my hardware and software that I've already paid for. The only way I can be sure is to try it in the wild. As MS doesn't do a trial copy I can't do that and I've no intention of downloading a dodgy copy from a torrent site.

A locked, 60 day trial version (with the option to pay to unlock it) would be a sensible move for MS, many people are not willing to trust the upgrade advisor tool only to find out they have to junk certain software or hardware after they've bought and installed Vista.









Mini- rant over.


----------



## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

rhaythorne said:


> Dells are common as muck.


Oim most uncommon you cheeky young man.


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Ian!!!

Hello mate..


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

raketakat said:


> rhaythorne said:
> 
> 
> > Dells are common as muck.
> ...


Hi Ian, how's it going?

"young"







Cheers


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

jasonm said:


> I use a work Dell laptop, not had any huge issues, also, just an observation, at home we use shop bought PCs from PC world, nothing fancy and havent had any big crashes or data loss or issues, some minor 'switch it of and on again' kind of problems and the 'reset to an earlier date' episodes, but nothing major...Ive also got friends that have had PCs built by the local independent kind of shops to big specs for gaming ( lots of big numbers ) and flash cases etc, and in every instance these machines have fallen over big time at some point....
> 
> I think we should remember we only have our ow experiences to draw on and surly these cant be used as truly representative of whats out there...
> 
> ...


Linux in your pants? I was trying to get inside these the other day but kept getting "Access Denied!"









*Username - Password*










I think you're right about the reliability of mass-produced, shop bought machines vs. high performance, custom built ones. Whilst not usually the fastest performing, the mass-produced ones are designed with reliability in mind because it cuts down on the number of support calls. The custom built machines are often designed with performance as a top priority and so, like high performance cars, these often require a bit more tinkering and tuning to keep them running reliably.


----------



## Running_man (Dec 2, 2005)

JoT said:


> Macs are for liberal arty and leftie types who think they are striking a blow at Microsoft ......


And I'll take that as a compliment!







Although I couldn't give a damn about Micro$oft and their software. I just don't use it.


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

A perfectly acceptable standpoint









And not at all contentious, unlike recent outbursts made in, for example, this thread where the merest mention (not even by me) of an MS product provokes exclamations such as "DO NOT USE ANYTHING BY MICROSOFT" (their capitals/shouting, not mine) along with fantastic conspiracy theories about USA Govt. sponsored plots to conquer planet earth







Well OK, history shows that we've pretty much all had our goes at running the world at some point. Maybe it's the USA's turn at the helm; get over it!









There's also an accusation in that thread that Microsoft software is "very badly made". Well, for certain people out there who claim to work in the software industry, write something better then! Seriously, if you can do that I'll be your first customer. I'll even invest money it. This time next year we'll be billionaires!










Anyway, as I hope you will see, I am not anti-Apple at all and would happily recommend their products for certain uses. But some people are clearly anti-Microsoft and will attempt to muddy their name in the most outrageous ways given the slightest opportunity.

I suggest that you don't take anyone's opinion (incuding mine) as gospel. Like R2D2, I have "been known to make mistakes ...from time to time". Get a second opinion, then get a third


----------



## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)




----------

