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Which laptop to go for?

Maybe have a look at UK Laptops too, they sell refurbished dell laptops.

Here is a description of what they class as refurbished.

What is Refurbished
When you purchase a "Refurbished" laptop this does not generally mean it is second-hand, old or repaired.

Where do we get our Laptops from?

The majority of Dell products are sold by mail order, of which some items are returned. The reason for returns can be varied - maybe the packaging gets damaged during transit, or the customer changes his mind. Any items returned to Dell are not resold as new, but get supplied to companies indirectly such as ourselves, or sold in the Dell Factory Outlet.

Why do Dell sell on these Laptops?

The Dell Factory Outlet will generally only sell items that have been returned unopened, or products damaged during their own production process. It is not cost effective for them to test and inspect every returned item, so many of these get sold onto resellers such as UK Laptops.

What is the Refurbishment Process?

Every laptop undergoes a thorough inspection that covers both functional and cosmetic checks. Hardware is tested to make sure CPU, memory, graphics and hard drive are functioning and then subjected to a 48 hour test. Any cosmetic damage is recorded and corrected where possible. When our laptops are listed for sale, any issues are clearly stated such as cosmetic scratches and scuffs or damaged casings. Finally, the software is reset to a factory supplied state, and the item repackaged ready for sale.

Please Note:

The specification that we list may differ from the original Dell specification, because this machine is refurbished.



Why buy a refurbished laptop?
Buying a refurbished laptop will save you a lot of money when compared to new. Some of our laptops sell for over 60% less than an equivalent new Dell.

Many of our laptops are current models, so it is easy to compare like for like prices.





What is in the box
Most laptops will come in an original Dell box and all will include a new Dell power supply.

You can download manuals free of charge from the Dell website.


Here a link to the 10 inch sreen laptops they have at the moment.

http://www.uklaptops.co.uk/shop/Dell_Inspiron_Mini_10_Netbooks_Laptop_uk.html

Cheers Gordon.
 
Hey rawr. Im glad I could help you understand some of the technical thingies. I forgot to add that nowadays the reason processors havent kept increasing in Ghz is because now they make them more efficient at the same speed i.e. a 2 Ghz Pentium 3 would be slower than a 2 Ghz Pentium 4 and so on. It doesnt just depend on the processor efficiency because the supporting hardware like RAM and the motherboard, etc have also become faster. That said, even though the Atom is a new chip, a 1.6 Ghz Atom is not as fast a previous gen Core2Duo at 1.6 Ghz from 2 years ago. It is mainly designed for low power and low cost computers like netbooks.

That said a netbook is still decent for stuff like browsing the net, music, etc. If you are happy with the small screen and portability then go for it. As you mentioned, most of them have more or less the same specs and you can always get an external drive. Upgrading the RAM to 2 GB is also really easy.

The reason I recommended the Samsung is because they have the best battery life among all the netbooks. 5-6 hrs vs 3 hrs in most others. If you are planning on buying a netbook the get this one.

If you can hold off then wait until Win 7 releases. It is much better and also optimised to work with netbooks and has the same or better performance on a netbook as XP. Vista on a netbook wil be slow as hell and just piss you off to no end.

Also keep in mind that since netbooks have become "cool", their prices have increased in general. Unless you absolutely need your laptop to be tiny, then I would suggest getting a normal sized, better equipped notebook for the same price.

If this is going to be your primary computer then dont buy a netbook. The screen size and small keyboard are not good for more than an hour or two of use. The netbook a mainly a secondary system to use on the go for a bit of light computing.
 
Thanks Clark and Binky for the info, I'll check them out!

Mortis, many thanks again for your helpful advice. I understand what you're saying about windows 7, and I don't necessarily need to get a new laptop too soon but am reluctant to hold off just to wait for Windows 7. After all, Vista is newer than XP and all of the netbooks are still using XP so I doubt they will change to 7 immediately. Although I've heard good things about it, I haven't used it myself either so dont' know how I feel about it.

I understand what you're saying about the issue of 'primary computer' etc. That's the only thing I'm worried about - it getting annoying or maybe not being able to cope with everything etc. Like I said, I won't be getting it until a few weeks time so I'll look into other options.

Thanks again guys 🙂
 
Hi, Win 7 releases on the 22nd of October. There shouldnt be a problem getting netbooks with Win 7 then because Microsoft did have netbooks and their increasing popularity in mind when designing the new windows mainly because current netbooks cannot run Vista and XP is the only windows that runs on a netbook and Microsoft has been trying to 'kill' XP for a while now by stopping support, etc since the past couple of years but havent managed to get rid of it completely cos of netbooks. Thats why they made Win 7 so netbook friendly.

If you buy a new netbook, your choices are XP and Win 7 only. Just pretend that Vista doesnt exist 😀
If you decide to buy a normal notebook then you could get Vista but try and get Win 7 it is just a realy good OS. Ive been using the Win 7 beta on my little ION nettop and its great so far.
 
Thanks once again Mortis, much appreciated - you definatly are the computer whiz! 🙂 I'm going to wait a while anyway, so see what's going on at the time of purchase but chances are I'll get Windows 7.

I went to PC World after work today and had a look at the netbooks. I don't know what I was expecting but they are so small! I guess I'll get used to it because my now 17" laptop seemed massive compared to the 15" I had before, so same principle here. I was really impressed with them though, same as a normal laptop as far as I could tell except a scaled down version!
 
Hi Thomas,

maybe worth doing a google search for Dell discount codes for laptops, just check expiry dates though. I used one when i bought a new Dell pc, and saved around 10-15%, just entered the code at the checkout and Hey presto. 😉
 
Please don't buy a Dell laptop.

They have a poorly designed power adapter design that has caused many people no end of trouble. Their support and service is appauling and fob you off with new power adapters that they know aren't going to last long and if you are out of warranty then you are screwed as the only real fix is a new main board. Even then these have failed within a short space of time. It is down to pot luck though with many people never having a problem but far far too many do get this particular problem. I would never buy a laptop from Dell.

For the techies here's a bit of info on it - http://www.laptop-junction.com/toast/content/dell-ac-power-adapter-id-chip-died

This only applies to laptops. Desktop PC's are fine.

James
 
Really? I looked at a few websites and spoke to a few people I know with Dell laptops and got quite good feedback.

LIke I said, we used to have a Dell PC that was absoloute crap but since then I thought they seemed to have cleaned up their act.

Thanks for letting me know anyway James, I'll keep looking around for other options anyway. 🙂
 
It's just my opinion though. I've worked with loads of laptops for years and you get a feel for them. Even the best ones have faults like HP's bending ones that freeze up due to poorly designed main boards. There will always be 'lemons' and you take your chances. What you don't want is a company that fobs you off until a warranty runs out so they don't have to fix it. But if you don't have problems then Dells work great.

James
 
No, cheers James I value your opinion and everyone elses! I'd rather people told me their experiences to help me choose the best option, especially when they're as experienced as you. I understand about what you're saying about 'lemons' but too many lemons and it's too sour. 😛 I'll keep looking anyway, thanks again.
 
Hi just a suggestion, you could register on the notebookreview.com forums and post your requirements in the 'which laptop to buy' section. It is the biggest notebook website/forum on the net and there are lots of helpful people. They should help you get what you're looking for.
 
Mortis said:
Hi just a suggestion, you could register on the notebookreview.com forums and post your requirements in the 'which laptop to buy' section. It is the biggest notebook website/forum on the net and there are lots of helpful people. They should help you get what you're looking for.
Click to expand...
That's a great idea. I've posted on there in the past and it's full of some very knowledgeable people.

James
 
At my company we used to buy Toshibas and I can only say great things about them, but they can be a bit pricier so we moved to something else, we tried HP for a while and they were pants, we have now been using Dells for about 3 years and they are great and also we get good support from Dell. I have a little D420 with a 12" screen and I love it, great laptop that has never given me any problems, I run 5 OSs on it Windows XP standard, Windows XP Enterprise, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux, all selectable at startup and it runs all with great speed, Windows 7 being my favourite.

You should have a look at ebuyer, they always have great deals on which you can't usually beat anywhere else, I buy all my stuff from them and always get good service.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?page=1&sto ... ice=499.99

Good luck with your choice 🙂
 
Toshibas are my choice at the moment and are what I buy at work for everyone. I used to buy HP but am not so happy with them anymore. Gone downhill since the good old Compaq days.

James
 
Cheers guys, I have to say I'm also very impressed with the Toshiba laptop that I currently have. It's still going strong (well, apart from a great big crack across the screen that you can't even notice, and dirt everywhere :lol: ) after a year and a half. Had a few minor problems when first got it but that was due to me pissing around with it. It's a great laptop.
 
I posted on that forum, but not much luck...

I'm thinking of maybe getting a slightly larger laptop. They're not as small, lightweight or flash as the smaller ones but more value for money. Just one more question:

What's the difference between Celeron and Pendium processors? I've always had the impression Pentiums are better?

Cheers all 🙂
 
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