Laptop for my daughter

[cisamcgu]

Friends:

We are planning on getting a laptop for my daughter. Nothing fancy; just for doing homework, browsing the internet and other light weight tasks - no video processing or heavy duty games.

Dell Inspiron :
Intel Celeron 900(2.20GHz,800MHz,1MB, Memory : 3072MB (1x1024 + 1x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
320GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
£329

or

same computer but withIntel® Pentium® Processor T4500 (2.30 GHz, 800 MHz, 1MB)
£369

or

well, this is the problem, there seem to be hundreds of laptops and all seem the same to me. Does anyone have any advice or other options ?

 

[Piemaster]

Friends:
well, this is the problem, there seem to be hundreds of laptops and all seem the same to me. Does anyone have any advice or other options ?

I know what you mean having just gone through the same process to buy 2 laptops for my kids. Seemed to spend hours on it looking at sub £400 laptops and ended up buying a couple of Acers. The 2 your're looking at are similar. Requirements for me were 15" screen, 3Gb ram and 250 to 320 Gb hard drive - which is what you have above. Really can't help as to which the better processor is though.

 

[2Loose]

The more expensive is the better processor, but as you won't be doing any cpu heavy tasks such as video processing or gaming, then you'd never notice the difference

 

[cisamcgu]

acer £299

or

toshiba £299

or

Compaq £349

So many ... Ahhhhh

 

[cisamcgu]

Maybe I need to change my question.

Assuming I want to spend less than £350, what makes of laptops are best i.e. what are the differences in build quality, software, support ?


Thanks
Andrew

 

[gbb]

Can't really recommend which one, but here what i've found with our last couple of laptops...
Dell Studio, dual core processor. Worked flawlessly for the last year. No issues other than we've noticed the screen doesn't lay flat anymore when closed. It looks like the hingle on one side has been strained. Possibly my fault, there's been times when iv'e picked it up one handed from one side. It may have twisted something.

Acer...cant remember which model. We brought one from PC World, it had keys that were flat on the top but almost like a table. Difficult to explain, but you could get your fingernail under the keys. We had a key that kept coming off and regularly had a problem with keys not working. We took it back pronto and got the Dell.

For the most part, i think they're much of a muchness, especially given your'e not doing anything spectacular on one.

 

[cisamcgu]

Hmmmmmm......

Acer aspire

this was also recommended - better processor, larger memory, bigger disk - so should have a longer useful life ?

 

[twowheelsgood]

Don't worry about the CPU, these are all variants of the same core duo processor.

Look for a notebook with a half decent graphic chipset. i.e. one that supports video acceleration. This is more important for general use than absolute CPu performance. Especially so now flash video is hardware supported.

 

[ian turner]

Half decent graphics chipset would push it well over the £350 limit which dictates a standard mobile chipset.
My two year old laptop is good enough for watching iplayer stuff on and that's just an ATI express 1150 or such like.

 

[biggs682]

if somebody offered me a laptop for step daughter i would snap there hands off and so would her mum some days

 

[Proto]

I went through the same exercise a few weeks back, buying a laptop for my daughter. I looked at loads, and all the budget ones looked and felt a bit, er, cheap and nasty. I ended up spending a little bit more and bought a Lenovo Z650

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/227402

Much better quality and 'feel' than the usual suspects. Highly recommended. Mine was a bit cheaper as it was ex-demo.

I'd buy another tomorrow (and with three daughters I might have to!)

 

[crazy580]

Stay away from acer, had one for about a year, then it died.

 

[ian turner]

Stay away from acer, had one for about a year, then it died.

Had one for over three years.
It's still working.
Maybe they should buy one.

 

[Over The Hill]

My kids have stolen my netbook, which is a cheap avent job. It is doing all they are throwing at it. Kids seem to go on and watch TV on it. I think the days are gone when the processor could not cope with the info flying through it so I would not worry about that side too much.

All I would look at is-
Portability- where will it be taken? If just around the house then bigger is OK, if out and about then a smaller and lighter netbook may be better.
Battery life- some are still very short. Again depends on use.
Keyboard - some keys are really rubbish to use. I touch type and have problems with flat keyboards.
Ergonomics - I rarely use the netbook as I like to sit comfortably and look at the screen as on my desktop. Kids being hunched over a laptop for a long time may give them problems.
Coolness - Kids are very label sensative. Get a brand they think is OK. They may not want it if it is seen as cheapo by their friends.

 

[cisamcgu]

Thanks for all your replies, they are gratefully appreciated. I think I will close my eyes and pick one at random

Again - thanks !

Andrew