Boombang Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 I currently have a old HP Compaq (at the time was mid-range), been thinking about replacement for a year or so as noticed it creaking a bit. It's an AMD Turion 64 X2 running at 2.00 GHz with 2GB ram (no idea of ram speed), 140GB hard drive, OS is Vista. Took it back to factory spec a short time ago, helped a bit but performance still lacking. What I want: to spend under £500 as much performance as I can get 15"+ screen decent size keyboard (proper keys) to be able to buy it locally (PC World or similar) DVD drive What I do not need/want: onboard graphics unless does not impact performance long battery life as will be used at home (but no space for a desktop PC) a particularly light laptop cannot be from Dell, refuse to deal with them based on past experience One concern is using Windows 8 without touchscreen, haven't tried it but heard it's a pain. Any advice is welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boombang Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 I don't really game btw, occasional game on World Golf Tour. What triggered this thread today was running Citrix to remote log in to work, iTunes and then IE. The computer was not at all happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onliest Smeg David Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Look at the Dell online outlet. I purchased an XPS 15", saved 30% ish. Sometimes some great bargains & the standard free on premises support that they provide is excellent in my experience. I got used to original Win8 with use, as with anything new. It can be used in desktop mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onliest Smeg David Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Oh, & do go for one with at least part SSD solid state drive. Boot up in blink of an eye or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boombang Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 I will not spend a penny on a Dell product - one bitten, twice shy! Long story short I bought a PC, it turned up broken. Spent 4 weeks trying to get a replacement (which they repeatedly failed to sort) and a further 2 months involving conversations with a Dell Board member to get a refund. They still owe me £30 to cover the repeated calls to their Indian 'Help Centre'. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boombang Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 Oh, & do go for one with at least part SSD solid state drive. Boot up in blink of an eye or two. That sounds like it's well worthwhile and something I'd really like to have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 We used to spend a lot of money with Dell for servers (about £5000 per month). No problems whatsoever once the kit was delivered. Any problems were fixed quickly. BUT, when there internal systems went wrong and a server, 30 pc's and other bits fell off a cliff they just could not sort it out. They have no internal procedure for the time between order and delivery. The stuff turned up after many days spent on the phone but it was late which screwed up the implementation plan. No good training 35 people when they have no system to practice on. We don't use them anymore. In fact we now give a spec list to new clients and let them get their own (we supplied at cost before) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onliest Smeg David Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Just goes to show how different experiences can be. Couldn't fault Dell at all in last two years. When I contacted them they gave me a freephone number. And replaced screen within 48hrs. All I know who have dealt with high street/retail park chains have regretted it come issues resolution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 onliest, we spoke direct to the factory in Ireland. I could get to speak to a human but she just couldn't get anyone to see what had happened to our order. She could see it on the computer but had no progress. After delivery service was, as you say, very good. Not sure if you're aware but Dell do not build for stock only to order. You place your order and their syetm orders all the internal components like mother board, disk and memory. This way they never have out-of-date machine in stock. I suspect they were held up for a component on our order but it would be nice to be told. Now, where have I heard that before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boombang Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 In my case it was down to lack of Customer Service and training - it was some years ago and the Director promised me he would ensure that their service improved, which it may have done. Still remains though that even if their product was the best and cheapest I wouldn't buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Podmore Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 2nd the advice to get an SSD, the speed is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boombang Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 How much do you have to spend to get that though? My worry is a lot of the cheap laptops do not appear to be significantly better than what I have now (on paper). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Look at the Dell online outlet. I purchased an XPS 15", saved 30% ish. Agree with Smeg - bought my current laptop from dell outlet. No complaints, refurbished with 12 month warranty at a third of the cost new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_l Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Have become a big fan of the Samsung laptops , been using a number of them for some years, proving to be quite robust and performance is still good (i3 , 6Gb, 750Gb) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibby Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 How much do you have to spend to get that though? My worry is a lot of the cheap laptops do not appear to be significantly better than what I have now (on paper). Why not upgrade the current one with an SSD hard drive and pack as much RAM in as it will take? Probably cost you £100 and will quicken it up for what you want to do. If you really have to buy a whole new laptop. PC Specialist on the net give you the option of picking things including the operating system. Your contradiction is buying local and not wanting Windows 8. If you buy from a big retailer like PC World will sell you what they have on the shelf with no flexibility over whether you want Windows 8 or not. You get what you're given Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.