Which laptop? urgent!

[phillipa.d]

Hi guys,

The dog knocked the laptop off the arm of the chair yesterday, and the screen is smashed, so I need a new one, and pronto!

Which are the makes to go for/avoid? Can anyone advise the best machine to have, as cheap as possible bearing in mind it is only two paydays to Christmas!? Looking around I see Toshiba doing one for under £400, then others such as emachines and acers, which are names i haven\'t ever come across.

Will appreciate any advice!
TIA

pips
x

[daffy654]

Acer are a pretty good make,as are Dell,Samsung,Toshiba etc. It all depends on what you need the laptop for as to what anyone could recommend.

[phillipa.d]

yes, realised i should have mentioned what is was going to be used for! It was daughters laptop, but has become a member of the family, and we are all going to be lost without it!!

Main use is internet! but daughter also likes to play sims, so netbook would not be suitable! A friend has recently bought toshiba, and is lovely looking machine, but u say acer are ok too??

We were planning on buying her a new laptop for christmas anyway, she wants a pink dell one, which is another reason i do not want to pay too much for one now! buy cant see ME being able to wait until christmas!!

[vascop]

Look at reviews on here
http://www.techradar.com

[daffy654]

My stepson has an Acer laptop and plays Sims 2 as well as other games on it. If you can find one that has dedicated graphics rather than onboard it would be better. You also need a decent speed processor and a good size harddrive.
Did you know that Tesco sell laptops much cheaper than most of the high street stores?

http://direct.tesco.com/homepage/computingphones.aspx

[ChuckFickens]

Depending on how old the laptop is then I would be tempted to get a couple of quotes for replacing the screen before rushing out to buy a new laptop, I typically pay about 100-120 quid for a replacement screen in a laptop.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=laptop+screen+repair&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[SKA]

I have a Tosh I love it my mum has an Acer I hate it, mainly because you can't play DVDs on it using Windows Media Player and have to use their Arcade thingy bob.
Things like that might be small but I hate having to learn how to use something new!!
I'm currently on a cheap E.system one and I dont know why but it's really hard to type on it I make loads of typos and the cursor just jumps to text goes in the wrong place!!

[phillipa.d]

hmm mixed reviews on acers there then... but thanks for all replies. Interesting bit about graphics. So i ask for " dedicated graphics not on board"?? She had to have new graphics card put in laptop before because it didnt show the background properly when she played SIMS.

Have looked at Tesco, comet, currys, pc world and argos to far... lots of them offering recon machines, but nearly as dear as new... dont want to spend upwards of £100 for screen as lappie v old and has keys missing, etc,so prob false economy... Mother suggested house insurance clam, tbh i never even thought of it, and by the time you ring and spend hours on the phone, pay the excess, premium goes up next year, fill out forms and wait 2 weeks, and get told where you can shop.... id rather just fork out !!!

but thanks for input...
xx

[fo3nix]

Get this laptop:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169123

I agree with many of the above about brands. This is a good value laptop, and will play Sims 2 and many other things fine. eBuyer are also a decent website to buy from. They also ship very quickly!

[tamborine]

Buy a desktop or get rid of the dog

[phillipa.d]

thank you!

pip x

[phillipa.d]

sorry tamborine, only just saw your answer! desktop is in dining room, buti like to use lappie in cozy living room with tv in background.. dog is deffo staying, it was my fault for a) encouraging her on the furniture, and b) winding her up in the first place so she was jumping aroud!!

Will i never learn!!??

:)