SWMBO's old (over 6 years) Toshiba laptop has been spluttering the last few weeks, with random total lock-ups and odd lines across the screen. I suspect that overheating has taken its toll. I did a fresh install of Windows XP - no change: I did a restoration of a hard disc image - no change.
Bearing in mind that XP support is on the way out (or already out) and that a repair would certainly cost a bob or two, I looked around for a cheap basic laptop and found what I thought was not a bad deal at PC World! A Lenovo Basic.
tinyurl.com/892yogu
We duly trotted off and bought it and I have been happily engaged in fettling it to our needs most of the late afternoon & evening.
I think we paid over £350 six years ago for the Toshiba which had 512Mb of RAM and a 40GB hard disc - both upgraded over the years, but it does bring home the fall in price of basic machines as the Lenovo we bought has 6GB of RAM and a 320 GB Hard Disc, Windows7, facial recognition "password" and a built in webcam. No "free" software, no internet security, no MS Office on it, I was told (it did have a Kaspersky trial), but who needs fancy paid for stuff with Open Office, Windows Firewall (might install [free] Private Firewall later)and Microsoft Security Essentials for nowt, all perfectly OK for a low risk surfer!
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Leclerc is doing a similar laptop this week with Windows 7 Premium (whatever that is) for 299 euros - about 250 pounds at the moment if you pay with a UK card. Of course, being France, you only get one year guarantee.
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I'm guessing that AMD CPU isn't the most powerful, but it still looks like a bargain Roger - nice one.
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Could have got a further 1.5% with quidco. www.quidco.co.uk.
Looks a good buy either way.
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Isn't MS Office starter edition installed? Unless you're into really involved Excel and Word use, I've found them OK - the "adverts" are unobtrusive.
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Nope - we use Open Office any case!
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Its about time you changed to Libre Office then.
Its the same as Open, but I think Open isn't being updated now.
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I put our 5+ year old Toshiba laptop (FUD, with either a duff screen or graphics card) on fleabay, starting at £0.99, no reserve and for spares or repair and I was, as they say, gob-smacked (horrid word) to sell it for £42 + a tenner postage.
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"Its about time you changed to Libre Office then."
Open office still exists as Apache Open Office - it all got complicated!
techcrunch.com/2011/10/07/libreoffice-and-openoffice-org-one-year-after-the-schism/
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>> Isn't MS Office starter edition installed? Unless you're into really involved Excel and Word use,
>> I've found them OK - the "adverts" are unobtrusive.
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Most recent Win7 machines, including my Lenovo Z570, include the installer for Office starter. Whilst wild horses wouldn't drag me to use it when I have a choice, it's useful as a docx viewer at least, I've found OO and LO do screw up on docx conversion now and again.
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A distress purchase! - Mike Hannon
