A new laptop is needed by the domestic manager. I am loath to recommend anything for fear of getting into trouble but this one from dabs @£350 offers a lot.
Fujitsu LIFEBOOK AH531 Core i3-2310M 4Gb RAM 500GB HDD W7HP
Any good ? Any advice gladly accepted.
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More than powerful enough my only concerns would be build quality. Not seen enough Fujitsus to really comment, but the ones I have seen were falling apart but the sample size I get to repair is too low to comment and they were all 2006 era laptops. Things change.
If it is to be used on a desk then it will be fine, but if it is going to be moved a lot then I am not sure how well the plastics will take to the abuse from my experience with the brand.
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...Any good ?...
Good as any in that price range.
From what I can gather, Fujitsus don't come with lots of pre-installed garbage programmes, which is good.
And they come with Windows recovery discs, which I don't think all do these days.
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>>My answer, as always, is stick with a lenovo,<<
+1
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>> My answer, as always, is stick with a lenovo,
>>
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I'm afraid the woefully unreliable T43s at work put me off that approach. OK ancient history now in PC terms.
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>> And they come with Windows recovery discs, which I don't think all do these days.
>>
I know it's not really the same, but the first thing Win7 nags you to do when using a system for the first time is to create a backup system disk, and it keeps doing this until you create one.
I was pleasantly surprised when the last desktop I bought from Dell came with a proper Windows install disk and a reasonably crap free HDD, maybe this was a result up buying through the 'small business' portal rather than the 'home' one, although I'm not a small business. Couldn't see anything in the T&Cs to prevent me doing that.
Returning to topic, how about:-
tinyurl.com/cjsj585
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Another consideration is a separate number pad.
Some have them, some don't.
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OK - we'll take a look at Lenovo. Interesting about Fujitsu possible build quality issue.
Is it worth getting i3 over a dualcore processor ? Is 2GB enough or will we want 4GB?
As you can see I know nothing.
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You need to tell us what you expect the Laptop to achieve, or what you plan to use it for.
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It's not for me but the requirements are light: replacement for aged desktop machine so ability to link to a bigger screen and keyboard might be handy. Also, wireless internet surfing, link to wired and soon a wireless printer, downloading podcasts, synching to iPod, saving photos but not manipulating them, backing up/saving to DVD. MS Word and Powerpoint. I doubt if more than one thing will be running at any time. Number pad is not needed.
It will probably travel from upstairs to downstairs but never leave the house. Battery life and weight are not relevant as we'll probably get a netbook for foreign travels. A decent warranty would help and it would be good to be "future proof" so it can last a good while.
Money is not a huge issue but £300 to £400 seems about right and fashion is not a consideration.
The intended user can be demanding and I don't want to get into trouble. If it was for me I'd probably get a refurbished one from Morgan, but this one must be new.
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Podcasts, iPod, money not a huge issue.
You know what I'm going to say, but a Mac would be a real treat purchase.
The operating environment for a casual user is a joy in itself, and you can get Word for Mac.
No nagging for updates, either.
The Mac downloads them once in a while without you realising it, and then asks if you want to install them.
I've never had any glitches, hangs or bother with my Mac, but lots of the above with my two Windows machines.
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>>
>> The Mac downloads them once in a while without you realising it, and then asks
>> if you want to install them.
>>
Without wishing to start round 56899876745 of the OS wars, any Windows machine XP onwards can be set up to handle updates that way.
So, judging by the intended uses, pretty much anything goes.
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This Lenovo @ £350 from Amazon ?
Lenovo B570 15.6 inch Notebook (Intel Pentium B940 2.0GHz, RAM 4GB, HDD 500GB, DVDRW, WLAN, Fingerprint, Windows 7 Hopme Premium 64-bit) - Black
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I had a Fujitsu at home - cheapish one about 3 years ago. Good performance, but packed up after a couple of years so as Rattle suggests I think the quality is dubious. Replaced with a Sony Vaio - very slow, loads of carp software added on - would not buy again and TBH quite dissapointed.
Mrs B has a Lenovo. Its a nice red one :-) seriously though its a sort of hybrid between a laptop and netbook - performance is OK, light and battery life is brilliant, but the most outstanding feature is the build quality. The cover is a sort of machined aluminium as is the surrounds around the keyboard - it just manages to feel really solid and special.
Tempted to have an accident with the vaio resulting in replacement....
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...Lenovo B570 15.6 inch Notebook (Intel Pentium B940 2.0GHz, RAM 4GB, HDD 500GB, DVDRW, WLAN, Fingerprint, Windows 7 Hopme Premium 64-bit) - Black...
Saveonlaptops have the same machine for the same price with the slightly upgraded 2.1GHz B950 processor.
Doubt it would make much difference in use.
www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_B570_1116385.html
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Do make sure your it has a Sandybridge processor, as the difference between performance of the previous core duo in these is dramatic especially if the internet connections is 20mbs or greater.
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New laptop needed - RattleandSmoke
