Laptop help

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I've worked on two Acers that were good just bad LCD screen(can be a fault but this Acer laptop was 2 years old) or broken by user. What kind of hardware issues anyways?
 
Grayfox
One or two good Acers in the world does not make them good.

I do work as a techy in a store that sells PCs and we get Acers coming in a lot for hardware issues.
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I can vouch for problems with Acer as well. Among hardware issues, they also have some pretty stupid software issues, which is why I wouldn't recommend them. Because honestly.. Why do you need to partition half the harddrive and not put anything on it? Oh right.. To screw over the consumer when they manage to cap that partition and the computer wants to implode on itself.

Bloatware too.. Bloatware that rivals Spyware in annoyance.
 
Grayfox
One or two good Acers in the world does not make them good.

I do work as a techy in a store that sells PCs and we get Acers coming in a lot for hardware issues.
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I've had mine for 4 years and there have been no hardware issues.

The nature of the store you work in means you will get a lot of people coming in with hardware issues, and i'm fairly certain it won't just be Acer. The fact Acer is one of the most common laptops out there, and the fact Dell (One of the most if not the most common brand of laptop) usually have warranties that involve them sending out a technician rather than you mailing yours out or getting it collected, it means you probably don't get a lot of those. Sony, Samsung etc. will be less common as they are usually at a higher pricepoint and hence have better quality components (Just as a similarly priced Acer would).

bergauk
I can vouch for problems with Acer as well. Among hardware issues, they also have some pretty stupid software issues, which is why I wouldn't recommend them. Because honestly.. Why do you need to partition half the harddrive and not put anything on it? Oh right.. To screw over the consumer when they manage to cap that partition and the computer wants to implode on itself.

Bloatware too.. Bloatware that rivals Spyware in annoyance.
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Grayfox
It has the worst thing possible when you first boot it up.

Do you want to activate Mcaffes?.


Umm.. NO! I want it off.
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I do agree with these, Acers come bundled with stupid amounts of bloatware and they partition the harddrive needlessly. But, is there any places that sell 'OEM' laptops with no bloatware at all?

Even though i've never had any problems, I probably wouldn't recommend an Acer, they tend to cater for the lower end of the market and it shows. The failure rate is still very low for components, most failures are down to user negligence.
 
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Seismica
have warranties that involve them sending out a technician rather than you mailing yours out or getting it collected, it means you probably don't get a lot of those.
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Customers bring it back with the believe I bought it here so it is store warranty.

And to let you know, Acer does not send a technician out but you have to send it to Acer.
 
Laptop have warranties with the manufacturer. Most store warranties are 30 day or 90 day. If it is a 1 year plan from the store then it's just an extra cost. That's the way it works in America.
 
The customer is just stupid.
We do have a DOA policy of 14 days.

But the customer just doesn't want to deal with it so they bring it back and say I got it from here so it is your warranty.

We do offer an extended warranty when buying a new PC which I do recommend to anyone buying a PC.
 
Grayfox
The customer is just stupid.
We do have a DOA policy of 14 days.

But the customer just doesn't want to deal with it so they bring it back and say I got it from here so it is your warranty.

We do offer an extended warranty when buying a new PC which I do recommend to anyone buying a PC.
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I would recommend one as well if you're a refutable store. Manufacturer warranty claims often take somewhere in the area of a month or more for the problem to be fixed.

I recall sending an old HP laptop we had in for repair of numerous things, and even recall telling them exactly what needed to be replaced. It took roughly a month, and when we got it back, nothing else but the AC jack had been replaced, even though they were told to replace the fan and a few other things as well.

Getting a store warranty where they repair the unit in house, means that if something isn't done up to snuff when you get it back, you can talk to them face to face. Unlike with a manufacturer, you can't walk up to the Acer repair facility and tell them that they did it wrong.
 
Here

It takes 2-4 weeks for a warranty repair(Acer take 2x longer and it may get lost)
The extended warranty is not ours but we sell it.

Acer may even refuse to do a warranty work if the PC has dust inside, but if it has dust inside how can the customer clean it when Acer say if you remove this sticker your warranty is void.
 
Ah.... Change of plan for the laptop.

Still on the lookout for one, but waiting for the January sales (for January, not now) to see if there are better pricing for a laptop for around 400 quid.

I do not mind if the laptop is netbook sized (less screen is fine for more portability), so that may widen the field a little bit.

Additional question, does the AMD A3850 chip with the embedded graphics come on any reasonably priced laptop that is relatively quick? While the laptop would mainly be used for web surfing and word processing/spreadsheet work, it would also be used for media (HD films) and causal Steam games.

I just basically want a reasonably good laptop that is able to play some games, view HD content easily without stuttering and have a good battery life. Screen size isn't too much of an issue.
 
The A8 is not in your price bracket. Best to look for a laptop with an A4 processor. They are dual core apu's with good enough graphics to play a game like Trackmania 2 with no trouble or Crysis 2 at a decent frame rate at low details. It's not the best but you can't say it's the worst at your 400 pound price bracket. A laptop with an A4 APU would have the cpu processor you would need and balanced with decent graphics for the price.

You can consider this laptop if you can increase your budget by 70 pounds. For the extra you get a Quad core, better graphics, more ram, and a larger hard drive. It's pretty much the best I've seen looking around for 15 minutes that is slightly over your budget but it would be decent to use.
 
Submerged
Ah.... Change of plan for the laptop.

Still on the lookout for one, but waiting for the January sales (for January, not now) to see if there are better pricing for a laptop for around 400 quid.

I do not mind if the laptop is netbook sized (less screen is fine for more portability), so that may widen the field a little bit.

Additional question, does the AMD A3850 chip with the embedded graphics come on any reasonably priced laptop that is relatively quick? While the laptop would mainly be used for web surfing and word processing/spreadsheet work, it would also be used for media (HD films) and causal Steam games.

I just basically want a reasonably good laptop that is able to play some games, view HD content easily without stuttering and have a good battery life. Screen size isn't too much of an issue.
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See if you can find one of these on your European computer websites. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101259

I'm not very familiar with the sites that you guys have, but if you can find one of these you should be good to go. It even fits in your 400 pound budget.
 
Problem is that people in the UK has to deal with VAT and we can get away with no sales tax or very little compared to the cost in UK. I did a quick google in google UK and that laptop does not show up on any UK websites.

Edit: Here is an laptop from a UK site for 399.99 pounds and you can reserve it at a local store to save shipping costs.
 
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nick09
Problem is that people in the UK has to deal with VAT and we can get away with no sales tax or very little compared to the cost in UK. I did a quick google in google UK and that laptop does not show up on any UK websites.

Edit: Here is an laptop from a UK site for 399.99 pounds and you can reserve it at a local store to save shipping costs.
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Do you have to pull this crap all the time? It's really annoying.
How is yours any different? Does it include VAT in the price? Or are you just assuming.



Can't you ever just say something in a non-condescending way? I'm just trying to help out. I'm also trying to point out that the A8 is available in his price bracket if he knows how to find it. I have no knowledge of the UK internet shops unfortunately but I am checking manufacturer sites at the moment to find the comparable product to what I posted.


UK Web design is awful by the way. I feel sorry for those of you who have to navigate these websites.
 
The price does include the VAT. I was just answering your question when you asked if they could find that model in the UK.
 
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/HP_Pavilion_g7-1204sa_Grey_Windows_7_Laptop_QH951EA/version.asp (hope the link works)
showimage.aspx


Would anyone think that this is a relatively good price for that laptop?

I had been trying to look for a specific AMD A-series laptop and happened to come across this for about 450 quid. Its not an ideal price, but it is the A-6 (3400) series which has four cores clocked slower than the dual cores... whether there would be a series improvement, I doubt it. It does have 6GB memory which wasn't really what I needed as such (my desktop only has 4GB and that's plenty).

There is this Thinkpad for 414 smackers:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Lenovo_Thinkpad_Edge_E525_Windows_7_Laptop__NZ62JUK/version.asp
showimage.aspx


Which has the A-6 series (3400, basically the bottom of the A-6 series) with 4GB RAM instead of the 6GB lappy. However it is more reasonably priced. And Thinkpads are generally robust. Although I'm not sure if that's actually a 4:3 ratio or a widescreen TFT.

Thoughts?

And also other suggestions?
 
The nipple on the Thinkpad isn't to my liking... and I can't find out if its 4:3 or 16:9/16:10 ratio....

Presumably you're saying the Thinkpad will last or the processor is ideal?
 
Well, Thinkpads are almost indestructable, my teacher has a 13 year old IBM Thinkpad. Still works like a beast. Everything is functional, no repairs have ever been needed. Also, you don't really need more than 4GB RAM, unless if you're putting lots of load onthe computer with things like 3D modeling, heavy gaming, or insane (and I mean.. INSANE) multitasking. Also, Thinkpads have a light on the I on te exterior where it says "Thinkpad" that lights up red :P
 
NissanSkylineN1
Well, Thinkpads are almost indestructable, my teacher has a 13 year old IBM Thinkpad. Still works like a beast. Everything is functional, no repairs have ever been needed. Also, you don't really need more than 4GB RAM, unless if you're putting lots of load onthe computer with things like 3D modeling, heavy gaming, or insane (and I mean.. INSANE) multitasking. Also, Thinkpads have a light on the I on te exterior where it says "Thinkpad" that lights up red :P
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This. Thinkpad is one of, if not one of the most well known names when it comes to tough notebooks. The Thinkpad should also be widescreen though. Screen Resolution would seem to indicate that.
 
Well, does a lower clock speed for a quad core is slower than for a higher clocked dual core?

To me, there would be a difference, but I am guessing it wouldn't be noticable unless you were benchmarking it heavily day after day
 
Well in a sense if you use many programs at the same time then it would be recommended to get the quad core. Though if you use only a few programs, like for example only a web browser and iTunes, then you could consider the dual core computer. As for a laptop you've linked to I would buy the Thinkpad even if it's slower in terms of the memory and the smaller hard drive space. The A6 CPU is actually faster than the dual core computer I found. So I say, get it!
 
Only slight problem with the website...

They don't quote the VAT until you've put it in the basket. So its pretty much out of budget anyway!

Damn. Time to search again and double check the VAT prices as well.

At least I kinda have a target to aim for. I have noticed that most AMD processor laptops only really use the A6-3400M and A4-3300M model number, which looking at the AMD website is the bottom of the pile... but they do have some bizarre stats on the higher ones for some strange reason (such as slightly lower clock speed or different GPU clocks, guessing its for heat production and energy saving).

Additionally, some websites doesn't seem to be quoting the correct specifications for some laptops either! Kinda important thing to get right, one would have thought. Anyone has any other websites that would be reasonably priced and give good, correct specifications for laptops that one is trying to buy?

Now, I have come across some Tri core processors and some Phenom II quad core processors as well, but presumably there would be disadvantages with those (disregarding price, which should be cheaper) as one would have to triple check the graphical unit supplied with them?
 
I looked at the cart and they just throw in extras you don't need! You remove the three extras and it's back down to the 415 pound price and the standard shipping is 5 pounds both including the VAT!
 
Ah, so it does.

I failed to read the basket price properly as it wasn't particularly clear how they were pricing things. Must have been a bit lazy with my eyes!
 
Would you want a 17.3" screen laptop?

Don't know if this link will work: Link

It is about twice as powerful as that laptop above in regards to gaming. Higher resolution screen too.
 
Can't see the link.

But a 17.3 inch screen wouldn't be comfortable for me to use as I view a 15.6 inch or less best for a laptop.

A 17.3 inch laptop, you might as well get a desktop as you wouldn't really wanna lug that around everywhere, would you?
 

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