Forgot to mention in the first splurge. Have you considered 'Managers bargains' of outdated systems from the main 'superstores' It may be worth considering a 3 year service/fixit agreement providing it will still be valid for three years from purchase, not manufacture date, and things like cracked screen, and u/s batteries or power supply, cracked or broken hinges, etc. are not excluded from the deal.
Also - wherever you buy it, do check that you, or your nearest acceptable repair shop can do things like HD change and memory upgrade on it - that is you do not have to return it to the manufacturer with a £100 upfront payment for them just to tell you how much more it will cost to add in a proprietary drive, battery etc. And - will it be possible, and cheaper to add in memory from a 3rd party source, as opposed to only being able to replace a single memory module with a larger one (256Mb back into the box, £400 1Gb module into the system till it burns itself out, and the manufacturer won't supply a replacement because that model is over 1 year old and they don't make those parts any more - no standard 3rd part modules won't fit! - well at least you'll still have that 256Mb module) Oh1 and will you want, or require a Driver CD, OS and office CD set with the system JimB ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eve Golden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 9:59 PM Subject: new laptop > Hi, folks -- > > I have to buy a new laptop, which I experience as seriously traumatic, and > I haven't seen any discussions lately of the kind of laptop I need -- the > one on Dave's problem was too short! -- so would like to run it by you all. > I am mad at Dell, and am considering boycotting them this time around, > although my mind isn't entirely made up. It's because of their service > interface and their policies, not because I don't like the computer that > Wayne picked out for me! > > My needs are simple -- top speed is not an issue (but I don't want a > Celeron chip), and neither is a megahuge hard drive, (although I'm not sure > what size makes sense for today's programs). I do need a wireless > connection and I need tons of memory, because I keep sometimes six or seven > word files open at a time, and myth to the contrary, the computer just > hates it. I have 500+ K of RAM now, and it's not enough. I'd also like to > know what people think about wide vs. regular screens. As a word person, it > seems to me that height is more important than width, but maybe that's > shortsighted. Don't know if firewire is necessary or if they all come with > it. > > I know that people in the past have thought well of HPs and IBMs, but now > that IBM is Lenovo I dunno if that still counts. I had a Fujitsu once long > ago and loved it, but haven't heard much about them recently except for > Claudia's recommendation a few weeks ago. Don't want to spend any more than > necessary. Haven't seen any reviews in mags that have addressed my needs, > so would be interested to know what people think. > > Happy you-know-what to you all. > > -- E > > -- > ---------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page? > http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html > If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- ---------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page? http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
