Be quick if you need a decent laptop

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treefrog
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Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by treefrog »

Now planning my being out of work, needed to get my first computer/laptop, having used work related items for 20 years.......John Lewis have a cracking deal on at the moment a very high spec machine which when went on sale on the 27th, sold out within hours.....they have just restocked online, so be quick......a Samsung with the latest Intel chipset the i7, 8gb memory and 1Tb hard drive for £499......other stores are selling this for over £700, someone is selling a second hand one on Gumtree for £630

http://www.johnlewis.com/231740124/Prod ... =7x1382772
raj
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by raj »

Having recently gone down that 3rd age route, (life after work), I would not dream of spending a wedge on a fast depreciating new top end computer, when well under £150 will get you a reasonable spec recon model with 3 months warranty and a tried and tested operating system (Amazon).
Don't get me wrong, I had a Samsung laptop until recently, when SWSBO'd !!RANT!! made a snide remark, and it hit the wall rather hard and broke the screen (£100 + repair option, I don't think so).
Stripped out the hard drive, sold the rest for spares (£70) and bought a hard drive carrier (£1.99) to plug into my old handbuilt desktop PC and hey presto, another few years of life in it.
You will have plenty of time to fiddle with it !!JUNK!! and download Opensource freeware and antivirus, plus you won't be tempted to buy additional warranty, and no one will want to steal it!
Unless of course you really need all the bells and whistles !PARTY!
Just think how much cash you will left to buy more slots which should go UP in value. !!CHEERS!!
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treefrog
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by treefrog »

Raj, ordinarily I would agree and was thinking of a budget around £300 to £350, which buys an Ok machine, but I live on my computer and will use it even more to develop some websites I am working on and for career development. I guess one has to consider a level of future proofing, as if you buy a standard Pentium processor machine or AMD equivalent, with 4GB of memory, you will soon find certain applications running slow over the next few years. I run a machine of that specification now and need something quicker. Windows 8 is great and even better if you can use true 64 operation, which this machine will do it will really use the capability of the processors now being produced. In 5 years time this machine will still be performing well, whereas buying a cheap option now, perhaps would not be the case and would need an upgrade, I guess that is the reason for my logic. This is top spec for a low price, although may not be the right machine if your a big gamer as the graphics card is not the fastest out there, but again will need to pay a lot more
raj
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by raj »

go for it Treefrog, if it fulfils your requirements; Samsung don't usually give any decent software, or time limited special pay extra editions. John Lewis 2 year warranty is very good however. I suspect the secondhand seller might have one on retainer and may not actually own the machine yet ( another trick you get to learn when funds are tight!) SkEpTiCaL

I remember having to scale down my expectations when I retired early ( with no payoff) :shock: ; my new Mondeo estate became a second hand Astra, and the cruise turned into a weekend at Leamington Spa ( to keep the SLOT theme alive, Mr Moderator) :burp: . Trips to the tip become an event to bring stuff home!
It's still the best thing I ever did though. !!YABBADABBA!!
pennymachines
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by pennymachines »

raj wrote: (to keep the SLOT theme alive, Mr Moderator)
No need, dear boy.

I've saved a few quid by never buying a laptop - at least, not for myself!
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nobby.pennytoy
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by nobby.pennytoy »

Cheers treefrog just ordered mine !!THUMBSX2!!
raj
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by raj »

now here's the thing, having spouted on about making my old desktop last for years, on Jan1st Microsoft kindly let me know that the XP OS was 'probably not genuine' , after 5 trouble free years, and I had 28 days to buy another version. Not willing to pay blackmail, nor potentially lose my only computer, I decided to buy a Fujitsu AH512 Intel Pentium B960 4GB/500GBHDMI Win8 Laptop from DABS, for just £269 delivered. ( now £299, I'm afraid). Anyway, arrived a couple of days, later, fantastic piece of kit, well specced & screwed together. The MASSIVE downside is the Windows 8 software, :dammit: which is now current, designed by a 2 year old and about as user friendly as Bryans Bullion mech ( the dubious SLOT connection, in case you wondered!).
So, my New Year tip, for those with new toys, is to type START8 in a search engine, which will bring up links to a free program which will undo all the Win8 crap and turn it back into an XP looking system, so you can actually use your computer without the need to ask a small child how it works. !!IDEA!!
If anyone does not believe how crap Win8 is, !!JUNK!! visit PC World & have a look. It might be ok on a touch screen, but not a lot of use on a laptop or desktop.
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operator bell
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by operator bell »

raj wrote:now here's the thing, having spouted on about making my old desktop last for years, on Jan1st Microsoft kindly let me know that the XP OS was 'probably not genuine' , after 5 trouble free years, and I had 28 days to buy another version.
You were probably infected with the "Windows Genuine Advantage" virus, which Microsoft tries to foist on people from time to time on patch Tuesdays. The warning is a hoax and can be safely ignored, though it does get annoying after a while. There are tools on the Internet to remove it.
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Re: Be quick if you need a decent laptop

Post by raj »

cheers, my man, I'll have a go at that once I've cleared all the new s**t from my new computer eg Norton, some 'free' DVD burning stuff and MS Office rubbish, and of course, Window 8 !!JUNK!!
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