Laptop Emergency!! HELP

[paradidle]

Ok, Im a spoilt student that has been blessed with a student loan. yay. I have a spare £600. Lucky me.
Now as some of you money analysists may know, the current exchange rate for the Pound against the Dollar is now at a peak, I think its $1.80 to the pound.

Now, Do I take my chances on something like Ebay and getsomething like:

Sony Vivo? (something like this)

P4 2.8 533fsb
512ram pc2100
40G HD
Ati Mobilty Radeon (64mb shared)
....and all the usual bits n bobs

all this for around $900 which works out at about £500. First hand of course. It says these things come with international warranty.

Now the thing is, if something does happen, like something is faulty, its gonna be a ball ache to get fixed. Plus I'd be buying off a stranger in a different country forget ratings lol.

Or:

Get a laptop from my cousins firm for £600 atm. But I think the laptop wont include such gooder agp card nor processor and half the RAM...
However, if something does go wrong, I send it straight back and get it replaced within a week, no charge of course. Plus i will feel confident it will work



Opinions please !

[DeludedGuy]

Forget eBay, and forget the laptop, just build yourself a nice reliable system!

A laptop offers poor performance for the money you spend.

[Shorty]

Get one from your cousins work

Here's why the US EBAY thing is a bad bad idea.

1) When your US laptop arrives from the US, it will be charged import duty by customs & excise. I know someone else who thought the same idea as you. £1000 laptop and then had to find an additional £300 duty when it arrived. Beware, they won't accept a new laptop as a £30 gift and they will check.

2) It breaks, you cry and you have to ship it to the US. Nice and expensive shipping. It gets repaired, it arrives back here. Could be weeks before it does turn back up... if it turns back up. Lurvely fun when someone loses your precious part (I had a 9700pro lost by US shipping ).

May seem like a great idea on the surface, but in truth.. its gonna cost you more all the time. Plus, USA keyboards have the " & @ keys the wrong way round.

[silent ben]

Forget the laptop, keep the money so that by the end of the year you aint selling yourself to buy food

Ben