Are cheap laptops any good

[Flibb]

Hopefully this link will work, anway what you think?

Dixons Link


Basically a friend wants a cheap laptop for his kid to use, they dont have loads of spare room so want a compact PC. It will probably only rarely be used away from home, so battery life not all that important. Also it "should" only be used for school stuff not games as its for a girl. SO basically a get on the net and do some word system for £400. Is this gonna do the limited job they want?

[Spud1]

in a word - yes

my cheapo £180 p233 laptop off ebay does all that and plays a few games.

my £200 ibook does all that and more aswell

[Flibb]

The other thing I was looking at was an ebay job, but at £400 for a new machine with no battery worry am thinking new might be better.

Personally I have an old P2 with a 30gig HD in it, its used for running digital OS maps and MP3, use an older version of office and is great.

[nichomach]

To me, it looks like it'd do the job you specify; I'd say although it comes with Works, though, get OpenOffice onto it for them too. Much more powerful and flexible.

[petrefax]

cheap laptops? - my employer swears by them

the one you've posted looks fine tho, should adequately do what you've posted

[r1zeek]

get OpenOffice onto it for them too. Much more powerful and flexible.

Trouble is, even though its not much different she would need teaching on Open Office as they all use MS Office in school and it might confuse the poor lass without teaching

[nichomach]

Eek! Then they're stuck with a bill for about £100 on top of the laptop cost. Seriously though, my other half has always used MS Office, and she uses OO at home fine, without any tutoring.

[Flibb]

The school uses Works so thats not a problem. Only thing I dont like is the lack of a CDRW for backup.

So any other laptops out there with a cdrw/dvd cobo for around £500.

[nichomach]

Have a look under the "used stock" at Dabs.

[tekin]

If you want a cheap laptop then you can't get much cheaper than refurbished laptops. They tend to be ex-coporate stock that's been sold on once they upgrade all their laptops.

The only real disadvantage is that refurbished laptops tend not to hold charge for as long as new ones. But if you're only going to be using it mainly in-doors plugged into the mains, then you can't really go wrong!


Tekin
itfactory.co.uk - cheap laptops