Right, so I am after a 17 laptop.  Will be scanning the jan sales for a bargain.  

Can you recommend me somewhere other than the below, that you would recommend, or would be your first choice for a laptop purchase.

Alternatively, if you can find me a cracking deal on a 17 laptop for under £500, that would be very much appreciated.

ebuyer, comet, pcworld

 

dell

these days, dell every time right from low end to the very highest high end

Dell.


As long as your happy that if you need their technical support youll get an untrained monkey defecating on your keyboard.....



Personally I stick to HP laptops. I tend to buy through BT shop (Dabs) or PC World - however Im told laptopsdirect.co.uk are very good.

Acer. my sis has one and its good. Therefore theyre all awesome..

/Comet did the best high street deals last time I looked but it depends on your budget. I wouldnt get a toshiba but anything else is apples n apples really unless youre talking serious money.

Id look for best screen quality and keyboard/touchpad feel over make or model.

edit: if you buy from a shop you can haggle, especially if you got two or three shops next to each other.

HP or Acer for me, dont like the dell stuff

Cheers guys.  Think I am going to have a look at getting a HP one.  I have been setting up a 14 widescreen one for my wifes parents and the screen is really lovely, has a gloss black finish to it.   Bizarrely, Comet was the best price for spec/machine out of anywhere online I could find.  Even better than ebuyer for the same machine.  I guess these high street stores have lowered prices as they want to compete with the online market.

Will have a look at the laptopsdirect.co.uk link, cheers Riv  

Dell.

Just about every single one that has been through my work places doors has never come back to us.  That includes the Lattitdue and lovelly new Vostro range.

If you are leaning that way then go for a HP.  Where I used to work we had more HP machines out than any other make, and less problems with them.  The Dell and Tosh machines where a complete PITA.  IIRC we had about 700 laptops out, and 500 of them where HPs.  When you got a call for a lappy the usual fault detailed problems with a Tosh or a Dell.

The Dells of 2 years ago would be weaker than the HPs but not since they took alienware etc.

Right now Dell absolutely own the laptop market.  Its just advice and memories of people using the old gen stuff thats holding them back.  Since aquiring alienware and some system companies theyve basically started putting high end architectures and better PCBs throughout the range and just swapping the processors etc.  Most other manufacturers use cheaper systems as well as the feature items.  Dell dont appear to be doing this anymore.  Never fear - Dell will find a way to start putting propriatary connectors on everything and blow it but until they do theyre pretty much untouchable.

HPs a great alternative tho

I really hate my acer, built quality is crappy.

Every Toshiba laptop ive had (only 2) or used has been really nice.

But for value dell is good. Acer may beat them on price but imo they are lower quality.

Dell all the way.  We have dozens at work - all rock-solid, pretty much faultless and can take some hard knocks.

Quote from: SteveFThe Dells of 2 years ago would be weaker than the HPs but not since they took alienware etc.

Right now Dell absolutely own the laptop market.  Its just advice and memories of people using the old gen stuff thats holding them back.  Since aquiring alienware and some system companies theyve basically started putting high end architectures and better PCBs throughout the range and just swapping the processors etc.  Most other manufacturers use cheaper systems as well as the feature items.  Dell dont appear to be doing this anymore.  Never fear - Dell will find a way to start putting propriatary connectors on everything and blow it but until they do theyre pretty much untouchable.

HPs a great alternative tho

Dell own the laptop market?  odd that they are a definate 3rd in sales behind HP and Acer.  HP have a very solid lead when you look at the sales figures, with Acer the 2nd higest seller when you bring all their brands together, and Dell trailing in 3rd and being threatened by Tosh.  The Dells i was dealing with where all less than 12 months old, and this was up to 3 months ago when i changed jobs.  the HPs where most 2 or 3 years old, but then they started to get HP again because the fail rate ont he Dell machiens was too high.

Steve I hope your right!! Dell just won our tender for pc supplier for the next year (against my recommendation but then I fully admit its based on the last 5 years worth of Dell not the new stuff). I am open minded though so if Dell do the business then fair play. I guarentee their tech support is still sh*t though.....

Mind you I have to be impressed because our last deal (Acer) was just absolutely beyond a joke. We sent more back than we kept!! Im sure theyre great for home users but our sales force cant stand them.  

Dell = good products, sh*te service if something goes wrong.

Acer = not very good for some reason. Possibly because they are cheap?

IBM/Lenovo = good quality and usually service but more expensive. Excellent keyboards on average.

HP = seems adequate all round.