I am looking to buy a laptop for a child but I don't know much about them. I am currently looking at this one, could someone who knows give me their views / suggest an alternative I don't want to spend more than this.
Raggy wrote: > I am looking to buy a laptop for a child but I don't know much about > them. I am currently looking at this one, could someone who knows give > me their views / suggest an alternative I don't want to spend more than > this.
Thats your average 15.6" notebook good make though, the latest notebooks are built with ULV processors (ultra low voltage) and come with 6 or 8 cell batteries giving 5 - 8 hour battery life at the expense of some cpu performance. This sounds like what netbooks have been doing this last year or so but these ULV machines are not netbooks they are vastly more powerfull esp the dual core variants.
A child might not need 5 hour battery life so a normal non-ulv machine will probably suffice and you will struggle to find a dual core ULV machine for £ 400 inc VAT, the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810tz I ordered last week is £ 449.99 at Amazon slightly over your budget.
So it really depends what you need, do you want to follow current trends and go ULV or stick to a tradional laptop.
> Thats your average 15.6" notebook good make though, the latest notebooks > are built with ULV processors (ultra low voltage) and come with 6 or 8 > cell batteries giving 5 - 8 hour battery life at the expense of some cpu > performance. This sounds like what netbooks have been doing this last > year or so but these ULV machines are not netbooks they are vastly more > powerfull esp the dual core variants.
> A child might not need 5 hour battery life so a normal non-ulv machine > will probably suffice and you will struggle to find a dual core ULV > machine for £ 400 inc VAT, the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810tz I ordered > last week is £ 449.99 at Amazon slightly over your budget.
> So it really depends what you need, do you want to follow current trends > and go ULV or stick to a tradional laptop.
Oh and by the way most ULV machines do not have DVD Drives, this is in order to reduce weight and make the machine as slim as possible and it also conserves battery life. The exception to this rule is Dells range of ULV laptops in particular the 13 and 15" Inspiron z models.
The 11.6" Timeline 1810tz I am awaiting delivery of does not have a DVD drive, which for me is not a great loss as I never watch DVDs on my laptop and I do have an external drive to connect for those rare times when I need to install something from DVD.
On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:13:35 +0000, Raggy <Rough...@googlemail.com> wrote: >I am looking to buy a laptop for a child but I don't know much about >them. I am currently looking at this one, could someone who knows give >me their views / suggest an alternative I don't want to spend more than >this.
Probably you're spending too much if it is a child and not a teenager on the web /at college.
We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for our grand- daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are going to get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A Forbes says...
> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for our grand- > daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are going to > get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap rugged ones for their kids.
On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 14:32:24 -0000, Conor <co...@gmx.co.uk> wrote: >In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A Forbes >says...
>> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for our grand- >> daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are going to >> get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
>I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap >rugged ones for their kids.
> In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A Forbes > says...
>> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for our >> grand- >> daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are >> going to >> get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
> I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap > rugged ones for their kids.
> --
I got 2 T43's left on E bay out of 20+ I had. Item : 380166404762 & Item: 380172066509
Conor wrote: > In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A Forbes > says...
>> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for our grand- >> daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are going to >> get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
> I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap > rugged ones for their kids.
I suppose it depends on whether the OP would consider 2nd hand or not as these machines that you mention are a good couple of years old and out of date in specification that may be a factor for a teenager who wants the latest/greatest also depends how much money OP has to spend and he seems to have about £ 390 which will buy a decent brand new machine with Windows 7. If its a child of 5 years of age I do not suppose it matters.
When I sold my Toshiba A200GE-26P earlier in the year for £ 300 the buyer wanted something that was in immaculate as new condition it was a present for his daughter, it was only a year old so the specification was up to date and I restored it to as new condition with the recovery DVD, it was boxed and everything it looked new I paid £ 432 for it a year earlier and got £ 50 cashback from Toshiba.
Peter A Forbes wrote: > On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 14:32:24 -0000, Conor <co...@gmx.co.uk> wrote:
>> In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A Forbes >> says...
>>> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for our grand- >>> daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are going to >>> get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
>> I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap >> rugged ones for their kids.
> They are very good machines IMO.
Good machines but old and obselete spec not something I would want to give my 14 year old as a present to show how much I loved him.
Nick Le Lievre wrote: > Conor wrote: >> In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A >> Forbes says...
>>> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for >>> our grand- >>> daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are >>> going to >>> get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
>> I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap >> rugged ones for their kids.
> I suppose it depends on whether the OP would consider 2nd hand or not as > these machines that you mention are a good couple of years old and out > of date in specification that may be a factor for a teenager who wants > the latest/greatest also depends how much money OP has to spend and he > seems to have about £ 390 which will buy a decent brand new machine with > Windows 7. If its a child of 5 years of age I do not suppose it matters.
> When I sold my Toshiba A200GE-26P earlier in the year for £ 300 the > buyer wanted something that was in immaculate as new condition it was a > present for his daughter, it was only a year old so the specification > was up to date and I restored it to as new condition with the recovery > DVD, it was boxed and everything it looked new I paid £ 432 for it a > year earlier and got £ 50 cashback from Toshiba.
Needs to be new she's 12 so it matters big time, what about Acer?
You cannot really beat that on price, in my opinion Acer are fine I had one and had no problems with it, I do not really buy based on make as I will buy anything if its the right spec/price although I avoided Dell this time round and they were not really any cheaper in fact I got 1GB more RAM for £ 5 extra with the Acer.
>> Needs to be new she's 12 so it matters big time, what about Acer?
> Disposable?
Should really quality that - how long do you think she'll be using this machine. How is/was she with attitude to care of things expensive. Has she grasped the value of money? Is this laptop going to have studeous use or just facebook plaything. Is a decent keyboard more important than a webcam?
Acer models are good for a few things, it's just the bargain basement models will be a bit of a longevity risk. And if you are paying for a high spec CPU or graphics chipset (something for a gamer like Nick), something else has to give. There are some horrible keyboards out there.
I'd go with Dell, HP, Lenovo (my choice) or Toshiba. I'd also get on top of all the educational discounts out there for machine and software.
> Acer models are good for a few things, it's just the bargain basement > models will be a bit of a longevity risk. And if you are paying for a > high spec CPU or graphics chipset (something for a gamer like Nick), > something else has to give. There are some horrible keyboards out there.
Yeah the Acer I owned 2 years ago was not cheap it was over £ 500 and had a low performance discrete graphics card and a Core 2 Duo CPU back when Core 2 Duos in notebooks were expensive.
I am not really a gamer when it comes to notebooks as you often have to pay a fortune to get something reasonable and nowadays I much more concerned about battery life, the A200GE-26P I had earlier this year had a Radeon Mobility 2600HD which was fairly decent but I never played games on it so a bit of a waste for time for me.
The Acer Timeline 1810tz I am getting is also not a bargain basement model so should be fairly good quality wise, I did not choose Dell because they crank out machines at a rate of knots and they are rather bland.
Toshiba have always been good although the A200GE-26P was a business model so it did not have multimedia keys and was rather bland in appearance but it did not bother me.
> The Acer Timeline 1810tz I am getting is also not a bargain basement model > so should be fairly good quality wise, I did not choose Dell because they > crank out machines at a rate of knots and they are rather bland.
I'd never recommend a Dell for this reason. Dell build quality in general has gone right down the pan since they started competing on a budget, how many Dell models have NOT suffered some sort of design fault (on quite a few models, multiple design faults) that shows up after a couple of years. Like anything you get what you pay for and Dell obviously opted for volume and have been trading on the back of their previous good rep for build quality for some time now (far too long). I am just wondering when the bubble is going to burst for them.
> I'd never recommend a Dell for this reason. Dell build quality in general > has gone right down the pan since they started competing on a budget, how > many Dell models have NOT suffered some sort of design fault (on quite a few > models, multiple design faults) that shows up after a couple of years. Like > anything you get what you pay for and Dell obviously opted for volume and > have been trading on the back of their previous good rep for build quality > for some time now (far too long). I am just wondering when the bubble is > going to burst for them.
It already has for me. Its just a shame so many others are still buying from them based on past reputation.
Niel J Humphreys wrote: > I'd never recommend a Dell for this reason. Dell build quality in general > has gone right down the pan since they started competing on a budget,
So avoid their budget models?
Those would be fancy things alway below the spec and build of the Lenovo model that started this thread. Dell's offered playmates for lowend junk elsewhere. A real laptop with OS for £300 can't really be done with good components, so it's all junk down there. Almost* Guaranteed.
But equally for your valid reasons run a mile away from the Dell Vostro series on the desktop. Totally Horrid. :-(
*Then again (I'm a banana) take a look at reviews for Samsung's R519 featured recently on the Gadget Show (yes, I know.... that program is as impartial as ...)
Argos has it for £349 at the moment. Hear good things about that one even though it's got a basic spec compared with others.
> Niel J Humphreys wrote: >> I'd never recommend a Dell for this reason. Dell build quality in general >> has gone right down the pan since they started competing on a budget,
> So avoid their budget models?
It's not their budget models though (didn't say it was), their corporate machines are riddled with design faults, hate to think about the standard of their 'retail' models.
<ad...@sznzozwdzoznzczozmzpzuztzezrzs.co.uk> wrote: > "Adrian C" <em...@here.invalid> wrote in message > news:7l8lscF3d15leU1@mid.individual.net... >> Niel J Humphreys wrote: >>> I'd never recommend a Dell for this reason. Dell build quality in >>> general >>> has gone right down the pan since they started competing on a budget,
>> So avoid their budget models?
> It's not their budget models though (didn't say it was), their corporate > machines are riddled with design faults, hate to think about the > standard of > their 'retail' models.
I'm not so sure HP models are much better.
I've seen several in for repair with one or the other of these two common faults:
1) No boot - just a beep sequence Usually where the Northbridge has excessively overheated and has partially desoldered itself from the mainboard. New mainboard needed.
2)On board wireless adapted vanishes (A re-install of the driver doesn't find it either.) New mainboard or fit PC Card express Wlan card.
These faults are frequently seen on HP models having AMD cpu's
What's worse is the "over the pond" HP branch recognizes this as a problem and has websites instructing customers how to invoke and use a warranty extension to get these issues fixed. (Fear of a Class action lawsuit no doubt)
In the UK if you get the fault after 1 year's up you're stuffed. They will repair but at a cost which IMO not worthwhile. After all if it's design fault and no fix is in place, then a repair will most likely fail in the same way.
Nick Le Lievre wrote: > Peter A Forbes wrote: >> On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 14:32:24 -0000, Conor <co...@gmx.co.uk> wrote:
>>> In article <7ipte59qn6gesn7hhb7js3fpvp3rpfr...@4ax.com>, Peter A >>> Forbes says...
>>>> We are in the process of sorting out a couple of IBM Thinkpads for >>>> our grand- >>>> daughters. At least we'll know without spending too much if they are >>>> going to >>>> get any use out of them, and can always upgrade later.
>>> I've had a few enquiries for Thinkpad T42s for people wanting cheap >>> rugged ones for their kids.
>> They are very good machines IMO.
> Good machines but old and obselete spec not something I would want to > give my 14 year old as a present to show how much I loved him.
If they're just using it for web and email access then what difference does it make? If the only requirements are cheap and rugged then the fact that it's not cutting edge hardware is completely irrelevant.
On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:12:49 +0000, Nick Le Lievre
<nicklelie...@jerseymail.co.uk.invalid> wrote: >Good machines but old and obselete spec not something I would want to >give my 14 year old as a present to show how much I loved him.
Unless your 14year old is a techie whizz-kid, and used to having expensive pressies, then it is pretty much irrelevent as long as it works and does the job.
It's up to our grand daughter's parents to spend that kind of money if they want to, and I know they wouldn't for the same reasons that we wouldn't. Kids have a very short attention span, and this years presents are January's ebay sales.
Christmas is about giving, not how much you are spending.
>On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:12:49 +0000, Nick Le Lievre ><nicklelie...@jerseymail.co.uk.invalid> wrote:
>>Good machines but old and obselete spec not something I would want to >>give my 14 year old as a present to show how much I loved him.
>Unless your 14year old is a techie whizz-kid, and used to having expensive >pressies, then it is pretty much irrelevent as long as it works and does the >job.
>It's up to our grand daughter's parents to spend that kind of money if they want >to, and I know they wouldn't for the same reasons that we wouldn't. Kids have a >very short attention span, and this years presents are January's ebay sales.
>Christmas is about giving, not how much you are spending.
... and a laptop is for life, not just Christmas, you can tell 'em. ;-) -- Roger Hunt
In article <7l8lscF3d15l...@mid.individual.net>, Adrian C <em...@here.invalid> writes
>Those would be fancy things alway below the spec and build of the Lenovo >model that started this thread. Dell's offered playmates for lowend junk >elsewhere. A real laptop with OS for £300 can't really be done with good >components, so it's all junk down there. Almost* Guaranteed.
What no-one realises is that with the exception of Lenovo and Toshiba, who are trading by the skin of their teeth on their previous history of building decent machines, is that all laptops come from the exact same factory in Taiwan, regardless of whether they're Dells or Acers. So quibbling about build quality is pointless.
To the OP: basic, cheap, disposable = Acer and other cheap brands, if you want something that lasts buy a used Stinkpad or a Tosh.
In article <KZuhyoE+L+7KF...@jasper.org.uk>, Mike Tomlinson says...
> What no-one realises is that with the exception of Lenovo and Toshiba, > who are trading by the skin of their teeth on their previous history of > building decent machines, is that all laptops come from the exact same > factory in Taiwan, regardless of whether they're Dells or Acers. So > quibbling about build quality is pointless.
Lenovo's corporate range are still built to the level they used to be. Newest one I've sold is 3 months old.
But yes, many are rebadged Gericom et al. DSG's E-systems range are rebadged Asus.
Mike Tomlinson wrote: > In article <7l8lscF3d15l...@mid.individual.net>, Adrian C > <em...@here.invalid> writes
>>Those would be fancy things alway below the spec and build of the Lenovo >>model that started this thread. Dell's offered playmates for lowend junk >>elsewhere. A real laptop with OS for £300 can't really be done with good >>components, so it's all junk down there. Almost* Guaranteed.
> What no-one realises is that with the exception of Lenovo and Toshiba, > who are trading by the skin of their teeth on their previous history of > building decent machines, is that all laptops come from the exact same > factory in Taiwan, regardless of whether they're Dells or Acers. So > quibbling about build quality is pointless.
3 Factories in Taiwan to be exact - Quanta, Compal and Clevo. Usually the better kit is Quanta and the cheapest Clevo but there are some from both ends of the range from all 3 companies (Dell use both Quanta and Compal).
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