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#11
Hi there
Go for an INTEL rather than an AMD one -- you should go for a minimum of 8GB RAM and an i5 (preferably at 2.0G or higher).
For portability I'd go for the smaller screens such as 14 inch --the 17 inch screen monsters are really HIDEOUS to carry around. You can always plug the smaller screen laptops into an external monitor.
HP have some passable laptops as do lenovo --Touch screens on a laptop is a personal choice -- I wouldn't bother with them - makes the laptop HEAVIER and more expensive.
Also in the UK unless you want to collect the computer IMMEDIATELY I'd AVOID CURRY's / PC WORLD / DIXON's (all the same chain).
Get an SSD if you can.
I know this is the W7 Forum - so I hesitate in this piece of advice - but good though it is unless you particularly NEED W7 such as for compatibilty with some work applications install W8.1 update 1 --it's a lot better than the original W8 and W9 (coming shortly or W8.1 update 2) should bring menu back etc.
W8.1 update1 now boots by default direct to desktop so you don't have to bother with the new GUI if you don't want to.
Cheers
jimbo
I've had two Acer netbooks, an Acer desktop, and Acer keyboard, and an Acer mouse. All but the keyboard were pure garbage (I know more accurate words to describe them but Mama told me not to use those words); the keyboard, at best, was meh.
Strangely (or maybe not) I've had the exact opposite experience with Acer stuff in the 8-10 years I've been using them.
Both my desktop machines (P4 2.8Ghz) and both laptops are Acers, and I've not had a bit of trouble with any of them, although none are 'entry-level' cheapies, in fact this Sandy-Bridge i7 Quad-core laptop was top of the range when purchased two years ago and can still kick a lot of more 'modern' machines to the kerb.
The first P4 had an iffy DVD-RW drive from new (it would read, but not write), it was replaced under warranty without question while I waited. So I don't consider that an issue, really.
And I've found Acer's driver support to be second to none.
I'd happily buy another, and have no hesitation in recommending them to others.
Wenda.
My first Acer netbook died one month out of warranty; the second was still in warranty when it died but I was so disgusted with Acer by then, I replaced it with an Asus. Both Acer netbooks had problems with keyboard bounce shortly after I got them.
The Acer desktop was frequently breaking down once the warranty was up. The PSU was too small to allow me to add a second HDD even though there was room for one. Even the case design was poor. Air flow was hampered by the front panel, probably one reason it ate HDDs (although the first HDD was one of the now infamous Seagate 7200.11s). HDDs and the optical drive could only have mounting screws installed on one side. While probably not a problem, it just seemed cheap to me. The optical drive frequently acted up. The RAM failed shortly out of warranty.
The dial-up modem failed after two years. I got cable internet shortly after that.
The idiots who designed the MOBO (Acer brand) and case had four USB ports on the back and four on the front. How many people need that many ports on the front? I didn't and I did need more ports on the back. Even stupider was the computer had two PS/2 ports and it shipped with a USB mouse and a USB keyboard that ate up two of the four rear USB ports. After getting frustrated with the stupid mouse (that didn't take long) and having to snake a couple of USB cables to the front ports (which just looked tacky), I replaced the Acer mouse and keyboard with the PS/2 mouse and keyboard from my seven year old Gateway. I later replaced them with a wireless keyboard and mouse that I could run off a micro USB receiver in a front USB port (I had plenty to choose from!).
The mouse was useless. It's flimsy construction had me "palm clicking" frequently; the right and left click buttons would be activated just by the weight of my palm on the top of the mouse. I've owned many mice and that was the only one I ever had problems like that.
Geez, you did get a couple of lemons, didn't you?
As I said, we seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum with our experiences. My oldest is a T310 desktop from 2004 (the one that had the iffy DVD burner) and it's still going strong running XP Home. It's in pretty-much standard configuration. The other desktop is an SA10 from 2005, it runs Vista and controls my printer/scanner etc. It has five HDDs in it, and I run various other OSes off it in that way, by simply swapping drive cables.
Neither of the laptops (5yo AS5735 running Win 7 Ultimate 32-bit, and this one with Win 8.1 and all the VM OSes) have ever given a hint of trouble, although this one does get very warm on the (rare) occasions when it's working hard.
I do have to agree with you re their mice and keyboards... not the greatest, I replaced them early in the piece, the desktops now share a wireless keyboard and mouse. My laptop keyboards/touch-pads are excellent. This one can even be removed and used as a remote when using the machine as a media center.
Not trying to convert you to them or anything, just saying... :)
Wenda.