Technology Thread.

[Burnden Paddock]

Cheers. I suspected as much. Now, any recco's in the 300-400 region? The last one was Dell which only cost me 60 in cash via a great deal on tesco club card points. Such deals are now a thing of the past.

I use it mainly for documents, music and photos with a bit of forumming thrown in, so no great technical requirements. I also use it for study, so an iPad is out of the question really.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Personally I'd just get a new one if you have the cash. You get a lot more laptop for your money than 4 years ago and if you only use it for run of the mill stuff (Internet, documents etc) then 300-400 quid will get you something decent enough. Get something with 4gb RAM as less can be a pain in the arse somethimes. It would likely come with Windows 8, so install Classic Shell or Start8 to save you chucking it against the wall

Agreed. A new (and better) laptop will likely cost little more than the cost of having a new motherboard installed - possibly less.

agreed that a new one is a better bet - but he's already been told the replacement is £100 - and the first suggestion is to spend £300-£400

so - it's not gonna cost little more, possibly less! it's gonna cost 3 or 4 times as much!

Sorry, I wasn't aware that a ton meant specifically a hundred quid - I assumed a ton of something meant A LOT. Over here replacement of a four year old motherboard - if such is still made - tends to cost more that a new pc when Labour is added in. Sorry I am not up in the local idioms.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Seeking the definition of a ton of money, google tells me the following:

Financial Lingo, Buzzword
Dictionary Says
Definition of 'A Ton Of Money'
A slang term used to describe a significant amount of money. The amount implied typically depends on the person, company or situation.

Investopedia Says

Investopedia explains 'A Ton Of Money'
We may all have a different idea of what constitutes a "ton of money", but according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a ton of $1 bills amounts to $908,000 - nearly $1 million!

If you're talking about a ton of coins, then it's a different story - a ton of quarters is worth $40,000, and one ton of pennies (363,000 pennies to be exact) is worth $3,630.

So we need to know what BP's idea of a ton of money is before we can comment on repair versus new purchase.

[thebish]

Personally I'd just get a new one if you have the cash. You get a lot more laptop for your money than 4 years ago and if you only use it for run of the mill stuff (Internet, documents etc) then 300-400 quid will get you something decent enough. Get something with 4gb RAM as less can be a pain in the arse somethimes. It would likely come with Windows 8, so install Classic Shell or Start8 to save you chucking it against the wall

Agreed. A new (and better) laptop will likely cost little more than the cost of having a new motherboard installed - possibly less.

agreed that a new one is a better bet - but he's already been told the replacement is £100 - and the first suggestion is to spend £300-£400

so - it's not gonna cost little more, possibly less! it's gonna cost 3 or 4 times as much!

Sorry, I wasn't aware that a ton meant specifically a hundred quid - I assumed a ton of something meant A LOT. Over here replacement of a four year old motherboard - if such is still made - tends to cost more that a new pc when Labour is added in. Sorry I am not up in the local idioms.

a grand = £1000
a monkey = £500
a ton = £100
a pony = £25

[thebish]

Seeking the definition of a ton of money, google tells me the following:

y'see - there's your problem, right there!

[Montreal Wanderer]

Seeking the definition of a ton of money, google tells me the following:

y'see - there's your problem, right there!

Possibly, but when someone tells me I am wrong I look things up so I won't make the same mistake again (assuming I remember). Here, there is support for my view but none so far beyond your assertion for yours. I even went so far as to serarch - "ton of money" definition uk - and found it used in the genral sense I though. Since we have cursed Project Mangers I was amused by the following:

What do you do when you have a great idea? You know how to save your company a ton of money or you've thought of a way to really improve a product. The problem is that you know that you have a great idea, but no-one else does. And you can't convert this idea into reality by yourself. You need resources. You need money. You feel that you need permission. What do you do?

From the 'Role of the Project Manager', at http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/role-of-t ... nager.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is true I may look things up too often for some tastes, but then I don't always think I'm right. I do accept the fact that ton can be used for 100 pounds, but not that it is an exclusive use.

[thebish]

what??? are you joking here?? surely you are!!

paddock didn't say it would cost a "ton of money" - he said it would cost a ton.

a ton is £100

there is no other answer!!

[Bruce Rioja]

what??? are you joking here?? surely you are!!

paddock didn't say it would cost a "ton of money" - he said it would cost a ton.

a ton is £100

there is no other answer!!

He also said that it would cost "about a ton". He didn't mean that it'd cost the approximate value of a ton weights worth of USD's now, did he?!

A ton often refers to the figure 100, Monty, as in - 'doing the/a ton' in motoring terms means travelling at 100 mph.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Cheers. I suspected as much. Now, any recco's in the 300-400 region? The last one was Dell which only cost me 60 in cash via a great deal on tesco club card points. Such deals are now a thing of the past.

I use it mainly for documents, music and photos with a bit of forumming thrown in, so no great technical requirements. I also use it for study, so an iPad is out of the question really.

If you want nowt fancy then this will do an adequate job of every day stuff - http://www.ebuyer.com/569134-hp-255-laptop-h6e10ea-abu - 260GBP

A bit better with USB 3, better cache etc (plus ASUS make decent kit) - http://www.ebuyer.com/538431-asus-x550c ... 0ca-xo086h - 330GBP

I've not looked extensively, but either of those would be decent enough I reckon. The ASUS one a bit better, but if want to go as cheap as possible, the HP would be fine.

[thebish]

[Burnden Paddock]

Feck me! What have I started? Monty, I did mean £100 but you weren't to know what I intended.

Thanks AT. I'll check those out.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Feck me! What have I started? Monty, I did mean £100 but you weren't to know what I intended.

Thanks AT. I'll check those out.

Not to worry - I failed to understand the local slang - happens with some frequency. The important thing is to make the right decision re the laptop.

[Burnden Paddock]

http://www.very.co.uk/packard-bell-easy ... 9821782914" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any good? Bottom end I know, but worth it just for a bit of forumming, music and study?

[a1]

the specs on that asus one with it being an i3 cpu (rather than say a celeron one) look pretty decent.

although theres less ram and the hard drive is kinda teeny compared to the others, the battery looks kinda 'weak' too. might be a 'last years stock' one.

all probably have their pro and cons.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

http://www.very.co.uk/packard-bell-easy ... 9821782914

Any good? Bottom end I know, but worth it just for a bit of forumming, music and study?

Perfectly fine laptop for what you want. I'd prefer the better processor on the Asus though as it is easier to add a bit of extra storage than improving processors. A bit like getting a car with a bit more zip but shit boot space, rather than a more basic car with a big boot.

[Prufrock]

Get the sports car and stick a roof-rack on it!

[Burnden Paddock]

http://www.very.co.uk/packard-bell-easy ... 9821782914

Any good? Bottom end I know, but worth it just for a bit of forumming, music and study?

Perfectly fine laptop for what you want. I'd prefer the better processor on the Asus though as it is easier to add a bit of extra storage than improving processors. A bit like getting a car with a bit more zip but shit boot space, rather than a more basic car with a big boot.

Cheers AT. Not a clue what i'm looking for in terms of a processor tbh. As if you hadn't guessed. Is a dual core processor better?

http://www.very.co.uk/packard-bell-easy ... 273855.prd

Edit - Just realised it's out of stock. Bollox.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

http://www.very.co.uk/packard-bell-easy ... 9821782914

Any good? Bottom end I know, but worth it just for a bit of forumming, music and study?

Perfectly fine laptop for what you want. I'd prefer the better processor on the Asus though as it is easier to add a bit of extra storage than improving processors. A bit like getting a car with a bit more zip but shit boot space, rather than a more basic car with a big boot.

Cheers AT. Not a clue what i'm looking for in terms of a processor tbh. As if you hadn't guessed. Is a dual core processor better?

http://www.very.co.uk/packard-bell-easy ... 273855.prd

Edit - Just realised it's out of stock. Bollox.

As a general rule dual core is better than single core. Quad core better still. You also get i3, i5 and i7. I wont go all techie explaining it, but if for your budget you can get i3 with 4gb or more RAM then go for it - you're getting reasonable processor power, with a reasonable amount of RAM. Nice and balanced.

Generally speaking you wont find a good deal with the likes of very.co.uk. You might get some sort of clearance bargain, but generally you'll find better deals on Ebuyer, maybe Amazon and the likes of scan.co.uk.

[IggyTheDawgster]

Personally wouldn't be buying a laptop for that sort of money with anything less than an i5 quad core in this day and age, At least-LEAST 4gb RAM, With programs moving up to 64bit at a rapid increase you're going to need that extra memory and processing power.

If you can stump up the extra £60 BP this will last you a hell of a lot longer in the long run and be a lot more capable than the Packard Bell.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-acer ... in-8-64bit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Bear in mind BP is using it for looking at photos and the Internet. Nothing fancy needed for that and that isn't likely to change for the realistic life of the laptop.