But I will add, and back up Marowaks suggestions. Now days it's not about lots of different systems, it's all about compatibility and multimedia. Decide how and what you want from your system. Do you want it to just browse the internet while lounging on the sofa then you can't go too wrong with an ipad. Need to be able to connect it up to your tv and watch iplayer, maybe consider getting a new dvd player that has internet connectivity already as it would be cheaper. Need all of the above + office, then consider a laptop or mac. Do you have iphones, the cloud and itunes match? Maybe carry on with i products, (after all that what they want you to do), so you can stream music all round your house, or wherever you are. The home entertainment genre is changing dramatically now, it's no longer good enough to have something that only does one job, they need to be easily connected, multi tasking and media rich...after all if you are going to spend a fair chunk of money on something make sure it does what you need and won't be out of date in a few weeks...
Acer for me too - cheap ans cheerful and nothing's gone wrong 18 months later. Of course the battery is now next to useless, but they all do that don't they?
Thanks again. So if I don't expect it to last more than a few years I won't go too far wrong with a bit of research. I hear what the Mac people are saying but we've not got i anything Our tv is an all singing internet connected one so we don't need the new thing to cope with streaming. I need it to work from home, general surfing, occasional word and excel use, managing our photos, and loading mp3s onto our player for the van. We are so old school that we still buy CDs and only ever download the occasional track. Skype is also needed I think what I need to know is are brands like hp, Samsung, Sony, fell worth it at the low end of the market or are asus or Acer better bets I'm starting to get my head around chips (i3 or 5 should be what I'm going for right?)
yeah zed my battery is about u/s now too, jen at the end of the day £350 is not a lot of cash for 2 years anyway, think about how much petrol you use in 6 months as a comparrison..... i've had my acer since nov 2010 and it was £349 i reckon it's a fair price, i had my beetle 6 months and put £700 in petrol in it....
To be honest, if you're not doing much 'intensive work' on it, ie graphical design, data streaming, massive processing programs etc then i3 or i5 ram, processor, graphics chip really doesn't matter too much these days... My suggestion is make sure it's 64bit, has windows 7, (although if you can wait a few months 8 will be out), more than 3gb ram and 2.blah ghz + processor you won't be disappointed. Something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/322069-acer-travelmate-5744-laptop-lx-v5m02-029 shouldn't do you wrong...
You should easily be able to get something for your needs for £350 Jen. I3 ,I5 or even core 2 duo would be well suitable ,just dont get celeron ,get centrino This is a bargain by the way ,theres nothing wrong with AMD plus the keyboard is brilliant ,like a new sony vaio http://www.coopelectricalshop.co.uk/Samsung-NP-RV515-S01UK-Laptop-Starter-Kit-Includes-Bag-Mouse-and-Panda-2012/id-SAM-KIT-RV515BUNDLE_PANDA
EDIT - Congi got inbetween my posts, this refers to my previous post... or for a few quid more http://www.ebuyer.com/320877-acer-aspire-5749-laptop-lx-rr702-075 Better processor, lots more ram and bigger hard drive... If you imagine all laptops are like a basic campervan. It costs anyone who makes one the same for the metal, nuts and bolts. The difference in cost comes with going 1600 stock vs 3.2 Porche engines, original westy interior vs home made interior made from cheap ply...etc etc...
Thanks all - some good stuff to get me started! I'm not expecting all singing and dancing for the money - I just don't want something that will die in 6 months or to pay for something that is style over substance. In the next house we will get a proper desktop sorted out...
Do not buy Acer! Their cooling is renowned for being pants, and that is important. Asus are good builds. Whatever you buy expect the battery not to last. Don't get windows 8 unless you have touch screen or like rubbish operating systems. It is a new vista.
I'm with Maro. A Mac is expensive initially but will last 5 times longer and be 10 times less frustrating and will do 100 times more stuff than a 'windoze' lappy can do. Over the long term the macbook will be cheaper and less frustrating and you will look sexier, get more friends and your skin will glow with a greater vibrancy. Its true. Everything is getting 'connected' and Apple does 'connected' with aplomb. So much so you can forget it. Honestly Ive gotten so much less IT knowledge since using Macs since i never have to fix them when they break. I now use the extra space freed up in my brain for thinking about other stuff. Like breathing and growing my hair.
My brother bought a mac 6 years ago, ok he has had to change the battery but other than that has never had any problems.
