We've had several Toshiba laptops come back from schools, all massive problems!

Some of our Dells are electrocuting people, some of our HPs are losing their wifi as the connection in the hinge for the screen is terrible...

Most of the components such as mobos are generic A-side used in many different brands. In most cases they're branded so you won't know easily.

IIRC acer and dell (might be Toshiba) use the same mobos. Most brands don't even design or build them themselves. Like phones, the big Chinese firms do that and simply stick a big brands name on them.

It's good to see that PC's / Laptops have the usual failings. Everyone has either had a good one or a bloomin’ awful one. So they rank up there with Cars :-) It is either the best one you've ever had, or the devil in disguise. So Jim H as you can see, the best thing is to buy something that you are happy with. Personally, I’d buy a PC, not a laptop. Tower systems are easier to upgrade, cheaper to repair and less likely to be dropped. Some people must have some bad laptops, as compiling and running large SQL db’s hasn’t set any of my laptops alight or electrocute me yet J, if it did I’d have the manufacturer in court faster than the plastic melted. I’m not a Mac fan, but that’s just me! Many people love the Macs, but my job hasn’t any exposure to them, and when I get home, bar looking at BRISkoda, I don’t want to see another PC, Server, Laptop, and Smart Phone. So, pick a laptop with good sound long battery and good graphics and plenty of processing / memory power, and you’ll probably be fine. I won’t mention any makes, as everyone have their favourites.

Edited 27 November, 201114 yr by Deneo

I've recently bought a Lenovo G570 (they used to make the laptops for IBM). It's very good for the money and seems to have good battery life and a very good spec See here Amazon have them reasonably cheap at the moment.

Thanks all for the advice.

I agree, if I'd bought a desktop 3 years ago, I'd probably been able to repair it. It's very difficult t repair Laptop. However, I don't the space in my bedroom for a tower, monitor, speakers, etc, hence I want a Laptop.

I was thinking of one of the Acer Aspire range as 2 years ago we bought for my mothers 60th Birthday and she loves it. However the battery now lasts only half an hour (or less) on full charge and the buttons for the mouse pad have worn out (she now uses a small mouse).

Jim - does she have it constantly on charge?

Jim - does she have it constantly on charge?

Most laptops switch off charging these days buddy, so when full, it won't damage the battery :-)

Edited 27 November, 201114 yr by Deneo

Actually the battery is a good point and a bad point on my Acer Timeline, as it has phenomenal battery life :( but a la Apple, the battery is not a clip out type :(

Jim - does she have it constantly on charge?

I don't think she used to. I think she used it on battery until the warning symbol came on then charge it. Now it only lasts half an hour, I think (but not sure) she uses it plugged in all the time. The battery on her Acer laptop can be easily replaced as it just unclips at the back.

My old laptop had the opposite problem. I left it for about 3-6 months with the battery totally flat (the power socket bust) after I got it repaired and I tried it, the battery wouldn't charge at all.

Edited 27 November, 201114 yr by Jim H

What Laptop have just announced their award winners. This linky might be a little help in your decision making?

What Laptop have just announced their award winners. This linky might be a little help in your decision making?

Nicely done Amanda, people really should keep up to date on current information.

Seems to me it is a bit like people who knock Skoda's because of their past reputation.

And what is what laptop based on? Can't possibly be on durability or reliability.

Much better getting reviews off people and websites that do long term reviews.

Its the same as how the likes of fiat etc get car of the year awards. Nothing about the most important things you look for.

Seems to me it is a bit like people who knock Skoda's because of their past reputation.

And what is what laptop based on? Can't possibly be on durability or reliability.

Much better getting reviews off people and websites that do long term reviews.

That would be me then. I currently have 2 x Acers, both have had hard use and many many hours of work time and out of the 8 Laptops I have owned they have been the best in price, reliability and battery life. My Envy 17 is still my true love, but it's not exactly portable, more 'transportable' to my eyes:D

In fact, here is my first Acer from 3 1/2 years ago. Still going strong and sat next to me

Look at post #26 and a few picture down

Edited 28 November, 201114 yr by Lady Elanore

In fact, here is my first Acer from 3 1/2 years ago. Still going strong and sat next to me

Look at post #26 and a few picture down

Actually i know someone who has got that one and it has been ok (had to rebuild a couple of times due to the dodgy sites she must click on though )

Can't say the same about any other Acers though i am afraid in my experience. The Extensa(?) iirc is the worst model i have come across.

I have never come across a bad Dell though. In my office at one of the schools i go to is about 4 Dell D505's which are about 6-7 years old and are literally bullet (kid) proof....they still work, still hold charge but 256mb Ram just doesn't cut it nowadays so have been resigned to the shelf of doom!

Although we haven't had a long period of having Acers (probably about 3 years until the schools realised they weren't as good as Dell or HP) I have to say that surprisingly the most number of support calls we make are to Lenovo. Motherboards, Motherboards, Hard Drives, Motherboards and more motherboards! I make at least 3 calls a week to them along with the other 40 people in our desktop support team, i would imagine that it is quite a high failure rate. Saying that my Lenovo R61 lasted me 3 years with no problems and hopefully my T420 will last the same.....and our ones get a fair bit of abuse out on the road and running multiple VM's.

My old Sony AR41S blew up its motherboard when under warranty, which was not too bad, but when it went again at about 3 year old I was quoted nearly £800 from a couple of reputable fixers. They reckoned the board is quite specific to that model with it's BluRay burner, TV tuner etc.

Edited 28 November, 201114 yr by Lady Elanore

And what is what laptop based on? Can't possibly be on durability or reliability.

Much better getting reviews off people and websites that do long term reviews.

Its the same as how the likes of fiat etc get car of the year awards. Nothing about the most important things you look for.

That would also be ME who has 2 Acers and has had no problems whatsoever with either of them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The screen (or Graphics card) of my 3½/4 year old Laptop has bust and now it's out of warranty, I think there's no point in repairing it. So I am in the market for a 15" Laptop for a budget of £500. I will use it mostly for surfing the net and watch the occasional DVD. A decent sized hard drive would be nice and good battery life (over 2 hours per charge).

So what do you recommend I buy?

Highly recommend Asus Laptop .. check out their website www.asuslaptop.co.uk

laptops with i5 processor, 8GB ram for around 450

windows based laptops are rubbish. Either get a mac or a hacintosh

Is this any good? http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Laptops/buy-SAMSUNG-NP300E7A-A03UK-Laptop/767980#product_desciption

Not sure if the processor is any good, as not into intel myself.

EDIT - seems upto I5 standards. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Pentium-B940-Notebook-Processor.52440.0.html

I looked at this thread as I was thinking about getting a laptop to replace my ageing and ailing PC. This thread has been of NO HELP WHATSOEVER

loskie - read through the thread again, but skip over posts that jrw has made, and you'll get a better consensus!

loskie - read through the thread again, but skip over posts that jrw has made, and you'll get a better consensus!

Yes sorry what would i know? I only have experience of pretty much every make of laptop over the last 6 years but don't listen to me, listen to the people that have had just one or 2 not 10000 plus....

I'm was making a funny, chillax