Rose Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Dear all... hope you all had a very merry christmas! We had a great time with one little wrinkle... my son dropped my laptop [:'(] and whilst I've managed to save my data the laptop has basically had it. [:(] I've bought dell for yonks and always been happy but having read some of your threads I'm now wondering if I should go for something different. I need to run MS office and Adobe CS3 and I dont really want windows vista... anyone got any recommendations? I dont want to spend a fortune and was thinking around the £500 mark (poor little boy offered to send his bike back to help pay for it! [:(])... so, anyone have any suggestions for me?Many thanks [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugsy Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 AppleThey cost more than ordinary laptops, but if you like quality, they are superb. Solid aluminiun construction and a glass screen. Intel processors mean that you can also run windows if you want to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I'm not with you Rose, if you have been happy with Dell for yonks why change on the basis of what people on forums say in the negative. Remember you only ever hear the bad and nobody comes on eulogising about how wonderful their computer is if it's just sitting there getting on with it's job.Bugsy excepted of course, but then he's been on his own personal 'Road to Da-mac-us' [:P] [:D]If you want XP then Dell is probably the only supplier still offering it instead of Vista and if you bought Apple then not only would you have to spend more money on a copy of XP for it but also get into the geek world of Bootcamp to actually install and use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I've had a Dell for 18 months now and it runs CS3 with no problems. Am quite happy with it. Dell UK do ship to France as well so you can order an English laptop with XP on.Apple maybe better quality, but a laptop is only as good as it's first drop (as you've discovered). Also, buying a cheaper laptop means you can afford to upgrade in a couple of years time too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Signs are that there will be some real bargains this year in the January Sales in France. The sales start on wednesday 7th January. I find the leclerc stores start with minus 50% and at end of sale do a final deuxième démarquage, down to minus 75%. In the summer sales this year I waited patiently and picked up a portable Toshiba for € 184 with a 2 year gurantee; they replaced the DVD recorder and no trouble since then. But i think you will only find Vista OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenniswitch Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 [quote user="ErnieY"]I'm not with you Rose, if you have been happy with Dell for yonks why change on the basis of what people on forums say in the negative. Remember you only ever hear the bad and nobody comes on eulogising about how wonderful their computer is if it's just sitting there getting on with it's job.Bugsy excepted of course, but then he's been on his own personal 'Road to Da-mac-us' [:P] [:D]If you want XP then Dell is probably the only supplier still offering it instead of Vista and if you bought Apple then not only would you have to spend more money on a copy of XP for it but also get into the geek world of Bootcamp to actually install and use it.[/quote]Just make sure that you buy lots of HD memory and 2-3G of RAM for running your CS3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1steveuk Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I consulted the knowledgable IT chaps in my better halves works (Ambulance Service) and my ex company (Formula One Management) both who use hundreds of PCs and laptops, and nearly all HIGHLY recommended Acer. I listened and have been HUGELY impressed. Cheap too, as you can purchhase direct from them, and they always have very very good deals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Acer is good (my daughter has one) but hers came pre loaded with Vista and that was around 2 years ago.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 what a very nice bunch of people you all are! thanks for all your ideas and suggestions. Geryman is ploughing through the various reviews as we speak... I think at this moment the Acer has caught his eye... but this could change! [kiss] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Acer went through a dodgy period a while ago - from what I've read anyway, but we were looking for a laptop a couple of years ago and read that Acer were now a good buy so we went for one and it's been very good. It also came with Vista which concerned me slightly, but I have to say it's been no problem at all. It's hooked up via Wi-Fi to my two other machines in other parts of the house - they both run XP - and again, no trouble.Regards - Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tel Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hi Rose,I have set up many notebooks in the past few months for people not sure how to register and use. Makes varying from Sony Viao, Acer, Toshiba, Dell etc. All seem good value for money. I have my own preference but suffice to say my present notebook is an Acer.The reason I am posting is why do so many contributers have a downer on Vista?. It is an excellent operating system. My notebook, and one of my desktops run Vista, another runs XP Pro. and when all the bells and whistles have been disabled on Vista it is a hundred times better than XP. When XP was launched many people didn't want to change from Windows 98se, now it appears the same ones don't want to change from XP to Vista. The cost of an OEM version of Vista Home Premium is much cheaper than XP.Best of Luck with your search Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose Posted December 28, 2008 Author Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hi Tel - thanks for the info on Vista. I guess I am one of the many that heard of the many bugs and glitches with Vista that I'm nervous. When I worked in IT and 95 came out and also NT4 we had a few nightmares but as you say the wrinkles were ironed out. Maybe I should give it a whirl before I pass judgement. Acer's come with vista loaded so perhaps I'll give it a go before doing anything else. thanks for the wise words... if it's good then it will save lots of hassle! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 I agree Tel - most people think my laptop is still running XP. I suppose that some would say 'what is the point of Vista if you turn off some of the extras?' and they may be right but I have to say that we've got on with it very well.In addition, I run the same anti-virus and other security programmes on both my XP and Vista machines, and they seem to detect less issues on the Vista laptop - and that is the machine that's used the most at the moment. I haven't investigated why that should be - perhaps someone on here has, but it makes for less work clearing all the junk off.Regards - Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Lynda's laptop runs vista and she's more than happy with it. No problems whatsoever with it. I think now sp1 is out most of the bugs have been ironed out.The other thing about xp is support for this will run out very soon, vista is the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 [quote user="tel"]The reason I am posting is why do so many contributers have a downer on Vista?. It is an excellent operating system. My notebook, and one of my desktops run Vista, another runs XP Pro. and when all the bells and whistles have been disabled on Vista it is a hundred times better than XP. [/quote]I am very comfortable with XP at present but should like to tackle Vista on my next machine. A close friend has Vista on her laptop but it does seem slower than my XP and also quite cumbersome. So I suppose the bit I am worried about is how would I recognize which bells and whistles might need to be disabled on Vista and how would I go about it?Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 [quote user="suein56"]... how would I recognize which bells and whistles might need to be disabled on Vista and how would I go about it?[/quote]I rely on Rick Maybury's tips, as published in the Telegraph (and on his own website):Switching to Vista, part 1 Switching to Vista, part 2Vista Tuning Tips pt 1 Vista Tuning Tips pt 2 Vista Tuning Tips pt 3 Vista Tuning Tips pt 4More Vista Tuning Tips, pt 1 More Vista Tuning Tips, pt 2 More Vista Tuning Tips, pt 3 More Vista Tuning Tips, pt 4 More Vista Tuning Tips, pt 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 [quote user="Clair"][quote user="suein56"]... how would I recognize which bells and whistles might need to be disabled on Vista and how would I go about it?[/quote]I rely on Rick Maybury's tips, as published in the Telegraph (and on his own website):[/quote]Thanks Clair - just the job.Now I recall you have mentioned this person before in the past - but I had forgotten about him. Typical of me. [Www]Thanks again.Sue [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tel Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hi Clair,Excellent links for Vista. I used this link http://www.tweakvista.com/VistaInterfaceTweaks.aspx Plus using the Help section of Vista. I think one of the greatest improvements Vista has over previous versions of Windows is the 'Search' facility on the start menu. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Hi Rose, we got a laptop Acer Aspire 9300 from http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/AdvSearch/default.aspx?rewrite=xp_laptops last Feb. They installed Vista Home Premium and checked out the machine was working properly. The charge for that was £35. They ship here to France and are very helpful. The above link is for XP laptops, but if you go to the home page you can see the lot from there.I am pleased with them and the laptop too. It's OK buying from Eleclerc and the like here as long as you can get on with an 'azerty' keyboard. How on earth anyone could come up with a clavier that has the numbers along the top as uppercase is totally beyond me?Our Acer has a numeric keypad on it too which is VERY handy!If you are going to increase the memory the best place I have found is http://www.crucial.com/uk/ . Good prices and good service [:D]P.S. I decided that it's easier, at the moment, to use IE8 for this forum Clair [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 [quote user="Jonzjob"]P.S. I decided that it's easier, at the moment, to use IE8 for this forum Clair [;-)][/quote]Well, I will be the lone dissenting voice and express strong reservations about Acer.I had one, it worked very well for 18 months, then the 17" screen just refused to come on for more than a split second and after a period of 3 months during which several attempts were made to repair and replace under the guarantee, I finally exchanged it for a HP laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 Hello and thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I still haven't decided on the new laptop but have read so many reviews my head is spinning. Have decided I know what I want and speed, ability to manage photoshop/dreamweaver/fireworks/studio all together is a priority... I also touch type so would like as big a keyboard as I can in a laptop. I've narrowed the search down to a few (Acer, Dell and HP are on the list) but waiting now to see what the sales bring in. I've also decided to give vista a go... there is a lot of very positive stuff out there so I think I've been a bit behind the times with my thinking!Anyway... thanks again for the ideas [kiss]p.s. happy new year to you all too!p.p.s sorry for not replying sooner but I've had to hitch my hard drive up to a very very slow desktop in a spare room, and it's been occupied by guests and it felt a bit rude to just dissappear into their room... I'm getting withdrawel symptoms for not having my trusting laptop to hand so decisions need to be made very soon! [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I know Clair had a bad experience with Acer but on the other side I have an Acer Laptop which is fast approaching it's 5th birthday and has not given me a seconds trouble, spilling wine in the keyboard excepted [:$]Good luck with whatever you decide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 It might be a good idea to google vista programs compatibility and see if you can see any sites that will tell you if all of your present programmes will work OK on Vista? A couple of mine don't and have to run on our XP desktop machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 [quote user="Jonzjob"]It might be a good idea to google vista programs compatibility and see if you can see any sites that will tell you if all of your present programmes will work OK on Vista? A couple of mine don't and have to run on our XP desktop machine.[/quote]argh... never thought of that! had my eye on adobe cs4 so perhaps it would be a good excuse... but if greyman is watching i'm only joking [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 phew... just did a few checks and it would appear that adobe cs3 is ok as is pinnacle studio... so back to the list... thanks for the advice! [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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