Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on February 10, 2009, 05:35:59 pm
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need a new one, this one had it.
went to pc world and for some reason, the only stock on the 2 lappys i wanted were on display.
just been on dell.com and built one, but could do with some feedback before committing.
any ideas before i spend best part of a grand?
derek
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Derek
Mine went last yr and had a look round an the prices were so dif.
Got a basic lap top for 250 reduced at asda so saved 90 quid you might find end of lines in tesco too :)
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Bought my son a laptop for Xmas about £250 it's not bad rather would have spent the extra £400-500 but how much do you spend on them? (violin music) never had that spent on me whan I was young :'(
Derek didn't you used to sell laptops with computer games in your previous job? why spend £1000 is there something we need to know?
Shaun
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Shaun i would not pay a grand either for 1 ???
Must be the yorkshire in me ;D
You can get some great deals from tesco at the mo you get a good deal for cash on most things at the mo ;)
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never sold computers just consumables.
epson inks 50p
dvd-r (riteks) 15p. cheap but quality.
just want something thats not crashing and slow loading photos and video, plus i multitask so need the ram and cache.
also could do with some genuine software rather than blobbys all the time. there forever crashing.
dell do a top notch for £800 with vista home and office basic, or an extra £100 for office pro. anyone bought a dell recently and whats the build quality like, been looking at the sony vious(?) but were talking 1200. nice though,
ps... the dells got fingerprint recognition, woohooo.
derek
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Mate's son has a Del and I was using it at Xmas when I was in my sick bed and I thought it was brilliant I think it was about £400. Was told to keep to Windows XP as Vista has too much on it and is waiting for the next generation of computers and software.
Still think £800 is too much ;D I'm out!
Shaun
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Always bought Dell in the past but one of the pc's lost a hard drive then the motherboard went. Still good though. However just bought 2 Toshiba laptops, brilliant and only 300 and 400 quid. Went to pc world as well and they seem to be in meltdown. Ended up buying at Tescos.
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PS just seen one of the local Chem Dry's "toughboxes" I think they're called. £3,600 what a peice of kit.
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Derek,
I've just bought a new laptop on sunday and had a Dell before which was very poor and would never buy another, It has some software which can be be removed and pops up with a buy now for only £££
This is the link for the one i have, its so fast !!! i dont think you need to spend a grand
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/723600
Paul
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Son got this one massive memory and hard drive
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152233
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i have a dell inspiron laptop that is around 4 years old, previous to that i had 2 different desktop dells that were great, good back up, the lot. then the laptop had a problem after around 11 months and the b's wouldn't repair it without mugging me for £500! i felt i had to pay in the end to get it back and i swore i would never buy dell again so i got this sony vio and i think it is crap, it crashes and does all sorts of weird things. i never thought i would but i think for my next laptop i will give dell another chance, i think the build quality is very good on them even though i had a problem.
the other make that i would take a chance on is the one that aldi/sainsbury sell, medion. they have loads of spec at a good price.
colin
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PS just seen one of the local Chem Dry's "toughboxes" I think they're called. £3,600 what a peice of kit.
What is it?
Shaun
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cheers paul, ive got a HP now and its been okay for 3 years so might go for another, good spec on that one, bet pc world have only got the display model though.
derek
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if you like to watch tv on your laptop, bbc iplayer for instance, look out for a HDMI port, one cable and everything on your laptop screen is on the tv screen, films, progs or the internet, even these forums, it's really cool!!! don't forget you have to have a HDMI port on the tv as well, most new flat-screens do.
colin
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Shaun, here http://www.ultima-computers.com/panasonic_toughbook_overview.htm?gclid=CKy1genP0pgCFQ0vQgodD3oz4Q
His is top of the range. Apparently the hard drive is armour plated so even if your laptop was in an explosion they could recover the data.
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colin
PCI cable (think thats what its called) will do the same as long as your tele has socket, most up to date tele's have, i run my laptop through the plasma cos the screen is fkd on the laptop. no hdmi needed.
better quality through hdmi but not noticable.
derek
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spoke to CD operator, told me he had a tough book.
told me how he'd sprayed water on it, dropped it out of a window 10 floors up, the van caught fire and it was still working, asked him if i could look at it, said no its been stolen. ;D
derek
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Very good Derek ;D
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ok derek, i didn't know that, you live and learn!!
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My question also Shaun, what is a hotbox?
John
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Hi
Just purchased a new laptop from Currys, same company as PC World but much better after sales, I and many friends have found PC Worlds 'Customer care to be much worse than suggested on their TV ads... :o Now there's a surprise !
I have a guy who repairs computers and he said he'd had two Dell Computers that had just stopped working completely without warning. Both machines had been quite new which put me off.
I purchased this Acer 5735
4GB RAM, as high as you can get currently...apparently.
500 GB Hard Drive
Wide Screen etc. etc.
I shopped around the usual computer stores and nothing matched it's spec for the money £499. Even other Acer Machines were the same money but had only half the memory ???
I hope the info might be of help.
Les
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Les there isn't a link is there?
Shaun
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cheers les
found this shaun
http://www.simplyacer.com/5735.html?gclid=CKnl36vZ0pgCFQ00QwodzRJo1Q
derek
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Good find Derek! what do you think? I ask you because I bet you've been hitting the high street or internet looking at loads in the last week or so.
Shaun
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its all about parts working in harmony and thats why, the more you pay the better the components. bit like cc machines, no good having high heat with a 40psi pump, or great psi with rubbish vac.
if the graphic card conflicts with the motherboard or you have all that ram but a slow processor blah blah blah then the machine may look good on paper but will be slow with certain apps. was into in the early days, could even use DOS (pre windows, how old am i)but ive lost touch recently, think its a trip to wh smiths to buy a copy of which laptop. those guys know what there on about.
derek
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DELL
the best computers money can buy..............
last year gave my boys my old 10yr old desktop.......... :o :o :o
nothing wrong with after 10 yrs.just a bit slow
sony viao dont even think about it..........customer service pants and expensive
bought hp from pc world.£1300- 17" monitor fingerprint recognition.......good laptop!!!
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Dont buy anything Toshiba all you will be buying is a Bush make with Toshiba badge on it.
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I notice that your link shows a model with a 250GB Hard Drive. The one in Curry's is 500 GB.
Just wanted to point that out as my computer man said you can easily be caught out with the numerous variants available.
Les ;)
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Perfectly happy with my offering from Samsung. £500 and runs MS OFFICE no probs, even does fairly speedy video and audio editing.
Can't play serious games on it though.
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Dell Outlet sometimes have good bargains.
Dell Outlet is a division of Dell Products, selling refurbished computer equipment which is limited in quantity. This is product, which has been returned to Dell for a variety of reasons including cancellation and specification changes.
All products have been tested and repackaged to Dell factory standards and come with a full Service Pack. High demand - so start shopping NOW - to get the system that's right for YOU!"
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?s=dfo&l=en&c=uk
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I would go for that medion from aldi its a great lap top and a good price :)
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Darren, wheres the info to say Toshiba is a bush. I'm happy with mine and I had an old satelite which only got resigned to the bin because i dropped it out my van and cracked the case, still worked though.
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Dabs website seem to have lots of refurb Acer laptops usually just tatty box 3 months warranty.
http://www.dabs.com/ProductList.aspx?SearchTerms=refurb%20acer%20laptop&SearchMode=All&SearchKey=All&PageMode=3&NavigationKey=0&SearchType=1
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John about 18 months ago my telly went on the blink Toshiba model cost £1600 but the warranty ran out the guy that fixed told me he also new the problem with my telly as soon as i told him what model it was he said Toshiba got taking over about 6 years ago by Bush they also own Matsui and a few more companys to.The next time your in Comet look at the price of the Toshiba tvs they are comimg right down in price.
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is this yours les?
derek
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1523796296.1234300977@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfladeghfhdglkcfl
gceggdhhmdgmi.0&category_oid=&source_id=
aw&sku=419076&page=Product&camp_id=VAC+media+ltd&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null
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John a hot box is a diesel or lpg burner that heats the water upto past boiling point as and when you need it and immediately and constant.
I've been wanting to say it all thread
"what's a hotspot not........a good spot"
Shaun
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Yes Derek that's the one I got.
Les ;)
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By the way Derek,
It's also got quite a few features that aren't listed on the website for example a zoom facility via the mouse pad just by moving your fingers... :o
You might find a visit to Currys worthwhile just to have a play and see if it's what you need.
Les
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yeah going tomorrow les, cheers for that.
derek
ps.... someone had a usb microscope on here, can you remind me where you got it from, gonna google it, see if i can fnd one.
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Derek
I posted pics of leather a few weeks ago using this usb microsope.
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/searchSite.do?Query=usb+microscope
Bob
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Yes,would like to see the evidence to back up the statement that Toshiba equipment is rebadged Bush gear.
Where can this be found m8?
Thinking of buying a Tosh telly,but if it is a bush as you say may think twice.-John
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cheers bob, yeah just found it.
http://www.firebox.com/product/2161/USB-Microscope
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/new-arrivals/usb-microscope/index.html
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222945
getting cheaper.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001ACKIUO/400002460-21/?m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
amazon is best price,
is it the same as yours bob?
derek
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Derek
That's the same model Ive got, VMS-001 nice bit of kit for leather ID.
Bob
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Hers the link to the pics I took using it.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=67334.0#msg586484
Bob
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Acer
Aspire 8920
which bestbuy
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cheers vision tech
any spec and price on that?
derek
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Review
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Full specification
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With its large screen and keyboard, good sound quality and blu-ray playback, Acer is certainly offering a lot of machine for the money with its Apsire 8920.
As laptops go, it's big. It needs to be to cater for the 18.4-inch screen under its stiff, heavy lid. All this size makes significantly heavy - the Aspire weighs 4.2kg, more than two and a half times the lightest full-sized laptop in our test. You probably wouldn't want to be lugging it around or resting it on your lap for too long.
It was one of the fastest at carrying out the everyday tasks we set it, too. With the latest draft-n Wi-Fi connectivity, the Aspire's wireless data transfer was slick, as well, although as with all the laptops on test, the speed of transfer dropped off significantly when we moved two rooms away from our test wireless router.
The huge screen is let down slightly by uneven backlighting. It's a glossy screen so, as with others of this type, you can expect screen reflections.
We found that the keyboard is spongy and bendy, and it's also quite dark and difficult to read - but we liked the extra numeric keypad that you don't find on smaller laptops. Despite its size, the Aspire's touch pad is small. It works fine though, and is easy to use.
We were really impressed with the Aspire's built-in speakers. Typically, laptop speakers deliver poor sound but these are good. We found that speech playback is clean and clear and the treble and bass notes sound good. The Aspire boasts another rarity in laptops in this price bracket - a Blu-ray player that can be used to watch high-definition movies on Blu-ray discs.
The Aspire comes with good documentation but the laptop's ports are labelled with raised black lettering that, on the black casing, makes them hard to read.
Battery life isn't great - about an hour and three quarters when playing a DVD, around two and a half hours if you're using the wireless connection
Pros: Big screen, big keyboard, Blu-ray playback
Cons: Portability-limiting weight, keyboard is hard to read and spongy
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I couldnt give a toss if you belive me or not go and buy one if you want.
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need a new one, this one had it.
went to pc world and for some reason, the only stock on the 2 lappys i wanted were on display.
just been on dell.com and built one, but could do with some feedback before committing.
any ideas before i spend best part of a grand?
derek
Derek,
Don't know whether this will help, re "new laptop".
A guy who repairs my computer when needed has just repaired a HP laptop for one of my neighbours. All he needed to do was change the hard drive which had crashed. But, the interesting part was what he said before he even looked at it, given the symptoms of the problem.
He said it was most likley a scrapper as HP had had a big problem with the motherboards on that particular model ( 14 months old ) . He quoted a problem with the NVidea graphics processor. Anyway, luckily for the neighbour it was not that problem. So, I told him I was looking at buying a laptop and asked what he thought would be best
In his opinion it was a SONY VAIO or an ACER as they were quality builds. You may pay a little more, but you will not be scrapping it just after the guarantee runs out. Dell were OK but not in the same league.
So, looking back through the posts, the Acer mentioned seems to be a great buy and spec. I have seen a "Sony Vaio", in the MAKRO magazine for about £540. Intel core duo processor, 3GB memory, 320 GB HDD, 15.4" WXGA Display, Built in web cam, Windows Vista Home Premium. Great spec and great quality together !!. I think if you search online you will find this very a competitive deal.
Hope this helps in your laptop replacement search.
Jim G
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Misco UK In stock £811.99
February 2009 £816.98
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derek,
If you want info on any other laptop let me know,
im registered with which?
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cheers VT, great post. i'll have a study in whsmith tomorrow and pop into curry's to see the acer.
cheers jim, i'll check out makro. vaio's seem a good build and you can't fault sony.
derek
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I have got an acer aspire the basic one and does me and as they change spec all the time i can afford
at the price to upgrade in the year and have this for doing invoices and a presentation to be kept in the van :)
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Another thing the guy told me was most Bush remote controls will work with Toshiba tvs but i never tried it as i have never bought a Bush tv.He deffinetly said they were Bush tvs with Toshiba badges on them and they were taking over about 6 years ago by the company that owns Matsui and a few other makes might not of been Bush but said it was a Bush tv inside also heard the majority of Sony tvs have Samsung parts in them to heard its quite comen with tvs and electrical goods.
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Derek,
If you are after an Acer, They sell some laptop models at "Tesco". If they have the model you want, I think they may be the best on price.
Jim G
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Darren,take a chill pill m8,was only thinking that maybe you had read this somewhere,nobody is saying that they disbelieve you,maybe you had a bad day. :)
You are spot on with the price of Tosh tellys they do seem cheap in comparison to the likes of Samsung/Philips/Panasonic/LG etc.
Our 50" rear projection has recently packed up,not worth repairing as it's about 8 years old,so looking for a replacement,was considering another Toshiba on price alone but having second thoughts now and will check out some other main brand names.-John
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John i was a bit short with you there mate its been a long day, but dont buy another Toshiba a few years ago they were one of the dearest tvs out look at the price of them now.
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Will take your advice on board Darren,cheers.
Sorry for taking this thread off topic boys.
My Mrs has an Acer laptop (7220),and they are good value for money,they are very prone to microphone volume problems on the models with built in webcam and mic,this can be rectified by making sure you have the latest audio driver as they can become corrupted.-John
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dont buy toshiba,
I rent my tv samsung 37 inch,just got it before xmas,
when i went in to the shop to upgrade they where going to give me a tosh
I said no because i looked them up on(which) and it give a poor quality on picture, the girl in the office agreed and because i was a longstanding customer
I could have the samsung I wanted, sound quality is not good but i have a sony surround system and its brill.
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I know nowt bout laptops but have a Toshiba EQUIUM it works well and looks ok , just buying a palm held and extra long cable to link USB micro prob next month for Leather work to show clients , recon it will look slicker with the client then humping the laptop around IMO of course !
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samsung 50 inch plasma hd tv in comet, £799
derek
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Thought I was in Comet site when I logged on!!!!!!!!!!!!
Currently we have in our house
Compac Presario..............about 10 years old memory worse than mine, but still works
Fujitsu.............was good until wrecked by son
Advent.............small, cheap, works well, daughters first lap top, still works
Acer...............my second machine, still works well
Acer Mini..........the one I carry around, it's small, cute, would be great for presentations.
Toshiba...............the one I'm on, decent machine
Sony Viao............younger daughter's new machine, loves it, so it must be good.
H P....................in office, slow, heavy, slow, very sloooooooooooow.
Still got three desktops.
Looking at this lot.................no wonder I'm always skint !
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Robert do you no Bernie Bruce from Well Street in Paisley it was him that told me about Toshiba Tvs and Bernie is a legend when it comes to fixing TVs.
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Darren, jut spoke to a mate of mine who works for Wise Speak stockbrokers in Newcastle. He's searched their systems and as far as he is concerned Toshiba Corporation is a massive Japanese owned conglomerate with huge stakes in major companies around the world including Westinghouse in the US. He can hardly find any info on Bush and from what he has he said it would have been impossible for them to even buy a stake in Toshiba never mind take them over.
Toshiba bought 80% of a major Chinese manufacturer who make houshold goods so maybe that division makes Bush tv's.
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john iam just telling you what the guy told me hes been fixing tvs for over 30 years i said to him i thought Toshiba was one of the best makes out as i was about to buy another Toshiba he said what ever you buy dont buy Toshiba all your getting is a Bush tv with a Toshiba badge on it they used to be good but not now cant see the point in the guy lying.J ohn i made a post about this on the non related cleaning topics just put in toshiba tvs on the search i think its Matt from the window cleaning section he seemed to no a bit about it and said a lot of tvs have Bush parts in them.As i said john they are one of the cheapest tvs out now out of all the major brands when they used to be the dearest that must tell you something.
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Darren
I know Bruces, but not the man personally. Is it possible he was maybe, just using the name Bush loosely, as in VW is just re badged Skoda. I know it's not, but you know what I mean.
A friend if mine John McLachlan ran a very successful TV / Hi Fi retail business in Paisley for many years until retiring, he steered me towards Toshiba for reliability.
The machine I'm on right now is a Toshiba, just under a year old, but seems ok, so for.
I do know that computer manufacturers do have a lot of interchangeable parts, as I understand there are many components madse by many companies which are common to many computers.
Cars are getting similar, eg, Toyota, Citroen, Peugeot, or Renault, Volvo.
Oooops work to do !!!!!!!
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Rob i remember Mc Lachlans thats were we always got our tvs from when i was a boy its been a few years since they were around but Bernie Bruce told me they were Bush tvs and if i had a Bush remote control it would probably work on a Toshiba tv as they are the same inside as i said they used to be the best tvs out but not now.When i was in school my first computer i ever bought was a Toshiba MSX only bought it for games they werent another computer at the time that could come close to for graphics it was brilliant.
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vision tech
you said you'd check out a pc for me on "which"
got my eye on a sony vaio FW31M
much appreciated if you can find any comments about it.
derek
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derek,
they havent done a test on that model yet,
is it a brand new one ?
there is a test result for a sony vaio-fw11e, here is the report
on this model.
Review
Test results
Full specification
Compare prices
This stylish, sliver laptop looks modern and well built. Its performance doesn't disappoint, either.
At 3.1kg, there are lighter laptops out there if you're looking for one you can take about with you, but this one benefits from a larger screen (16.4 inches). It's a glossy screen, though, so expect reflections if you're using it in daylight.
The well-labelled keyboard is a good size, with plenty of space and a big return key, so feel free to hit it with gusto. It feels a bit spongy when you type, though.
Performance-wise, the machine is pretty quick to turn on from scratch, so you won't have time to make a cup of tea while you're waiting to use it. (It took one minute and 12 seconds after being switched on to be ready to use, and 32 seconds from hibernation mode in our test.)
The laptop handled most of the tasks we set it pretty well, too. It took four minutes and 19 seconds to copy 1GB of data to a DVD, which is almost twice as fast as the slowest laptop we tested this time around. The VGN-FW11E came top in our benchmarking tests, too. We would have liked battery life to be a bit longer, however.
Wireless performance wasn't bad in our test. The data rate when in the same room as the router was pretty quick, thanks to the laptop's built-in wireless-n connection, but it didn't quite match the fastest models we tested.
While none of the laptops we tested set the world on fire with the quality of their speakers, this Sony's are slightly better than most.
Despite a few minor niggles, this is a nice-looking, well-performing laptop.
Pros: Comfortable to use and good performance
Cons: Longer battery life would be nice
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derek,
here is another one which has had a first look and a bit of a report but not rated yet.
Review
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If the current trend for ultra-small, lightweight laptops hasn't produced anything powerful or stylish enough for you, then Sony may have an alternative: the new Vaio P-series.
Weighing in at a disconcertingly light 638g, the Vaio P series packs a respectable 2GB of Ram and a 60GB hard drive into its glossy and diminutive form, and Sony stress that it's intended to handle all the tasks you'd expect from a full size laptop. Broadband internet access is provided by wifi or by using the built-in slot for a Sim card to give you 3G mobile internet access.
Opening the lid reveals a solidly-constructed and impressively large and well-spaced metal keyboard that makes use of all available space. This makes for comfortable typing, but it comes at a price: the touchpad we've come to expect on a laptop for moving the mouse pointer isn't present - instead, you use a small 'nub' situated within the keyboard. We've not seen one of these on a laptop for some years, and while it works well enough it's something that will take prospective users a while to get used to.
The glossy screen is crisp and clear, and capable of displaying your Windows Vista desktop in eye-wateringly fine detail - you'll want to tweak the settings to increase the text size. Its wide aspect ratio makes it ideal for watching videos - and even if you're doing office work, Sony have included a handy key to line up your windows side by side to make good use of the space.
An interesting inclusion is what Sony call the XMB - Sony's own cross-media bar. This simple interface has been seen on lots of other Sony products, and on the P-series Vaio it offers a quick alternative to Windows Vista if your computer is switched off and you want to view photos or videos, or use the internet to check web pages or email.
However, there's a hefty price tag attached: prices start from £849 for the basic model - and if you want the top-end version with a 128Gb solid-state drive then expect to pay in excess of £1100.
Pros: Good keyboard, strong specification, stylish design
Cons: High price tag
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cheers vision tech.
it is the latest bluray model.
one up from the FW21E
cheers again for your help.
derek
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thanks for all the advice guys,
bought this one, coming friday i hope
http://vaio.sony.fi/view/ShowProduct.action?product=VGN-FW31M&site=voe_en_GB_cons&category=VN+FW+Series&assetid=1218032875460
better be good un
derek
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Why buy a new laptop? I used to do PC's and have never had a new one. I buy IBM T43 or T44 from eBay at £250 ish with software. These machines were £1500 new and tend to be ex company directors. They last years with titanium hinges. I have dropped mine many times and its still great.
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now ya tell me.
derek
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Derek
Whats wrong with the tesco lap tops lol ;D
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my new sony laptop came on friday,
they sent me the E model instead of the M model. E model doesn't have bluray but is still a top spec laptop.
i rang to tell them, "we'll contact you in 24 hr"
24 hrs later i rang to see why they hadn't called to arrange a swap.
"sorry we'll contact you in the next 24hrs"
got an email sunday.
sorry for the inconvenience, we've put your money back in your account, it should take 3 to 5 days to appear.
that was it, no explanation as to why they sent the wrong one, no request to arrange pick up for the E model they sent me, nothing.
question is?
how long do i leave it before i open the box to my brand new sony vaio which apparently cost me nothing. ;D
dya think theyve dropped a bo11lck and i'll get away with it.
derek
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Derek
Think you have got so many days till you can claim it ???
My mum was sent an item many years ago and it was a double order by mistake so they never asked for it back :)
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Derek
Theres somthing you might be interested in on the for sale part
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Clinton ;)
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:)