Laptop advice please

[Bagpuss]

My daughter (12) would like a laptop for her birthday...started saving already and i just found this... Buy Medion Intel Celeron 15.4" Pink Wireless Laptop MD96655 from Woolworths.co.uk online shop

although she is just 12 and I don't want to spend a fortune, I also don't want a pile of rubbish...£250 is still alot of money to throw away if its rubbish....

so if anyone who knows there stuff could help me decide by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down I would be very grateful...:hug:

 

[fena]

sorry i have not got a clue, my dad sorted out the laptop for my daughter, lol

Ruth may be along soon and should be able to help you

 

[greyparrot]

Thumbs up from me-not an expert just had a lot of dealings with laptops over the last two years. 1gb of ram should be plenty for her, I use photoshop quite a lot which is very well known for slowing down computers, and I managed on 1gb for a while- so unless she is going to be using some seriously kick ass software 1gb should be more than enough! 80gb of hard drive will let her store a whole lot, it's certainly not the hugest hard drive but she can do a lot with that, and if you find a while down the line that she needs more space, either burn stuff onto disc, or get an external hard drive and transfer it (they are really cheap now). Intel celeron processors are just fine, can't see any reason why you shouldn't go for it. Yes, there may be others out there but this would suit her just fine I reckon (and it's PINK!)

 

[1999judy]

When I bought this one from PC world they had an offer on laptops suitable for kids (pink etc) and they were about the same price you've quoted so have a look mate x
BUT Angie .....go alone...flutter your eyelashes and get a better deal...you know... the managers SPECIAL pmsl. Always a winner for a woman alone.....
BUT bear in mind that once you buy it you rarely see your kids again.
Honestly x:hug:

 

[Bagpuss]

I saw the ones in pc world and thats what i was going to get for her ...was about 360 (ish)....Mmmm...its hard isnt it when you aint clued up ... :lol:

 

[greyparrot]

Whatever you do, do NOT buy the advent pink one, I had it and took it back along with a list on an A4 piece of paper with all the problems it had. They didn't even to attempt the 'we will repair it' route, just gave me the money to spend on another one!

 

[bella_nails]

Thumbs up from me too, im not a wizz but the spec looks good enough for what a 12 year old would need/use.
ive got one pretty simillar that i got from tesco, and it does what i need it to and i only paid £299 for mine.

HTH. x

 

[sian1979]

hi ya ....i work in woolworths and have a medion laptop myself. It is a great budget pc and you get alot of disk space and memory for the price. The processor is fairly ok but it depends on what it is going to be used for...i .e gaming? internet?......I dont think it would be all that great for playing games on tbh but is fine for office work and the internet. They have been very popular and if you do have any problems medion customer service has been faultless as i did have a problem with mine.... something to do with my 3 year old (dont ask!). I ended up having the mother board replace at no cost what so ever to myself. Pm me if you like for any other info you would like me to get for you.
xx

 

[mikem]

Angie

The things that tend to be important are:

1. That the laptop has sufficient ram (memory), processor power and disk space to run the stuff you want to run for a couple of years. If it's just email and internet with a bit of word processing, you don't need that much. The difficulty is once she has the laptop her requirements will evolve.

2. A good keyboard is essential. I've probably used 20-30 laptops over the years and have been responsible for choosing standard specifications for a civil srvice department as well as building and supporting them. I bought my first personal laptop from Acer and the keyboard was pants even though the spec was great value for money. It's still being used in the salon but you have to spell check everything because the keyboard is so bad.

My general advice would be:

a. stick to a recognised make. Toshiba, Lenova and Dell have consistently good keyboards and decent builds.

b. Get the best one you can afford as it will last longer and cost less in the long run.

c. Don't pay the extra cover. If you want a long warranty buy one that comes with 3 years. If there is a problem with the machine it is likley to die within 12 months

d. Use the internet to get opinions and reviews on the machine before buying it.

e. Find the best deal on the internet and then get a local shop to match it.

The last couple of laptops I've bought have been from Dabs and this one seems a good deal

dabs.com - Lenovo R61i Dual Core T2310 1GB 120GB DVD±RW Vista Home Premium (NG1A6UK)

£300, good name, good keyboard (I'd still try it out) and better processor than the pink one. Loads of positive reviews.

I haven't found any reviews on the Medion.

When you do get one. Make sure you get some decent antivirus, spyware and firewall software on it as kids seem to succumb to following links and their laptops get pretty messy. PM me if you need any help.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[Ruth Mills]

The specification looks decent enough (1GB memory should cope with Vista, and you should have scope to add extra memory in the future), and Medion is a German brand (I think) so the quality should be fine.

An 80GB hard drive should be OK for your daughter unless she wants to download zillions of movies or whatever, and you've always got the option of adding an external USB hard drive should she want more space.

Seems a decent price and spec for an entry-level laptop, and it's a real bonus finding a pink one for that price - Sonia will be jealous!

 

[~Emmsybabes~]

I keep getting a white page with error on it, when I click your link or search it through google :cry:

My daughter wants a laptop for xmas (she will be 12 then too)
and although I think she is a bit young, we really want to make her happy and get her the one thing she really wants, (after last years xmas not being the greatest lol)
So if you do get it hun, let me know what you think of it xxxx

I have a medion product, its one of them writting tablet things, it was only £20 from aldi..
Its fantastic, we were a bit weary as we had never heard of the make, but it seems to be doing a great job, for a bargain price !

 

[Lil Linz]

I was looking at this laptop a few weeks ago in woolworths. If I remember right, there was another one at £349 which had more memory and a slightly better spec (also in woolworths).

If I had had the funds in my bank, i'd have bought it there and then because i'm in desparate need of a new laptop (my laptop has had a huge crack diagonally from one corner to the other for the past year and its starting to bug me now lol).

 

[julesgems]

Hi Bagpuss

There are some mini laptops in toys r us for only £199! Saw them yesterday when i was out with my daughter. They are perfect for littler hands and come in white or black!

 

[Bagpuss]

I am still looking into this Laptop lark....(good job my daughters birthday isn't till sept 26th).....the Woolworth's one appears to have gone....but to be honest i don't think my daughter is bothered about it being pink or not.

We went onto PC world last weekend and i just ended up confused....I thought you just picked one and took it home and done. But ohh no... the fella in the shop said they come with nothing on...and that we need Microsoft® Works and Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 ... but then we went to ToysRus and the lady there said that there laptops come with Vista (??) and so no further package is required...???

Why is everything so confusing....i just want a laptop but nothing to brill as she is only 13 but nothing c**p and for a decent price.

I would prefer to get it from a shop and not via the net...she wants a built in webcam...it must be set up for wireless.

 

[jodipodi]

Dont know wether your bothered about paying out a big lump or not bagpuss but I got mine FREE on a deal with carphone warehouse/ AOL and its great no probs, had it about six months. They work it like this £20 p/month for broadband and your basic phone package,contracted for 18mth/2yrs I think and the laptop comes by courier. Its a Dell inspiron, i was a total computer virgin but im gettin pretty good at using it now,couldnt do without it and the kids love playing on it too xx (you could add some of your own designs to the top of the monitor bit to make it a bit girly) Also mine came with alot of stuff on it already...windows vista xp,microsoft task launcher etc..its all i need,dont even know what half of it is like but ill have a mess about with stuff as i go along x

 

[Zo Zo]

I've been pondering buying a laptop for my daughter as I don't like sharing mine, lol... have been chatting to people about it and they all say DON'T GET A WEBCAM.. what are others thoughts on this??

Not meaning to hi-jack thread... but Angie's daughter wants a webcam so I'm wondering about the pro's and cons for young girls ??

 

[Bagpuss]

I ain't worried about my daughter having a webcam on her laptop...we have one on our home pc that she has used while chatting to people she knows from school. Ria is a very sensible girl and has never given me any reason to not trust her so i guess it all depends on the kid.

 

[Fitz]

Not being BIG headed but I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole, I say this as I know my stuff re PC's and Laptops. Now you could go to Dell for example where you will get good warranty and the stuff inside the Laptop will not be cheap ****e that the Medion will use.

Now for that money this is an example of what I am saying:

Dell Vostro 1000 Laptop, AMD Sempron 3600+, 1GB Ram, 80GB HDD, Vista Basic, ATI 1150 Graphics, 8XDVDRW, Wifi, 15.4" Widescreen LCD (1280 x 800) only £228.07 - HotUKDeals Forum

Sorry but for the money you are willing to spend there is no comparison, I would also like to add that I do not have a Dell in any way shape or form. I do know that they will blow the cheap tacky Medion out of the water.

Now if that doesn't float your boat you can use these guys Europc and you may find something here: EuroPC - New & Refurbished Laptops, Computer Systems in Glasgow - Discount Servers, Workstations, Cheap PCs from Dell, Toshiba, HP

Now please bare in mind that most of these are refurbished BUT you get a warranty with them and again you won't be getting something with cheap bits in the Laptop. I may add that I have used Europc and have two very good Packard Bell Laptops for less than £200.00 which are ACE.

Thirdly and lastly you could try these: Valatech Computers Online Store Now I have ordered a pre built PC from them for my Salon and they seem to know there stuff. Give them a call and see what they can do for you, I notice that they have Asus Eee for £231.13 which would be great for your daughter.

 

[Bagpuss]

Thanks for that but to be honest i would prefer a new one, from a shop, that i can take back should anything go wrong.

I just want to walk into a store...buy one and job done !...its just knowing what to buy.

 

[Fitz]

Thanks for that but to be honest i would prefer a new one, from a shop, that i can take back should anything go wrong.

I just want to walk into a store...buy one and job done !...its just knowing what to buy.

Believe me; 1. Doing that you won't be paying the money you want and 2. You maybe visiting the shop many times taking it back. Cheap crap from Woolies like the Medion really isn't worth the hassle in the long run. Dell also have a collect and return service should anything go wrong. Hey, its up to you though, I'm gaining nothing but have seen people's errors many times before.