Looking for a Laptop, buget around £350.00 Seen this one online, at Tesco Packard Bell Tk Laptop (Intel Core I3, 4GB, 750GB, 15.6" Display) Black (http://www.tesco.com/direct/packard-bell-tk-laptop-intel-core-i3-4gb-750gb-156-display-black/215-5918.prd?skuId=215-5918&pageLevel=)
Anyone got one of these? If so, any good? Any other recommendations?
Memory Capacity 4GB
Screen Size (in) 15.6
Screen Type LED
Processor Intel® Core™ i3
Processor Model Number i3-370M
Hard Drive Capacity 750GB
Memory Type DDR3
Optical Drive Type DVD dual layer rewriter
Operating System Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Wireless Built-in 802.11b/g/n
Built-in Webcam Y
Battery Life (hrs) Up to 3 hours 30mins
Full version of Adobe Elements 9 included.
Looks OK to me. Parkard Bell have been around for years and were mostly sold in PC World stores. :tup:
Quote from: Oldboy on May 01, 2012, 04:11:41 AM
Looks OK to me. Parkard Bell have been around for years and were mostly sold in PC World stores. :tup:
Thanks OB. Spec looks OK for the money, but I know nothing about Packard Bell's reliability, and support. Also, I can't find any Packard Bell stuff on PC World's website, only HP (Hewlett Packard). And their's seem to be more expensive for similar spec.
My last two desk tops have been PBs. This one is 6 years old now and I am thinking of replacing it with a new one simply because the motherboard won't take more than 3gb memory and I keep running out of it.
My old PB has been in my daughter's room for some time, the power supply has now failed, but as it is 10 years old I think it has done pretty well.
Can't tell you anything about their support, as I have never needed it :)
Thanks H, that sounds encouraging. I'll look into it some more, maybe go have a play with one. :tup:
I've got a vague memory that PB has merged with HP, or was taken over by them, but both would continue trading under their own name.
Don't know if this adds anything to the conversation, but it just might.
As for laptops, I swear by trusty Toshiba.
Quote from: Reinardina on May 01, 2012, 09:11:10 AM
I've got a vague memory that PB has merged with HP, or was taken over by them, but both would continue trading under their own name.
Don't know if this adds anything to the conversation, but it just might.
As for laptops, I swear by trusty Toshiba.
Thanks R. I'm not sure they are connected, I thought HP was a American company, whilst Packard Bell was a Dutch company. Not 100% on this though. Toshiba, they look good too and also have good spec for the same money. I will investigate further.
My old Netbook is a Toshiba Portege R100, and that worked fine until I dragged it off the coffee table (Height of around 18" ) And that killed it. I think due to the fact it was turned on at the time. I previously dropped it from about four feet and it survived, but that time is was switched off.
Not that I'm clumsy or anything. Both times I tripped over the power cord. :uglystupid2:
My old pc was a packard bell, still running at a friends house and must be 8-10 years old. 2 power supplies in that time but nothing else. Not used support so cant comment.
Simon
Can't speak to PB, not sold on this side of the pond, but, that's one massive Hdd for a laptop and DDR3 is currently top memory, so those specs alone would be a selling/buying point for me. :)
Oh, and the 15.6" screen is what I have on my Gateway laptop and I really like it.
Quote from: Reinardina on May 01, 2012, 09:11:10 AM
I've got a vague memory that PB has merged with HP, or was taken over by them, but both would continue trading under their own name.
Don't know if this adds anything to the conversation, but it just might.
As for laptops, I swear by trusty Toshiba.
It's owned by Acer. :tup:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Bell
Ah well, in that case I can recommend Acer too - I have an Acer laptop and 'phone. Looks like we are a one brand house :)
Just to make your choice harder, ebuyer have some deals on a Toshiba
http://www.ebuyer.com/288874-toshiba-satellite-pro-c660-2f8-laptop-psc1me-01g00ken (http://www.ebuyer.com/288874-toshiba-satellite-pro-c660-2f8-laptop-psc1me-01g00ken)
Quote from: Alfonso_Frisk on May 01, 2012, 04:35:26 PM
Just to make your choice harder, ebuyer have some deals on a Toshiba
http://www.ebuyer.com/288874-toshiba-satellite-pro-c660-2f8-laptop-psc1me-01g00ken (http://www.ebuyer.com/288874-toshiba-satellite-pro-c660-2f8-laptop-psc1me-01g00ken)
Toshiba is known for overheating issues, just so you know.
DSG (basically PCWorld plus hangers on) used to have exclusive PB distribution in the UK. Then they bought a Spanish retailer and switched brand. Now they appear to be in bed with Lenovo.
What do you expect from box shifters?
PB are exactly what you'd expect from a box shifter. Highish spec for lowish price and reasonable reliability. (PCW had to warranty them but also made "a little" from out of warranty repairs.) Cheapish machine with average of 2 year lifespan. Many people use them for longer, most people don't.
I wouldn't worry too much about reliability; it's usually the way that if something works when you unpack it, it will continue to work.
I have a reasonable circle of friends (I know, hard to believe) and the only laptop failure in the past few years was a MacBook Pro. Which was fair enough since its careful owner had just emptied a mug of coffee into one of the USB ports, the clod.
Quote from: Hinfrance on May 02, 2012, 12:03:35 PM
I wouldn't worry too much about reliability; it's usually the way that if something works when you unpack it, it will continue to work.
I have a reasonable circle of friends (I know, hard to believe) and the only laptop failure in the past few years was a MacBook Pro. Which was fair enough since its careful owner had just emptied a mug of coffee into one of the USB ports, the clod.
There is overall build quality to consider. Things like how strong are the hinges for the lid? My wife has a Acer with two broken ones now. Screen still works :)
Quote from: donoreo on May 02, 2012, 02:24:15 PM
Quote from: Hinfrance on May 02, 2012, 12:03:35 PM
I wouldn't worry too much about reliability; it's usually the way that if something works when you unpack it, it will continue to work.
I have a reasonable circle of friends (I know, hard to believe) and the only laptop failure in the past few years was a MacBook Pro. Which was fair enough since its careful owner had just emptied a mug of coffee into one of the USB ports, the clod.
There is overall build quality to consider. Things like how strong are the hinges for the lid? My wife has a Acer with two broken ones now. Screen still works :)
How strong is your wife? :legit:
Quote from: Hinfrance on May 02, 2012, 02:42:29 PM
Quote from: donoreo on May 02, 2012, 02:24:15 PM
Quote from: Hinfrance on May 02, 2012, 12:03:35 PM
I wouldn't worry too much about reliability; it's usually the way that if something works when you unpack it, it will continue to work.
I have a reasonable circle of friends (I know, hard to believe) and the only laptop failure in the past few years was a MacBook Pro. Which was fair enough since its careful owner had just emptied a mug of coffee into one of the USB ports, the clod.
There is overall build quality to consider. Things like how strong are the hinges for the lid? My wife has a Acer with two broken ones now. Screen still works :)
How strong is your wife? :legit:
I have no idea how the snapped off. One was a few months ago and one just the other day. The second one makes sense, but the first one does not. He never abused it in any way. It is about 6 years old.
6 years is not bad, and there is always the Tape of Life® if all else fails. 6 years is about time to replace it anyway; you could make yourself a hero and buy her a new one. :)
Quote from: Hinfrance on May 02, 2012, 06:00:58 PM
6 years is not bad, and there is always the Tape of Life® if all else fails. 6 years is about time to replace it anyway; you could make yourself a hero and buy her a new one. :)
No way to duct tape this one. "He's dead, Jim".
OK, here's a update.
I decided to give the Packard Bell TK85 a go.
First day, it had loads of windows updates etc to install, that took ages Second day, all seemed fine, merrily browsing the web, then it froze. Couldn't do anything apart from power it down. All was well again, no more errors or freeze ups for the rest of the day and evening.
Third day. Froze again while browsing the web, followed by a BSOD this time. Did it again twice that evening. Each time it does this it chucks all my cookies out the window, so I have to log into my sites again.
Phoned support (India) :doh: Have you done a factory restore? No I haven't it's only three days old, do I have to do this every three days. ::) Thanks I'll take it back to Tesco's. Swapped it for another TK85. This one lasted five days before it started freezing and throwing blue screens. Stuck with for another 10 days, by this time it was driving me crazy.
Took it back to exchange it for a different make. Oh look the prices have all changed, including the one I bought. They would only exchange for another laptop valued at the price I purchased it for, so either had to downgrade or have another TK85. :legit:
The price difference was only £20, but they wouldn't move on this, even though I'd used 12 DVDs to make factory restore disks, and two trips to town, around 40 miles. Plus endless hours updating it and adding and removing files and programs Twice.
Needless to say, I asked for my money back, and went and Got another laptop from PC World (for the same price). This time it's a Lenovo, http://www.lenovo.com/uk/en/ which I have to say has a better processor, and (touches wood) has been behaving itself very nicely. ;)
Every little helps, as they say. :knuppel2:
Quote from: admin on June 26, 2012, 07:28:39 PM
Needless to say, I asked for my money back, and went and Got another laptop from PC World (for the same price). This time it's a Lenovo, http://www.lenovo.com/uk/en/ which I have to say has a better processor, and (touches wood) has been behaving itself very nicely. ;)
Every little helps, as they say. :knuppel2:
Doesn't sound very good at Tesco's. Not much customer support there then! >:(
Lenovo computers are IBM's which they sold to them when they stopped making small computers. Might still call them thinkpads. :tup:
thanks for letting us know not to buy laptops from tescos- i was going to say i got a fujitsu siemens and i wouldn't recommend them because random screws sometimes fall out of it - i have had it 5 years and it functions really well but the build quality isn't too good - in case anyone else was thinking of buying one!
Wish I had the time to tell you all the reasons why I hate Tesco.. :knuppel2: :knuppel2:
I use the Samsung R730.......had it about a year now. It's quick and has a 17" Widescreen....touch wood (taps head), it hasn't given me any sort of trouble. It was nearer the £700 price tag though, but could get one cheaper now I would have thought. Specs are:
Processor: Intel Core i3 processor @ 2.27ghz
RAM: 3.00GB
64 bit Operating system
Hard Drive: 500GB
Intel(r) Turbo Boost Technology
ATI Graphics Chipset.
Web Cam
Dual Layer CD burner/reader
HDMI Port
3x USB Port
Serial SVGA Port for additional Monitor connection (very cool....had 2 monitors running...multi-tasking at it's finest)
Built in SDHC memory card reader
The last laptop I brought cost £1,500 and was a 3ghz with 4mb memory. It's a Toshiba with Windows XP. ;D
The last one we bought, after the 8 year old Dell died for want of a new battery and the power supply failed, is an Acer Aspire 5736. It's 64 bit Windows 7, 3gb ram, 320gb HD loads of connectors and cost £310. It's a year old now and never given a moment's (wood being touched) disquiet. The only thing I don't like about it is our television, which is so old that the lowest output resolution from the Acer is still too big for it to display, Looks like I'll have to save up for a new telly ;)