Advice from a computer boffin please?

[Howdya do that]

My 16 year old son has saved $1,000 to buy himself a norebook computer. He has handed me a full page of specs from the Dell website on one in his price range but it does not make a lot of sense to me. Rather than re-type the whole thing Could someone tell what to look for? I know there are a myriad of different capacities etc but if someone could give me a list of minmum's perhap's?

Would also appreciate any advice on wireless routers Mr 16 tells me that a wireless router connected to our internet connection will let me connect from the office computer and he use his notebook in his bedroom at the same time

Thanks in advance,

Howdya

[Abug]

The main question always comes down to what are you going to do with it.
eg office applications, gaming (not the best for), video editting etc.
I think virtually all laptops have the wireless on it already so yes a wireless router will allow him to connect to the network.

Also if your employer allows salary sacrifice for a laptop, go for it.
I did it and bought a $1200 and it ended up costing me around $650 - $700.
I buy the laptop outright with a tax invoice given.
-> Fill out a salary sacrifice form with work and put all the price details and copies of reciepts etc and send it to works pay office.
-> On next pay they take the full price of the laptop out before being taxed. This reduces your gross income. This gross income then got taxed which was a small amount.
-> Then after the tax was taken out, the amount of the laptop was put back into my pay.

[Honorary Bloke]

This is NOT drivel. I think. Anyway, let Dell configure the computer and Bob's your uncle. The price has come down and so forth. You want built-in network card, wireless network card, decent graphics card, decent RAM (1 Gb) DVD/CD burner. Then, let it go.

[Ianab]

For a 16 year old, you will want a laptop with a decent graphics chip in it. Dont believe the excuse about study, he will play games most of the time As you cant upgrade the video card in a laptop, get one with a decent graphics chip in it. Get more RAM than the minimum, nothing kills a PC more than a lack of ram. You dont need the highest speed CPU, if you are on a budget get a Celeron type processor, with extra ram and a good graphics chip it will be sweet. Get a DVD burner so that he can back stuff up, and a wireless connection built in.

Yes you should be able to connect a wireless router or access point to your existing broadband and use both machines on one connection. Would need to know what your existing setup is to advise you what magic box you need to buy though. It may also be cheaper and more reliable to put in a network switch or router and run a cat5 cable to his room, depends on distance and house construction.

Cheers

Ian

[RufflyRustic]

Happy, Minimum specs from the Dell catalogue they send out every week.

1 gb Ram
80 gb hard drive
everything else will follow from there.

I think you also might find 1000 a tad less than what they are asking for the second-cheapest in the catalogue.

cheers
Wendy

[Daddles]

I've been happy with my Dell - she's three years old now and a desktop. Two things to consider - it comes with Dell software on it that I think slows things down a bit at times. The other is it comes with Norton installed, not a problem if you like Norton, but it's there so you're stuck with it. Apart from that, I'll happily buy Dell again.

Richard

[Howdya do that]

This is NOT drivel. I think. Anyway, let Dell configure the computer and Bob's your uncle. The price has come down and so forth. You want built-in network card, wireless network card, decent graphics card, decent RAM (1 Gb) DVD/CD burner. Then, let it go.

This Bob your refering to Is that you Bob

For a 16 year old, you will want a laptop with a decent graphics chip in it. Dont believe the excuse about study, he will play games most of the time As you cant upgrade the video card in a laptop, get one with a decent graphics chip in it. Get more RAM than the minimum, nothing kills a PC more than a lack of ram. You dont need the highest speed CPU, if you are on a budget get a Celeron type processor, with extra ram and a good graphics chip it will be sweet. Get a DVD burner so that he can back stuff up, and a wireless connection built in.

Yes you should be able to connect a wireless router or access point to your existing broadband and use both machines on one connection. Would need to know what your existing setup is to advise you what magic box you need to buy though. It may also be cheaper and more reliable to put in a network switch or router and run a cat5 cable to his room, depends on distance and house construction.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks Ian, Idont seem to be able to locate reference to a lot of what you have mentioned above. Here's a shortened version of the stuff I think matters
Base System - AMD Turion 64 x 2 dual core mobile technology, 1.6Ghz, 256kb+256kb L2 cache
Hard Drive - 120GB
Memory - 1024MB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 SDRAM
Internal Optical Drive - 8X DVD+/-RW Combination
Wireless Network Solution - 54Mbps Mini Card
Uncluded in System - ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 256MB Hyper memory, Internal 56K modem, 10/100 fast ethernet

Existing setup telstra broadband, house is brick, steel frame, about 10mt between broad band outlet and his room, line of sight would be through 4 walls.

I really appreciate your help!

[Cliff Rogers]

I don't like Dell on principle.

They don't have a dealer support network, they sell direct & then expect the support to come from some poor bugger who made diddley squat on the sale.

It is a bit like going to your knowledgeable tool seller & picking his brains & then going to Bunnies to buy the tool.

We all do it in one form or another, that is why Dell can sell the way they do.

[Howdya do that]

I've been happy with my Dell - she's three years old now and a desktop. Two things to consider - it comes with Dell software on it that I think slows things down a bit at times. The other is it comes with Norton installed, not a problem if you like Norton, but it's there so you're stuck with it. Apart from that, I'll happily buy Dell again.

Richard

They must have changed, It's McAfee on this one.

I don't like Dell on principle.

They don't have a dealer support network, they sell direct & then expect the support to come from some poor bugger who made diddley squat on the sale.

It is a bit like going to your knowledgeable tool seller & picking his brains & then going to Bunnies to buy the tool.

We all do it in one form or another, that is why Dell can sell the way they do.

So should I buy all my tools from forum members They are more knowledgeable than any tool seller near me.

I think I just left a huge opening for Brendan whatsis name!

[Daddles]

I don't like Dell on principle.

They don't have a dealer support network, they sell direct & then expect the support to come from some poor bugger who made diddley squat on the sale.

It is a bit like going to your knowledgeable tool seller & picking his brains & then going to Bunnies to buy the tool.

We all do it in one form or another, that is why Dell can sell the way they do.

Now that's interesting. The mate who put me onto Dell had a few problems with one of his - Dell sent a repair man to his home (free) to do all the necessary. That was a few years ago now, but the support made anything else I'd ever seen look shoddy.

Richard
(my Dell's three year's old and I haven't had to test the support so I can't comment from personal misuse)

[Ianab]

Specs sound about right, plenty of ram and a good graphics chip.

Buying a laptop, if it fails in warranty it's pretty much got to be sent away unless it's something you can swap out yourself. So buying it from Dell, a dealer or a chain store doesn't make a huge difference with aftersales service. A GOOD dealer will help you with choosing the right machine and getting it setup. Wireless routers aren't that hard, but if you have never set one up before there are some tricks.

With the wireless, steel is bad. It will probably work OK for that distance, although get some longish patch leads when you wire it up so you can experiment with placement of the wireless. Sometimes on the top of the bookcase works heaps better than down behind the computer desk with the router. A bigger antenna on the wireless router can help too. But if you can run a cable... it's guaranteed to work

Cheers

Ian

P.S. get the full 3 year warranty, not the budget 1 year one. It's not likely the machine will fail, but if it does (screen or system board) it's usually not worth repairing unless it's in warranty.

[Howdya do that]

Thanks everbody, especially Ian

[MurrayD99]

I have a Dell Latitude. No problems whatsoever - but (Ianab is right)get the extended warranty. Compaq I had before the Dell died just a bit out of standard warranty and they wanted $2k to replace the motherboard. Consequently it lies in a cupboard, useless.... Can't bear to heave it but useless.... Your specs look OK.

[Cliff Rogers]

Now that's interesting. The mate who put me onto Dell had a few problems with one of his - Dell sent a repair man to his home (free) to do all the necessary. ...

Sorry, been away from a computer.



That poor silly repairman works for a fixed price repair if it takes 5 mins or 5 hours. He is on a contract rate tendered for by the lowest bidder.
He didn't make a cent on the original sale & only gets paid if it breaks, in the mean time, he has to try to stay in business somehow.

The type of support I'm talking about is not the "what if it breaks" or "what if I'm to silly to get it out of the box" (Dell will use the same silly repairman to install it for a fixed fee)
The sort of stuff I call support is getting the new PC to work with the new printer or the XYZ bit of software or the internet or their LAN etc.
This sort of work is usually done the local computer dealer.

All the waffle I'm on about is the old 'buy local to support your local bloke' 'cos if you don't, he won't be there when you need him.

I'm a computer bloke in a small town & I'm sick of the local turkeys that buy a mail order Dell & then ask me to help them with it....

OK, better now....

[ACT Mal]

For what it's worth, my mum has an HP laptop that she bought 2 yrs ago and loves. She had a problem with it a couple of months after the warranty ran out (it only comes with a 1 yr warranty and it dies on the 14th month).

However, when she called, it would appear that someone put the wrong year in when they logged the original warranty and HP thought it was only 2 months old and worked on it under warranty.

Now, I happen to work for HP and would recommend it to a large corporate organisation (their support for corporate and government clients is second to none) but I have to support Cliff's comments when it comes to home users. The guys that HP sent my mum's laptop to did the classic reformat and delete everything trick. They claimed they found some issues and that all should be fixed now.

Turns out that the problem she was having (couldn't connect to the wireless network) was caused by a router frequency issue and had nothing to do with the laptop itself so those useless thugs that HP used for the warranty were too bored to actaully trouble shoot and took the simple option.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that nobody gives a damn if they don't have any skin in it.

If you buy from Cliff (as an example) he cares about his name and reputation and will make sure it sontinues to run.

Hope I've helped...I know I feel better.

Mal.