Laptops

[patrick payne]

I am thinking of buying a new laptop and would like your advice. Are they good value in florida? where are the best bargins and most of all do they work in the UK.

Hope you can help

[MTP]

Hi Patrick,

We have thought about this in the past and it may be possible to buy from some manufacturers and confirm that any warranty would be internationally recognised, however if something goes wrong you may find it difficult to actually get any warranty honoured - obviously dependant on the company.

All in all I would have thought that the potential risks wouldn't outweigh the benefits, especially as you would need to declare it upon your return and pay any duty and VAT necessary.

Just as a thought, to give you an idea of cost comparisons you could build identical systems on dell.co.uk and dell.com and see what the comparison is.

[Albert the Frog]

If you're looking for an off the shelf one try the walmart web site and compare prices. the advantage of this is that if something does go wrong you can take it back to asda over here. we bought a camera, mp3 etc -we found that not only were the prices better the spec tends to be better too. good luck

[Ray&Sarah]

Mind you Dell have some very good offers on at the moment, you might be better to buy one from there whilst at home in the UK.[msnsmile]

[pieman790]

I bought my kids a laptop from Dell UK at the begining of this year and it cost me £299. Great laptop and ideal for the kids.

[Robert5988]

I considered the same options as MTP above and came to the same conclusions; there isn't a huge difference in prices, particularly from Dell.

[nicseg]

If you ask me Dell is great value for money. You may want to think about an extended warranty. Laptops are expensive to repair and for example if the backlight on the TFT screen fails it can cost as much as £200.00
Nic

[palmvillas]

Dell offer good deals in the US and here at home in the UK, very good value.

[becbecs]

There are plenty of good deals out there. Acer is a good make we also like the Sony Vaio range. We currently have a HP and had no problems, and then as said above you can get Dell at some great rates also. Have a search around the web to see which one takes your fancy.

[Snapper]

One thing to watch for if you do buy a US laptop is the keyboard. US keyboards are often subtly different and if you touch type it will drive you crazy.

[tezz7628]

mickeymouse@disneyworld.com

would become

mickeymouse"disneyworld.com

from the number of times reinstalled windows and had to reset to english keyboard :D [msnwink]

[wrpac00]

I bought one in 'Best Buys' in the summer. It worked out to be £249 and that included a wireless mouse.

[ShirleyD]

When I used a PC at the internet cafe, it didn't have a £ sign!

I would check the internet before you go, so you can compare what you get get for your money at home. You may need to buy a lead with an English plug

[bmitch]

That reminds me I know there is a combination of keys that bring up the '£' sign up on a US keyboard. Can someone remind me what it is - thanks.


quote]Originally posted by tezz7628
mickeymouse@disneyworld.com

would become

mickeymouse"disneyworld.com

from the number of times reinstalled windows and had to reset to english keyboard :D [msnwink]
[/quote]

[Carla]

Patrick, it very much depends what you need your laptop for. If you will use it for work, and are therefore dependent upon it, then you will need to take into consideration what will happen if anything goes wrong with it. This was one of the reasons why I didn't buy mine in the US.

The low end laptops were really cheap, but once we started looking at those with 1Gb of memory, over 80Gb of hard drive, dual core etc. etc. there was precious little difference between UK and US prices, by the time that you added the Sales Tax onto the price on display.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:That reminds me I know there is a combination of keys that bring up the '£' sign up on a US keyboard. Can someone remind me what it is - thanks.
[/quote]

I don't think there is any set combination of keys to bring up the £ sign. However in most programs you can define yourself what combination of keys bring up certain symbols.(user defined symbols)

e.g. you could make Ctrl + p(holding down both keys) = £

When on my USA PC I find it easier to 'cut and paste' the £ sign from another post or letter.

[Snapper]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by bmitch
That reminds me I know there is a combination of keys that bring up the '£' sign up on a US keyboard. Can someone remind me what it is - thanks.[/quote]
Hold down ALT and type 0163 on the numeric keypad.

Don't ask!! [msnwink]

[tezz7628]

disclaimer

needs verifying but have just tried situation below on my computer and everything seems ok

re the situation of mine above with the @ symbol and the " symbol

mine is an english laptop machine using windows xp home

control panel
regional and language options
languages
details
add
keyboard layout/ime (us)
language bar

in language bar settings --- tick show language bar on the desktop

click apply and ok through the pages as they close

now means i can click on the language taskbar icon to change from us to uk easily and quickly

in us i get @ on the 2 key
in uk i get " on the 2 key

i wonder if same will apply for £ and 3 key which on mine
in uk mode gives £
and us mode gives #

http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/Data/tezz7628/2006118233627_keyboard.JPG

[MTP]

On a US international keyboard I think the <span style="color:blue">[ALT GR]+4</span id="blue"> key combination will give the £ sign, the same as it gives the € sign on UK keyboard layout. Perhaps one of the US contributors could confirm, but here is a map of the layout:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/KB_US-International.svg/800px-KB_US-International.svg.png

[jhonpaul]

My US keyboard hasnt a Alt Gr key, it has two Alt keys.
Alt plus 0163 didnt work so back to copy and paste.

John

[bmitch]

Whats the GR as in [ALT GR]+4 key combination..............is it the letters GR?

[MTP]

bmitch the [ALT GR] is the key to the right of the spacebar and its presence may depend on keybaord type and age.

[bmitch]

Great, thanks for that.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by MTP
bmitch the [ALT GR] is the key to the right of the spacebar and its presence may depend on keybaord type and age.
[/quote]

[nreece]

i bought a sony vaio from compusa three years ago, the price was great, about the same in dollars as it would be in pounds in the uk. I bought the extended warranty, with the international cover and they promised if anything went wrong whilst I was in the UK it would be covered. However, when it did go wrong I was stuck. The Sony help line in the UK couldn't deal with it because it was American. The Sony help line in the US couldn't deal with me because I was outside of the US. The compusa cover would only work if I got the item back to a store, but they would not allow me just to send it to a store. Luckily, my Mother was coming over here, so she took it for me, but otherwise I'd have been stuck.
The moral of the story, never buy a lap top in the US, get one in the UK, the best at the moment are Gateways, for sale in ToysRUs, the spec is fantastic and the price is crazy!!!

[Peppermint]

We bought a Compaq laptop in Florida that needed attention some months later and the service was superb - collected at the door by courier and returned in perfect working order two days later.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:The moral of the story, never buy a lap top in the US, get one in the UK, the best at the moment are Gateways, for sale in ToysRUs, the spec is fantastic and the price is crazy!!![/quote]

I would agree with buying a laptop in UK.

I am a fan of Gateway having had a couple in the past. Their service was second to none, and well built, but then they stopped selling computers in Europe.
Now they are selling them again I hope their quality and service is of the same standard; it is in the USA.

However I am not sure that the laptops in Toysrus are that special for the money. IMO Dell will give you a better spec for the money.

This is not the forum to discuss the technical aspects of laptops, but I would get a second opinion from the various 'techie' forums about fantastic specs and crazy prices.

[Robert5988]

The new laptop available in Aldi from Sunday 19 Nov for £489 is seriously good value.

[florida4sun]

Includes a 3 year warranty, not bad at all.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Robert5988
The new laptop available in Aldi from Sunday 19 Nov for £489 is seriously good value.
[/quote]

[MTP]

Martin, do you mean that you would not?

I have always thought that the sony ones were slightly style over content, but what nice style!

[walden64]

Well I have just been out and bought Danni's Christmas present - the laptop on offer at Aldi today.

Great spec and much better than the ones on offer at other shops at the moment. It gives a free upgrade to Windows Vista - just need to find out more about that now.

Michelle