[Gllug] Old Budget Laptop Shopping

[Minty]

I'm sure you know it, but laptops are much more prone to breaking and
fxing them is harder/more expensive.  If I was sourcing a cheap
computer for people who didn't care to open it up and replace the
harddrive themselves, I would point them at dell.co.uk and/or their
factory seconds store and strongly suggest a desktop.

Consider for one: Replacing a dud battery can cost you 100 quid quite easily.

http://www.rdc-shop.co.uk/shops/main.php

I've used these guys before, with mixed results : 3 x old compaq
desktops are going strong 24.7 for about 2 years now.  The one laptop
I got from them was DOA, but they did take it back without much fuss.

To be honest, given the exchange rate atm, when the RDC laptop died,
and we had a friend coming to visit from the US, we got a brand new
dell with a three year international warranty and it wasn't a lot more
expensive.

Then of course ebay.  Buyer beware.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Alists.gllug.org.uk+cheap+laptop&btnG=Google+Search
dug up:

- http://www.sterlingxs.co.uk
- http://www.morgan-auctions.co.uk/

Lastly, have you considered an apple mini.  300 quid, you can pick up
old monitors/keyboard/mice at the jumble sale I'm sure.  If you can
afford a little tft flat screen, its not *much* bigger than a laptop.

I'm a bit lazy, so wrt to getting linux on them, I tend to go for the
well known brands (dell, toshiba) as there is almost always someone
who's done it before and documented all the pit falls.
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