Netbooks vs laptops

[Miss Demeanour]

The Brat's laptop appears to be fecked  ( as I have mentioned tediously on another thread)  

I am considering options for replacement - and am looking at netbooks as an option , obviously they are cheaper but with less storage etc . She needs it to be portable .

Is it worth getting a cheaper laptop or are the netbooks quite reasonable - does the lack of a DVD drive cause issues  

Any opinions welcome  

[Snoopy]

Netbooks are fine for on line surfing but useless to save anything unless you walk around with a pocket full of pen/flash drives or an external DVD drive.
Cheap laptops aren't worth the money as they will be f*cked in a couple of years.
Decent laptop will cost £500 or thereabouts but will have memory, battery life and all the bells and whistles she will ever want. It will also be stolen within a fortnight.

This opinion is my own, it is not humble but is based on experience of buying all three options.

[Miss Demeanour]

Thanks Snoops

Not sure I can stretch to ?500 at the moment  tho 

What about refurbished laptops are they just a no no ???

[Barman]

Apart from fecking it all up, what is she planning on doing with it...?

If she just surfs 'tintermong and read her e-mail then she doesn't need a state of the art all singing all dancing macxhine...

[tel]

What is the machine required for?

Is it just interweb and email, or are there proper apps to be used?

[Miss Demeanour]

She needs it to be be able to cope with her itunes library ( substantial amount of crap music on that)

Sturdy keypad for the amount of time and crap she posts on MSN/ FB / Bebo / etc - she is not really a big on-line gamer

Preferably with a DVD drive as they get some school work on these that they need to follow

Needs to have MS Office suite including Powerpoint and Project manager but I already have that software to download - for homework stuff

She doesn't take it to school but does take it to her dads at weekends and stuff

[Barman]

How about...

http://www.computerbargains.co.uk/shop/catalog/index.html

Or

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/

Brand new end-of-line computers...

[Miss Demeanour]

Cheers BM

I will have a good browse

[Snoopy]

I bought recons from Bigpockets for the boys. At around £150 each I thought they were good value and frankly "disposable". It is amazing how much they complain about them not being fast enough, not connecting to the internet wifi system at all times of the day and night (it seems that the THW's more powerful Macbook knocks them off line every time) and so on. Bigpockets TBF have changed one under their 90 day RTB warranty so they are not all bad but they do not carry the necessary and all important street cred. The Brat will not be happy with anything that cheap I promise you.

[Miss Demeanour]

I think you're prolly right about that and I don't want to have to buy something for the interim and then be looking for something else in a few months time

I suspect she is just going to have to wait and I will just need to cope with the moaning

[Snoopy]

Morgans, Bigpockets etc all offer refurbs and also end of line "new" models but they all carry a "Return to Base" warranty. If you have a problem that RTB can cost you upwards of ?30 to mail the faulty item back to them. Laptops weigh heavy on Post Office Scales and then you have to insure them and pay extra for the "recorded" delivery that the companies insist is the only safe way to send stuff to them. It is a cost that needs to be factored in when comparing with PC World, Currys etc. who have a local branch to which you can return any faulty goods.