What are the things to look out for when choosing a new lap top?

Well what?????

"mich" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Well what?????

Make sure it's new and not some secondhand crud. Never, ever, buy a
secondhand laptop. They're secondhand because they're broken.

Make sure it's from a manufacturer that'll supply parts now AND in the
future. IBM will do this.
Check the battery life and the cost of replacement batteries.
Check that the hard drive is a standard drive - just in case you need to
replace it.
Possibly get a second battery/drive/caddy with the laptop.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

"Zebedee" <abuse@127.0.0.1> wrote in message news:<40bf11ac$0$2287$ >...
> "mich" <> wrote in message
> news: om...
> > Well what?????
>
> Make sure it's new and not some secondhand crud. Never, ever, buy a
> secondhand laptop. They're secondhand because they're broken.

I'd have to disagree there...sounds like you're talking from your own
experience, which is more than likely to be the exception to the rule.

I known several people who have bought second hand or refurb laptops,
saved *a lot* of money and they're still working fine 3 or 4 years on.

"Ricky" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> I'd have to disagree there...sounds like you're talking from your own
> experience, which is more than likely to be the exception to the rule.
>
> I known several people who have bought second hand or refurb laptops,
> saved *a lot* of money and they're still working fine 3 or 4 years on.

Maybe but when you're talking £500ish for a brand new laptop and £200+ for a
secondhand offering that might or might not fail spectacularly, I know I'd
rather buy new.

I've found on too many occasions that saving half the cost on secondhand
usually means that I could have saved money by buying new, after all the
things that go wrong.

No. Never buy secondhand electronics.

--
Yours

Zebedee

(Claiming asylum in an attempt
to escape paying his debts to
Dougal and Florence)

(mich) wrote in message news:<. com>...
> Well what?????

For a laptop I would first look to make sure that it has the
expandability that you need. How many slots for PC cards? The
standard is two, but not all will have two slots. How long will the
battery last before being recharged? Do you want a trackpad or
trackpoint for a mouse device? Will you need a docking station? How
durable is it? If you are going to be using it in conditions where it
is bumped around a lot you may want to look into laptops with heavy
duty casings.

Hope this helps.