Work lent me a laptop, and whilst I used it on the bus most days to uni, I came to realise that although i don't believe in spending my own money - it's almost invaluable ni enabling me to do lots of work (bus = 4 hours per day travel for me at the moment).
However, before I rush and spend nearly 400 quid on a laptop (it's a heck of a lot of money for me on a luxury item!), I wanted to see what people think of the blighters, and more importantly - how long they last... and how much they cost when they need fixing.
Being ever the cynic, I can't help but think it'll be a hunk of junk within 16 months, as it will break somewhere and cost a fortune to fix. I've found the odd model which is just below 400 quid which is fairly basic (1.6 Ghz, 256-512Mb mem, 40-80Gb HDD, and 4+ hours of battery life... all weighing in at around 2.8Kg) and thought I'd ask others about experiences.
What have you got? How much did it cost, is it too expensive for what you use it (I never intend to do anything other than run applications like Eclipse, word/office stuff and that's about it - NO gaming) for? How long have you had it? Does it still function perfectly? Have you had to have it repaired, if so - what went wrong and how long had you had it for before it occured? Are you happy with what you bought, how often do you use it - and what make/model it is? Also include horror stories from friends that aren't exaggerated but are true as well if you have any
How much is insurance for carrying it around etc too?
Basically I can read all the reviews I like about the features, but features smeatures to be honest - they comment upon how it looks, what it's got and how it runs for the 10 mins that they've had it for - there is sod all about reliability, battery life after being used for 3 months, how much replacements/repairs cost - and what common faults seem to exist. That's what I am interested in... not interested in having people cooo over how good it looks, how fast it loads or how well it can render videos and other such crap - I just want it as a solid workhorse that won't die within three years of buying it, the battery will live for about a year or more as well before it's charge time has depreciated below useable, and basically is worth forking the cash out.
Any feedback or help/suggestions is MUCH appreciated. I'm naturally tight fisted, and getting a laptop would severely cut into any planned update to my main rig that I have got (which needs a new Mobo... and therefore it'll get new CPU instead of the old one it's got, new GFX card as it'd be SLi or whatever they use these days etc, Flatscreen monitor). If laptops just don't last, then I won't waste my cash.
Work took their laptop back as someone else needs it for "in the field" work, whereas I was just doing uni projects on it
). Got it running XP atm, even though it looks like it came with 98 (bought second hand). OS that probably makes it 4-6 years old? Im not really too sure.
