Laptop Brand

[andypaul]

acer, compaq = not satisfied with the performance and design.

i'm using toshiba satelite right now. some good brands i've tried include sony, mac, hp pavillion, dell

just a tip: if you plan to get a mobile phone line (minimum 18 months contract to 24 mos.) here in uk you can avail of free items like laptop, PS3, nintendo wii, xbox 360, lcd tv, etc..... saves you money and you even got a new phone

Be careful of those deals the Wife was tempted when i did the maths for the difference in a decent contract for your phone (and a better phone) you could sometimes buy a better laptop etc with the savings.

All the calcualtions i did were in the last month or so.

[aromulus]

Be careful of those deals the Wife was tempted when i did the maths for the difference in a decent contract for your phone (and a better phone) you could sometimes buy a better laptop etc with the savings.

All the calcualtions i did were in the last month or so.

I recently switched broadband providers from BT (crap) to AOL (excellent so far) through a Carphone warehouse deal.
18 months contract with a Free-ish (70 odd quid extra) Toshiba Satellite 149-300 laptop thrown in.
I cannot grumble really, the lappie is absolutely superb, and more than what I really need in terms of RAM and HDD capacity. With Vista Premium installed it is a real gem.
There were a couple of Acer lappies on offer for free, but I declined, and happily paid the extra for something worth its salt.
I did make some sums before signing on the dotted line, and all in all, even with the extra charge, I was well up, compared to my previous BB provider.
Even my techy sons are impressed with it...

[maria_and_matt]

I recently switched broadband providers from BT (crap) to AOL (excellent so far) through a Carphone warehouse deal.
18 months contract with a Free-ish (70 odd quid extra) Toshiba Satellite 149-300 laptop thrown in.
I cannot grumble really, the lappie is absolutely superb, and more than what I really need in terms of RAM and HDD capacity. With Vista Premium installed it is a real gem.
There were a couple of Acer lappies on offer for free, but I declined, and happily paid the extra for something worth its salt.
I did make some sums before signing on the dotted line, and all in all, even with the extra charge, I was well up, compared to my previous BB provider.
Even my techy sons are impressed with it...

hmm what was wrong with bt?

[aromulus]

hmm what was wrong with bt?

I was talked by a salesman to switch from BT Yahoo to Bt Broadband, unlimited download, up to 8meg speed, cheaper, better, wifi phone thrown in, blah, blah....
Within 3 months the speed was reduced to just about a meg if it didn't rain... After various calls to india somewhere, and having to listen to someone reading to me from the same manual I had in front of me, got kind of fed up. Before the switch I was getting slightly over 2 meg and with that lot not even the half of it.
It went on for ages.
Everytime I did online speed checks, it came out that I was able to receive over 2 meg, but BT was only giving 1 meg or thereabouts. After complaining, my speed was increased.... Only to be cut again two months later, with the excuse that the cables were old, and the distance from the exchange was too great.... Less than a mile....???
More online speed checks, and I proved them wrong when they did it for me.... They had to admit that it was their fault but.... Blah, blah, blah....
Now, with AOL I get what I am paying for.
Over 2 meg and the service is good.... They speak english......

[amyburple]

I was talked by a salesman to switch from BT Yahoo to Bt Broadband, unlimited download, up to 8meg speed, cheaper, better, wifi phone thrown in, blah, blah....
Within 3 months the speed was reduced to just about a meg if it didn't rain... After various calls to india somewhere, and having to listen to someone reading to me from the same manual I had in front of me, got kind of fed up. Before the switch I was getting slightly over 2 meg and with that lot not even the half of it.
It went on for ages.
Everytime I did online speed checks, it came out that I was able to receive over 2 meg, but BT was only giving 1 meg or thereabouts. After complaining, my speed was increased.... Only to be cut again two months later, with the excuse that the cables were old, and the distance from the exchange was too great.... Less than a mile....???
More online speed checks, and I proved them wrong when they did it for me.... They had to admit that it was their fault but.... Blah, blah, blah....
Now, with AOL I get what I am paying for.
Over 2 meg and the service is good.... They speak english......

I will take this TIPS from you MOD hehehe! AOL is better than BT

[amyburple]

I recently switched broadband providers from BT (crap) to AOL (excellent so far) through a Carphone warehouse deal.
18 months contract with a Free-ish (70 odd quid extra) Toshiba Satellite 149-300 laptop thrown in.
I cannot grumble really, the lappie is absolutely superb, and more than what I really need in terms of RAM and HDD capacity. With Vista Premium installed it is a real gem.
There were a couple of Acer lappies on offer for free, but I declined, and happily paid the extra for something worth its salt.
I did make some sums before signing on the dotted line, and all in all, even with the extra charge, I was well up, compared to my previous BB provider.
Even my techy sons are impressed with it...

ohhh BT is crap hehehe WHY? my hubby is using it since then... So AOL is BETTER? What's the specs of your LAPPIES MOD

[andypaul]

I recently switched broadband providers from BT (crap) to AOL (excellent so far) through a Carphone warehouse deal.
18 months contract with a Free-ish (70 odd quid extra) Toshiba Satellite 149-300 laptop thrown in.
I cannot grumble really, the lappie is absolutely superb, and more than what I really need in terms of RAM and HDD capacity. With Vista Premium installed it is a real gem.
There were a couple of Acer lappies on offer for free, but I declined, and happily paid the extra for something worth its salt.
I did make some sums before signing on the dotted line, and all in all, even with the extra charge, I was well up, compared to my previous BB provider.
Even my techy sons are impressed with it...

I was thinking more of the mobile deals which offer you the world and now mobile companies are offering you a cheap laptop on a 24 month contract!!

The internet ones i have not looked at Laptops free with work

My bt is fine.

Like Mr Admin boss po sir says there is a little more to broadband than simply pluging in. Chino if it pops back could tell you far more than me.

many people have found adding a touchplate at the master socket makes a massive difference also looking at devices which can cause interfrence to the connection. Simply having the wiring checked can help. Some older houses will have wiring decades old when Adsl was simply letters from the alphabet.

If you know what our doing the Bell wire Snip helps much mucho in some cases. As you can reduce noise on the line. Which is the same as changing the plate.

Even the Filter you use can make a difference as can like Mr admin say the pc and router etc. Some people have some fancy filters with face plate which they swear by.
http://www.adslnation.com/products/xtf.php

Also i have noticed speed tests will never show what my connection is capable off. My always says 2-3 meg but when im downloading or streaming it gets to the 6.5 -7 BT claim.

Sir Dom po if you ever have trouble sleeping have a butchers at this.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq/se...radsl.html#235