new laptop advice please

[mick222]

I am looking for a laptop for my son 21year old I was thinking of the last one on this list. http://direct.tesco.com/compare/?c=207-2571+207-2877+207-7915+207-4119&f=%2Fq%2FN.1999033%2FNr.99.aspx%3FNs%3DP_HIDDEN_St ock_Available|1||P_SORT_Price%26btnResultSort.x%3D 21%26btnResultSort.y%3D11 does anybody know if it will be good for Ubuntu . Also want decent sound and video playback.

[CharlesA]

The first Acer (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-2571.aspx) would probably be the best.

Battery life sucks, but I guess that's normal for larger screened laptops.

The only hitch is the conflicting information on the page.

It would be a good idea to do some research (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-15-6inch-Notebook-Celeron-Windows/dp/tech-data/B002ZIBQX0/ref=de_a_smtd) first.

[mick222]

That was the first one i looked at thought the build quality looked better on the toshibas. just noticed the toshiba comes with windows7 starter edition and he'll want windows so that ones out.

[mick222]

you better go for sony vaio.
To expensive looking for something cheap and cheerful.

[CharlesA]

What will they be using the laptop for?

[mick222]

Mostly listening to music and browsing the Internet nothing heavy.

[CharlesA]

Integrated graphics would be fine then.

I've got an Asus eeePC 1005HA for browsing the internet and listening to music, but it's only got a 10.1" screen.

Very nice battery life tho.

[mick222]

Thx he wants a bigger screen the acer looks quite good value for the price. Will look in store to see what the build quality is like.

[CharlesA]

The only downside to the acer is that the battery life sucks, and it only has 2 USB ports. Should be fine otherwise, and it's decent for the price.

[mick222]

Battery life seems to suck on most cheap laptops, if needed could probably use an external usb controller but I pod and phone are the two main things he will use. I've seen some posts with people having trouble with installing Ubuntu on a Windows 7 computer is it quite straight forward. I am reasonably confident with partitioning and want to try to get him to use Lucid .

[ajgreeny]

Have a look at the acer-direct page on refurbished laptops here:-
http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/box_opened_laptops/prod.asp

There seem to be some very good bargains if you are prepared to consider the grade1 and grade2 machines. Just look out for machines with intel chipsets and you should be OK for ubuntu to run.

[Swagman]

Depends what you want to do with it. but you should be aware

Celeron & Sempron means "half a brain".

ie: they are cut down crap versions of the proper cpu's. That statement will undoubtedly make some people start jumping up & down but it's true.

That doesn't mean they are bad processors.. Just depends what you want to do !!

[mick222]

yes i know celerons aren't that good was looking for a core duo but can't find any in my price range. thought the celeron would still speed along with Ubuntu or mint.