You get what you pay for...

[Amadan]

Right not exactly a customer but hay ho...

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I used to work as a tech for a "well known" computer retailer here in the UK, I quit almost a year ago now.
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That's twice in a week I've been asked by people I know to recommend a good cheap laptop.

Now there's a number of problems here, firstly I have no idea. Even when I worked as a computer Tech I could only tell you what came back as faulty not what we sold or what was "good value" as I used to refuse to sell stuff - it wasn't my job and I had enough work to do to keep me busy well after I was supposed to go home.

Secondly - THERE ARE NO GOOD CHEAP LAPTOPS! Not if your idea of cheap is £250 but you might "push the boat out and pay £300"!

No I wont recommend one - they're all cr*p, some are just slightly less cr*p that others. There's a reason why both the machine provided by my work and the machine I bought myself cost about £1000 but aren't amazingly superspecced compared to "value" machines. It's called QUALITY!

The last time someone asked me and I advised they get a £500 Dell they got a £300 Dell and then blamed me when it broke.

Gah!!!!!

[Web_Pict]

Sure you can get a good and cheap laptop... One good and one cheap.

[draggar]

When scanners started their big drop in price in the mid 1990's I had the same thing (a "cheap" laptop back then was about $900).

A business owner (whose business I frequented often and was on a first name basis with) came into Staples to buy a scanner. He didn't have much money and wanted to go with the $200 scanner (yeah, that was cheap them). I told him chances were he's be back within 14 days to return it and to spend the extra $200 for a very good (yet still low-end on the cost scale) scanner. He decided to go with the cheaper one. I sayd "OK, I'll see you in a few days to sell you the $400 one".

Sure enough, he was back in 2 days.

I don't know what it is - people seem to think that if the specs are the same then they're the saome computer. You know what? A Kia and a Mercedes are both cars so they should be the same thing, right?

I don't know why people refuse to listen when they're told to spend the extra money and get somthing of quality.