What’s the cheapest laptop that you do?

Curse the likes of Dell for offering bargain priced laptops.

Not, as you might think, because it makes other IT shops look more expensive by comparison. No, the likes of Dell have such buying power and economies of scale, the independent IT store is never going to match them on price alone and should never try. Rather because it has conditioned people to believe that the best laptop is the cheapest laptop.

I would like to provide just a couple of points to bear in mind when searching for that bargain laptop deal;

• If it’s really cheap, it’s because corners have been cut somewhere along the line. Most probably in the processor department. The processor is the engine of the computer and a budget processor means that it will struggle to run several applications at once and will begin to slow up a couple of years down the line as all important updates are installed.
• £50 more more will buy you significantly more laptop. £100 more will buy a real cracker. Obviously it depends what that extra money is buying (don’t think shiny pink colour scheme here), but a better processor and more RAM will significantly increase the life and capability of the laptop. And if it’s a business purchase, what does that £100 equate to over the 5 year life of the unit - it’s a false economy not to buy a decent speed notebook.

And finally, don’t be wooed by the shiny brochures and the special deals. Ask you local independent IT support company. They deal in the real world and they know what works and what’s worth the money.