|
|
Boboss - at that end of the market... hmm. Savastore and perhaps Misco do probably the cheapest first-hand kit out there, and I think you can get the Aries stuff without XP... Dell Outlet's refurbs are at times noticeably cheaper than their first-hand stock, although you get some weird-ass configurations, but yeah, Dell are paid huge by Microsoft to put WinXP on every machine they send out. On an ideological level, I loathe and despise Dell, but on the other hand the Dell desktop I got in 1999 is still ticking happily away (it killed itself once, but I think that was Win98 rather than the PC itself - now runs Ubuntu Linux quite happily), and I suspect the Win 3.11 machine in the attic may well be as well, ISA card and all.
Dabs and Ebuyer have probably the lowest prices of badged laptops online, but I've heard horror stories about the customer service.
Buying a major brand name also means more confidence of customer service - ever since I dropped a grand on a Multivision laptop (supporting small business!) which then developed a small but annoying fault, by which time the company had gone into liquidation and the warranty was void, I've been slightly conscious of thing.
SLAAAGS.
Ahem.
Refurbs - Morgan do a brisk trade - this should give you a guide.
Generally, beyond a certain point the benefits of extra spending on a laptop multiply in force, and then beyond a certain other point become negligible again. |
|
|