Place for UK users to gather/trade/chat!

Chenley123 · Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:03 pm

I've had my bus pass for years

Fattyramone · Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:14 pm

Gonna throw this question in here where the prices we get charged in the UK are more easily understood.

Bear with me as I'm not particularly tech savvy about these kind of things....

I've got used to using an ipad and find them really all I need for a lot of things I find I need to do , however I'm thinking of buying myself some kind of laptop again for the first time in quite a few years and have lost touch with their current capabilities and expectations of what you should get for your bang-for-buck ratio.

My immediate thought was to look at an Apple IMac , but even the refurbs come in at £700-£800 , which is a tad to much for my perceived needs....is there anything similar available but without the added price tag that apple products demand?

Or .....what kind of PC product/make would I get for a budget of £400 ?........is £400 considered a "good" budget nowadays for a middle of the range item?....or is it a a bit low or what have you?

I'm not a "games" player so it need not be all geared up to play the latest biff-bang-pow shoot'em-up game needing extraordinary speeds to process.

I don't edit movies or what have you , but I would like to know more than I currently do ...but that's no big deal.

Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated.

Cheers

Jaspar · Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm

I'd suggest trying the Dell Outlet. Dell have huge bulk buying power, so you tend to get more bang for your buck. Many of the Dell Outlet items are brand new, either end of line, or cancelled custom orders (though some are refurbs). Apple laptops are really nice, but you really do pay a premium.
http://www.dell.com/learn/uk/en/ukdfh1/ ... s/splitter

jpfondu · Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:57 pm

I'd say Dell too. Great software/hardware support with decent prices.
I sold my MacBook after buying an iPad. I never used it apart from garageband.

Fattyramone · Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:14 pm

Cheers lads , I've had Dell before and was happy with it then , was just wondering if something else had taken its place so to speak?

What did you get for a second hand MacBook JP?

dhokes · Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:55 pm

I vaguely remember that there was a discussion on here about eBay's Global Shipping Programme. Can someone please remind me what the key points were. I'm thinking about purchasing a print from a US seller on eBay who uses their shipping programme.

rimmer · Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:07 pm

This might be what you was after bud
http://forum.expressobeans.com/viewtopi ... l+shipping

if not fatty's ya man

Fattyramone · Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:31 pm

Key point to remember is that if they are using the shipping programme there's no way to check out and pay them without paying the excessive "tax" on top of of the postage and item cost itself.

The seller themselves don't see any of this so they don't realise what extra costs are involved to you the buyer...neither do a lot of them care either.

In doing this they willingly surrender their "carefully" packaged poster to a holding house in Tennessee where any packaging is stripped of any "unessisary" excess weight /length so that they can cram more Ebay packages from across all across America onto a pallet ....

One large crammed pallet fitted to their design costs far less to freight over to the UK than 50 individually packaged items ..that's how they make their money.

When it arrives with no problems then nobody is any the wiser of the packaging switch ..everything is fine.

When it arrives damaged the seller is compensated (so he's happy) ...you are compensated , so your happy(?) ...unless you managed to snag that once in a lifetime bargain $500 poster for $100 in which case tough fudge.....here's the $100 back that you paid for it now bugger off.

Everyone seems to have come out ok on it getting damaged except for the fact that us Europeans are paying through the nose for this kind of excessively costed "insurance" premium foisted upon us so that an American freight company can make money off the back of foriegn Ebay customers ....and no doubt pay Ebay a good back hander to piggy back on their business....

dhokes · Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:01 am

rimmer wrote:This might be what you was after bud
http://forum.expressobeans.com/viewtopi ... l+shipping

if not fatty's ya man

Fattyramone wrote:Key point to remember is that if they are using the shipping programme there's no way to check out and pay them without paying the excessive "tax" on top of of the postage and item cost itself.

The seller themselves don't see any of this so they don't realise what extra costs are involved to you the buyer...neither do a lot of them care either.

In doing this they willingly surrender their "carefully" packaged poster to a holding house in Tennessee where any packaging is stripped of any "unessisary" excess weight /length so that they can cram more Ebay packages from across all across America onto a pallet ....

One large crammed pallet fitted to their design costs far less to freight over to the UK than 50 individually packaged items ..that's how they make their money.

When it arrives with no problems then nobody is any the wiser of the packaging switch ..everything is fine.

When it arrives damaged the seller is compensated (so he's happy) ...you are compensated , so your happy(?) ...unless you managed to snag that once in a lifetime bargain $500 poster for $100 in which case tough fudge.....here's the $100 back that you paid for it now bugger off.

Everyone seems to have come out ok on it getting damaged except for the fact that us Europeans are paying through the nose for this kind of excessively costed "insurance" premium foisted upon us so that an American freight company can make money off the back of foriegn Ebay customers ....and no doubt pay Ebay a good back hander to piggy back on their business....

Cheers guys! Much appreciated.

Practically, how would they compensate both? In the past, if someone goes wrong, I open a dispute on eBay and we work out the issues. However, now, if we want to pass the blame to eBay, I guess I open a dispute on eBay and after a given time, eBay chime in saying they'll refund both parties?

LeeKaye · Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:19 am

Another vote for Dell too. I got my Dad a refurbished one for 300 (450 is the list price) and it's really nice. Speedy and does most things you ask of it. You get problems with all companies, but I've been happy with only buying from them for years.

jpfondu · Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:53 am

Fattyramone wrote:Cheers lads , I've had Dell before and was happy with it then , was just wondering if something else had taken its place so to speak?

What did you get for a second hand MacBook JP?

I think I got about 600 for it. I bought it for 1k and had it for just over 2 years. MacBooks don't tend to depreciate as fast as some other brands. Great laptop though but overkill for my needs.

dhokes · Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:58 am

I switched to Mac recently and now I can't imagine going back to Windows. Urgh. But if price is an issue, I'd also recommend Dell.

sasari · Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:23 am

Hey ya'll
My last attempt as I've posted in 2 other places and spoke to Matt but no luck so here's one last shot. Can anyone help out with the GotG/SW Ferguson print at TB? Happy to tip, pay in advance etc. Really would appreciate it and would be hung immediately. Please throw me a PM if you can help out.

DaleCooper · Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:19 pm

I'll get them for you if I go but at the moment it's not looking likely so might be best to keep asking.

mrgkaplan · Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:58 pm

Another vote for me from Dell - happily using my i7 Inspiron for a year or so. Would recommend getting a version with an SSD drive - mine has both this and a normal HD and the boot time from power on is lightning fast and general use super speedy. Also check out http://www.hotukdeals.com/ they always post up good Dell deals and discount codes. I'd say £500 should get you a top spec Dell if you shop around.