I pad/ laptop quandry

[fishym2b]

So we need a new laptop as our one has a broken screen and no sound either.

But I was thinking of getting a kindle and then i could do a bit of surfing on that, but didnt realise it was a balck and white screen and not a touch screen.

So now thinking maybe an i pad as the can get i books and also be able to surf the web.

But as we are overseas was hoping to get back on skype, can you do this over an i pad tho?

Is a laptop a better choice in general or can an i pad be enough or do you find you need a laptop too?

Also neither me nor DP have i phones/ pods does this make getting an i pad a bit more pointless? Also therfore we are not used to how apple stuff works, just how easy/ hard is it?

Budget is around the £500 mark.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I'd go laptop over any of those. You will never get the processor speeds of a laptop on anything else. I bought my laptop from the refurbished department of PCworld just beofre christmas. They've got amazing deals and I paid £400 pounds for a laptop worth over £500. It is new, just an returned model that has never been used. They fully refurbish them so it is literally a new laptop at a fraction of the price! Hope this helps

Get a laptop.

We have both, and the iPad is lovely for surfing an watching media

BUT

• doesn't play flash (which means a LOT of websites don't work)
• can't easily print
• can't write a letter (no .doc etc)
• can't do a spreadsheet

I think you can get add-ons for these things but it's a bit of a pain.

You can download Kindle software (and others) to read e-books on a PC.

I also have a Kindle, and the browser is very much 'BETA' (and crap!)

Yes, laptop I'm afraid. You need a bigger computer to hook up iPad anyway, and it doesn't have a web cam, hence no video Skype-ing. Don't know about audio, not tried.

They are lovely though, but not what you need. Get a dinky net book.

Sigh I thought so, just fancied a shiny ipad.

Oh well off to look for a cheap deal on a lap top and hopefully have enough left over for a kindle too!

Thanks people.

Errm - have you thought about repairing the lappie?

Replacing a tft screen isn't the enormous job it may seem (I've done two, and they are about 50-100 quid online) and the sound might be a simple 'loose wire'. If not, it might not be the end of the world to have no sound?

If you still have access to the web (DURRR - you posted here didn't you? Silly me) then you should be able to google ' disassembly instructions' and go from there.

The only suggestions I would make are:
take a pad of paper and note sequence of events
take pictures as you go
organise the screws as you take them out

Most laptops tend to have two or three size of screw at most and they're often colour coded to help manufacture/maintenance.

We are overseas, so not easy to get hold of parts. Think the sound is linked to the problems as needed to update the BIOS but can't get it work.

I did look in to fixing it but think I would still be better off getting a new one.

It's all a bit too technical for me!

Ipads are cool but do not replace a laptop (windows or apple) for functionality.

"Bugger" about the parts. I would suggest you don't chuck the laptop, no matter what. If and when you come back you can get it repaired.

For security, you can remove the disk (where all your data is) before taking it to a repair shop.

A decent one will either have a spare disk with Windows on that they can use to boot up, or will fix it just to the POST stage (power-on-self-test)....

What I'm saying is they shouldn't need the disk to fix it.

Laptop

Have you ever thought about a netbook? It's light and easy to use - not too expensive either.

I have an iPad and a netbook and I agree that not being able to wuse flash websites is annoying.