Laptop/pc advice please

[penguinplease]

Hi, hoping for someone who knows more than me to point me in the right not being ripped off direction

We have had 2 laptops die in the last few weeks. To be fair one was old but my one was only 3 years old and not had a lot of use but its just been diagnosed by an IT guy as being terminal and not worth the money it would cost to repair.

All I want is a cheap laptop/computer for my kids who are 7 and 8 to use for their ipods and sites like moshi monsters. I will also use it but only for net browsing. Can someone please advise me on the spec to go for ? thank you

Hi

a nexus 7 at about £160 from google is the best thing around. there is another tablet at about £90 but will need to msg from home about it as I cant remember the IT mag I read it in. Have a look at the nexus first though.

Hope that helps

Thank you, is that a better option than a laptop?? I'm feeling baffled after looking at websites today!

A Nexus 7 is almost certainly useless for ipods. You need something with a USB port and the ability to run itunes to manage an ipod, so a Windows PC/laptop (not apple, because you don't want to pay an arm and a leg).

Usually I recommend a Core i3, with 4GB RAM and 320GB disk as the minimum spec for a proper laptop and you should be able to find that spec for £300-£350.

There are cheaper laptops with AMD chips under the £300 mark, like this HP, which would probably be good enough for your purposes.

Alternatively, a desktop PC would probably last longer than an equivalent laptop.

You can get Netbooks for about £200. They are small laptops with 10inch-ish screens. They aren't that powerful, hence the cheap price but they are good enough for what you will be using them for. Amazon usually sells them 10% cheaper then PC World and friends so if you dont need a face to face with a sales assistant.....

Thank you for the advice, a desktop would be ideal but storage is a problem and I think a netbook would be too small.. a laptop is probably the best option for them now so thank you for the info on the spec to look out for.

Going to head to the shops in the next few days and see what I can find.

I appreciate the help, its so limiting not really knowing what I'm looking for and what is a good deal..

I wouldn't recommend PC World/Currys and their ilk. The best deals are online at sites like Ebuyer.com and laptopsdirect.co.uk.