Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Other subjects
Original poster

My motherboards gone on my laptop anyone bought DELL ??

17 replies

melsy · 30/12/2006 15:03

My beloved laptop only 2.5 yrs old is KAPUT, gone, died. Early evening yesterday it was ok and then went back to it in the evening and the screen had gone black nada nente nothing. Taken it to a specialist today and they said the whole graphics centre would have to be replaced and that he hasnt seen a problem like this for YEARS & that he cant do anything , soo typical. We phoned ACER who said it would cost £250+ to replace parts and deliver back. Thats more than half the cost of the damn laptop . The only hint we got that things were dodgy was that it kept on saying its virtual memory was low. My dad wonders if it may have been badly knocked or dropped ??????!!!! He also thinks we can claim on insurance ????

Soooooooo we need to replace it asap as I have business stuff to do , as this pc Im using right now is really decrepit, cant save anything and has no security. Its so b*ggred that we cant load a thing to it without it corrupting. Its totally wiped of all files and still takes ages to load anything , despite broadband.

Has anyone got a a DELL laptop or had experience with them ??

OP posts:
iota · 30/12/2006 15:06

we usually buy Dell stuff - have done so for years ( am using our macmini at the mo though)

SenoraPartridge · 30/12/2006 15:09

acer laptops are rubbish aren't they?

virtual memory and graphics card shouldn't affect one another: virtual memory refers to disk space.

But it's not uncommon for graphics cards to just go - I suspect the computer man hasn't fixed many computers if he hasn't seen it for years. Just as an experiment, have you tried plugging in an external monitor? only the screen on my acer has just gone too: think they must use cheap ones. in fact mine is not mush more than 2.5 years old either. but it does work fine with a monitor.

doubt you can claim on insurance.

ansd you don't you get a desktop with flat monitor? they're easier to fix if they go wrong...

Original poster
melsy · 30/12/2006 15:24

yer it does seem acer are crapola. We plugged it into another moniter and it was still black . strange your has gone to SA??Thats quite spooky or are they set to die at 2.5 yrs old . Dh has just corrected me and said its the total motherboard thats gone, so everything connected will be corrupted too right ?

I Like having a laptop as I take it upstairs some times and move it to sofa etc.

So you think a DELL is the best of this kind ? DH is dying to go to pc world and just get a compaq or something ???

It was a celeron and may be not good eanough for all the photos/ MSN / SKYPE / MN use ???!!

OP posts:
foxtrot · 30/12/2006 15:26

DELL PC here. think my sis has a dell laptop too. No probs touch wood.

Smurfgirl · 30/12/2006 15:30

PC World sell pretty cheap good value laptops and their service plan things are v.good i have made good use of them! I would recommend Toshiba laptops. My mates who have dell laptops don't rate them.

SenoraPartridge · 30/12/2006 15:34

Don't know about dell, but don't buy a celeron if you can help it. pentium or the better athlon chip (can't remeber the name) are much more reliable. and we've tried a few! But having said that, mn/msn/skype etc are all as good on a celeron as on any other chip. It's complex applications like photoshop that are inclined to behave badly on them.

But anyway - no, if the motherboard's gone you may still be able to rescue the files (if that's why you're asking), but will cost lots to fix probably. it's not just acer though: also had a motherboard go on our HP laptop last year (but was fortunately covered by the extended guarantee). hence the desktop suggestion!

TwoToTango · 30/12/2006 15:39

Got a Dell PC. Really pleased with it, they do some really good deals. You can ring them or go on line and build a package to suit what you want. They usually do free delivery, free printer, extra memory etc. They have an excellent technical helpline as well.

Troutpout · 30/12/2006 15:49

Dell here...very good
most of my family have used them too and have had no probs

Original poster
melsy · 30/12/2006 16:16

ahh so quite a few Dells going around , dont have a clue really how to build it , leaving it to DH in the hope that he knows what to get!!

hes trundled off to pc world to compare prices and memory wth dell ones.

Thankfully Senora , the guy at the specialist place can put all our hardrive onto an external one, for a fee of course.

I keep thinking its got to be something weve done , but he just says it happens????

OP posts:
HappyDaddy · 30/12/2006 16:49

DON'T buy from PC World, they have no idea what they are selling and the laptop will be shite.

Acer are usually better than Dell for reliability and value for money. I've used both for years in my job and Acer are usually very good.

katierocket · 30/12/2006 16:56

I've always had a dell, no problems, good computers IMO

littlemadam · 30/12/2006 17:17

I think Dell are good if they work, but if something goes wrong their customer service has been described as leaving a lot to be desired.

Agree Acer are very good value and quality laptops. PC world have improved a lot recently, they have had to, or lose all their business to online.

Good luck!

NurseyJo · 30/12/2006 17:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SHHHHitsthe2007countdown · 30/12/2006 22:56

Mum got a dell pc along with the one dh bought. Got really good deal off them both times and found them really good to deal with. No problems here.

MrsBadger · 30/12/2006 23:04

If you're not doing anything especially big or memory-hungry with it, consider an HP as well as a Dell as at the lower end of the spectrum (£400-£500ish) cheap HPs are better than the cheap Dells (the Inspirons).
If you're using the Dell website, tell them you'te a 'large company' and they give you a much much wider range to choose from than if you say 'home user'.
Don't know much about Acers, but we've been helping MIL choose a laptop over the last few days () and the Vaios are very nice but have pricetags to match. The Toshibas we tried felt very shoddily made.

pianist · 30/12/2006 23:21

The motherboard went on my laptop, just after the one year warranty ran out. I was told it would be about £500 to fix. However, my husband was in USA recently and got it fixed for approx £175. If you know anyone working/holidaying over there, it might be worth looking into that.

If you do decide to replace it, I agree that a desktop could be a better bet as they are easier to get fixed.

We do have a Dell desktop, which the kids use - haven't had any problems with it.

Original poster
melsy · 31/12/2006 16:44

well its done , DELL laptop customised upgraded and ordered eeeeeeeeeeeek. Its an Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology with Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T5500 (1.66GHz 2MB L2 Cache 667Mhz FSB)thingy , if that means anything to anyone!!!. Thank gawd for buy now pay errrr NEVER !!!!

After doing research and opinions on here we felt this was the best bet. We realised that the ACER we had was no were near good enough for what weve been using it for, being a celeron and really a basic entry level laptop pc usage. We do way more than basic and often have several programmes going at the same time; uploading & downloading images & manipulating them, doing spreadsheets , speaking with someone on web cam , listening to music etc and having 2 users at the same time it had NO CHANCE!. Dh wasnt impressed with PC world (he used to work at HO so knows what theyre like)!!

Seems scarily easy to do it online , especially that sort of money.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread