Good deal or not? [Archive]

Admiral Huddy

27-02-2009, 09:31

Never been a great fan of the purple shirts but this seems like a decent deal:

Advent 17" Laptop
Large 17" Widescreen display with 3GB memory & 250GB HDD
Unlimited** data and
200 texts with T-Mobile
Model: 6552 Sku: 175236
Usual instore price: £399.99
*24 month contract applies
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/editorial/get_connected_free_laptops#close

So this is £840 over the two years.. it doesn't say anything about mobile or if it's an all-in-one package. I pay £20pm or my mobile package now so if it does, seems like a no brainer.

Mark

27-02-2009, 10:13

1) It's a data-only package (no voice).
2) It's Advent. If it's actually a rebadge of something decent, then fair enough. If not, best avoided.

Matblack

27-02-2009, 14:54

2) It's Advent. If it's actually a rebadge of something decent, then still avoid.

PC World and 'The Techguys' suck you do not want to be doing business with them believe me.

I sent my Advent 4211 off to them a month ago and it still hasn't been returned! A machine that I had for 4 months has not been with them for almost a quarter of its lifespan, I had one call a week after it was sent telling me they had ordered a new keyboard and motherboard (I'm pretty sure that its not either of those things) and I've phoned them 3 times since to get updates, they've never phoned me. When I called today apparently the parts have arrived but now they need to work on it and test it and they can't give me an estimated arrival date, when I bought the thing I thought it was too good to be true and I was right. Buy a Dell if you want a preassembled machine, at least they retail their own products and don't subcontract to 'Techguys' who couldn't find their arses with a map!

MB

Oly-593

27-02-2009, 15:13

A year or so ago I actually worked at a place that repaired laptops for PC World, so I know first hand how crap the 'techguys' service is.

I stuck it for three months to get me through Xmas, but left soon after.
The management were complete ***** and the way things were run was diabolical.
Unsurprisingly there was a huge turnover of staff, but they didn't give a toss.

So yeah, don't go with PC World/techguys cause they're utter crap.

Feek

27-02-2009, 20:49

LMF's Dell laptop failed on Monday, it was collected on Tuesday and returned today, fully repaired. I was impressed.

Huddy, I wouldn't go near that deal with a bargepole.

Belmit

27-02-2009, 20:57

I would.

Belmit smash!

Glaucus

27-02-2009, 21:25

buy a laptop for 300 then get a 3 usb stick. On pay as you go. Unless you know you are going to use massive amounts.

Jingo

28-02-2009, 21:40

I don't personally know about the Purple headed monsters and their technical rent boys but I can further recommend Dell for pre-builds :)

I had a 24 month warranty with my Dell - when I returned from holiday to find it not working cough-droppedanarchitecturalencyclopediaoffmytopshelfont oit-cough they collected it from me the next morning and returned it 3 days later in fully working order and a complimentary 3month extension to my warranty :)

I was impressed. :)

Mark

28-02-2009, 21:44

I've had next-day parts service on two of my Dell systems. One CPU fan on my old Dell Workstation got noisy and died, so Dell sent me a replacement (customer replaceable part so no bother), then the other died and they did the same. Then a few keys on the keyboard of my old Dell laptop (cough-droppeditatJFK-cough) got a bit intermittant and I got a new keyboard out of that too.

LeperousDust

01-03-2009, 07:57

Agreed avoid trouble and get a dell build.

Admiral Huddy

02-03-2009, 13:08

Agreed avoid trouble and get a dell build.

Ok I agree it might not be the best laptop around but a standalone Unlimited data package off the shelf is going to cost around £30 anyway..

The otherthing is that this is a fully tax allowable expense because it's all subscription whereas buying the laptop wouldn't be.

Feek

02-03-2009, 18:24

It sounds as though you've already convinced yourself that it's a good deal.

Glaucus

02-03-2009, 18:36

Ok I agree it might not be the best laptop around but a standalone Unlimited data package off the shelf is going to cost around £30 anyway..

The otherthing is that this is a fully tax allowable expense because it's all subscription whereas buying the laptop wouldn't be.

in that case it does sound like a good deal for you. Have a look at the mobile phone sites. A lot are offering similar packages.