Help! Buying a computer online is HARD!!

[AstonBay123 10]

Trying to buy a laptop is hard! If you are not a great expert - I consider myself to have above average knowledge compared to most non-tech people but by no means 'expert' - it is incredibly difficult to buy a computer online - either here or from any other site.

 

What questions do you ask?

 

How do you evaluate the answers you get?

 

I simply can not afford to make a mistake. I need a laptop for my daughter. I'm overwhelmed with specs that I don't really know what they all mean. I want to buy a good, not too heavily abused system, that will give me a good few years service still, with a good battery for no more than R3000 (ie all I have available to spend). I don't have money to buy an external harddrive as well so I need a good size hard drive (was hoping for 500 GB - her art and photos have filled up our current 320 GB drive on my desktop pretty fast and yes I know an external drive is lurking in the future but not now) at least 4 GB ram - she is an artist and photographer and needs the space and speed for drawing etc. A new system with these specs is beyond my means which means here I am trying to sort the good from the bad and the ugly with no real idea how to do that.

 

The big problem is that I can't afford to make a mistake. I can't shrug my shoulders if something doesn't work, or the keys are sticky, or the mouse pad has lost sensitivity, or the screen isn't the quality display needed and off-load onto some one else and try again. I will lose money on the resale + have to pay out again for postage which could be easily R1000 down the drain, which I don't have. And I'm forced to buy online cos I live in the middle of nowhere and the local computer tech guy I trusted sold up unexpectedly to a nitwit I wouldn't trust to throw a computer let alone sell me one.

 

HELP!!

Edited April 29, 2014 by AstonBay123

[RISadler 10]

Not really. Just go buy a new HP or DELL

 

For me, however, the main question is why does your daughter need specifically a laptop? For the use and budget that you described a workstation (aka desktop) would be a better investment.

Edited May 5, 2014 by qball