# Laptop. Lidl, Aldi or Dell?



## igora (5 Mar 2007)

Hi All,

I am in the process of replacing a laptop and cannot decide which one to buy. I really only want something relatively basic as it will not be the main computer which I will use. I need it to run Microsoft Office and an accounts package and of course have wireless broadband facility.

Both Lidl and Aldi have specials on this Thursday March 8th,..not sure about them though. I am also looking at Dell Inspiron.

Can any of you techies out there advise me please?

Thanks a million.

www.lidl.ie

www.dell.ie


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## Sn@kebite (5 Mar 2007)

With dell you've got more of an option and more of a backup if something goes wrong.
Wheras aldi/lidl is kind of an ambiguous buy & how would you bother with problems etc.. I'd go for Dell!


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## ClubMan (5 Mar 2007)

Actually the _Aldi/Lidl _standard support looks much better than _Dell's _standard support - 3 year warranty with phone support at national phone rates if I'm not mistaken.


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## Crunchie (5 Mar 2007)

I'm not a techie igora but I bought an Aldi Medion laptop about 15 months ago and I am more than happy with it. The spec was miles ahead of anything Dell could offer for the same price though I suppose you need to ask yourself if you really need all those bells and whistles  

I also have experience of Aldi's customer service with a camera and have to say there was a no quibble refund even more than a year into the 3 year warranty.


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## tallpaul (5 Mar 2007)

It might be of interest to the OP that there is a discussion and comparitive analysis of both the Aldi and Lidl (and indeed Dell) laptops over on boards.ie


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## igora (5 Mar 2007)

Thank you for the boards.ie link.. still undecided though


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## car (6 Mar 2007)

the 800e on in (lidl?) this thursday looks the business. Ive one from them with an inferior spec to that 2 years old and it was 1500e then.  Never had a bother with it.  the other one for 1000e in (aldi?) looks to be the same with a bigger screen so its up to yourself. If it was me Id spend the 800 and get the 250gb external disk for 99e.


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## BlueSpud (6 Mar 2007)

I cant see what processor is in the Lidl one, am I missing something


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## car (6 Mar 2007)

Its right there on the site, its a "High Speed Processor"...


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## igora (6 Mar 2007)

The Aldi one is actually €799 with Windows Vista while the Lidl one at €999 is XP. Would I be mad at this stage to even consider buying XP now?

The Lidl one has been discounted  from €1299 to €999 only in the last few days..even their press advertisements are now wrong.

The other thing that strikes me is that the Lidl one has a 17" monitor - Is this an awkward size for a laptop in terms of portability etc..?


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## murphaph (6 Mar 2007)

www.targa.co.uk will show you the laptop. It;s a traveler 1776 X2, processor is AMD Turion™ 64 X2 TL52, 64 bit as opposed to 32 bit for Aldi. The targa also offers free upgrade to vista premium, not just home edition (it would have been boxed before vista was released). hth.


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## aircobra19 (7 Mar 2007)

igora said:


> The Aldi one is actually €799 with Windows Vista while the Lidl one at €999 is XP. Would I be mad at this stage to even consider buying XP now?
> 
> The Lidl one has been discounted  from €1299 to €999 only in the last few days..even their press advertisements are now wrong.
> 
> The other thing that strikes me is that the Lidl one has a 17" monitor - Is this an awkward size for a laptop in terms of portability etc..?



Theres nothing in Vista anyone needs. 

Anything bigger makes it less portable.

Aldi has better graphics so better for gamers.


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## murphaph (7 Mar 2007)

The lidl one actually has a superior graphics card, by a country mile. you get the option of vista or xp with the lidl one!


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## dotsman (8 Mar 2007)

aircobra19 said:


> Theres nothing in Vista anyone needs.
> 
> Anything bigger makes it less portable.
> 
> Aldi has better graphics so better for gamers.



Agree about Vista. As it's just been released, there will no doubt be hundreds of bugs in it. Also, I can't imagine you needing any of the new features any time soon. Perhaps upgrade to Vista in a year or 2 (after most of the bugs have beeen patched) if you decide then that you do need the extra features. the other thing about Vista is that you should really have 2GB RAM to get the most out of it.

On portability, if you intend bringing it with you to different places (and using it while travelling), then the smaller the better. If 99% of the time it's going to be on your desk in your home, then your eyes will appreciate the bigger screen.

I think you have the 2 laptops mixed up there aircobra19, The Lidl one is infinitely better for games. 256MB (dedicated) Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 is excellent for a laptop. Aldi's inbuilt intel graphics card using 128MB (Shared!) won't work with 90% of modern games (for good reason!).

If you're not comfortable buying today, you will be able to customise with Dell and get the laptop perfect for you (if you know what you're looking for!). Prices range from bargain to ripoff, so you might need to get a knowledgable friend to sit down with you when choosing!.

As regards support, I don't believe in it! (But I am fortunate to be able to fix any/all software problems myself). Because computers are so complex (unlike any othere device you might have), it can take days/weeks to fully resolve an issue over the phone (and often to customer support will try and blame some other software you have on the computer and that they don't support it!). If the problems is hardware, it's usually cheaper to replace the component than pay an extra 100-200 for support. (for example, if the dvd drive was to go bust in 2 years time, it would probably cost €50-€75 to replace it with a brand new (and probably better) one. But if you're uncomfortable with dealing with possible problems on your own, perhaps support might be appropriate.


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## aircobra19 (8 Mar 2007)

dotsman said:


> A....
> I think you have the 2 laptops mixed up there aircobra19, The Lidl one is infinitely better for games. 256MB (dedicated) Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 is excellent for a laptop. Aldi's inbuilt intel graphics card using 128MB (Shared!) won't work with 90% of modern games (for good reason!)....



Indeed I do.


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## damomac (8 Mar 2007)

I'd advise to stay clear of Vista for now. I recommended a friend to Dell for a laptop just for internet and email. The model was purchased with 512MB RAM and boy it takes an eternity to load Vista. I uninstalled a few programs and ran Windows Update. It still takes 3 minutes and 12 seconds before the Vista Welcome screen appears. She got back to Dell and it seems that they are happy enough to send out a Windows XP CD to her. 

I've installed Vista on more powerful systems and it runs fine. It's just on low end systems and 512MB RAM that you will be waiting a wee while.


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2007)

dotsman said:


> If the problems is hardware, it's usually cheaper to replace the component than pay an extra 100-200 for support.


Not always as simple an option with laptops using specialised integrated components as it is with desktops build from more commodity components.


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## aircobra19 (8 Mar 2007)

ClubMan said:


> Not always as simple an option with laptops using specialised integrated components as it is with desktops build from more commodity components.



True. 



damomac said:


> I'd advise to stay clear of Vista for now. I recommended a friend to Dell for a laptop just for internet and email. The model was purchased with 512MB RAM and boy it takes an eternity to load Vista. I uninstalled a few programs and ran Windows Update. It still takes 3 minutes and 12 seconds before the Vista Welcome screen appears. She got back to Dell and it seems that they are happy enough to send out a Windows XP CD to her.
> 
> I've installed Vista on more powerful systems and it runs fine. It's just on low end systems and 512MB RAM that you will be waiting a wee while.





I think they'll be ways to cut the fluff from Vista so its more like XP. XP itself can be tweaked to run much lighter too.


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2007)

aircobra19 said:


> True.
> 
> I think they'll be ways to cut the fluff from Vista so its more like XP. XP itself can be tweaked to run much lighter too.


Huh? I wasn't talking about _Vista _- I was talking about hardware!


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## aircobra19 (8 Mar 2007)

ClubMan said:


> Huh? I wasn't talking about _Vista _- I was talking about hardware!



Sorry. Edited might be less confusing now.


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## igora (11 Mar 2007)

Hi All, 

Firstly thank you for your replies. 

I actually bought the Aldi one partly because it was available to me. The store had only received 6 in stock  so I was lucky to even get one.
I have 30 days to return it but so far it seems to be fine. Time will tell.

Thanks again.


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## MoodyToo (14 Mar 2007)

dotsman said:


> Aldi's inbuilt intel graphics card using 128MB (Shared!) won't work with 90% of modern games (for good reason!)



I bought the Aldi laptop too and I am pleased so far but I can't tell whether I'm getting the full Aero visual experience. It wasn't mentioned whether the graphics card supported it or not. Based on dotsman's comments I think it may not support the fancy Aero visuals.


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