# LIDL offer: Is Targa laptop good value?



## Welfarite (1 Dec 2006)

Lidl have an offer of a Targa notebook on sale next week for €1600? I'm thinking of purchasing but don't know enough about IT as to whether it will A) do what I want and B) be out of date in six months? Can anyone out there give me a "review" on it? I need it for gaming and wordprocessing, excel, usual office stuff mainly, and not much downloading, but quick mobile internetting. Does it suit this type of usage? Thanks in advance of any replies


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## xt40 (1 Dec 2006)

i have a 2 year old targa laptop
pros - topspec well built, high end graphics for gaming etc, good service.
cons silver plastic tarnishes, gets red hot when gaming and very hot under normal use.

would i buy another one again?
no, as apart from gaming , the cheapest laptop available can really do everything else.
i would also not buy a laptop which vented underneath, side vent only. 
the targa laptop runs from a 20v charger which is quite bulky and seems to consume vast amounts of power as even the charger which has its own fan gets red hot. you can actually hear it cranking up as you double click on docs/progs
i think that laptops are just not suitable to replace desktops yet.
if i was you, i'd buy a cheap 5-600 laptop and spend the rest on a desktop which you could use for gaming.
(i am writing this lying on the bed with my old toshiba p3 800mhz laptop  on my knees  as the targa can only be used when your sitting at a desk. )


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## car (1 Dec 2006)

seems very pricey for what it is.  Id agree with xt, I have a 2yr old gericom I got from aldi.  works a treat, never a problem except it gets VERY hot.  making the _lap_top not a _lap_top. capiche?


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## Satanta (1 Dec 2006)

Welfarite said:


> I need it for gaming and wordprocessing, excel, usual office stuff mainly, and not much downloading, but quick mobile internetting. Does it suit this type of usage? Thanks in advance of any replies


To be honest, these are very opposite needs.

A gaming machine needs to be fast and powerful. Having a good processor with a powerful graphics card is essential for most of the latest 3-D games on the market. It's a different story if by gaming you mean a quick emulator for a few classic games, but I presume you mean top of the line latest games.

Basic office stuff with some downloading and mobile internet is a very different hardware need. Here you just need a lightweight, low cost (basic office needs don't require huge processing ability, large RAM, huge storage etc.) notebook with wireless capability (most will have this as standard).  

The best solution to solve both needs is to pick up a desktop for the gaming and a laptop for the mobile basic office stuff (if the mobile needs aren't essential then a desktop would solve all requirements). You could pick up the desktop pretty cheaply through something like the Dell Outlet Store.... if the exact type your looking for (spec wise - should get what you need for less than €1000 for something far more powerful than the laptop mentioned in the OP) isn't available pick up one close to your needs and you could cheaply pick up the extra RAM/Graphics Card/Sound Card/Hard Drive/etc. you want/need to upgrade it. Then the very cheapest of laptops should handle the mobile needs of basic office works, picking one up about €500 should be possible.


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## Welfarite (8 Dec 2006)

Many thanks for replies. Decided against having a red hot lap, so think I will go for desktop for gaming and buy cheap laptop for office stuff. thanks again for help.


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