IPAD Air

I can't stand touch screen typing either Jenny, so will definitely get a seperate keyboard for use in the van. But the touch screen does give me the flexibility of using the Ipad when I am tent camping/hiking and want to keep the weight of my pack down, so I will put up with it for short bursts, and it's has got to be better than trying to use the internet on my 'phone which really drives me mad!

Will also be great for us to chat with Sophie (our granddaughter) with video and for free when she goes to Florida. (My daughters ex takes her to Florida 3-4 times a year including a long spell during the summer holidays).

Yes I've looked into that Vern. I am considering one of these;

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EYDTA3W/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=AAN216ORE1XKU

Once in that and wrapped in my sleeping bag, it should be OK. (Not to mention inside a plastic barrel when in the canoe!).

after our trusty friend or hp blow up we went looking for a replacement end up with acer aspire e1531 windows 8 that's where the problems started ,as our accounts page money soft is not compatible we end up buying an old office dell windows 7 to finish years end accounts.

I would always go for the Ipad. I have never used one but I believe an apple a day keeps the doctor away   .... OK got me coat i'll shut the door behind me   .
.... Tom ....

I'd have no problem with the Inspiron 15 but I'd definitely go for a better processor than the one in the link. This one for instance... or better if you can.

Inspiron 15 with i3 processor

I've just posted over there, so may as well cut and paste here too

"My thoughts... for what they're worth Going back a few years, I would have recommended Dell, Toshiba and Compaq (now HP) for laptops... Apple and Sony certainly, if money wasn't an issue, although the differences are really just cosmetic. Mind you, I'm a sucker for beautiful, sleek machines, so I'm not dissing the 'love it to bits' aspect. These days though, even the top brands like are fairly plasticky, as everyone tries to keep costs down to compete. I've almost always bought Dells (for the office too when I worked in IT) but a few years back, my last Dell began to play up... I figured it needed a new hard drive but they were silly money back then - almost £200 - and I could pick up a decent i5 HP Pavilion g series on sale for around £400, which I did. I looked on it as a temporary measure but it's still going strong and, although I don't exactly 'feel the love', I've no complaints about it at all after 3 years... it even looks and feels classy compared to most. Meanwhile, the price of new hard drives dropped like a stone, so I bought one for the Dell for £35 and now that's going strong again at 7 years old as a backup/spare.

I also have a Samsung netbook that I bought in April 2009 for pure portability - in pre tablet days. I'm not saying get a netbook but I would say that I've been really surprised and happy with the build quality from Samsung. They were fairly new boys on the scene for computers back then but have gained a lot of ground and IMO make some really good machines. After my experience with the netbook, I'd definitely think about getting a Samsung next time.

Another thought to throw in to the mix is why not buy cheap and cheerful and just accept that you might need to replace it in a couple of years? Even the lowliest laptop is going to feel like a sleek racehorse compared to your 8-year-old one. I would still go for a sale price on one of the names I respect but not their top of the range, which I doubt would last any longer than the cheaper ones.... and I personally wouldn't want to add to the cost with the high-price insurance they try to sell you. Besides, the way technology moves on in leaps and bounds these days, I wouldn't want to break the bank for a machine that's going to be out of date in a couple of years anyway.

Whichever way to you decide to go, my personal checklist would be:


- Dell, Toshiba, Samsung or HP for brand...

- Minimum i3 processor - preferably i5 or higher. I'm not up on the equivalent AMD processors these days but my daughter's old Dell, bought in 2006, had an AMD chip and it's still in regular use as far as I know. So I wouldn't ignore AMD but I'd check the equivalents to Intel i3, i5 and i7

- As big a hard drive as I could afford - you can never have too much storage space. Failing that, a big USB external drive for backup and to store all those huge Mb photos and videos on there instead... plus in the Cloud of course

- I never worry too much about how much memory is already onboard because you can replace/increase memory really cheaply via Crucial Memory UK or Kingston memory

- If I couldn't push the boat as far as a separate graphics card, I'd make sure I increased the RAM even more to allow for the shared memory aspect

- Wireless, bluetooth and an ethernet socket for those times when you need to hard wire to a router/outlet somewhere
HDMI connector along with all the usual ports and sockets

Hmmm almost makes me want to go laptop shopping but my 'temporary measure' is still bright eyed and bushy tailed

Another spanner in the works. Just about to 'click and collect' on the Ipad Air. Kid's now suggesting get the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, Snapdragon S4 Pro, Android, 10.1 and get the grandkids to download the Skype App on their Ipads so we can use this instead.

I like Sony, always have so am tempted. Anybody got one?

Ooooops. Julie has read the reviews and ordered the Sony!

We got the 32gb version at £399 and the offer included a £39 case for free. ordered from John Lewis as we use them a lot and any problems are sorted out very quickly. Collect from our local Waitrose tomorrow.

Still interested in any opinions though. (This is where we get told we've bought a Lemon!).

Sony has a good reputation. I heard they were getting out of laptops as the Vaio range is hugely loss making in a competitive and shrinking market. I'm assuming they will still make the tablets.

I'm a little late in on this, but for what it's worth . . .
If complete portability, flexibility & connectivity are needed you can't beat an iPad with SIM. Basic iPad 2 models are more than satisfactory. And look at the sell-on value. iPads have retained a very strong second hand value, despite the numerous upgrades and newer versions.
Laptops on the other hand, have fairly lost their value within a couple of years, and after that are uneconomical to repair. They do fail & break, and it's always cheaper to buy a new one.
So my advice would be to get an iPad, and then if a laptop is needed to do the old-fashioned windows based things that laptops can do get the cheapest best spec unit you can find.
Dell are tops, but very pricey; avoid Acer; Asus are worth a look.
If you don't need a SIM for connectivity, the best & cheapest android based tablet that I'd recommend is Ainol Novo 2. It's the same as a Google Nexus, but half the price & will support a SIM in a connected USB dongle. About £120 on Amazon.
Otherwise, if you must go for just a top spec laptop you'll be able to sell an iPad Air on after a year for pretty much the same price!