Laptop dilema

[countrykid]

My girlfriend has been considering a laptop for ages, and now has around �600 to spend on one. My current desktop PC is an Evesham model, and has been great. She lives only 20 miles from Evesham, so returning it to base in the future years in the event of a problem would be easy. I have checked out Evesham laptops, and had narrowed it down to a Quest 245 (not 425) with a bit of customising to get more memory, a better processor and more hard drive.
Decision almost made, we went to the showroom in Evesham on Saturday, hoping to see the various models on display. Once there, we learned that about two weeks ago, the company went into administration, but are still trading as a going concern, and were assured the company has restructured (closed all its branches except the head office Evesham site, and made most of the staff redundant), and will shortly be renamed. You probably think us mad, but if the business is to continue on a sound footing, we would still like to buy from them, based very much on the excellent reviews they regularly gets for back-up after sales etc. So the questions are: Does anyone know what going into administration really means - in simple terms?, Does anyone know anything more about this particular company going into admin? and finally, if we don't buy an Evesham, do you have a recommendation? Budget is a bit restricted, so �600 is max. Games will not be played, it will mainly be for general use, a bit of word processing, spreadsheet stuff, and of course surfing the web - wirelessly preferably. Sorry such a long question. Thanks in advance.

[Panic Button]

I got an excellent Fujitsu Siemens from Staples last Christmas, for �399. Would do what you want perfectly.

Where do you think this excellent after sales service is going to come from if their staff have been made redundant?

[countrykid]

Fair point Panic Button. That did cross my mind. As far as I am aware, the redundant staff are all on the sales side, from the closed branches, but I have to admit, I am wary. The Laptop you have i presume is running Windows XP. I am told that to run Vista, a fast processor and more memory is required (from Laptops for Dummies), so I guess I will pay more than your �399, but maybe not as much as �600. Thanks for suggestion.

[dodgyshirt]

Evesham and Elonex were the two main suppliers for the government -backed scheme which provided local government employees with supposedly cheap computer equipment.

This scheme finished in April and the two companies which both depended upon it for the bulk of their income. suddenly ran into financial difficulties.

The scheme which offered discounts and tax savings resulted in prices which were only marginally better than the normal prices of their competitors, all at the expense of the tax-payer, whilst giving the companies exorbitant profits.

Thus there was no chance of them being competitive on the open market once the scheme finished.

As Panic Button says, you can get better or cheaper alternatives from established manufacturers without the worry of them not being in existance this time next year.

My daughter bought a more than adequate Sony from Comet a few weeks ago for �499. I know which I would prefer.

[countrykid]

Thanks for your response Dodgyshirt, and the explanation, which makes a lot of sense. Much appreciated.

[vehelpfulguy]

DONT BUY AN EVESHAM.

Most of the staff were made redundant and it is the same company in name only. You are unlikely to get ANY support if it goes wrong.

Evesham was taken over by an Asian guy who owned Tiny and Time computers who both went bust.

Buy an "name" make like Toshiba, Sony, Acer, and so on.

Leave Evesham well alone.

[TEAK36]

Countrykid,

Take a look at the following website, especially the Aspire range. I have been using Acer laptops for several years now and have always found them to be excellent quality. I cant give a comment on their customer services because I have never had to contact them. �600 would buy you a great spec laptop. You can even ask them to downgrade to XP if you dont want Vista.

http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/

[countrykid]

Thanks to everyone for your very sound advice. I will check out the acer models Teak36, they sound right up my street. We would prefer to buy from a bricks and mortar retailer, rather than online, so hopefully we'll find a stockist when I check out the acer site

[Dassie]

Why bricks and mortar? I bought a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo on line and have never looked back. Why pay more when if you buy a decent quality laptop in the first place you probably won't have any trouble.

[countrykid]

I guess after working in retail for more than 25 years, and my mortgage depends on it, I am biased towards supporting real shops, where products can be looked at, touched and compared, and where I can go back to for advice if I need it. I don;t have a problem with anyone buying on-line, I do buy some things that way, mainly tickets to shows (for convenience), but do get annoyed when people use shops and their staff for pre-purchase information, check out the product in the flesh to make sure its really want they want, and then buy online. Of course the web is cheaper, and by the very nature of face to face retailing, with all the overheads of rents, rates, theft prevention, and more, they will generally be more expensive. It's a very costly business running a shop, and as more people do buy online, there may well be fewer of them to check out what an item looks and feels like. So I guess you could say that if I buy online, I am jeopadising jobs of those in my industry. Some might say i'm old fashioned, but everyone still needs shops, even surfers. Hope this explains my reason.

[Dagman]

Don't know if you are revisiting your question, but must warn that Evesham have gone into administration so don't buy! They will honour existing warranties but no refunds. At least until the administrators pull the plug altogether.

[countrykid]

Thanks Dagman. Haven't bought yet, but considering Acer models. Cheers to all for advice.

[purpleoak]

We got a refurbished laptop under £400 from stockmustgo for our daughter for uni and made sure we got a 12 month warranty. Not bad for the price. https://www.stockmustgo.co.uk/collections/refurbished-laptops