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Yes, e-bay. I also got a cd rom as well. (E-bay.) It's to type my epic novel off on, and b.put a game on. I want to put "Master of Orion 3" on it, but I notice that it requires Pentium 300 MHz, while the lap top has Intel Pentium II 233MHz. I hope that it won't mean my game can't be played on it (good enough.) Unless I got a MHz upgrade, but I'm not sure how pricy that would be. You mentioned that you like Dells. But I'm not sure how old this one is.
Posted By:  Magus Nov 05, 2004 - 01:10 pm |       | Oh, well. I guess you'll find out how good it is when you get it. I just know that Dells are very good, from experience, and that Gateways are really quite crappy, the fact that I'm on a Gateway right now notwithstanding. NEVER buy a Gateway for game playing. They lag and freeze like nobody's business. Otherwise I guess they're O.K.
| Posted By: MrD Nov 05, 2004 - 01:17 pm | | that ebay auction shouldn't have been touched with a barge pole!!!!
1) they have made their feedbacks private and at 88% i wouldn't have used them for a high priced item
2) they include the word "link" in the item title description, yet in the main description say "our" without changing font or inserting characters to show that the text is copied from the linked companies documentation.
3) they list the HDD specifications different in two places on the page, although the main size is obviously wrong as you can't get a HDD in that size for a laptop
4) to be honest, it looks like they wanted to sell a laptop for £269 and didn't want to pay ebay for the cost of setting a reserve price or the final payment percentage on a £269 item. i believe that the "link" would have led you directly to the same people advertising the item on ebay.
however, you have legally agreed to buy the laptop. your only chance of getting out of it now is trying to complain about the item description or following it through and finding out that the same person is selling the laptop (which could be difficult, it could be an off the books agreement between two companies or a member of staff of the linked company setting a private account up on ebay to help shop sales, leading to all sorts of VAT issues)
you are now going to have to talk to the seller to avoid getting a negative feedback score on your sisters account if you don't want one. a complaint about the item and it's description not being in good english if the seller agrees they have messed up, could result in the two of you not leaving feedback for each other.
| Posted By: MrD Nov 05, 2004 - 01:28 pm | | and going on the laptop you just bought.
first things first, "battery does not hold a charge"
you need a battery for that laptop!!!!
"Super bright 12" screen" sounds a lame description
"Fast 64MB RAM memory to speed up applications" i doubt that very much, it'll be pc100, the mobo that takes a 233mhz cpu will not be able to house "fast ram"
it sounds like a P1 specification laptop. the only way you are going to attach a CD unit to it is if just maybe you can get one to stick in the floppy drive slot for that particular model. the USB port will be USB 1.0 so pretty slow for data transfer if you get external drive, probably not suitable for CD type units.
it does have an ethernet connection though, so with a CAT cable you can link to a normal pc for data transfer, HDD to HDD.
overall, you have a basic office computer, fine for writing, might even be able to play Half Life : Counterstrike online on it with a USB 1.0 mouse!!! you are looking at the one of the slowest speed computers there ever made that takes windows (strange they got ME to work on it, i would suggest getting windows 98SE and putting that on it instead. Millenium is a nightmare over reliability and i really haven't seen it's use on slow computers.)
next time you want a pc off ebay, or anything like that, come to people with a budget and say please! they might just go browsing for you and shoving a few ideas under your nose.
My sister doesn't care so much about getting a negative feedback as a very very fussy little -- anyway, a really fussy lady was not happy with her tennis skirt and is likely complaining to e-bay about her, and will no doubt give her a bad rating. (She demanded a refund while refusing to return the skirt, then saying she damaged it trying to fix a bad stitching herself, and still demanded a refund. Yeash.)
I refuse to pay for it. We will contact e-bay about their false advertising, and likely voting on their two items themselves (which alone would get them kicked out of e-bay forever.) Besides, we sent them an e-mail asking about the word "link" and they haven't gotten back to us yet. They are required to respond to our questions.
Thanks for your advice, MrD. I'm sure you can tell I am no computer expert, not yet anyway. The battery I know about, but if I plug it in I shouldn't need the battery, right?? I plan to use it only for writing on, and for playing MOO3 (if I can). I will not use the internet with it, or do anything else with it. It should suit me fine me thinks. (I'm just worried that it won't support my game!!  )
| Posted By: MrD Nov 05, 2004 - 03:21 pm | | true, at least you can run off main power for now. a battery can be found in the future. and if you have a pc handy, you can install software from cd using a simple method :
install UltraISO on a pc, use it to rip the retail cd's to images, use a CAT lead to transfer onto the laptops HDD, then use Daemon Tools to mount the image and install, using the serials with the software you install. if the software requires the disc to be inserted into the drive you are in for some fun, you can get round by searching the net for what they call "No-CD" .exe files for the software, you install software and then replace the main program .exe file with the No-CD one. it can cause conflicts sometimes though.
if your game says minimum 300mhz, i think you have no chance of playing it really, it will lag badly.
| Posted By: Magus Nov 05, 2004 - 09:39 pm | | I never noticed all of that in there. Maybe I should have paid closer attention.
Me niether. It's like a second language to me. But thanks, MrD, maybe I'll depict it in time. 
| Posted By: Magus Nov 06, 2004 - 06:11 am | | I never had to worry about this kind of thing myself. My dad, every four years, has half of a computer paid for, from his work. This is how my brother and sister got their computers and this is how I'll get mine. This is how we got the other family computers, two that are in use and one that's pretty much dead.
| Posted By: MrD Nov 06, 2004 - 10:34 am | | pc's are great becasue you can normally interchange parts. no point deciding yours has had it and going to the local retail store and buying one complete. you check your cases power supply for enough power to do new products on market, then rip out motherboard/cpu/ram and decide which parts you want to keep, changing the rest, going for compatible products (needs a lot of reading up - google Toms Hardware site) then of course having to format existing HDD or maybe changing drives at same time. installing OS/drivers/software again. easy job if you read enough on the subject, maybe ask certain people for ebooks on the subject.
upgrading yourself is reasonably cheap done part by part, rather than saving for a whole unit. treat it just like changing a vcr/dvd standalone unit under your television. attach part A to part B with lead C and sit back and watch part A recognise part B and install it!
and software problems, if you aren't using AOL dial-up 56k, then goto www.realvnc.com and get the remote control software and get someone who knows what they are doing to use the same software their end to enter your machine and look around to sort out problems, just like they have their monitor/keyboard/mouse plugged into your machine. you can even cut the connection anytime you want if you are scared of tampering. i've used realvnc for business purposes to maintain pc's at the clients location when it's simple problems, hardware problems of course require you to get your hands in the machine!
| Posted By: Magus Nov 06, 2004 - 12:05 pm | | I use a modem.
But that old computer I told you about, it's really old technology wise. It's an '88 or '89 IBM Compatable. We just store it in the bathtub now.
Yeah. For my parents' computer they've done a bit of that. Like I said, the RAM for my lap top could prabally use a boost. I wonder how that's done? There's a computer shop near by with people that really know their stuff. They could probally help me. Thing is I have to clue as to the expense of a thing like that.
In the bathtub? Does it hold the soap in the disc drive?
| Posted By: Magus Nov 06, 2004 - 07:37 pm | | We have three bathrooms, two upstairs and one downstair. The shower isn't used in the downstairs one, the "Blue Bathroom". We use that shower for storage.
Now, come to think of it, I don't think that the shower in there actually works, anyway. I think that's why we use it for storage.
About the con "link" "laptop" e-bay rip, by the way, we've reported it to E-Bay. They said that they will investigate and we are not to communicate with them at all. Surely they will realize things: that they were conning people, and making fake bids on their own products. Surely.
| Posted By: Magus Nov 15, 2004 - 06:36 pm | | Hopefully, and most likely, they will.
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