On 24/11/16 11:37, tim... wrote:

"Jim GM4DHJ ..." wrote in message
news
any bargains to be had?


Last year in Tesco

they had Laptops for 99 pounds and 50in TVs for 199

OK they were no-name brands but at that price what's to lose?


Well. I decided I needed a laptop mainly so I could lie in bed an watch
TV and read books and play games on it.

I paid 199 IIRC - a Tosh satellite.


The good news: It had bags of RAM (4GB I think) a TB of disk, a rather
better than expected sound system wit speakers in TOP of the keyboard.
Underneath, with a a duvet there, is not cleaver.
It also runs Linux perfectly.
The keyboard is not bad.

The bad news: a year later one of the plasticky USB sockets has fallen
to pieces, and the LCD screen has the worst viewing angle and contrast
of any LCD I have ever seen. I can JUST about watch a video if I have it
a JUST the right angle...

So be warned. Build quality, sound quality, keyboard usability, screen
quality - tehse are all things you need to check are adequate for YOUR
intended usage.

I didn't buy last year but this year I need both (well not necessary the
50in version) so I'm hoping for similar again

Large TVs are getting alarmingly cheap. Mostly the pictures are very
good. However again be warned. I grabbed a panasonic smart TV, and the
picture quality was great. Sound was good. but the user interface is
from hell. Designed by a teenager in all probability. It wouldn't stream
Iplayer properly either, Or didn't. Yesterday I pointed it at the beeb
and it suddenly seems to be working. That may be more about the beeb
moving away from Flash to HTML 5, or maybe the set firmware has upgraded
itself over the internet.

So once again, test and try before you buy.

Currys is actually these days a decent store to visit.


tim







--
Microsoft : the best reason to go to Linux that ever existed.