Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

Great laptop bargain for the weekend, just £1,092 for a Sony Vaio TT21M/N from Currys (with a discount voucher that expires at midnight, normally £1,150), over £250 cheaper than the next best price.

So, another year of new students are getting ready to head to university; they’ve got the cookbook telling them how to make a £4 bag of pasta last two terms, an inflatable armchair with at least one puncture and a tube full of carefully chosen film posters. At some stage they’re going to have to get around to doing some work, and these days that usually means that if they don’t want to join a long queue to use the computers in the college library, they’ll need one of their own. Thankfully for those already watching meagre summer job savings dwindle or preparing to test the limits of parental generosity, this doesn’t necessarily involve a vast amount of money.

Netbooks, the slimmed down cousins of laptops, will handle essay writing and web access (strictly for research purposes, naturally) & are perfect for lugging around campus in a book-bag. They’ve actually scored higher with our reviewers than laptops on design (8.8 vs 8.4), portability (9.1 vs 8.1) and battery life (8.2 vs 6.8). Student shoppers who’ve reviewed them for Reevoo have written about how they’re “light enough to carry around the university campus”, the “right size for taking to lectures” and are equipped with “amazing battery life”. Unfortunately they will still tend to break if you pour enough beer into them.

What is a netbook, anyway?

There’s no universally agreed definition but as a rule of thumb it’s anything that looks like a laptop, but:

- Costs under £400
- Has a screen under 13 inches in size
- Weighs under 1.5kg
- Doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive
- Has a single core processor

The Top 10 Netbooks (According To Reevoo’s Consumer Reviewers)

1. Asus Eee PC 10005HA SeaShell (9.1/10, from £250)
2. Samsung NC10 (9.1/10, from £250)
3. Asus Eee PC 901 (8.9/10, from £300)
4. Asus Eee PC 1000H (8.9/10, from £280)
5. Samsung N110 (8.9/10, from £330)
6. Asus Eee PC 1000HE (8.9/10, from £321)
7. Toshiba NB100-12A (8.8/10, from £250)
8. Asus Eee PC 904HD (8.7/10, from £190)
9. Samsung N310 (8.7/10, from £298)
10. Samsung NC20 (8.7/10, from £350)

There are a couple of things to be aware of when making your choice. The first is that whilst many netbooks come with Windows XP, a few come with an alternative Linux-based operating system. It’ll do the same sort of things but may take a little more getting used to. The second is that netbooks don’t have a CD/DVD drive so installing new software can be fiddly. Thankfully Microsoft offer a few solutions for a student essential, Office:

- Some netbooks come with trial version of Microsoft Office Home & Student which you can then pay to unlock.

- If you buy a boxed copy, Microsoft will let you use your product key to install it onto your netbook from their website.

- Or you can buy it straight from their online store.

Alternatively you can try a free equivalent called OpenOffice; as with the alternative operating system mentioned above it’ll do roughly the same things but may not be as familiar.

Found another great deal on a stylish laptop - this Acer Aspire One A150-B, down from £279.99 to £199 at Bennetts Online!

Found this great Samsung R510 laptop deal from Dabs.com, £365 with free delivery!  Good battery life and high review scores.

When buying a new computer, whether it be a laptop or desktop, there are a lot of numbers to consider: how much memory it has to run software, how much storage space it has for your files and even how much room it’ll take up on your desk. One that’s only become something to consider in the last few years is how many cores the processor has.

The processor sits at the heart of your computer and does all the number-crunching that makes everything else possible, from writing a letter to listening to music; it used be the case that you just needed to pay attention to how fast it was: how many gigahertz (or going back further, megahertz) did it run at?

Whilst it may have looked like your computer was doing lots of different things at once (loading a web page & playing a music file), with a single core it was actually doing things one at a time, switching rapidly back and forth between different tasks to provide a (hopefully) seamless experience of each thing you needed it to do. If you wanted to do more things more quickly you needed to increase the speed of the processor.

Multi-core processors provide a different way to speed things up. Instead of making one processor core work faster, you split the work between 2 or more. You could think of it like the old school maths problem: if it takes 1 painter 1 hour to paint 1 wall, how long will it take 2 painters to paint the same wall?

Unfortunately, this doesn’t automatically mean that a dual-core 2GHz processor will run at 4GHz. Software has to be written in a special way to enable it to split the work up and make the most of multiple cores; if you want your wall painted twice as fast, you have to make sure that both painters are going to turn up and know the most efficient way to divide up the wall between them! The good news is that as multi-core processors have become so common, more and more software is being designed to take advantage of them, so your computer can paint more walls, more quickly!

We’ve looked at getting the internet on your TV in a previous blog post, but what if you want to watch films downloaded to your laptop on your TV, play games on a really big screen or show off your holiday snaps in style?  Today we’ll look at connecting your computer to your TV.

Step 1: Check your connections

There are several different ways to connect your computer to your TV, depending on what kind of sockets there are on your laptop/desktop and TV.  There will be quite a lot of variation depending on the age and model of your computer and your TV.  I’ve listed the possible ways of connecting in order of increasing image quality.

Composite/RCA
This is the most old-fashioned kind of connection, found as standard on older TVs and computers.  There are three plugs and sockets: white for the left stereo audio, red for the right stereo audio and yellow for composite video.  This kind of cable can be found very cheaply.
SEPARATE AUDIO CONNECTION NECESSARY

Composite socket                                      composite cable

(more…)

We’ve been talking about saving money and budget buys recently so we had to share the ultimate triple-use product. Save even more money by buying one product that works as three - like this HDTV which houses a Blu-ray player and a PC!

Named Allio, it has just launched in the US and comes in 32 and 42 inch models. The PC doesn’t have a bad spec at all - Intel Core Duo E8400 processor, 1TB hard drive and 4GB of RAM. It also comes with Windows Vista Home Premium and there are plenty of USB ports and wired / wireless network options.

The HDTV isn’t terrible either. It’s a 1080p panel with 2,000:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness and twin 12-watt speakers. You can even watch your Blu-ray content as Picture-in-Picture or split-screen.

It’s not available in the UK yet but we’ll keep you posted. In the US, the current prices are:

32″ - £950

42″ - £1800

Low-cost versions are also on the way - even better!

More info here

I know it’s all a bit doom and gloom at the moment in the money department but what happens when you actually need to buy something?

Laptops may seem like an unaffordable luxury but if you’re a student or you run your own business or you just need soemthing that you can carry around with you, laptops are your best bet and you can get one for cheaper than you think.

We’ve set the bar at £300 and found some great deals. Here are the top ten most highly rated laptops under £300, rated by people who have actually bought them:

1. Asus EEE PC 4GB INT - £170

2. Advent 4211 - £230

3. Packard Bell MX37 T003 - £300

4. Toshiba Equium L350-10L - £300

5. Compaq CQ50100EM SI40 - £300

6. Toshiba Equium L300-146 - £300

7. Asus EEE PC 701 4G - £205

8. Asus EEE PC 701 8G - £205

9. EI Systems 1201 T23701G - £250

10. Acer As5633 - £300

So there we go. With prices as low as £170, you’re sure to find something. Asus EEE PCs are great to take anywhere because they’re so tiny, and I especially like all of the new colours they come in but they may take a bit of getting used to. A couple of the reviews from guys mention that the keys are a little difficult for them to type with. If they don’t sound like they’re for you, an extra 50 or so will get you the Advent 4211. It’s got some great reviews. Nuala from County Louth says:

“It’s just fantastic. The best money I ever spent. You can use it anywhere. I would’nt be without it”

And if online gaming’s your thing, Fiona from Wales says:

“Very small and lightweight. Speedy processor means not matter how many screens you’ve got open it doesnt slow. Would higly recommend for anyone looking for an internet laptop. I find it good for online gaming as the applications do not slow the computer even if palying several sites at once.”

If you’re after something stylish, go for the Compaq CQ50100EM SI40. Everyone raves about its design. But if you ask me, the Toshiba Equium L350-10L packs a whole lot into £300 and looks to be well worth the money.

So lots of bargains there and lots of different laptops to choose from. If you’ve come across any others, let us know.

In today’s what to buy, we’re looking at home offices. Whether you work from home or you just need an office at home, there’s no need to spend a fortune on some decent kit.

We’ve looked at laptops and desktop computers, shredders and fax machines and a lot more to help you furnish your office.

Let’s start off with computers. For those of you who prefer laptops, we’ve picked out the 15 inch Hewlett Packard 530. It’s got an 80GB hard drive, an Intel Celeron M 520 1.6 GHz processor and a DVD re-writer. You can pick one up for £267.97 with an increased 120GB hard drive. A bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree.

If you’re more of a desktop computer fan, you can try the Compaq SR5219. This has a 250GB hard drive, a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor and a DVD rewriter. It also comes with a 17inch Tft monitor and is around £360. It has some good reveiws too. Comments in the reviews include “Everything is spot on” and “very easy to set up, nice touch sensitive keyboard, looks smart”.

You’ll be needing a desk to house your bargains. Why not try the Dakota Workstation. It’s simple but stylish and most importantly, it’ll only set you back £20.

For a printer, we’ve gone for the £75 Epson Stylus DX8400. It doubles up as a scanner/copier so you can save some more money there. We’ve also gone for an Epson because you tend to get cheaper ink cartridges, so there’s the potential for long-term money saving. One shopper left this review “the product give me exactly what I was wanting at the right price”.

You can’t do much without the net these days so if you’ve been unfortunate enough to get an internet provider who doesn’t supply you with a router, you can get the 54 Mbps Belkin F5D7231UK4 for £44. It’s got a stonking 200 meter wireless range so you can work in the house or even in the garden (unless you live in a mansion/palace, in which case, I’d checkout your distances before you embark on any ’off-piste’ activities).

They’re not used much these days but if you do need a fax machine, the Brother T104 is £67.

So there we go, under £500 if you go with a laptop and just over £500 if you chose a desktop computer, although there may be other elements there that you don’t need.

Reviews for all of the items can be found on Reevoo, along with lots of other reviews from shoppers.

In today’s what to buy, we’re looking at home offices. Whether you work from home or you just need an office at home, there’s no need to spend a fortune on some decent kit.

We’ve looked at laptops and desktop computers, shredders and fax machines and a lot more to help you furnish your office.

Let’s start off with computers. For those of you who prefer laptops, we’ve picked out the 15 inch Hewlett Packard 530. It’s got an 80GB hard drive, an Intel Celeron M 520 1.6 GHz processor and a DVD re-writer. You can pick one up for £267.97 with an increased 120GB hard drive. A bargain, I’m sure you’ll agree.

If you’re more of a desktop computer fan, you can try the Compaq SR5219. This has a 250GB hard drive, a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor and a DVD rewriter. It also comes with a 17inch Tft monitor and is around £360. It has some good reveiws too. Comments in the reviews include "Everything is spot on" and "very easy to set up, nice touch sensitive keyboard, looks smart".

You’ll be needing a desk to house your bargains. Why not try the Dakota Workstation. It’s simple but stylish and most importantly, it’ll only set you back £20.

For a printer, we’ve gone for the £75 Epson Stylus DX8400. It doubles up as a scanner/copier so you can save some more money there. We’ve also gone for an Epson because you tend to get cheaper ink cartridges, so there’s the potential for long-term money saving. One shopper left this review "the product give me exactly what I was wanting at the right price".

You can’t do much without the net these days so if you’ve been unfortunate enough to get an internet provider who doesn’t supply you with a router, you can get the 54 Mbps Belkin F5D7231UK4 for £44. It’s got a stonking 200 meter wireless range so you can work in the house or even in the garden (unless you live in a mansion/palace, in which case, I’d checkout your distances before you embark on any ’off-piste’ activities).

They’re not used much these days but if you do need a fax machine, the Brother T104 is £67.

So there we go, under £500 if you go with a laptop and just over £500 if you chose a desktop computer, although there may be other elements there that you don’t need.

Reviews for all of the items can be found on Reevoo, along with lots of other reviews from shoppers.