As the resident se23.com technophobe who has trouble with an Oyster card, I'd greatly and gratefully appreciate some advice on the following from those of you who are much more ahead in the technological game than I am.

Mobile phones.
I would like to upgrade my phone as my old one is not working very well but my standard free upgrade is not due yet. If I buy a pay as you go phone can I just put my own SIM card in there and just continue using my own number? I have found that the CP Warehouse charge around ?47 more for the same handset if I buy it as a stand alone ie ?127 whereas if a Pay as you go I would only pay ?80, even with the ?10 credit. Why the difference; don't you get the same phone? Is it just that they are hoping no one will catch on? I'd prefer to get the lowdown on here rather than ask in the shop.

Laptops.
I am thinking of getting one for home/personal/study use and one that I can takr out and about with me. I do not need anything flash, just something that has a reasonable amount of power and RAM, reasonably light, and can cope with Word and Excel as well as wife/ethernet use, and has a decent DVD rom as my course is distance learning by e learning. Preferably to be obselete proof for about 4 years. I spoke to Dell this morning and they tried to sell me the Vostro, but this seemed to have very bad reviews. I am wondering about the Studio 15. If anyone has recent experience or can advise , again it would be appreciated.

Anyone know why they no longer include basic software in their package/price as a matter of course, ie Microsoft Office, etc?

Ethernet etc.
How does one get hold of this. Does it enable you to log onto the net from any room in the house?

Advice in simple English please,

Ethernetally yours,

Er, of course I meant cope with wifi use, not wife...

Ta

Roz, I seem to remember that the Carphone Warehouse were doing a mobile phone deal that gave you a free Dell laptop, dont know if they are still doing it but that could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

MS office is pretty expensive, so its probably economics. You can get Open Office for nothing and it does pretty well everything that MS office does. It can read MS files as well.

Ethernet is a communication method that uses cable ie it has to be plugged in to a modem or other device. If you are going to use wifi you probably won't need it.

I don't pretend to be a techie, but hope this helps

Roz

To access the web from any room in the house you will need wireless broadband - a wireless modem/router. Ethernet cable is simply a wired connection which is faster (for downloading) than usual. It would normally be used with a desktop.

Aldi sometimes sell laptops at good prices - on the web. Sounds like you need a fairly basic machine. Make sure it has a wireless card. If it doesn't have MS Office you can always buy the student version (if you have school age children or students in your household !). It is identical to the non student version.


rgds

Roz, you will get an ethernet cable and wireless router sent to you by your service provider (most of them offer these free when you subscribe).

When I did mine, I think I had to have the yellow ethernet wire to connect to the internet in the first instance, as your wireless router won't work straight away. From memory, once wireless is set up, you can then take the ethernet cable out and it will work in any room of the house.

My service provider sent me a cd which gave step by step instructions - it was quite easy.

Roz,

The cheap Toshibas are pretty robust - we have one and it's great for the price. John Lewis and PC World sell a range of them.

As for Office, there's a 'Home' version which is around ?80-90.

Hope this helps,

S

Thanks for all the great advice; I've decided to plump for a Dell Studio 15 from Tesco Direct. Found out that its cheaper and faster to buy from them than from Dell directly.

If you are studying (or have kids studying) the cheapest way to get MS Office is from http://www.rm.com/thebasement/ or http://www.software4students.co.uk/. You can save hundreds of pounds over retail prices.

I have no vested interest in either company.