AOL's free laptop
 

Against my advice, my parents have signed up for AOL broadband. I told them if they were going to do that then they may as well take the free laptop offer - and give it to me :D

Which they agreed to :D

It's going to be the base model, it's not something I'd normally go for but hey, it's free so why not.

Does anyone have any experience with it? It's the Inspiron 1520 Base model. I've seen one or two online reviews which say it's obviously not the fastest but otherwise is ok.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

No idea about the lappy, but if you have anymore relatives, AOL's latest offering, is a new PS3. :D

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Yeah I saw that and did ask AOL about it but they reckon initial demand means most people won't get one til late January :(

That's why I chose the lappy.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

It's not bad for casual surfing and normal use.
It's a little sluggish with Vista though.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

for a free laptop you can afford to lob some ram at it

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

personally i'd have taken the PS3 and waited... then sell your DVD player and old console and stick the money towards a laptop...

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Russ, didn't you know?

Friends don't let friends sign up with AOL

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

The laptop is a dell with vista!

i cant see it working

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Go to school!

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Aol is the same as any other adsl provider now .They send you a router so you do not have to install the software so its not as bad as it was.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

They sure try to make you do it though. Sky's instructions were adamant that i had to use the CD, no chance!

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

:DIm off school, ill

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

You shouldn't be sat in front of a PC if your ill then. :rolleyes:

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

what else is there to do?

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

I might even downgrade it - I've got an old XP disk and licence around here somewhere. Might chuck that on and as the Zingmeister says, drop some more RAM in.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

good idea! :)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

When your ill your supposed to sleep to let your body recover from the illness quicker. ;)

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 ----------

Just double check on the Dell site that the drivers are there for XP, they should be but just in case. My HP laptops graphics card is Vista only :(

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

I installed a Sky router t'other day, didn't even unseal the envelope the CD came in

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

its boring

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

You won't know, you'll be asleep...

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

i wont

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

There sending me one we was aol customers but we swapped packages from 2mb to 8mb, for £2 more a month.
Hopefully the laptop does not come bundled with norton:@

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Can signon without the software on a usb modem as well as long as you have a PPoE driver for it ;)

generally most of the AOL problems i've solved for friends are down to the software rather than the service.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

I hate the aol software prefer to use firefox:D
but AOL Helix is good IMO.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

As is winamp

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

When do you actually get it?
We got our free wireless router and the laptop comes next

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

whats that matter ??? norton removal tool soon gets rid ;)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Thats the only norton I like;)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

nothing ever comes for free, especially from AOL!

it may look at like a good deal, but you will pay for it as you would have an extended contract etc and higher prices over the course of the contract.

I would use a cheaper ISP and buy a cheapo laptop seperatly

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

That’s about right I'd say the cost of the laptop is factored in

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

I'm not paying for anything, my parents are ;)

They got it in to their heads that AOL are the ones for them. I thought I might as well benefit :)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Well they are in business to make a profit.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Might be a good option. I think you have to have the same size memory module in each slot.

I've been using a Dell inspiron for a week now with Vista on with 2gig of ram and its running perfectly so far, although it's a higher spec model.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

When does it come we recieved the wireless router saturday 1st december, now it says the laptop is coming soon?

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

hi, free laptop from aol but you will be a talktalk customer and get alot of traffic shaping. the same deal with the laptop applies to talktalkbusiness customers for same cost and no traffic shaping. so same cheap laptop and much more bb usage.
btw, i noticed someone talking about a norton removal tool, any links (i cant find any complete norton removal tool newer that 2k4 version)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Hope this helps.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Callumpy - you obviously have no idea what you're talking about... :rolleyes:

Lean anything at school today?

Edit - Sorry - bit of a late reply there...

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Unnecessary reply as well.

The subject of this thread was AOL, not whether a member should be a school or not.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Does anybody know how long it takes to recieve the laptop after recieving the router?

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

I believe your broadband needs to be enabled before the laptop is sent...

---------- Post added at 21:04 ---------- Previous post was at 21:02 ----------


Yeah - sorry about that...but Vista does work on Dell PC's / Laptops.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Vista will run on a minimum of 512mb ram and recommended of 1gb ram.
Seeing as the DELL has 1gb ram, It should run great with home basic.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Hey guys Im actually sell this deal over the phone - anyone's interested just drop me your number and I ll call you and do it all over the phone!! After all its no bother for me as its a SALE for me at the end of the day!!

;);)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Errr - hang on....you come to a forum dedicated to Virgin Cable and you are trying to sell AOL???

Isn't that like trying to sell snow to an Eskimo?

What's your commission on the deal? ROFL!

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

AOL is not as bad as it used to be, but is still a pretty useless ISP for the most part from experience

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Ive never liked how you have to either use their browser or use the AOL dialler if you want to use internet explorer or firefox!

I hate it

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

well I guess you have to be told how wrong you are now. If you have aol BB and a router you just set it up in the router and you do not need the browser or software on your pc

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

or a PPoE driver for your modem then you can just "dial up" with

screenname@aol.com (might be @aol.co.uk)

and your password

dialup number is 0,38 i think

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

So I PM you with my number, you phone me, I give you all my "details" over the phone.

:D
:xmas:

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Ahh come on...give the lad a break....he's new around here...

His previous job was backing up data onto CD ROM for the HMRC...


:p:

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

:D

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Oh yeh! Sorry

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Well I hope this isn't the sign of things to come.

Their wireless router arrived today - without the laptop.

Nothing really unusual about that you might think except the guy who took my parents' order told me the laptop and router would arrive together in the same package.

I guess I should have realised it was a case of "say anything the customer wants to hear to get them to sign up".

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

yes, Sam's router came a few days before the laptop.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

That's fine, but when I placed the order I specifically asked if they'd arrive togather.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Ring them back then. Who knows, they might give you a month free or something.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Or in true callcentre style they'll just say ''sorry sir there's no record of you being told that''.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Possibly but you could try.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

Just called them, guess what?

(In Indian accent) "I am sorry sir but the man should not have told you that. I am sorry there is nothing we can do".

*cue the sound of me rolling my eyes.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

typical. /me rolls eyes.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

My router came and a week later the laptop came which is quite fast.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

I think that it can take up to a few weeks for the laptop to come it would depend on the stock levels I bet :)

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

The router will be dispatched from aol and the laptop will be built by dell then dispatched hence the reason it takes longer to arrive.

What hacks me off about most of the broadband companies is that is takes ages to get the routers. If I ordered a router through dabs, ebuyer or aria I'd have full online order tracking and it would most likely arrive withing 2 days. (most of the time next day).

And these are the companies that are giving access to the internet and are not able to make use of the information.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

If its the same router AOL gave my mate you have to put @aol.com in the username

He didn't relise this and therefore took him a fair while to get it working.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

The router arrived within about 5 days - I popped in to Carphone Warehouse to have a play with their store lappy and the guy behind the counter reckons AOL tells them they are sent out 2 - 3 weeks after a 2 week settling-in period for the broadband. In total up to 5 weeks!

I'm going to ring AOL now to check.

Re: AOL's free laptop
 

OK the lappy arrived today - but not USB network adaptor - I'm sure they said this would be included :confused: