Civilisation 5

I pre-ordered the latest Sid Meier's Civilization V (or Civilisation 5) from GAME for just £25. I've been a great fan of this turn-based strategy game for many years and was eager to play the latest graphically intense version.


It arrived a day before the official release date in Europe and frustratingly wouldn't authorise via Steam. I waited until midnight but it still wouldn't work. However the next morning it was fine. Unfortunately, no nice paperback manual with this version just an electronic file, so I've ordered the strategy guide from Amazon for an extra £9.

Having spent many hours this weekend with it, I'm happy to report it was well worth the wait. In fact the gameplay is smoother and more intuitive than previous versions and the addiction levels are even higher. A classic game redone to be even better.

Selling on Ebay

I've been buying and selling on Ebay for a while now. Just a few spare parts, especially CPUs as they are high value and low weight to post. Graphic cards and memory also plus my nephew's fridge that he left behind when he went back to Canada.

I've also been accumulating an increasing number of trade-in PCs that I've replaced wioth new DELLs. I decided it was time to reduce a few by selling them on Ebay. I started with a DELL Dimension 4600 that I'd refurbished starting at jusr £1 for 10 days. It went for just £23 yet others where selling for £52 to £71. Hardly worth my time and effort.

Needless to say I'm trying again with a Dimennsion 3000 for just 3 days. Want to bid on it?

My new laptop

A couple of weeks ago I was ordering a new laptop for a customer of mine. It was the DELL Vostro 3500 which I've been supplying for a while as a good quality, solid professional laptop with fine performance and all the latest technology features.

As I was ordering, I noticed that a slightly better specced version was available for a few pounds extra; the CPU Intel i5-430 was 20% better with 3Gb DDR3 memory (50% better) and a 320Gb 7,200rpm hard disk drive (30% better). Together with Bluetooth and Wireless N connectivity plus fingerprint recognition. As I ordered it DELL offered a second one for just 50% of the first. Great deal, so the price was £292 including VAT and delivery.

I figured that this was a great replacement for my old 5-year old DELL laptop which I should be able to sell for about £100 as it still offers responsive performance with Windows XP and a one and a half hour battery life.

Needless to say my new DELL laptop is superb and I'd recommend it to anyone!