Laptops, buying which one?

[metalmonkey]

Okay so my desktop died about a month ago, now seems th best time to be buying a new computer.

I had a look around, it looks like that what you pay for a desktop, you can get a laptop for the same spec or better. Its been a while since I bought a computer, my old one was more than 6 years old!

I intend to use it for, email, web, music, photos, word ect...I don't play PC games, if I did it wouldn't be much.

After a bit of research I found this;

http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/Laptops/laptop-studio-1555/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-1555&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&ref=lthp

Dell studio 15.6" laptop, is it worth paying £599 to have the quicker processor? Or is there any better modles/makes out there that will offer better vaule for money than that? Thanks.

[zsv650]

with what youre doing a £300 jobbie would do the job january sales should get you a good un too.

[maviczap]

Yer there loads out there in the £300 region which will do what you want to do.

Maybe even sub £300

[thulfi]

Currently looking for a laptop for my mum. Good time this year with sales and what not.

Basicallly, laptops these days are plenty powerful for standard tasks such as web, photos, word, etc. As long as you aint a gamer or a programmer of some sort, a £300 laptop will be plenty adequate.

[metalmonkey]

Yeah true there are cheap ones out there, however how long will they last? My last PC was top spec at its time, and lasted well. I don't want vista either, must be Windows 7.

How long would a £300 one last? I do see being cheap sometimes, pays twice...

I did a bit more bit more digging found out I can get it a bit cheaper, well £40 difference.

Any suggestions on what a £300 one is, what kind of spec it has?

[zsv650]

just have a look on the pc world site or currys or the like they have sales on already i think.

[JamesMio]

I got a dell studio 17 a few days ago, and it's great!

[MattCollins]

Yeah true there are cheap ones out there, however how long will they last? My last PC was top spec at its time, and lasted well. I don't want vista either, must be Windows 7.

How long would a £300 one last? I do see being cheap sometimes, pays twice...

I did a bit more bit more digging found out I can get it a bit cheaper, well £40 difference.

Any suggestions on what a £300 one is, what kind of spec it has?

I think that you are right to ask those questions.

FWIW, family and friends insist on buying the bargains and everyone of them has packed it in after a year or so. I keep buying ex-corp Dell E-Series Latitudes that are a year or two old and still under warranty of eBay (there are a few good sellers around) to replace them for little more than the bargains. None of them have been top spec, but they have all been decent spec.
I've just bought myself a couple of new E-Series Latitudes and by todays standards they are fairly average but will be good for another 5 years - Dell locks the spec so that corp customers have a uniform fleet.
I have no great loyalty for Dell having had both good and a couple of very bad experiences with them. I use them because I live remotely and their online purchasing and delivery is easy. I spit on the names Inspiron and Studio; they are as cheap and nasty products that are as bad as the bargains. They probably come off the same assembly line.

It is fairly hard to go wrong with a mid-range IBM or Asus.
I'd have a good look at what is being doled out to the corporate customers if you want something that will last a few years.

[Dave20046]

Yeah true there are cheap ones out there, however how long will they last? My last PC was top spec at its time, and lasted well. I don't want vista either, must be Windows 7.

How long would a £300 one last? I do see being cheap sometimes, pays twice...

I did a bit more bit more digging found out I can get it a bit cheaper, well £40 difference.

Any suggestions on what a £300 one is, what kind of spec it has?
If you're gonna get a cheapo get a good cheapo (their will be varying opinions here) but hp or toshiba would be my choice. Or even get a cheapo and buy a 5 year warranty (not from a rip off vendor though! pcworld cough, currys ahem ,dsg splutter) Dell lappys ain't bad but I hear if you ring them up as apposed to buying online you can often get the price knocked down. For what you want it for, as said a cheapo would do but if you fancy what you're currently lookin at - the answer is no I wouldn't pay more for the processor. Also consider what operating system you want, I'd strongly recommend either XP or 7 if you're buying a windows machine - skip vista it's obsolete and crap to boot.

[appollo1]

is Acer a decent brand? seen a few of them advertised but wasn't sure.

Thanks

[ian505050]

I just bought this

2GHz processor speed.
1MB cache.
4GB RAM.

15.6in screen size.
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels.
Widescreen.

500GB hard drive.

£383
Item number:330370297947

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330370297947&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

The seller is argos but on ebay. All refurbished items are brand new but have to be sold as refurbished so they can sell them at discounted prices.

I also bought a tomtom 4v (latest model for £69.99) which arrived from this seller and was great.

[Dave20046]

is Acer a decent brand? seen a few of them advertised but wasn't sure.

Thanks
I've always avoided them as they were soo poor a couple of years back- I've heard they've rectified things now, no proof of this though.

[Bibio]

I've always avoided them as they were soo poor a couple of years back- I've heard they've rectified things now, no proof of this though.

b******s.. i have had my acer aspire 1750 lappy for 5-6 years and its still going strong, its been threw uni and all sorts with me. its not how much or who their made by its how they are looked after. my mate has been threw 3 HP ones for the time i have had mine.

[zsv650]

i like asus stuff seem's well priced and i know our local computer store stock them and i trust them, i steer clear of dell when i heard about the exploding batteries thing slightly disconcerting.

[Dave20046]

b******s.. i have had my acer aspire 1750 lappy for 5-6 years and its still going strong, its been threw uni and all sorts with me. its not how much or who their made by its how they are looked after. my mate has been threw 3 HP ones for the time i have had mine.
Nope had lots of bad'ns a couple of years ago and support's even worse!

[yorkie_chris]

I spit on the names Inspiron and Studio; they are as cheap and nasty products that are as bad as the bargains. They probably come off the same assembly line.

I've had an inspiron for 3 years or so, it's not the fastest in the world but it wasn't priced to be. It's been mostly reliable except for a dead battery and one corrupted bit of hard drive. Probably averaged 6 hours use a day.

Also it feels loads more solid than the ones you can buy in supermarket. No scientific data to back that up, just setting up other peoples internet at uni and various bits and bobs. The keyboard feels nice and the touchpad doesn't flex inwards.

[MattCollins]

Chris,

I've had a couple of 15" Inspirons. Most of the trouble seem to be caused by chassis flex fracturing the main board, the connector between the main board and graphics card, or the connector between the main board and hard drive. I have seen a couple more dead XPS and Studios - same problem. Now when I look at a widescreen laptop the first thing that I do is pick it up and give it a good twist.
I had an old P3 Dell that is still kicking around in the family and doing well. I have a 6yo Pentium-M sitting on my desk that has run almost 24/7 for 6 years - it runs cool enough that the original hard drive is still in good shape. That thing barely gets 20C above ambient at 100% load.
The difference between those that are still going and the ones that have died has been the high operating temperature and the much larger form of the 15s. Another is Taiwanese vs Chinese manufacturer.
Unfortunately, those two laptops that died + the manner in which Dell wriggled out of a warranty claim on the second one (they cost nearly $6k each - halve it for your money) was enough to do it for me.
It seems to me that there was a time where Dell made a consistently decent quality product, but somewhere along the line they lost their way.

[metalmonkey]

Well I fixed my desktop, so with it working no point buying a new computer. I did a bit of reading, so it seems that USB 3 is coming in and a few other things as well. Migh as well wait and see what happens.

[james160987]

think laptops are a bit hit or miss to be honest, examples

dell d600 5 years old- still going strong
acer 3 years old- failed battery, overheating quickly
asus 3 years old - massivly f**cked, harddrive and fan making funny noises
dell 1 year old still good
toshiba 1 day old- still good, just got the tosh for traveliing, small t100, hopefully will last

[454697819]

I buy for my company and advise Vaio from sony or HP...

thank you

Acer are ok but dont last, the only dells I have dealt with are crap..

[rictus01]

just indulged myself, got a cracking deal on a Dell studio off their pre-ordered ones.

Studio Midnight Blue with Microsatin Finish
T7250 Intel Core2 Duo 2.0GHz (2MB Cache)
4GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
500GB Serial (SATA) 5400 RPM
17.0" 1440x900 (WXGA+) CCFL Widescreen Display
DVD-ReWriter Drive
Dedicated radian graphics card (1GB)
IDT High Definition Audio
Dell TrueMobile 1397 Wireless (A/B/G)
BlueTooth
Integrated Webcam Included
Standard Life 6 Cell 53Whr/56WHr Lithium Ion Battery
Features:
Integrated Biometric Fingerprint reader
Full Size Keyboard with Seperate Numeric Keypad
8-in-1 Multimedia Memory Card Reader
Slot Load Optical Drive
FireWire (For Video Editing etc)
Broadband Ready Network Card
Touchpad
Built-in speakers & Microphone
HDMI Output for watching High Definition Movies on external HD screen
Ports:
5 x USB 2.0
1 x Integrated 10/100/1000 LAN (RJ45)
1 x FireWire IEEE1394a
1 x VGA
1 x HDMI
1 x ExpressCard 54mm Slot
Microphone/Headphone Sockets

I like the dedicated graphics card as that'll help with the photshop and other photographic stuff I do,17" is a bit big, but hey for the money I'll live with it....:).

As normal I put it threw their builder program and it came out at £881 + delivery, as I paid under half that I'm well pleased, well will be when it arrives anyway.....:)

Cheers Mark.

[MattCollins]

Sony... I boycotted their products as much as reasonable possible (it is impossible to completely avoid them) after that root kit fiasco marked them as un-trusted.

[metalmonkey]

just indulged myself, got a cracking deal on a Dell studio off their pre-ordered ones.

Studio Midnight Blue with Microsatin Finish
T7250 Intel Core2 Duo 2.0GHz (2MB Cache)
4GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
500GB Serial (SATA) 5400 RPM
17.0" 1440x900 (WXGA+) CCFL Widescreen Display
DVD-ReWriter Drive
Dedicated radian graphics card (1GB)
IDT High Definition Audio
Dell TrueMobile 1397 Wireless (A/B/G)
BlueTooth
Integrated Webcam Included
Standard Life 6 Cell 53Whr/56WHr Lithium Ion Battery
Features:
Integrated Biometric Fingerprint reader
Full Size Keyboard with Seperate Numeric Keypad
8-in-1 Multimedia Memory Card Reader
Slot Load Optical Drive
FireWire (For Video Editing etc)
Broadband Ready Network Card
Touchpad
Built-in speakers & Microphone
HDMI Output for watching High Definition Movies on external HD screen
Ports:
5 x USB 2.0
1 x Integrated 10/100/1000 LAN (RJ45)
1 x FireWire IEEE1394a
1 x VGA
1 x HDMI
1 x ExpressCard 54mm Slot
Microphone/Headphone Sockets

I like the dedicated graphics card as that'll help with the photshop and other photographic stuff I do,17" is a bit big, but hey for the money I'll live with it....:).

As normal I put it threw their builder program and it came out at £881 + delivery, as I paid under half that I'm well pleased, well will be when it arrives anyway.....:)

Cheers Mark.

How did you get it so cheap? Looks good hopefully it will do everything you need it too.

[rictus01]

How did you get it so cheap? Looks good hopefully it will do everything you need it too.

Dell outlet pre-ordered.

Cheers Mark.

[rictus01]

:smt041 it's arrived.........:D

[rob13]

Looks a decent spec that Mark, I'm currently toying with the idea of another laptop or going to one of these mini desktop things. I too want a dedicated GFX card for photo editing etc, and really now want to be looking for something with full HD capability in both the card and monitor as come a few years down the line, everything will be HD.

[steveg]

Just ordered a samsung laptop from comet , just for normal use so nothing special cost of < 350 quid had 5% discount code & cashback

Screen size 15.6 inches
Processor Intel Pentium Dual Core
Processor model number T4200
Processor speed 2.0 GHz
Processor bus 800 MHz
Processor cache 1 MB
Memory (RAM) 3 GB
Storage (hard drive) 500 GB
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium

replacing by old celeron 1.5 with 512mb ram which screen has busted

Cheers Steve

[phil24_7]

Dell outlet pre-ordered.

Cheers Mark.

They got an on-line shop?

[Dave20046]

They got an on-line shop?
They do but like I'm sure I've said somewhere it's worth ringing dell first and say 'I'm looking at xxx can you better the price?' apparently they often knock their web prices down quite a bit.

[mr.anderson]

On reliability, this is intersting:

http://gizmodo.com/5406415/laptop-reliability-study-asus-and-toshiba-come-out-on-top

If I were buying a new laptop, I would rather buy a cheapie at £300 and replace it every 18 months.

If you are not doing anything like photoshop, programming, games and you're not a tart, then there really is not need for anything too whizz bang.

Laptops are more and more becoming disposable items, like phones. You should have your data backed up on an external HDD or two, so migration won't be an issue.

As someone said in one of the new TV threads, if you keep waiting for the latest update or latest tech to become available before buying, then you'll wait for ever as there's always something new on the horizon.

[boot]

Worth a look at these two.

£400, 64bit Windows 7, 500gb HDD and 4gb Ram.
Ebuyer - Acer Aspire 5732 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179792)

£480, 64bit Windows 7, 320gb HDD, 4gb Ram - Hires Widescreen, Blu-ray drive with HDMI out.
Acer Aspire 7530G - 754G32BN (http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/13028493/Acer-Aspire-7530G-754G32BN-Turion-X2-RM-75-2-2GHz-4GB-320GB-Blu-ray-Combo-17-3-Vista-Home-Premium-Laptop-Notebook/Product.html) Wouldn't normally recommend play.com but this looks pretty good for the money, plenty of screen real estate.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Dell as a company, regardless of the quality of the product, so wouldn't recommend them on principle.

[Dave20046]

http://gizmodo.com/5406415/laptop-reliability-study-asus-and-toshiba-come-out-on-top

.
Interesting, wouldn't have thought lenovo would be near the bottom of the class.

[shonadoll]

hubby got me an HP 6735b, with fingerprint scanner, and also a dock which it sits on to recharge, which is really really handy. They threw in a case as well, oh it has an integrated webcam too, think around £450.

[yorkie_chris]

What's with the big trend for fingerprint scanners? Seems like a massive dose of shiny kit syndrome to me, not like they'll be of any practical use whatsoever!

[Dave20046]

What's with the big trend for fingerprint scanners? Seems like a massive dose of shiny kit syndrome to me, not like they'll be of any practical use whatsoever!
They're faster and it makes people in suits feel more important. They do however work efficiently can't say I've tried to crack through a system with one enforced but with a standard administrator password it's easy. Can't even say I know whether you can use just the fingerprint scanner one it's own (no password) but if so it'd be interesting to see how secure they are.

[MattCollins]

...it makes people in suits feel more important...

That's about the size of it.

Unless the disk is encrypted, computers are easy to get into and then the weakness is often the encryption passphrase.