Advice on the best laptop to get?

[krazykim]

I need a laptop and have had it drummed into me for the past 4.5 years that Dell are the ONLY way to go and that i'm the spawn of satan if i get anything else. Is this true? I only need it for the internet and iTunes so nothing too heavy but i don't want it to be slow. Anyone got any advice? I will probably end up with a Dell but i just wanted to get some external opinions. I really don't want to spend alot but i know you get what you pay for so open to suggestions.

[fizzwheel]

IMHO no its not true. There are plenty of manufacturers now so don't just look at Dell. I always say to people set yourself a budget and then buy then best thing you can afford for the budget you have and to always if you dont know about I.T. buy something from the big named Brand manufacturers of which Dell are just one. I got Liz's mum a cracking HP laptop for £400 ish a while ago. The only brand I would stay away from is Packard Bell as a few of my customers had problems with them and they were a b*stard to get upgrade parts for, and if you could they were damn expensive to repair / upgrade as well.

One thing I wouldnt scrimp on is the screen though. Some of the cheaper budget price laptops that you'll find in the sales at this time of year will IMHO have a poor quality screen on them.

Anything by HP, Dell, Compaq, Toshiba is probably going to be OK. I'd have a look at Sony to except that they recalled IIRC some of their laptops a while back because the batteries were exploding.

Have a look at the Macbooks as well if you just want itunes and internet access it might be just what your looking for.

[skint]

Do you really need a laptop?

Either way Dell are pretty good, but its a bit like buying a standard family car rather than a more expensive better built bit of kit. they all do the same thing.

I have four Dell pc's at home (kids!) cheap as chips (not bought all at the same time!!) and so far - touches mock wood desk - no problems. All came with sound, speakers, TFT and printer (which is pretty good quality). We also run them on wirless internet - triffic.

went on line to 'build' what we wanted but the pricing gets confusing so we then phone up with the spec, usually get a better price than that stated online and its delivered in less than a week ready to go. Usual follow up phone calls come through.

So easy I would take some pursuading to be bothered to go eslewhere. :)

[Heed]

As said above set yourself a budget then see what you can get for the money.

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

Are pretty good. I like Fujitsu Siemens laptops and one of my mates won;t use anything but Sony. It all depends on what you want from it. However Dell laptops are certainly not the best about. If you post a budget I don't mind having a look about.

[thor]

The IBM I got from work is pretty rugged. It's worth thinking about that if you are going to carry it everywhere. There's lots of little features that make life easy too.

[Sudoxe]

Macbooks are good - and they can run windows as well (either by rebooting or with something like paraelles desktop. I would go with either a macbook or macbook pro. Pricy, but very sexy and easy to use.

Dan

[wyrdness]

I wouldn't touch Dell with a bargepole myself. I've heard too many horror stories about them.

There's loads of cheap laptops about from a variety of manufacturers. I wouldn't worry about speed as they're all really fast these days, but make sure that you get *at least* 512Mb of memory (Ram). I'm a bit paranoid about security (for good reason) and don't consider Windows XP to be secure enough to be used on the internet (unless you want it to be taken over by an organised crime gang who'll use it to steal your banking details and to send spam).

If you have a bit of cash, then the Macbooks are superb. They're what I'd go for.

[Baph]

Dell is a double-edged sword. For businesses, great. For home users, the customer services can be lacking at times, but then, others will say they've had flawless service from them. It all depends on who's at the other end of the phone. The Irish call centre in particular is good ;)

As for the laptop, if you only want the inter-web & iTunes, then anything with a USB socket will do ITunes & any MP3 player you like, and a processor of around 1.5Ghz would suffice. However, buying a machine like that (assuming it's running XP, you'd be wanting what? 1Gb RAM), it's outdated before it arrives on your doorstep.

You need to look at how long you want the machine to last before it's impossible to upgrade.

Don't worry too much about manufacturers, look at the features you're getting, all the manufacturers are pretty much the same.

Basically, look for something around the 1.5Ghz mark, but preferably a littler better, DVD+/-RW would obviously be a bonus, but might not be needed, extra RAM would be good. At the end of the day, it's everything static to the board that will limit you, and to a certain extent, the CPU, so look at the ability to upgrade specifics later (costs of these will drop over time anyway).

I work for a logistics company, and we ship Dell & HP worldwide, and HP have been outselling Dell hand over fist (just looking at the ordering systems from the warehousing & transportation). The masses tend to vote with their feet, so you might want to think about why HP have started to outsell Dell for the first time in a long time.

But as ever, buy whatever is appropriate for YOU, and if a sales guy is pushing you into a corner about a particular machine, make sure you keep your back to the door ;) It's better to walk away & think about something, rather than be pushed into something far more expensive than you wanted, that does 12million things you'll never use.

EDIT [in response to wrydness]: Security is a concept. It's a constant tradeoff, security vs usability. If you want to be able to have users in a system, it can never be 100% secure. Macbooks are equally susceptible to exploits if not kept up to date, granted Windows comes with more holes switched on, but still, the key is knowledge. At the end of the day, if someone wants to get in your house, it doesn't matter how secure it is, they will get in! It just takes determination!
HTH

[Terence]

Anything by HP, Dell, Compaq, Toshiba is probably going to be OK. I'd have a look at Sony to except that they recalled IIRC some of their laptops a while back because the batteries were exploding.
Catching fire... not exploding. Still wouldn't want one on my lap though :-)

I'd go along with what others have said... set your budget and then shop around. Using a price comparison site like Dealtime has been very useful for me. See http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPP-pc_laptops as a starting point.

My personal opinion is that Lenovo (used to be called IBM), HP, Mac, Sony, Toshiba and Dell are OK, Packard Bell is sh*te.

As far as specs are concerned, iTunes can use up lots of disk space, so look for a hard drive at least 60-80GB, with 1GB of system RAM & 256MB of graphics RAM if you want to run Vista (lots of stores are offering a free upgrade when it's released). Built-in wireless and a DVD writer are also things you'll probably want. CPU is less important.

HTH
Terence

[rigor]

I'd have to echo the above advice ... set a budget and then look around at that price to see what you think is a good deal, or if your not too confident, grab a few different specs and put them under the nose of a friendly computer geek.

I've just bought myself a Mac Book Pro over christmas, and I would say, if your not tied to a windows machine then Macs are a good thing to look at. They have everything you could need out of the box, run reasonably fast, and the operating system is a joy to use. Only grumble is that they moved the @ and " on the keyboard :P Plus the design of the things is very shiny and nice to look at ;) However they are more expensive when considered against windows laptops, so that may be a consideration.

[TSM]

I bought a cheep acer laptop for xmas realy just for internet stuff, its not bad and comes with a free upgrade to Vista when it comes out. For most regular things its fine, not too heavy, even though screen is 14.1" its a widescreen one and is good. General build feals good too. Little slim on the ram but i can source an extra 512 on ebay for about 30.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5051AWXMi_LX.AG30J.056/version-1.asp

[Dave The Rave]

I bought a cheep acer laptop for xmas realy just for internet stuff, its not bad and comes with a free upgrade to Vista when it comes out. For most regular things its fine, not too heavy, even though screen is 14.1" its a widescreen one and is good. General build feals good too. Little slim on the ram but i can source an extra 512 on ebay for about 30.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5051AWXMi_LX.AG30J.056/version-1.asp

Just make sure it is the correct one. Plus doing so you have to open the body = invalidates the warranty.

[northwind]

I had pretty consistently horrendous customer service from Dell, from getting the basic spec wrong (and being incredibly unhelpful about it) to completely failing to respond to service messages and complaints. But, personally I just write off the customer service side- it's still a good price for the bits, usually, even if you consider them to offer no aftersales :) That way anything you do get is a bonus.

But personally, if I was buying a laptop I'd get an outdated one- good laptops are awfully expensive, and too quickly turn into old laptops with the limited upgradability.

And if you're using it for music, and you want to rip a decent size music collection onto it, you'll want a big drive...

A desktop unit with a flat screen, and wireless keyboard and mouse, can be basically as compact as a laptop though- you can stick the case pretty much anywhere. You get a lot more machine for your money that way, plus better upgradability.

[Baph]

A desktop unit with a flat screen, and wireless keyboard and mouse, can be basically as compact as a laptop though- you can stick the case pretty much anywhere. You get a lot more machine for your money that way, plus better upgradability.
You had me all the way until that paragraph northy :P

Be a bit hard to lug a desktop onto the train & use it :|

Sorry, someone had to :P

[The Basket]

I would go with Acer for price. www.laptopsdirect.co.uk has good deals

Tesco and Woolworths were doing laptops for £400. Seemed good spec for the money.

[TSM]

I bought a cheep acer laptop for xmas realy just for internet stuff, its not bad and comes with a free upgrade to Vista when it comes out. For most regular things its fine, not too heavy, even though screen is 14.1" its a widescreen one and is good. General build feals good too. Little slim on the ram but i can source an extra 512 on ebay for about 30.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5051AWXMi_LX.AG30J.056/version-1.asp

Just make sure it is the correct one. Plus doing so you have to open the body = invalidates the warranty.

Does not invalidate the warranty any more, there was a case regarding that, it used to be the case years back and manufacturers would put security strips across the areas you could open to show if it was tampered, but not anymore. You cant expect people not to be able to upgrade their computers with simple components and tie them in.

[Demonz]

I would go with Acer for price. www.laptopsdirect.co.uk has good deals

Tesco and Woolworths were doing laptops for £400. Seemed good spec for the money.

I went with Laptops Direct as well - and have always had Toshiba's. I like the brand and warranty servicing/quality.

[northwind]

Be a bit hard to lug a desktop onto the train & use it :|


Most people buying laptops for itunes and the internet aren't using it on the train that much :) Tends to be people who don't think they have space for a desktop.

[Baph]

Be a bit hard to lug a desktop onto the train & use it :|


Most people buying laptops for itunes and the internet aren't using it on the train that much :) Tends to be people who don't think they have space for a desktop.
Wifi is wonderful, and I've, aherm, been told that something called war-driving is good for a giggle too.

I take my laptop on the train quite a lot, but then, having the Virgin express trains that are fully kitted out & t'inter-web capable helps :)

[krazykim]

Cheers for all your helpful comments guys. A lot of really great advice! :kiss:
I'm probably looking to spend about £450 tbh but obviously if i can get something cheaper but just as good....... 8)
I did consider the desktop option as i won't be dragging it about on the train, but i'm limited to space in my bedroom and don't really have room for a desk (unless i turn my double bed into a single????.....nah!) and i'm not sure how much longer i'll be living with the girlies so would prefer to have something easily portable. I will need lots of space to fit all my music and will definately need to be able to put all my cd's on there but i'm not too fussed about dvd's as i have a cute little tv/dvd combi thingy. Wouldn't complain if it came with one though!
My parents bought a HP laptop a year ago and it seems to have done them ok but all they do is go online.
How much are Mac's?

[Heed]

Just make sure it is the correct one. Plus doing so you have to open the body = invalidates the warranty.

Laptops Direct took my machine back although I'd upgraded the RAM myself as it's seen as a user replaceable item as it's under a wee panel that only takes 2 screws to remove.

[rigor]

How much are Mac's?

More than £450 unfortunately, looks like they start at around £750, and Apple don't allow much discounting.

http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/macbook.html

[kinesin]

I recently saw a Macbook 1.83 Intel original core duo (not core 2 duo) on amazon for £500 - via a reseller.
The base models can be had from their refurb store very cheap with some nice discount, even more may be possible using a cashback credit card, and quidco.com + student/education discount.

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore?family=Certified

As a Macbook user I would defo recommend them to people wanting a nice to use machine. It takes about a 2/3 weeks to get fully used to Mac OSx (during which time you will love it, hate it, and then love it even more).

Note: I would also upgrade the ram to at least 1GB (maybe not from Apple tho $$$) as it really helps performance.
Note2: Quite often the refurbished kit has higher specs than ordered. As it will have originally been BTO (build to order) and returned etc.

[rob13]

Kim, another vote for Acer here. Touchwood ive had mine 2 years and ive had absolutely no problems with it. Mines a widescreen with glossy LCD panel and its great for the net, any office work, dvds etc. Battery life is about 1hr20. Its not the prettiest laptop in the world however it is very functional and for that i would highly recommend another. My sister has a HP which looks the business but she paid a lot more than me

[krazykim]

Yeah, i'm not too fussed as to what it looks like i just want a good spec and a good price. Thanks for the mac info, i'll check out the refurbished site later.

[K]

PC World have some good deals at the moment for around that price - like the one I'm using at the moment from my sofa!

Yeah, I know folks in the know may have bad things to say about PC World - but to be honest, if you're not that much of a 'Techie Nerd' at least you have a big store back-up just down the street to go to if anything does screwup. :smt102

As long as you go in with a strict price guidline and don't let yourself get induced into a deal you don't want then you can't go far wrong.

I got a Compaq C310 (whatever that is :wink: ) and it's great for the internet, has plenty of memory for my iTunes, photos for my on-line store, I can watch DVDs in bed :wink: and it'll easily run the accounting software I have. Price - £449 = a happy customer.

[Baph]

Sorry K, I know you had the best of intentions (both posting & purchasing), but...
Yeah, I know folks in the know may have bad things to say about PC World - but to be honest, if you're not that much of a 'Techie Nerd' at least you have a big store back-up just down the street to go to if anything does screwup. :smt102

As long as you go in with a strict price guidline and don't let yourself get induced into a deal you don't want then you can't go far wrong.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You had a good experience, that must seriously be the first good word I've heard about that company in the last 10 years. Hopefully their breaking from the mold, for their sakes, but seriously, if there's ANY other shop ANYWHERE in feasable distance (I'm sure there's some in Australia!) I shiver at the thought of anyone parting with cash there (or worse - the extended warranties :lol: )

Just my 2p, but tread carefully with shops that put too much sales pressure on the people working there. I prefer to buy kit (for anything, not just the computer) from someone who knows something about it, if I don't myself.

[Toypop]

I have a Dell laptop but got it for free...

If I was buying a new Laptop I'd probably look at Dell or Mesh Computers as I have had a couple of their desktops which were fine.

http://www.meshcomputers.com/

I found they were the best value for high end gaming desktops although you can sometimes pick up cheaper entry level machines from PC World. Not sure how they compare with Laptops but they seemed to be a tad cheaper than Dell and you don't get so much crap pre-installed.

[Iansv]

I got a nice laptop cheap via work but if I was buying new for myself i'd be looking at Dell or IBM (Lenovo) purely for the decent aftersales i've had with both...

Siemens Fujitsu i'd avoid like the plague, nice laptops but if it goes wrong you buggered... We have a next business day warranty with them on our current laptops at work and I think the last one took them 9 weeks to fix :roll: No need to worry about the sony laptops, pretty much all laptop batteries are made by sony or matsuhita *sp* anyway and they've both recalled plenty, I do find sony overpriced tho

As has been said Pc World do have some reasonable deals atm, their own branded ones (Advent) get pretty decent writeups but then again comet, supermarkets and online places have some good bargains too..

For what you want to use it for anything with a half decent processor, 512mb of ram (1gb would be nice) 80gb Hard disk (anything more would be a bonus) maybe even consider a refurb from some of the resellers on ebay, I've seen a few nice prices there

[netsurfer]

Dell is a double-edged sword. For businesses, great. For home users, the customer services can be lacking at times

To say the least. I wouldnt touch Dell if my life depended on it.

Spent 3 months waiting for Dell stuff, only had it delivered after passing my complaint on to my credit card company.

Dell are like most multinationals, once they have your money they dont give a toss

Pete

[K]

Sorry K, I know you had the best of intentions (both posting & purchasing), but...
Yeah, I know folks in the know may have bad things to say about PC World - but to be honest, if you're not that much of a 'Techie Nerd' at least you have a big store back-up just down the street to go to if anything does screwup. :smt102

As long as you go in with a strict price guidline and don't let yourself get induced into a deal you don't want then you can't go far wrong.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You had a good experience, that must seriously be the first good word I've heard about that company in the last 10 years. Hopefully their breaking from the mold, for their sakes, but seriously, if there's ANY other shop ANYWHERE in feasable distance (I'm sure there's some in Australia!) I shiver at the thought of anyone parting with cash there (or worse - the extended warranties :lol: )

Just my 2p, but tread carefully with shops that put too much sales pressure on the people working there. I prefer to buy kit (for anything, not just the computer) from someone who knows something about it, if I don't myself.

Y'see, I'm always a bit wary of taking notice of such an extreme opinion as this without a pinch of salt.

[krazykim]

So, basically, the general consensus is that Dell are not the 'be all and end all' of the laptop underworld and that most of the brands i've always been warned off of are probably just as good, if not better, value? :?:

So......spawn of satan i shall become :twisted:

I want to try to find someone who's offering double memory (1024mb from 512) as i do have ALOT of music and would like at least 80GB hard disk as mentioned by Iansv. I remember Dell offering this before so i'll see if anyone else is doing any deals at the mo.

Thanks for your advice on PC world K, everyone has warned me off of them but that's where my parents got theirs from and my brother got his PC from and they've not had any problems either. I guess it's all about pot luck and the member of staff you get that day?!

[Rob S (Yella)]

Got 4 laptops, a desktop, PSP an xb0x plus other bits from PC world (not all mine) and had no problems and they fixed a laptop after the screen was damaged even though a plug was dropped onto the screen and the damage was obviously not the manufacturers fault.

PC world are OK but there are a few rules.

1. Know what you want/need before you go in.

2. Ignore any advice from the staff. (they in my experience know even less than me about computers.)

3. Ask for a discount. (May or may not get one but will probably get extra warranty thrown in or something instead because you asked)

4. Ask if any deals are available. I have got free printers extra PSP games and a 19inch screen just by asking for deals. The deals are there but not alway obvious to the salesperson until they check on the system.

I would definatly use PC world again As you say it probably depends on what branch and what salesperson you get on the day.

[Baph]

I want to try to find someone who's offering double memory (1024mb from 512) as i do have ALOT of music and would like at least 80GB hard disk as mentioned by Iansv. I remember Dell offering this before so i'll see if anyone else is doing any deals at the mo.

I've PM'd as well, but this (http://www.shopacer.co.uk/pp/Acer_Aspire_Laptops/Acer_Aspire_3690_Series/Aspire_3692WLMi_-5.html)seems to fit all the requirements, and is in budget (not counting delivery costs - which I haven't looked into).

[Iansv]

The trick if you do actually want any kind of advice in pc world is speak to the business manager, they're usually the only one in there who actually has a clue :wink:

[timwilky]

I would echo Triumphumphumph and ask do you really need a laptop.


I have been buying laptops since the things were invented, From huge Luggable things that weight a ton and the size of an old AT case to tiny little modern and useless because you cant press the keys/no battery life but look sexy things.

Compaq in the past was so poor that I would buy nothing but toshiba. These days I buy Dell and currently use one of their precision range myself. I have in the past found problems with repairs of lesser makes of laptops. We used to buy Gateway but the backlights were a regular problem. We also used Sony and had problems again with screens. So these days we buy only dell. Get next day repairs and as a corporate organisation we are happy with their delivery and support arrangements.



The reason why I ask do you need a laptop is simply the convenience/cost to repair/upgrade at least with a small footprint desktop system, you can replace mobo, processor/memory/discs/ keyboard/screen etc without worry of compatability or cost. If the thing is going to stay on a desk in the study permanently why get a laptop

[the_runt69]

pc world deal at the moment

Huge Linky edited by moderator (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1375684209.116791084 8@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdfaddjklkmjhmcflgceggdhhmdfjf.0&page=Product&fm=1&sm=1&tm=undefined&sku=143042&category_oid=-27751URL)

H

[krazykim]

I would echo Triumphumphumph and ask do you really need a laptop.

The reason why I ask do you need a laptop is simply the convenience/cost to repair/upgrade at least with a small footprint desktop system, you can replace mobo, processor/memory/discs/ keyboard/screen etc without worry of compatability or cost. If the thing is going to stay on a desk in the study permanently why get a laptop

What alternative would you suggest? I really don't have alot of space but i do see your point.

[krazykim]

What about this one?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ACER-ASPIRE-5610WLMi-LAPTOP-INTEL-CORE-1-83-GHz-100GB_W0QQitemZ120071345756QQihZ002QQcategoryZ177Q QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[independentphoto]

NOW..... is the time. Jan sales and all that.

Being Honest, don't touch DELL. All the reps etc in our offices have them ('cos they were cheap) and there's been no end of trouble with them. Their servers are good, but I wouldn't trust their laptops. I've just bought an HP Pavilion and the spec is superb. Build quality looks the business too. Incidentally, I was replacing a very well used Compaq (owned by HP) after about 5 years and it's still going great. The battery is about finished though- that's it.

Just remember that a lot of modern laptops are built DOWN to a price and never have to go much further than a bedroom drawer or cupboard. Try going to PC World, Staples, Comet etc to actually look at & touch etc the various machines. A good indication of sturdiness is to gently "flex" either end of the lid / screen whilst switched on. Once you pick something out, watch the papers for coupons etc and check the net for the price you want.

Good luck with your quest.

Garry 8)

[the white rabbit]

I use Acer laptop and desktop at work and have been really pleased with them. The laptop is great. I'm persona non grata for doing so as IT supplies Viglen and Toshiba neither of which are up to the Acer spec wise for the money and seem no better in terms of reliabiltiy. But at home I use a widescreen Vaio laptop which is absolutely simply the best computer I have had.

(This is a user POV as I'm not at all techy, wnat might seem techy best isnt always user best I reckon)

[northwind]

What alternative would you suggest? I really don't have alot of space but i do see your point.

PC under the bed, and something like this :

http://mediamad.co.uk/shop/shopimages/products/normal/btcwless-l.gif

PCs can go in dead space, as long as you can reach the button and it gets some air (and not too much dust!). Mine used to lie on its side on the top shelf here, and I poked the on switch with a ruler :) I know a guy who keeps his in a half-empty drawer. And that's full-size PCs, you can get smaller cases like that Shuttle there.

[Sudoxe]

[quote=krazykim]What alternative would you suggest? I really don't have alot of space but i do see your point.
Mac Mini.... Its about the size of 6 or 8 cds stacked up.

Dan

[Iansv]

The shuttle cases Lee linked too are great as a space saver

[Balky001]

I'm in the same situation - buying a laptop for less than £700.

I saw Acer received good reliability, value and service results in a couple of PC mag reviews. ACER are doing their Aspire 5103WLMi at £649 but Tesco Direct have a £50 reduction from their usual price of £599, so for £549 I think its a decent buy. A phoned a couple of local computer shops who reckon they'd price them around £700 - £730 mark. I Kelkoo'd and Tesco did seem cheapest. Just ordered 1 myself ;-)

[northwind]

Here is why I slag Dell customer service at any opportunity:

Me:

"Anyway, the enquiry is this- will the motherboard in my 5150 Dimension accept an Intel Socket 775 Core processor, such as the E6300? It was supplied with a Pentium D dual core processor but that doesn't neccesarily mean it'll work with the Core 2."

Dell:

"Mr. Cunningham, I wish to explain you that your systems motherboard is not capable of supporting any dual core chip. If you want to upgrade your systems processor then you also need to change the motherboard of your system.
>
> Mr. Cunningham, thank you for giving me the opportunity to assist you. Your case number for this interaction is 517979539. Please make a note of this number for future reference; it will help us to keep track of this issue and we can assist you better as well."

So apparently my PC is not capable of supporting the processor it was supplied with :) So I've gone back to technical support looking for an answer that may actually have some chance of being correct, and also to Customer Services asking for a full refund as according to technical support, my motherboard can't support my processor :)

[krazykim]

Update on the laptop situation:
Ok, i went for a Dell in the end. It was £348 with 1GB RAM and 60GB Hard drive (look at me getting the lingo! :wink: ) the only downside is that it's only a 14.1" screen but i won't be using it for movies (other than the downloaded kind :wink: ) so i'm not that fussed.
Thanks for all your help and advice guys, it really did help towards the decision making process.
:grouphug:

[Tara]

Glad you got sorted Kim I have taken on board the advice too as i want to replace my IMAC and was gonna buy and Macbook even tho they are expensive might have to wait for a bit now