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Posted

Thinking of getting a laptop, needing advice of which is a good choice and which ones not to consider.



Posted

Yes, it depends, what do you to do on yout laptop. After, how do you want to spend, because, you can choose a 400£ laptop or a 1500£ laptop

Posted

Are you looking to play games? Just browse the internet? Word processing and spreadsheets? Watch Blu-rays and DVDs?

How much are you looking to spend?

Browse Internet, writing letters,and watching You Tube video's, about £450.



Posted

Browse Internet, writing letters,and watching You Tube video's, about £450.

In my view after a quick search, this one would be a good choice for you.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Grade_A1_-_Acer_Aspire_8530G_laptop__A1-LX.P7202.001/version.asp

It's refurbished, but it has everything you could possibly need and a bit more. It can play Blu Rays has a reasonably big HD screen and is quite quick.

If you'd prefer something brand new though, this would fit the bill.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_R530-JA0CUK_Windows_7_Laptop_NP-R530-JA0CUK/version.asp

It's not too much worse, just a smaller and lower definition screen, and doesn't play blu rays, which probably won't affect you anyway.

The person above mentioned Dell and personally I'm not a fan, however if you're likely to need tech support, they might be a good option for you. Although they do charge separately for it. I'd suggest this one as being perfect.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/deals1?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

The one with the Pentium T4500 processor that is, at £429.

It's as fast as the others, and has a decent screen, so your youtube videos will look decent. Watch out on the extras though, that's where they push up the price on you.

Those are just some ideas for you, of course it's your money and your decision, so make sure you look around yourself to see if there are any which just scream at you. My advice though is to make sure that it's not a Celeron processor, or god forbid an Atom. They're a bit pants these days, look for an AMD (Athlon or X2, if you're unsure as to which it is, google it) or a Pentium (one with a T in front of a number or an i3, i5 or i7 [not that you'd get one at that price]). 3GB Ram is a general rule, but really you can get away with less for what you'll use it for. The hard drive you can effectively ignore unless you're downloading lots of music, films and things... Try not to get Vista, but again it probably wouldn't affect you.

Any other questions, feel free.

Posted

Just got a new lappy myself so done a fair bit of research. My last laptop was a dell and whilst very good computers i had no end of problems with it, the problem with dells is that you can only usually suss out the problems by their online stores (usually deep in the heart of asia). Got an HP now and am absolutely loving it.



Posted

Thank you Eggy, Elrey and sals you all have all given me food for thought, will mull it over, then probably go and make the wrong decision, Cheers. :D

Posted

Out of interest, and this may shed a little on the subject here too:

I currently have a Dell Inspirion 1521, it's decent, has a big screen, but kinda slow at times too

However, with it being my first laptop since moving back to the States, it's loaded with Pictures and Tunes. So, while I am thinking about getting a new one, does anyone have tips on how I can get all my media from this laptop onto my new one (should I get one)?

I was thinking about an External Hard Drive, and just loading all my music and Photos onto their.

If I do get a new Laptop, I'd be downloading Sopcast, Veetle, and any Kodec lite so I can see all games on the internet.

Posted

Out of interest, and this may shed a little on the subject here too:

I currently have a Dell Inspirion 1521, it's decent, has a big screen, but kinda slow at times too

However, with it being my first laptop since moving back to the States, it's loaded with Pictures and Tunes. So, while I am thinking about getting a new one, does anyone have tips on how I can get all my media from this laptop onto my new one (should I get one)?

I was thinking about an External Hard Drive, and just loading all my music and Photos onto their.

If I do get a new Laptop, I'd be downloading Sopcast, Veetle, and any Kodec lite so I can see all games on the internet.

Well, what are you planning on doing with your old laptop? You see you can take the hard drive out of it and use it as an external one. Usually just takes two screws or so to take out a hard drive, although that will depend on the model and stuff, then you stick it into the caddy. Something like this, but of course on an American site.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-041-BT&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=72

That can usually save you a bit of money, which is never a bad thing... unless you're looking at selling it that is.

There are other options of course, because you may not like having to get your external hard drive out every time you want to listen to music and might just want it straight on your computer, you can do that with just an ethernet cable. Link them together, make sure both computers are listed as the same work group and a different computer name, you can change it by right clicking on My Computer. After that, select the files you want to send across and right click on them and select 'Share' or something similar. Connect them together with the ethernet cable. Then look at the Network bit on the new laptop, might be Network Places or something similar and should see the other computer, click on it and you should see the files you selected to share, then just copy them to somewhere appropriate on your new computer and wait while it does it's work... yes, it will take a good while.

I may have missed a step or two out as it's all from memory, but that's about right. You may have to disable the firewall temporarily to get the computers to see each other, but remember to turn them back on.

Those are the easiest and most boring options, which I'd advise if you're not too confident with computers and the like, but if you fancy doing something more challenging. You could put it in some form of NAS system. Either a pre-built one like this for which you'd need a 2.5" to 3.5" drive converter:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-066-BT&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1239

Or buy an old second hand computer (probably for less than that), and run it as a file server, but it would take up more space and probably be less energy efficient.

The point of doing that with your old hard drive is that you can access it on your laptop wirelessly through your router. If you have a PS3 or X box you can access your music on that too, so you can watch your films on a big screen TV (although that is more difficult on a Linux file server). It's expandable if you want to store more, and really... it's more of a fun challenge to set up. :P



Posted

Get the Dell Inspiron 15R. It has an i3 processor, 3Gb memory and 300gb hard drive. Very fast, windows 7 works so well. I use it for writing, internet, watching youtube videos. Its £400 i think.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I don't think you can go wrong with a Mac Book. :D

If you dont mind paying ridiculously over the odds for equipment you can get in pretty much any decent laptop.

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Posted

Hey hey! They have two buttons on their mice now.

2? I suppose there claiming it as a new way of mousing are they? Well worth the money then.



Posted

I take it you lads are NOT Apple fans? :JC_doubledown:

Not even slightly. Over priced, locked down, shiny pretty fashion statement.

Posted (edited)

I'm an Apple fan. I have... MacBook, iPad, iPhone 4 & iPod Nano. I know a lot of people think it's a waste of money but I think spending loads on clothes or/and alcohol is just as stupid. Each to their own - get a MacBook though ;)

dkw- you'll never find a less fashionable person than myself. I own no "named" clothes except an Adidas Chrlsea shirt. I don't listen to modern music, I don't drink, do drugs, twitter, go on clubbing holidays etc... I'm quite dull - but I do like technology and I do like Apple (and Samsung... That was coz of Chelsea!!). I'm not trying to make a statement.

Edited by Gem
Posted

Not even slightly. Over priced, locked down, shiny pretty fashion statement.

Clearly you haven't tried any of their products with the word "Pro" in the title. As a professional video editor, I wouldn't even consider a PC as my computer. I might consider a PC laptop if I'd use it purely for recreational purposes, but if I had to do something serious with it? Just no!



Posted

Clearly you haven't tried any of their products with the word "Pro" in the title. As a professional video editor, I wouldn't even consider a PC as my computer. I might consider a PC laptop if I'd use it purely for recreational purposes, but if I had to do something serious with it? Just no!

Serious there only in the sense of video editing though... Music and video editing, macs are the top choice for, definitely... but not much more than that.

What grinds my gears about Macs though, is the fact that they're c**ts.... Mac OS/x is a copy of BSD (a completely free, open source operating system, available for download legally and without repercussions) made to look all shiny. c**tish behaviour, they then changed some things under the hood to stop you from being able to use Mac software on BSD (because it's free and that would be bad for business). It really annoys me, and it probably does seem petty to you all, but yeah, grrrrr. :Connie_threaten:

Posted

Clearly you haven't tried any of their products with the word "Pro" in the title. As a professional video editor, I wouldn't even consider a PC as my computer. I might consider a PC laptop if I'd use it purely for recreational purposes, but if I had to do something serious with it? Just no!

For a professional, I agree their equipment and software is superb. For a home user its ridiculously locked down, massively overpriced and an absolute sh*t to upgrade.


Posted

Serious there only in the sense of video editing though... Music and video editing, macs are the top choice for, definitely... but not much more than that.

What grinds my gears about Macs though, is the fact that they're c**ts.... Mac OS/x is a copy of BSD (a completely free, open source operating system, available for download legally and without repercussions) made to look all shiny. c**tish behaviour, they then changed some things under the hood to stop you from being able to use Mac software on BSD (because it's free and that would be bad for business). It really annoys me, and it probably does seem petty to you all, but yeah, grrrrr. :Connie_threaten:

I`m with you here brother. The way they take something, make it shiny then claim it to be a "game breaker" bugs me.

Posted

I`m with you here brother. The way they take something, make it shiny then claim it to be a "game breaker" bugs me.

I don't buy into the "game breaker" marketing, no matter who does it. I think iPad is a vanity product and iPhone is not a proper phone, but I like my Mac Pro. I can tweak it and customize it as I please and it's more stable than any PC I've ever used. And MacBook Pro has worked wonderfully whenever I've used it. I don't have one myself, but I've used them at work.

Posted

I don't buy into the "game breaker" marketing, no matter who does it. I think iPad is a vanity product and iPhone is not a proper phone, but I like my Mac Pro. I can tweak it and customize it as I please and it's more stable than any PC I've ever used. And MacBook Pro has worked wonderfully whenever I've used it. I don't have one myself, but I've used them at work.

Like I said, for work I can understand someone having one. But I can`t understand why anyone would buy one at home when it has pretty much the exact same internals as a machine much, much cheaper and much more upgradeable.



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