Can someone help me with laptop buying?

CyclingBantam

Hi all,

I know this is nothing to do with cycling but I like the fact on here there seem to be lots of people who know a bit about stuff I don't.

Basically I am after buying a new laptop for around £500. I will mainly be using it for browsing the interweb, storing and playing music (I don't need super duper sound quality though) and playing the odd computer game (probably football manager). Ideally I would like to be able to watch the odd DVD and maybe even copy/create dvd's but again I'm not looking for professional standard!

In terms of the physical laptop it's self I would ideally like quite a large screen (16'+) and a battery life over 3 hours.
Are my demands impossible for this price range or have people any recommendations?

Any help would be much appreciated.

northernneil

£500 is quite a lot for that kind of laptop - the only thing you will miss out on is 3 hour battery life.... having a laugh there mate !!!

for what you have described you can get a decent dell or acer for about £350 which will do everything you say you need

have you thought about a mac - MUCH better than a PC

CyclingBantam

Thanks Neil,

I have wondered about a mac but as I know nothing about pc's I'm worried that I wouldn't be able to do everything I would like to with it as you seem to have to do things differently when it is am mac, no? What are a mac's advantages?

Are there any models I should be looking for?

chrishd883

Never had an Aple Mac - but I know they are very good machines - very popular with anybody heavily into art / graphics design, etc. But unless you want to double your budget - get a PC.

Laptop for £500? Al should play "Footie Manager" but none will be a game's machine. But should easily do everything else that you want.

If you are happy with a 15.6" screen any machine from £300 - £500 will be OK.
A 17" will be much closer to your £500.

All will have Windows 7, DVD re-writer, shared graphics, etc. As you pay more you will get a faster processor but the main differnece that you will actually benefit you is RAM - the more the better! As for upgrades - most laptops will take twice the amout installed as new. Hence a m/c with 3g as new should be able to take a maximum of 6g. Software is always making more and more demands on the RAM memory.

Other than that stick to a known brand and make sure you like the look and feel of the kepboard / mouse pad.

redddraggon

northernneil wrote:

have you thought about a mac - MUCH better than a PC

Lol.

gavintc

redddraggon wrote:

northernneil wrote:

have you thought about a mac - MUCH better than a PC

Lol.

I sometimes consider the Mac / PC argument has similar overtones to the Campag/Shimano one. However, having said that I have just made the jump and am loving the Mac.

97th choice

As mentioned above you don't need to spend £500, spend £350 ish on an acer or toshiba 15.6" windescreen.

17" widescreens are a nice idea but a pain to lug about, heavy and power consuming.

I've got a 12.1" screen high end that will give me maybe 3 hours use time at a push, you've got no chance I'm afraid.

Pokerface

gavintc wrote:

I sometimes consider the Mac / PC argument has similar overtones to the Campag/Shimano one.

No - it's worse. WAY more geeks weigh in.

redddraggon

My next laptop purchase will be a 15" Macbook Pro. But a Mac will never replace my windows desktop.

father_jack

have you thought about a mac - MUCH better than a PC

Oh god. :roll: For one thing, he's looking at a cheap computer, please tell me what is the cheapest Mac portable you can buy? Around £500? Nope. And as for gaming on Mac..ROFL.

If you want the Unix experience, get a computer and install Linux on it. Cheaper, free OS and you can change when you feel like it.

Anyway agreed about no need to spend £500, unless you want more storage and bigger screen. A basic dual core will be plenty, 2GB RAM. As to sound quality could look into a external DAC/soundcard.

father_jack

ahahahahahhah


http://store.steampowered.com/browse/mac

What a huge selection of 120 games!

Weejie54

Oh god. Rolling Eyes For one thing, he's looking at a cheap computer, please tell me what is the cheapest Mac portable you can buy? Around £500? Nope. And as for gaming on Mac..ROFL.

How about a Dell Inspiron 1525? "Ahh.." I hear you say, "that's not a Mac". However, it runs OSX86 Leopard (and Snow Leopard, I've heard) pretty well.
As for games, well, the OP did mention an odd computer game....

CyclingBantam

Bearing in mind I know nothing about computers, after a little research, and help on here (thanks guys) It seems like something like this would be fine for my needs..?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-bell-easynote-th36-au-010uk-06590275-pdt.html

gkerr4

macs are great - I've "switched" for a few years now - love it and won't go back to PC unless I have to (for a personal owned computer anyway - I have a corporate Dell laptop for this job!)

they do all the workey-stuff just as well (except MS project - which was a pain, i'll admit) but the way they do the "home" stuff - music, video, movies, pictures - is just SO much better - plus the resilience of the operating system, the less worry about viruses (for the moment) and the solid build quality of the devies and they are a clear winner in my book (we haven't even go onto just how cool they are yet either!)

but you won't get one for £500... Not new anyway.

father_jack

That HP seems fine, I usually check CPU first, avoid Celerons and Semprons. Also check RAM and GPU, you do need a certain amount of GPU horsepower (brothers laptop has purely software based videocard and it's rubbish even in WIndows XP with drivers installed. Trident POS. No problems with Intel or SIS integrated video chipsets.

OffTheBackAdam

Wait for the sales to start, you'll get a shed-load off!
Get one with a load of memory and a big capacity hard drive.
Read small print on "interest-free credit" , there might be a £25 admin charge hidden away somewhere.(PC World salesman didn't point it out and said I was first person to read the stuff he wanted me to sign!)
Don't buy any crap like 3-year waranties, they're a waste of your money, if anything electrical fails due to a fault, it'll be pretty quick, so your standard 1 year will cover it.
I've got a Compaq, Celeron CPU, 15.something screen, built in DVD player and it works fine.
That Packard Bell looks just fine.
If you want a word-processing package, spread sheet etc, etc, then download Open Office, it's free and works fine.
Always remember that whatever you buy today, will be valueless junk in about a year!

97th choice

BenBlyth wrote:

Bearing in mind I know nothing about computers, after a little research, and help on here (thanks guys) It seems like something like this would be fine for my needs..?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-bell-easynote-th36-au-010uk-06590275-pdt.html

It should do fine, it even has a webcam, and you've got an SD card reader for your go pro hero videos, after all, what else are you going to buy with the £150 you've saved!

gregster10217

I was in your position a couple of weeks, and for once, had enough SPARE cash to go and buy. I'd been using a 17" Dell for 5 years and it weighed a ton, but the specs on the link below were good enough for me. Dual Core processor, 3GB of RAM and a massive 500 GB hard drive, graphics card (for your gaming) etc, etc.
Been using it regularly and am very impressed with it. Only thing to consider, if you've not got Microsoft Office (and want it) you'll need to buy it separately as it doesn't come pre-installed any more. PC World will do it for £60 when bought with a PC/laptop.

Full specs here:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-l655d-12l-06525236-pdt.html

NervexProf

http://www.techdepot.co.uk/TD/product/C ... ge15"

well under the OP's budget and £100 cashback too.

Bought one last week and added 2Gb memory for £31

father_jack

NervexProf, I'd double up that laptops RAM to 4GB, since it has Windows 64bit.

ceeque

hi there, the Packard Bell you linked to above is a pretty flippin` good machine for the price, my ex-missus just bought one of `em and I had the pleasure of setting it up for her and can confirm it is good value .... however, if you actually go into the store to buy the thing for Gods sake don`t get talked into buying everything else the salesmen will want to shift with it ... They`ll go on about you needing Office, Norton and extended warranties and prob. a whole load of other niceties .... don`t get ANY of `em, you can get plenty of decent free alternatives on the intarweb.... The machine is sweet though and appears good value for the dosh.
Good luck!

mfin

Just a quick chuck in on the Mac / PC bit... all a bit irrelevant to the OP as the budget wont go to Mac.

If you look on value for money on something that will 'do a job' youve got to go for a PC really.

This Mac / PC graphics argument.... well, I do graphics and web for a living, and I can quite honestly say that I would always stick with PC myself for that, more software, easier more powerful file management etc. But, graphics covers a wiiiiide field, for instance, if I was predominantly working with photo editing such as in a photographic line of work, I would go for a mac hands down. Mainly because the colour calibration for screen is just correct, out of the box, and a powerful iMac would be fine even for massive file manipulation.

But, for other kinds of graphic design such as desktop publishing etc, the line now blurs, it used to be that files you produce for artwork may be saved in their native application such as Quark etc, and you'd send the files along with all the fonts and images in the document to an agency. They would be mac based through tradition and hence if you were on Mac, it made sense. If you worked on PC quark for instance with the same fonts, the fonts would size slightly differently for example and you run the risk of a word dropping off a paragraph etc. BUT, nowadays, formats such as PDF X1A are really negating all this, and by saving in such formats you just dont have this as an issue anymore.

In my line of graphics and web, I'll stick to PC and Windows 7 has really been a jump in having a smooth, fast reliable OS.

BUT, here we go.... I have to test all my web work on Mac too and take all browsers on Mac and PC into consideration and hence own a MacBook as well for that purpose. I also own a Dell M1330 laptop, both laptops similarly powered and sized. So... for my round the house internet activities I can pick up either laptop.... since owning the Mac I NEVER pick up the Dell (win 7 again).... the Mac boots and shuts down loads faster, doesnt need to have any anti-virus stuff on it and is a joy to use!

But as a sidepoint... if for instance I wanted a TV tuner running and recording on a laptop, just as one example, and could only have one, it would be the Dell, cos PCs can do that kind of thing with any cheap old TV tuner.

SO... for joe bloggs, who has the money and basic needs for home use of a laptop Id say if you have the money, go enjoy a mac. But remember they all do a job and Windows 7 is so much better nowadays as an experience. My 65 yr old mum did get her head round my Mac no problem at all tho, and she has trouble turning the telly and satellite on!

Waffle over

father_jack

Mainly because the colour calibration for screen is just correct, out of the box

No it won't. Even if you pick two identical computers, each screen will need to be calibrated.

mfin

Well, you compare the way the screen is already profiled on a Mac with how close it is on a PC with whatever screen you pick... thats the thing... I also use an eye for fine tuning... but for most people its so accurate straight away it is quite adequate. I was trying to keep it relatively simple without getting into output profiles etc as well.

father_jack

You can't do it by eye, you need a calibration tool. For TV's you can use CALMAN.

mfin

Father Jack wrote:

You can't do it by eye, you need a calibration tool. For TV's you can use CALMAN.

Thats what i mean, a calibration eye, whats it called eyeone or something that I have after my spyder packed up.

proto

Sorry to hijack this thread but eldest daughter wants a laptop and has asked me to help.

She has just moved (temporarily) into nursing home accommodation in central London (she's a physio at UCH). Room is cramped, no space for a desktop or tv, so she wants a 'do it all' laptop. Portability is not a major issue, but she says she wants a 15.6" machine, other than that, open to persuasion.

Browsing ebuyer.com, I've found this. Seems to tick all the right boxes decentish CPU, RAM, etc, but also has dedicated graphics. Webcam a nice bonus.

I know little about such things, even less about ACER. Any reason why I shouldn't buy it? Anyone know of a better deal out there. £500.00 is max budget. Thanks

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/201213

father_jack

With Acer, if you need to get it serviced, good luck as customer service is terrible. what about this one?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/223403

Intel onboard GMA is fine, good for some games (played GTA 3 on my SIS 650 based laptop)

proto

Father Jack wrote:

Intel onboard GMA is fine, good for some games (played GTA 3 on my SIS 650 based laptop)

Thanks for that. My Toshiba has Intel onboard graphics, and to be honest, watching TV and videos, it's fine. We never use it for gaming, and my daughter won't either.

And the Lenovo is cheaper!

Ta.

PS just noticed that it is Windows 7 32 bit OS, but a 4gb Ram machine. Bit of a waste, surely. In every use, is 64 bit worth seeking out?

SteveR_100Milers

I bought a new laptop a couple of weeks ago, and did the whole mac v PC thing, though my budget was a lot more than yours. I ended up getting a Sony Viao with the 16" HD screen as I do a lot of photo editing. I'd take the "creative types only use Macs" with a pinch of salt personally, the screen on my Sony is probably better than the macbook pro, though neither are as good as a properly set up and calibrated panel. I also needed to have full MS office functionality, and the hassle of running two operating systems which is the Mac solution is just too much of a pain, plus I like to decide what I install on my machine

Weejie54

I also needed to have full MS office functionality, and the hassle of running two operating systems which is the Mac solution is just too much of a pain,

The solution is usually this:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/