selecting a new laptop

[gavuk]

I'm looking to upgrade my old Acer laptop as the screen is developing a pink tinge and the fan is noisy,its lasted some 5 years of daily usage,so i'm well pleased with it.
Looking for some advice as processors have developed a lot in that time having gone dual core etc.....can anyone link a comparrison between Amd/Intel cpu's?
I've set a budget of £500...and want to spend according to cpu/memory rather than hd size etc.....used mostly for internet /entertainment,so good speakers and battery life are important...15" screen,dvd writer,wireless, are ideal.
Should I be looking at vista or windows 7,i'm used to using xp,don't really fancy learning linux or mac,so def want microsft ........please lets not get into that argument..
So looking for advice ,recommendations,special deals etc ...please help!.......

 

[tigler]

Can't give any useful advice on which make of laptop, every one I've had so far has failed in some way ! So I would suggest NOT getting Samsung or Philips !
And definitely go windows 7, avoid Vista like a disease !

 

[mike os]

at the mo I would tend to stick with intel.... they are just well ahead at the mo

in approximate order of performance ( & cost)
i7
i5
i3
core2quad
core2duo
dual core

ebuyer have an acer i5 based machine for 560, and a core2duo for about 520....asus duo ditto

 

[stucktoweld]

I have for years used IBM thinkpads now lenovo
if its good enough as the back up computer in the international space station when all the main computer have failed it might just keep me going

I'm on my third one the first still work its lack of speed means it better as a wheel stop than a computer its the old tp600 that they park a RV on for a advert titanium chassis you see

 

[tigler]

Thats not the first time I've heard good things about Lenovo !

 

[gavuk]

Great advice so far lads ,having a quick look around i think i3 ,would be ideal,i'd like a ceiling of £500 as I probably haven't stretched the limits of my celeron mobile 1.6ghz Acer yet............Have to say i'm impressed with the old Acer as i use it instead of a desktop and is running a minimum of 8hrs a day often 24hrs ....Any wisdom on battery life would be welcome , i will check out the lenovo offerings as well.......any advice on good speakers as well,acer i have is very poor

 

[graffian]

I have had dell precisions for the last three laptops, seem to be pretty well built, though I buy 50 quid laptops so don't get close to modern specs, but I love the high resolution screens.

 

[Dune]

I would say that the first thing you need to do is sit down and think about what you are going to use it for. Make a list with the most important thing at the top. With this list you would be able to define what its going to be used for and decide on what hardware you need.

If your playing games its got to be top of the range, if its internet and word docs go for a cheaper on as they dont used a lot of CPU or Video power.

Its no good spending £500 on a laptop if your only going to use £300 of it.

 

[Nomolos]

Laptops are like woman, each has there advantages and disadvantages and ultimately its down to what you will end up doing with it?

If it’s only internet/word documents then a powerful processor is not something you would need, it will use the batteries faster so less time off he mains.

If you want to do 3D Cad then a faster processor would help at the expense of the batteries!

Ram is always good, personally I would want 4gig as a minimum and be looking at Windows 7 64bit operating system to make the most of it don’t get fobbed of with 32bit, Vista has improved from launch but unless you’re getting a very very good deal to have it installed i would go straight to the current system as Vista will only have a few more years support left of Microsoft support and if it’s got XP installed walk very quickly to the door saying you left the gas on.

15inch screens good to be mobile with, lighter and less power consumption, but a little cramped for me if writing documents on the go.

Look at something ideally with HDMI support and if you want too you can hook the laptop up to a hi definition TV at some point if you fancy a big screen monitor or dvd playback?

Do you want to watch Blu-ray?
The screens going to need to be a higher resolution to get the full benefit and as such will again suck a bit more battery and will also make text a lot small on a 15 inch screen something to be aware of as web browsing and writing letters will be harder on the eyes, you can lower the resolution via settings but it will look fuzzy on any setting not the native setting of the display.

A blue-ray dvd drive will also cost more, do you need to burn dvds? Getting a read only drive could save cash if you’re not bothered?

Intel or AMD personally I would nudge towards AMD, if you’re not wanting to play games or do anything really intensive on the laptop then Intel stuff can be massive overkill AMD are dam good in the low power processor area, look for a dual core chip and don’t get told more is better quad cores fine if you run adobe photo shop and a few other cad packages but hardly anything software wise today will give all the cores a workout so why pay for something you’re not going to use?

My advice would be
Internet browsing and document righting and some dvd playback, look for an AMD powered dual core or the I3/I5 Intel processor round the 3GHz mark with 4gig of ram laptop with whatever screen you like the look of, and do look at the screen running a film or some such as there are some nasty laggy screens for the unwary to get caught with look for any ghosting if it does leave it there and move on!
As for sound some laptops have very good sound but tend to be the higher specs some will come with a sub-woofer built in, again takes some music you like on a memory stick and play it in store and see if it’s what you like if not headphones or small add on speakers may be an option?

Also consider getting a few laptop magazines and see what there reviews are like, could help you sort out a short list to look at?

Processor comparisons are like asking directions everyone has their idea what’s the best way try Google AMD Intel comparisons there are loads out there again have a look see what you like/want
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/amd-versus-intel-chips-comparison.html one to start you with

Best Of Luck

 

[Chickenjohn]

-snip-
Should I be looking at vista or windows 7,i'm used to using xp,don't really fancy learning linux or mac,so def want microsft ........please lets not get into that argument..
So looking for advice ,recommendations,special deals etc ...please help!.......

I'm not going to suggest you buy a Mac, just to clear up a misunderstanding here. Mac OS is very easy to use because that's where Microsoft get all their ideas. Because of that if you've used any windows PC, Mac OS requires almost no time to learn how to use it. Took me about 10 mins to get used to Mac OSX.

As for windows the Toshiba range of laptops are pretty good. I've never used windows 7 but Vista isn't that good to be honest. Slow and buggy on all the machines I've tried it on. That is why they quickly updated it with 7.

 

[gavuk]

Definitely no gaming ,internet ,pictures,streaming video,some video edit/conversion etc.....built in graphics should be adequate ,not really concerned with hdd with usb storage being so cheap.... Acer AS5740 and Samsung R530.look good and received good reviews against this sundays Aldi offer on a medion amd powered laptop....i will continue researching for a short while and try and see both in the "flesh" before i part with any hard earned.........

 

[Chickenjohn]

You don't need a cutting edge laptop for that kind of usage.

 

[gavuk]

Should have said 15" screen for portability,blueray not important to me ....certainly don't want to waste money ....but a good processor/ram combi will allow me to still be using it in 3-4 years time ?

 

[Robotstar5]

If it hasn't got to be the latest model, have a look at Morgan got a branch near Merry Hell

 

[smegal]

If you are after quality and are not overly bothered about spec [without blowing the budget] I'd recommend a Sony or Toshiba. Quality wise I genuinely believe that they are the best. Toshiba are noticeably cheaper than Sony for the same spec though.

 

[Nomolos]

Ideally you’re going to want a bit more processor grunt if you’re editing videos or converting them to different formats!

Bigger hard drive would be an idea as well unless you’re planning to use an external drive?

If you are going to use an external drive then USB3 would want to go on the list if you want to cut down the transfer times??

 

[chriskelland]

Anything by HP! I have had problems with most kit I have bought in the past. the longest lasting so far was one I built myself. If you find what you want is available from HP, try to buy through their business website, very good prices. For my new desk top machine I had to go through one of their 'authorized resellers' Again good price and next day delivery at no extra cost.

Only one down side their software for W7 is slow coming through, only just finished getting all the drivers for my Office Jet Pro all in one. To be fair, there were work arounds and generic drivers did seem to work OK. W7 is GOOD what Vista should have been, but drivers are slow coming through, I'm still waiting for a driver for my new Bluetooth adapter.

Chris.

 

[MrFluffy]

HP enterprise kit is great quality as the earlier poster says. However their consumer grade kit is not so good. I know this from experience buying my wife a HP laptop on reputation after having loads of my own for business use. A year later it had a number of niggling issues (hd going bad, video lead intermittent and it was starting to come on inside the case randomly and cook itself). Just outside warentee too. I also noticed the hinge plastics cracking early on it and my wife certainly wasn't rough on it. Ive heard similar stories of build quality on the consumer grade kit from others.

So may I suggest if your going to buy on price and reputation, be selective on the model itself, rather than anything by hp.

 

[gavuk]

I went out yesterday had a look in curry's then on to Tesco's.....ended up buying an ACER.......Acer .....i had compared to other offerings up to £530......sticker said reduced to £499....ended up at til paying £460?....its an i5 processor....not used to windows 7 yet ,that will take a bit of time!........not so keen on the style of track pad as borders are not as defined as some or even the old laptop it replaces but i'm sure i will get used to it ...........thanks for all the replies ,certainly helped find online reviews etc to help make a decision.....still annoying that Acer at least, do not include disc's as a back up.....took 4 dvd and some time to complete back up.......fingers crossed this mc is as reliable as my old one.........

 

[Dune]

You should find that a section of the HDD has been partitioned and the repair files are all hidden in there. If it crashes you can then access that, push a button and it will rebuild the OS.