[Archived] Laptops

[Eddie]

Alright well I'll be looking to buy a laptop within the next month or two for university. I'll want it to be good for doing work, nothing too complicated just basic things, internet browsing (plenty of it) and also good for playing games and playing dvd's.

The price range isn't really a problem, so basically anything any of you consider to fit that description would do.

[cn174]

Well I got one of these http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?...category_id=265 a couple of months ago and I really like it. I bought an extra sound card for it though because its not very loud but apart from that its great.

[PABBY]

Click HERE to take a look at the HP Pavillion range of notebooks. Don't baulk at the price, you get a LOT of machine for your money. I've had the 17" zd7050ea for 16 months and it is THE best laptop I've ever used (and I've used a few!).

[Flopsy]

get the best one you can afford - they are a bugger to upgrade

[andy82]

what flopsy said, but don't buy a dell

if your using it for audio or vsiual editing those Apple powerbooks are very nice, a lot of my mates are on media/art related courses and swear by them.

[Eddie]

No audio/visual work at all. Simple presentations and papers really. I'll certainly look to go for the best thing I can afford, just trying to figure out exactly what that is. I've been quite attracted by a Vaio.

[roversactive]

If you don't go for a Powerbook, I think an Acer would be the best option.

[Dr Gonzo]

I just bought a powerbook G4 after being used to PCs, and I'm very impressed indeed. I would really recommend getting one of these. It just does things fast and doesn't seem to break. Funnily enough, MS office seems to be better on Mac OS aswell.

[Eddie]

Well right now my top three choices are:

Apple Powerbook G4 1,67 GHz SuperDrive 512 17" Avis internaute supérieur à 5 sur 10

Processeur : PowerPC G4 à 1,67 GHz, mémoire vive : 512 Mo, disque dur : 100 Go

Toshiba Qosmio G20-109

Processeur : Intel Pentium M 750 à 1,86 GHz, mémoire vive : 1 Go, disque dur : 160 Go

Sony Vaio VGN-A417S

Processeur : Intel Pentium M 760 à 2 GHz avec technologie Centrino, mémoire vive : 1 Go, disque dur : 100 Go

[Eddie]

Alright now down to Vaio and Powerbook I think.

Right now Powerbook is winning. Much, much less likely to have virus trouble and dvd recording seem to be two things that give it the edge.

[andy82]

Alright now down to Vaio and Powerbook I think.

Right now Powerbook is winning. Much, much less likely to have virus trouble and dvd recording seem to be two things that give it the edge.

317757[/snapback]

Powerbook hands down if your willing to pay for the software and put up with occasional apple bulls**t (my mates media player updated itself, now he cant get it on fullscreen without purchasing the 'pro' version.)

Sony vaios were pretty crappy, two of my housemates use them (1 tower, 1 laptop) and they seem to have a lot of difficulty where networkings concerned (as opposed to the pcs ive built we use on the network, or my other housemates cheapo laptop). dunno what the newer ones are like, my guess may be they just look nicer and have better screens, Sony love to make their computer/console equipment shoddy but more user friendly (ie. playstation)

dunno if it applies in France as well but all my mates got £150 off their powerbooks for being students- you have to download a form apples site or a uni computer or something though....

[Eddie]

May not but I could always buy it in England, thanks for telling me that.

[Cheshireblue]

I used to do some acquisitions work for the electronics industry. Sony Vaio and Dell Lattitude CPxi's are teh way forward.

Dell get grief by eggheads, but they are built to last, are incredibly robust and are usually the lightest and smallest around. I have a Dell and Toshiba, and the Dell knoock teh spots off the Toshiba in every way. The Dell Warranty is also worth having as theya do actually repair you machine if it goes wrong.

[Dr Gonzo]

dunno if it applies in France as well but all my mates got £150 off their powerbooks for being students- you have to download a form apples site or a uni computer or something though....

317762[/snapback]

I did this through Edinburgh uni even though I'm being paid to do my degree

Edited May 23, 2005 by Dr Gonzo

[Eddie]

So powerbook or sony haha?

[Dr Gonzo]

I say POWERBOOK

[philipl]

Go for the Apple but Chesh is right about Dells being built to last.

[andy82]

Dell are scum. Soooooo hard to upgrade their machines.

[Biddy]

Interesting. Which bit's can't you upgrade that you can in any other model?

[andy82]

you can upgrade any part of it, so long as you get dell to do it. i tried to 'mix and match' a dell and another machine. bad move.

[Biddy]

you can upgrade any part of it, so long as you get dell to do it. i tried to 'mix and match' a dell and another machine. bad move.

318595[/snapback]

I just can't understand what you are trying to mix and match that doesn't work.

I have added new hard drives, memory, pcmcia cards, usb adapters and mini-pci cards to our Dell laptops with no problems at all. Granted, I've never tried changing the screens, keyboards, motherboards for 3rd party kit but I'm not sure I'd ever want to!

[andy82]

Seen, i should of mentioned that i don't really like laptops ( hell, if i was going to spend £900 quid on a portble pc id buy a mini atx board and build something far studier, more upgradable and far more robust). My dell hell has come from the desktops, and their business practices relating to desktops (and upgrading them) for personal users (i admit i've dealt with them on a business level, although it wsn't my choice, and they were pretty impressive). The biggest problems were overclocking machines and psu incompatibilty, as you asked (and more so the way they tried to get me to pay to have unnessesary work done on my pc when i contacted them about it).

Edited May 26, 2005 by andy82

[Eddie]

Alright I'm stuck now between the Toshiba Qosmio G20-109 and the Sony Viao VGN-A4173. The Sony is about 200 euros cheaper but as my uncle works for sony there is a chance I would get it for less than that. Now the Toshiba looks to have better specs but then I'm not all that great with computers. Is it so much better to be worth the extra 200 or no?

[andy82]

Alright I'm stuck now between the Toshiba Qosmio G20-109 and the Sony Viao VGN-A4173. The Sony is about 200 euros cheaper but as my uncle works for sony there is a chance I would get it for less than that. Now the Toshiba looks to have better specs but then I'm not all that great with computers. Is it so much better to be worth the extra 200 or no?

325500[/snapback]

Toshiba dont appear to sell that model in the UK, or use a different name/numbering system.

[Eddie]

There's a link to it, it is in French but quite straight forward.

http://www.fnac.com/Shelf/article.asp?PRID...103&NID=1586981