[Archived] Laptop Recommendations

[Guest Kamy100]

Seen as everyone was so helpful when I decided to buy a PC now asking for help with a laptop.

I have a budget of £800. Need it mainly for internet use, work related stuff and of course it should be able to play the odd game (Football Manager)

Any help would be appreciated.

[Cocker]

This might do you - click

Obviously you can add other bitts to make it better but for a game of footman now and again it should do

[Wolverine]

I got an Inspiron 1501 from Dell with AMD Turion64x2(dual core), 2gb ram, 120gb hard drive, vista basic wifi and widescreen for just £410. It should have been over £750, but the deal has disappeared now unfortunately.

Aside from Cockers, the best I can find is:

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/c...&oc=N04153a

AMD Turion 64x2, 2gb RAM, 120 gb HD, 256MB Radeon xpress 1150 Graphic Card, DVD RW Drive and WiFi Card!

[Guest Kamy100]

Thanks guys for the recommendations, will check them out.

[Guest Kamy100]

A friend has recommended this one:

http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/products/Produc...tCode=3384-5701

[Billy Castell]

HP, Toshiba and Acer are apparently good makes. I checked it out a while ago, and got a HP Pavillion 6000 or something like that. Wasn't that quick (FM takes forever to save!), but so far it has been very well behaved, and I've had it a year or so now. It cost somewhere around £500-600.

[rog of the rovers]

Dell are always reliable when it comes to laptops.

[OhmiBRFC]

A friend has recommended this one:

http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/products/Produc...tCode=3384-5701

I would stay away from that one personally

[Guest Kamy100]

I would stay away from that one personally

Thanks for the reply. Why should I stay away from it? Sorry if that sounds like a "numpty" question.

[LeChuck]

Kamy, you don't need to spend ANYWHERE near £800 to have a laptop that can browse the internet, be used for work and play Football Manager.

Try this Dell for £327 delivered. It's AMD dual-core, 1gb RAM, 256 ATI Radeon graphics and 80gb hard-drive. Knock the warranty down from 3 year service to 90 day collect and return to get it at that price.

Dell's are superb quality and the customer service is great too.

Obviously, the more you pay, the better you were will get. This one is £504 (same thing with warranty again). It's a better model than the previous one (more dedicated media function buttons etc.), it also has a better processor (Intel Core 2 Duo), bigger hard-drive and a NVIDIA GeForce graphics card.

I did own the £327 one (paid much more at the time) and it could run Doom 3 if I turned the detail and resolution down. I'm sure the £504 one could handle that with it's faster processor and better graphics card.

Edit: Although that is from the 'Small Business' site, just enter your name in the company field when ordering. I'm not even sure why they seperate Home and Small Business sections...maybe improved support for bulk orders or something.

[Ozz]

Ask Eddie-he must know all about what to buy and from where by now!

[OhmiBRFC]

Thanks for the reply. Why should I stay away from it? Sorry if that sounds like a "numpty" question.

Its an unbranded laptop, better off staying with the bigger names if posible like Sony, Acer, Toshiba etc

I've found that alot of the unbranded laptops tend to have problems because cheaper parts are used

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Sony_Vaio_N...E-W/version.asp

This looks like a good deal,

[LeChuck]

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Sony_Vaio_N...E-W/version.asp

This looks like a good deal,

Not really, unless you're willing to pay hundreds more because it's a Sony.

Compared to the Dell I posted for £500, it's far weaker. The processor isn't a Core 2 Duo, so you're losing roughly 30% processor speed there. The graphics card isn't even comparable, it wouldn't have a chance of running modern games. You even get a poorer version of Vista.

[Wolverine]

Kamy, just realised, if you take off the home support options, it knocks the one i posted own to £399!

Or even better, use the saving to add a 'true life' screen and a much better battery. The battery is the only thing that lets mine down.

I am using practically the same laptop now and it runs FM2007, Civ 4, Sims, Sim City 4, and others with no problems at all.

Rememebr VAT and shipping need to be added.

[Eddie]

Ask Eddie-he must know all about what to buy and from where by now!

Not really, but I'm sure that I could either ask a friend or post it on here and I'd be able to find out.

[Guest Kamy100]

Thanks for all the help guys it is really appreciated.

In the end I decided to buy a macbook. Went to the apple store in the Arndale with a friend, he managed to wangle a good discount so got it at a very good price which is a bonus. Not as powerful as some of the recommendations but already after a couple of hours use I am finding it very impressive, it is good for what I want to do which is surfing, bit of work related stuff and playing the odd game (mainly football manager) it is also small so very portable.

Thanks once again for the help.

[Wolverine]

Hey - good purchase!

As far as I know, macs are more powerful even if thier stats are slightly lower.

I considered it but I wasn't brave enough to risk incompatibility with some of my programs.

[American]

Anyone considering buying a laptop PM me your email address. The WSJ had a quick how-to guide today and I can email you the link. Didn't really have specifics on models, but it had things to look for.

[Drummer Boy]

Thanks for all the help guys it is really appreciated.

In the end I decided to buy a macbook. Went to the apple store in the Arndale with a friend, he managed to wangle a good discount so got it at a very good price which is a bonus. Not as powerful as some of the recommendations but already after a couple of hours use I am finding it very impressive, it is good for what I want to do which is surfing, bit of work related stuff and playing the odd game (mainly football manager) it is also small so very portable.

Thanks once again for the help.

Well done - I switched to Mac about 4 years ago and am a total convert to both Apple computers and the Mac OS. They do everything you need and can even run Windows apps if you are a slave to Microsoft.

[Billy Castell]

I think I'd consider buying a Mac if I was going for a new home computer. Never have used one, so what would the advantages of changing be, other than they look very sexy?

[Guest Kamy100]

All i can say is that after a couple of days use i am very impressed. I had never used any other type of computer other than windows, however already in love with the mac. It is so easy to use, never crashed thus far, speed is very good especially when having lots of things open and the video editing software is excellent and simple to use for a novice. Highly recommend it to anyone considering purchasing one.

[Billy Castell]

Sounds good so far. Hope it carries on behaving itself. I'd still have my laptop to play FM 2007

I guess Word documents can't be read by any of the Mac's word processing programmes because of the gap in compatability. Am I right?

[Paul]

I was thinking of buying one of these for my son to do his work at uni. Any comments would be much appreciated Aldi Offer

[Ste B]

Not the best deal, but not bad Aldi used to produce well specced laptops at a low price, but as the prices in general fell they have lost the edge

http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?p=539081

[Paul]

cheers Ste