I seem to have a lot of questions lately...

Anyhoo. I know a lot of you are techie people so this is as good a place to ask as any. I am looking at changing from a desktop to a laptop. I only really use the pc for internet access, storing photos until I can get them on to a disc, copying discs and so on. I don't even use it for games, that's what the PS2 is for.

I need a laptop that will meet my needs and be dependable. My budget is reasonably flexible. Any suggestions?

a second hand 233 with onboard ethernet and usb.... £100 maybe?

dont know your budget but i got this in an email today
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinformation/~99804~WW~/index.htm/?affiliate=6323

are you looking for new/used. Also, it may sound silly, but are you thinking of using it as a laptop or to replace a desktop? You can get some nice wide screen laptops, but if you want to actually take it anywhere you're better off with something small (or at least thats what I tell the girls).

I personally recommend a Dell

could try Aldi

https://www.medionshop.co.uk/ukshop...000000A00005B4040BA637E26427AE00000306E0F2A06

i picked up a cheap laptop from curry's i think it was its an acer one. was £500 with camera and printer fairly good spec good enough for what i need anyways. 2.6ghz 256mb ra and 40gb hard drive i upgraded the ram though to 512 myself. and has a 64mb ati 9000 in it. pretty good even does fine for games as long as you dont want great details from them. But i have the proper desktop for that.

I will let you know if anything pops up Steve.

sorry to use someone elser thread, but the medion laptop i posted above.......

is it any good?

cuz i want a laptop, and was gonna wait and save a little money, but i mite afford this one, so is it any good?

i know it needs RAM, but how easy would it be to upgrade that?

I would avoid:

Not celeron-M
Memory is awful, 512MB really necessary for XP, not even 256mb, laptop memory is more expensive.
Etc. etc.

Not much more you can get better.

better for a similar price?

where?

I'd personally recommend dell or have a look on

www.europc.co.uk

they have some real bargins on there now and again. Also have a look on dells website or find one of their leaflets in a newspaper they have special offers on all the time

as silly as it sounds i would tell you to go with a dell.... i only say that because they always have offers on so you can pick on up really cheap.

the cheapest they do is a Inspiron 1200 1.3 celeron M, surly a 2.2 celeron one would be better?

in the outlet bit of the site they have this one;

http://outlet.dell.com/Emea_Dfo/EuD...D=Czz9xNuC!-1769451312!81896524!1119089533350

but thats a celeron, with no M :chin:

Pretty much a desktop version the M version will use less battery power since will run on a lower voltage from the mainboard thats about it. prolly a few more optimizations and that. The M usually means mobile.

But unless your gonna spend 3+ hours on it without charging it once or having a spare battery the M chips arent really all that useful.

Which is why the top end laptops dont use the M type cpu's

But usually get the centrino thing in the M based laptops. meaning wireless internet in certain areas of towns and bars / cafe's etc or at home if you have a wireless router.

laptop memory has come down massively in recent times if you get it from a decent comp shop your only paying literally a couple quid extra on top. for 512mb of ddr for a laptop your looking at £32ish. Not a great deal of money. So dont let low memory put you off on a laptop.

From having a power hungry P4 3.06ghz HT (still mobile version!) laptop for 15 months to using a celeron-M whilst it is being fixed I must say I am impressed. A non-M wouldn't give you 3.5hrs battery life as this does, on top of that, the power consumption is so much lower the battery should last a lot longer (mine failed after 12months on my P4,

The celeron-M is actually a very good CPU, low clock speed but like the centrino it gets more done/cycle than a P4 for instance. This is a 1.5ghz Celeron-M and it has a great turn of speed!

On top of that, heat and noise really annoy me and my P4 is like a radiator and the fan does come on every few mins, this Celeron-M under normal usage is silent, I have typed this and not heard a fan once, excellent.

It's more than just the battery life that matters personally for using a mobile CPU/chipset and my next laptop will be of that style for these reasons.

Id stll rather the real P4. Theres a reason celerons are cheap. lower cache, lower fsb crappy optimisations etc etc.

You could use a slower P4 and it'd still outperform that celeron and probably be the same price but people generally seem to buy by clock speeds.

Hence why AMD always look bad to people who arent in the know and look at the top end AMD putting out 2.6ghz and the top end intel putting out 3.8ghz the 3.8 sounds faster but in realisty deffinately isnt.

I wouldnt mind getting hold of an A64 laptop myself just cant afford anything now.

i have a AMD in my desktop, so im not going by the clock speed, but for what i want to spend, i havent found any AMD anything, only celerons

if you can find me a good AMD, ill have a look, im to badly swayed by clock speeds, but i dont really what else to look for

it'll mainly sit on my desk plugged in to the wall, but i want the option to take it with me on holiday etc, so it doesnt have to have fantastic portability

i would like one that will run games, nothing TOO high end, but ones like the sims, and maybe some AA on "ultralow"

The one posted by custard boy earlier in the thread is a cracking laptop for the price. £520 for that and has a motability 9700 in it should play games on low medium settings perfectly fine.

Id look at that myself.

its not under 400 quid tho is it