Recommend me a Laptop

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Recommend me a Laptop

Koa

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I need two new laptops, both will be used for watching movies, viewing and storing photos and internet use.
They will need to have a good quality screen and not too small as mine will also be used for graphic work and 3D environment building.
I was hoping there may be some kind of offer where you get the second one cheaper if you buy 2 from one place.
I haven't had a laptop for quite a while so I am well behind on the technology so any info on the actual systems and processors, graphics cards, memory, connections etc would be really helpful.

Price wise, not much. I don't want a great gaming laptop, it just has to do the jobs listed above so the best bang for your buck in the £300-400 range or even lower if it's possible to acheive that.

Any suggestions ?

Cheers,

Mark.
 
PC World recently had:

1.6 ghz Celeron-M
1gb RAM
80/100 gb HDD (can't remember)
15.4" gloss widescreen
DVD-writer
Made by compaq

Pretty good for £399 although they have put the price up, it was about 4 weeks before Christmas. Very nice to use actually, good keyboard.

Remember Celeron-M processors are for all intents and purposes the same as Pentium-M, ignoring 10% or so battery life.

Your price range means you could get a low spec Core Solo and I imagine, at a real push, a core duo. However, you won't get a dedicated graphics card which could cost you with 3d modelling, depending on what you use.

For the one that won't be used for that, integrated graphics is fine, as is a Celeron-M. Always go for 15.4" widescreen minimum for viewing of films etc.
 
PC World recently had:

1.6 ghz Celeron-M
1gb RAM
80/100 gb HDD (can't remember)
15.4" gloss widescreen
DVD-writer
Made by compaq

Pretty good for £399 although they have put the price up, it was about 4 weeks before Christmas. Very nice to use actually, good keyboard.

Remember Celeron-M processors are for all intents and purposes the same as Pentium-M, ignoring 10% or so battery life.

Your price range means you could get a low spec Core Solo and I imagine, at a real push, a core duo. However, you won't get a dedicated graphics card which could cost you with 3d modelling, depending on what you use.

For the one that won't be used for that, integrated graphics is fine, as is a Celeron-M. Always go for 15.4" widescreen minimum for viewing of films etc.
Thanks, that's great (y)

The one used for the 3D modeling won't need any special 3D abilities as it will all be done in wire frame and very basic textures until it's transfered to the desktop pc. The quality of the image is more important because of working in such high detail wire frames.
 
Assuming your software doesen't require much of a GPU then you won't have any problems then for a £400 budget. In my opinion, if you can wait, I would seriously consider waiting for a PC world deal. Normally I would obviously suggest you avoid PC world but every month or so they advertise a bargain laptop/PC deal that they surely only make money on if you accept their extras such as insurance/accessory pack etc.

At the moment this is their 'deal':

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/734893

Very good spec really but problem is that it's Advent which is a poor make, although no worse than Medion and not too below par at that budget.

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk are often good.

You might be better holding off for a little while (a month) and seeing whether the Vista release changes the market at all.

This was the one I mentioned previously:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...m=null&tm=null&sku=143042&category_oid=-27751

Although it was £399 when my friend bought it and fluctuated to £499 before christmas. You can tell it's cheap though, 2 USB ports (is a joke, but easily solved using a USB hub) and it is badly balanced (all the weight is at the back) but the specification is excellent, although maybe not for £450, i don't know.

Certainly (IMO) avoid sempron and pentium 4 cpus, these are not laptop CPUs and will run hot etc. etc.
 
Thanks very much for that info.

I think you may have a point about waiting, at least until Vista comes out or indeed a pc world bargain price pops up which they do quite regularly. I am in no rush, I need mine by April and the other one for my daughters birthday which can wait till march. I don't usually like to leave things till the last minute but if laptops are anything like desktops then they depreciate like crazy and waiting till the last minute is probably wise.

Cheers. (y)
 
you often see some good deals after xmas, but Vista is the big issue at the moment. if you dont need a Vista compatible machine you really should wait. non-Vista machines will see a fairly large price drop in the near future. For watching movies, viewing and storing photos and internet use you dont need vista, so unless you really need the laptops asap you'd be mad to buy them now.
 
Cant remember what model it is but Dixons has a deal on a HP laptop with
100gb
2gbram
inter centrino
integrated webcam 1.3mp
media remote
DVD rw etc
i have the older model in the range at its still one of the best laptops on the market, id recommend them but if you do buy one dont buy the insurance with it.
it a scam,i payed €500 for 4years insurance last year and when i rang up to claim on a new battery they started nit picking even though i stated in the beginning that i would only buy it if the battery was covered..,.,bastards!

also currys, dixons and pc world are all the same store so they should have it also..,
 
That spec would be out of the budget though.

I haven't yet seen a battery covered properly by a warranty due to it being a consumable, they usually state 6 months only. Of course one could argue about being "fit for purpose".
 
also currys, dixons and pc world are all the same store

i'd say they're the main places to stay away from, they've improved a lot over the years but they still charge more and give less. they're the halfords of the computer world
 
i'd say they're the main places to stay away from, they've improved a lot over the years but they still charge more and give less. they're the halfords of the computer world

That's my point though, they do the odd stupidly good offer which nobody can really compete with, due to their size I assume.

I would never go to PC world on the off chance of buying a PC/laptop/anything but if I made aware of a bargain, I will go after it.
 
I would never go to PC world on the off chance of buying a PC/laptop/anything but if I made aware of a bargain, I will go after it.
Good point - I hate those places with a passion BUT as some of you may recall, me and Paul managed to get hold of 2 half-price laptops a few years ago, when PC World had some promotion on [was it first 500 to order online? :chin:]

A £580 Packard Bell, down to £290, and still in use to this day - ideal for the kids to play on, surf, etc.
 
or £100 profit after costs ;) Cheers Stu!

My component cables feel really expensive, £25 in store, £7.50 collect at store, no brainer!

That laptop described above is worth at least £100 more in my opinion elsewhere.
 
Good point - I hate those places with a passion BUT as some of you may recall, me and Paul managed to get hold of 2 half-price laptops a few years ago, when PC World had some promotion on [was it first 500 to order online? :chin:]

I think it was first 200 or something; was the release of their new collect at store system and you and I along with thousands of others clicked buy until the server crashed continuously, then managed to get two!
 
Well the better the bargain on the one laptop would allow me to push the price up for the second one. My daughter only needs hers for Uni so I can see it getting a little bashed up because she's not the most careful person and paying more would just be a waste of money.

Cheers for all the links peeps (y)
 
Does she need it to be portable or just portable enough to take to and from uni accommodation/home? I have never found anybody during my time at uni that takes a laptop to uni and couldn't do without, hence it is unlikely to be need to be particularly sturdy or portable.

If it does need to be for taking to uni daily, I advise spending a bit more and getting a 14" IBM thinkpad with a decent warranty, the reliability may well be worth it. As I say however, that's unlikely, even if she initially thinks she will.
 
I have never found anybody during my time at uni that takes a laptop to uni and couldn't do without,

at my uni people only took their laptops out of their rooms for 1 reason, to use MSN during lectures. these days dont kids use MSN on their mobiles instead? there's no need for laptops at uni, although they are handy because you can sell them for beer money and then claim on the insurance. :D
 
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