What to look for in a laptop?

[GregWhelan]

Probably going to be picking up a new laptop in the near future.

Have been looking on amazon, play, currys etc but there are so many it's untrue!

Any recommendations - not so much on actual laptops but more in terms of what to look for in a laptop?

If I want one that performs operations quickly I should go for one with a processor that has a high speed yes?

All I use mine for is the internet, and for studying e.g. Word and Excel. I sometimes watch DVD's on it as well.

I do tend to DL a lot of sets so I should opt for one with a high capacity HD?

Anything to avoid? I heard Vista is not the best-is that true?

Any particular brands to steer clear of?

All info greatly appreciated, cheers!

[ganjamo]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

For the things you are going to use it for id suggest this specs minimum:
processor: core i3 or greater (i5 i7)
display: 13-15" that can handle greater resolution than 1024*768
ram: at least 2gb
harddrive: 250gb+
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium minimum, vista is dead.

regarding brands, i dont know how is it in the UK, but i'd get the one that has the best customer support since this things no matter which brand they are they tend to fail.

whats your budget?

[GregWhelan]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

Budget 3-500 pound mate

In terms of processor, what is the ranking e.g. what is above an 'i3' - is it i4 or i2??

[FM]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

Bare minimum, otherwise you might decide to upgrade in 2-3 years due to "slowness"

Core 2 Duo processor (or the i3 if afforded)
2-3GB RAM (hopefully upgradeable beyond 4)
250-500GB SATA Hard Drive (can always get an external, so not the biggest issue here)
15" screen; 1280×1024 resolution (play around here a bit depending on model)
XP, or Win7...though if you have your own OS, just wipe the hard drive anyway...a lot of the pre-packaged stuff on there is junk to begin with.

Brand-name wise my picks nowadays are ASUS, Acer & Toshiba. HP's/Compaq's & Dell's IMO certain models have had poor design flaws or were prone to overheats...by the time you & everyone else realize it's a widespread problem, many are out of warranty and good luck trying to get it repaired

Try to find a service manual as well when you get one. Best thing to have and makes it a snap to repair/replace parts yourself if needed...heck I just fixed my backup HP as I had to resolder a new power jack on...old one had the pin inside bent and made the power connection intermittent. $2 part + about 3 hours total work (sucker didn't want to come off the motherboard easily ) = laptop fixed (vs. about 100 otherwise for shipping & "repair")

[i!!ustrious]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

well, well with that budget, you could find some real nice high end rigs dude...

so, essentially....

try to get as much memory as you can possibly afford, and get a laptop with extra slots. i'd go with about 4 - 8gb ram. if you can tinker to get 12gb... do it!

solid state hd's are worth it. get at least 500gb or 1tb.

just get windows 7 professional

i'm an athlon guy, but at the moment, this i7 is the shit: Intel® Core™ i7-930 Processor (8M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI)

any screen and size work -- the new standard is good on the eyes.


start by checking these sites out; do some research.

http://www.pricewatch.com

http://www.pcrush.com/

http://www.newegg.com/



oh, and get a cooling pad or fan, or one of those liquid ones; this will gaurentee the life expenctancy of your laptop considerably. you can always use wood blocks to put underneath your laptop - which will let airflow circulate.

[F JOHN]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

acer.toshiba.sony
cant go wrong tbh.stay away from anything with an nvidia graphics chip.. huge problems..steer clear from hp/compaq.very sleek looking.but a real nasty piece of work underneath..do not use on a bed..always have it on a flat hard surface.dont do dell either.
i fix laptops for a living.i have laptops come in for a reboot that are 5/6/7 years old and they are still running good on the battery and will go on for a long time.then you get laptops from 2 years ago that are just shite.whatever you buy treat it it with care if you want it to last..because theyre far from built to last these days.do not listen to the guy above..500gb solid state drive.£hundreds of pounds..way more than your budget..and 12gb ram.lol.for what.. mercury server. beats. and porn

[i!!ustrious]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

i've seen that you've thrown in in the towel... quitter

get trolled harder. yerrrr expeirences and observations are mitigatable. oh, and porn is for the faint-hearted; is that one of the only reasons you could think of for using 12gig mem>? i see your desires

you fix laptops for a living? you prob do a shitty job.

you obviously have never worked in silicon valley before; i can think of many reasons why 12 would be instantious godmode. similitude, f john, similitude.

gaming
audio engineering
dj software aide whilst yee deejay ( but god forbid you're a sync faggot who needs software to beatmatch)
programming
internet pwnage
database micro
networking
___
___
___
___
___
running every application
ALL THE TIME.


please, i know folks at microsoft, sun micro, oracle, blizzard, etc. etc. who will vouch for such T.T,

cry more

[i!!ustrious]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

do not listen to the guy above..500gb solid state drive.£hundreds of pounds..way more than your budget

that rules out the possibility of you living in the states....

solid state ain't that expensive here... and his budget would suffice.

learn english, and proper syntax, chap. cheers!

[i!!ustrious]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

hey greg, disregard the above trolling hard on f john.



in my opinion, just order an asus or acer (they're very dependable). keep in mind that many people get glamourized by the processor( overlooking it's specs), and forgoe the other essential componets which specialize key contrasts between each brand's flagship setup. also, don't put all your eggs in one basket; what i mean is that a laptop should not be your primary asset. look into building an actual desktop as well perhaps( you can save much fiscally - as opposed to buying retail) reseach or take a class..i can send you a pc mgmt and troubleshooting textbook, and all my notes from my com-tia classes if you want. i got a cert of specialization last year. it really doesnt take much to learn a+ and computer basics. believe me, i worked for best buy's geek squad for a little while, and it was a joke.... people blindly subvert their money, and know little, if nothing, about their own computers.


you could always get a mac book pro.... then all is easy peasy japanesey, vanilla breezy

don't pay retail though, that woudl blow.

[Simon Preston]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

Go ask the question on the Bedrock forum.

[F JOHN]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

his budget is 3-500 not 3-5000
go and get 12gb of ram and a 500gb solid state drive for that price in a laptop and your doing good.fuck i must have hit a sore point for you to write that babbling bunch of shit above.didn't mean to offend you i was just being realistic i actually read his post before i posted.whereas you clearly didn't..
greg just google 500gb solid state drive and see how much it costs.again to i!!ustrious..i wasnt attacking you or trying to offend you..just trying to help the guy out

[demonAfro]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

Lol, you could get a 1TB SSD if you have $4,500 spare And if all you are doing is internet and study 4gb of RAM will be plenty.

Most important thing when I got mine was the screen. Got a 15.5" full HD (1920x1080) and it looks lush, and all the pixels are great as I do a lot of computer work and always have lots of stuff open. Maybe not so good if you are not great with small text, but also has a blu-ray drive which is nice. Windows 7 (a must) is also great with widescreens as you can 'snap' left and right sides.

As for brands, I got a Sony and it came with a premium $$, but I like it. I've always had good experiences with HP, and Dell. Acers always look a bit naff imo

Make sure that what you get has a decent warranty, touch wood

[Kamal]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

min specs to keep in mind are i3, min 3 gig ram (most are coming with 4 gb these days), weight (you don't want to lug a bitch around) and battery life. I bought an HP just a month ago for $850. Its a core i5, 500 gb HD, 4 gb ram, windows 7, dvd burner and 5 hr battery life (depending on use). so you could get that one for slightly north of 500 pound. I'd be careful with sony's, they can be a hit or miss. my wife and me both have sony's, my battery doesn't last longer than 20 minutes and the heatsync fan in her laptop sounds like to ball bearings are running in opposite direction rather than in sync. dell's have gone to shit in quality, the only other brand I can truly say i was happy with is Acer. my first laptop was an acer, its still lying around somewhere at home, 3 - 4 hour battery life, dvd burner, 200 gb hd, forget what processor it has but i bought it in 2005 and other than a line going down the screen (dead pixels due to hitting the screen somewhere), it still works great.

[heretic]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

that rules out the possibility of you living in the states....

solid state ain't that expensive here... and his budget would suffice.

learn english, and proper syntax, chap. cheers!

I think you are confused. A 500 GB hd is cheap, a 500 GB SSD is _very_ expensive. Here is an example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227561 480GB SSD for 1819 USD.

Also, imho 12GB ram is overkill.

[F JOHN]

Re: What to look for in a laptop?

yep ssd just doesn't come cheap no matter where you are.