# Which laptop - help?!



## Alf (6 Mar 2006)

'Puter-knowledgable folks,

If a person wanted a laptop/notebook/foldy-uppy 'putery thing, what should they be looking at? Budget is *not more than £600* (should we just forget it right there? Am I delusional that anything under a grand will be any good?) Suitable for the wonders of t'net, email, photos and a little music - weight is not so much the issue. The AP* reckons a laptop is a Good Thing and who am I to argue in my bid to get her a little more 'puter savvy? Any advice on what models and/or makes to look at very much welcomed. Keep the techie speak to a minimum if you could.  

Cheers, Alf

*Aged Parent :-$ 8-[


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## StevieB (6 Mar 2006)

Alf, I am no a laptop expert, but have just been through this scenario for work. IT department here recommended Sony Vaio or Toshiba only, but going by specs I fancied a Dell or Evesham. In the end I went for the Sony since it was a work laptop and it was work money!

As to price, I would say £600 is not going to get you the best laptop around, but it should be good enough if you do not want intensive graphics or gaming. The problem with laptops is that because all the components are scaled down in size they also have to be scaled down in terms of performance. Thus a £600 laptop is not as powerful as a £600 desktop. Where you might come unstuck is with a sound card. If you want to use the laptop as a music centre you need a good soundcard - the one on my Sony is awful and tinny to the ear. 

I am sure others will know more than I, but the above may help.

Cheers,

Steve.


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## dedee (6 Mar 2006)

I also am no expert but if the AP can cope with a smaller screen, 14" rather than 17", then there are Dell laptops available for under £600. Have a look here at what you get for the money.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/produ ... l=en&s=dhs

Will the AP actually be travelling with the laptop? If not than things like battery performance are not so essential. And if the AP is not playing games then processor speed and memory are also less important.

The options are endless, Good luck 

Andy


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## ikd (6 Mar 2006)

Toshiba - they bounce :wink: I use one for work, but you do get what you pay for - a bit like the Stanley plane verses an LN plane comparisons. Stay away from Acer as you cant get the spares if you ever need them, even warranty spares :roll:


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## Newbie_Neil (6 Mar 2006)

Hi Alf

At the budget that you're working to I would look at Dell. They have sales on every other week so you should be able to find something suitable.

I would strongly recommend that you take out a three year warranty as if anything goes wrong it can be very expensive.

Cheers
Neil


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## martyn2 (6 Mar 2006)

Hi Alf I have got the parkard bell that was on special at PC world it has a 15" clear screen that is really nice i use it for work and I am using emulators all the time so its nice to have a good screen It cost me £599.00 but they have come down in price over the last few months came with 60GB hard drive and 1GB Ram and all the bits that come with them these days might be worth a look in comment .

martyn


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## Newbie_Neil (6 Mar 2006)

Hi Alf

Have a look here as they start at 399 inc. vat and delivery.

It's got the mobile processor so that battery life will be better.

Cheers
Neil


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## wizer (6 Mar 2006)

I agree with whats been said. Toshiba if you want an absolutely cracking, top of the range, never let you down, all rounder and Dell for a good laptop with good support.


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## wizer (6 Mar 2006)

PS: My AP has a Toshiba laptop and a Dell PC.


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## filsgreen (6 Mar 2006)

Alf, i bought one last year and I did a lot of research before hand. The only sure fire advice I would give you is buy it with a credit card. the consensus on the laptop forum i used was that any possible fallout would be dealt with by the CC company. Although a lot of the members bought Dell, the opinion was that their aftercare service was poor. In the end I went for an Asus and it is a good machine, I am reliably informed that they build for Sony. Also if you buy from John lewis you automatically get a two year warranty, although I think theirs start at £700. Another point is buy as much memory as possible, at least 512.

HTH

Phil


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## Charley (6 Mar 2006)

My first laptop was an Acer, I had no problem getting spares for it after I dropped it once and it needed a new keyboard  although it was a few years ago now so things might have changed.
I've now got a Sony Vaio which cost a small fortune and I'm still paying for a year later :roll: It's very small and perfect for travelling although if I was using it every day I would want a different model.

When I was looking I found that you paid for the size. I could have got one that was halve the price, much higher spec but was 3 times bigger then the Vaio.


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## Scott (6 Mar 2006)

I bought my mother a Dell and it seems to be pretty good. IIRC it was around 600 quid without any upgrade options

Cheers


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## Alf (6 Mar 2006)

Thanks, chaps. All good stuff. I've been looking at the Dell ones but was afraid you'd all scream "No! Anything but a Dell!" at me. :lol: Hmm, John Lewis... Now there's a thought; the AP has a bizarre faith in JLP so a laptop from them must be her dream machine, huh? :roll: :lol: I'll go and have a looksee, and at PC World too.

Cheers, Alf


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## Adam (6 Mar 2006)

Alf":2wdy3va2 said:


> 'Puter-knowledgable folks,
> 
> If a person wanted a laptop/notebook/foldy-uppy 'putery thing, what should they be looking at? Budget is *not more than £600* (should we just forget it right there? Am I delusional that anything under a grand will be any good?) Suitable for the wonders of t'net, email, photos and a little music - weight is not so much the issue. The AP* reckons a laptop is a Good Thing and who am I to argue in my bid to get her a little more 'puter savvy? Any advice on what models and/or makes to look at very much welcomed. Keep the techie speak to a minimum if you could.
> 
> ...



Just a comment or two.... getting a full size good quality mouse makes all the difference to ease of use, if using it for any longer period of time. Similarly, as someone who has a work laptop and a work PC, I find I get a cricked neck working at the laptop for too long, as its too low to the desk to look at comfortably. Quick solutions are A) plug it into you PC screen if you are going to use it for any length of time (little 2 into 1 adaptor boxes are available if you screens are connected to your home PC), or buy an external keyboard, and lift the laptop up onto a higher platform. A few heavy books would do although I'm sure you could knock up a nice shelf in some nice hardwood!

Finally, if theres any chaps likely to be using it whilst sitting on the sofa, its not too good for fertility apparently! See here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4078895.stm


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## Anonymous (6 Mar 2006)

Alf

In industry and here at the ubi I have always used Toshiba and Dell. Tosh used to be THE one to get but their quality has dropped loads lately. 
My last 3 have been Dell and so will my next one in a couple of years.


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## Steve Maskery (6 Mar 2006)

Alf
I bought SWMBO a Tosh L20 for Christmas, paid £529 so there was enough left for a wireless router too.

Does everything you are asking for. Excellent screen. Battery life reasonable (it's a Celeron M not a Centrino). Nice feel to it.

If I were buying again, I'd make the same choice. Superb. Just check the spec, they come in different flavours.

Cheers
Steve


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## wizer (6 Mar 2006)

Adam":lzg0pmfi said:


> Finally, if theres any chaps likely to be using it whilst sitting on the sofa, its not too good for fertility apparently! See here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4078895.stm



oops :?


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## ike (6 Mar 2006)

Hi alf,

I just got a Toshiba M40 t'other day (+wireless router hub) 8) . Always fancied a Tosh for years. Finally got one and it's very nice build quality. Celeron M 1.4GHz, 512Mb RAM, DVD-RW /Dual layer/DVD-RAM. £572 delivered from www.laptopsdirect.co.uk, but then spotted a cracker of a deal for slightly higher spec model on www.dabs.com for £556 all in. 

Can't fault a Toshiba IMO.

P.S. whatever you choose, get at least 512Mb RAM. Laptop graphics cards have to share this too. XP needs this and ideally 1024Mb.

Ike


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## Anonymous (6 Mar 2006)

ike":dy2703y9 said:


> P.S. whatever you choose, get at least 512Mb RAM. Laptop graphics cards have to share this too. XP needs this and ideally 1024Mb.
> 
> Ike



No they don't. Not neccesarily anyway. Only low-end budget models with low spec. graphics cards will share RAM with video cards and the graphics performance will suffer for it

At least 512MB RAM is a very wise choice though, particulalarly with Windows Vista around the corner


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## nonidentity (6 Mar 2006)

No this is a topic I KNOW something about - you should also seriously look at Samsung (the quality is v good) - yes I know but you will be surprised.

A comment - all new laptops wil handle word processing, email, browsing etc.

As stated before invest in 1GB - it WILL make a difference. Also make sure it comes with XP Professional not the XP Home nonsense, especially at the cost.

Do yourself a favour and consider a wireless router then you have the freedom to move about - just be careful on the security side (do set it up properly for security)

Lastly, save yourself some $$$ and download various tools such as OpenOffice from OpenOffice.org BUT first do yourself a favour and download and install Java first from java.com. That way you have word processor, spreadsheet etc for free and it can read the MS stuff! Buy yourself another tool instead.

Lastly, download Firefox as your browser as MS IExplorer is not particularily secure.

:roll: see I KNOW something about something which really translates into knowing a lot about very little :lol: 

Cheers


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## Jake (6 Mar 2006)

nonidentity":og8ezzv8 said:


> No this is a topic I KNOW something about - you should also seriously look at Samsung (the quality is v good) - yes I know but you will be surprised.



Seconded (typing this on an M40), but they aren't cheap.


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## MixedHerbs (7 Mar 2006)

I would also suggest you consider buying an external backup device like an Iomega (sold by Amazon) sometime when finances allow. This device will help calm your demeanour if your PC should ever suffer from a "Blue screen of death" or make an unusual clicking noise. It is a good way of buying cheap extra disk capacity.

Regards, Peter.


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## Chris Knight (7 Mar 2006)

Alf,
For my recent trip to Oz I went through the same decison making process, nearly going barmy. In the end picking an Acer Aspire 3023. It has worked very well although battery life is a bit shorter than I would like (ca 2 hours).

As Adam suggests, it is nice to use a proper mouse with it and I took one of the little wireless mice that communicates with a small thingy plugged into one of the 4 USB ports.

I recommend you look for a machine that has several of these USB ports BTW. I find four comfortable, three just enough and two, too few.


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## ike (7 Mar 2006)

Tony wrote:



> Only low-end budget models with low spec. graphics cards will share RAM with video cards



Yes, I mean't to qualify that, but also don't forget Alf's budget of circa £600. 

It's sort of on the cusp between the cost of a lower end model 'premium' brand machine and a higher spec model brand such as Advent or Acer. Acer seem to get reasonable reviews and good spec for the price. Don't know what their customer support is like though.

cheers,

Ike


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## Alf (7 Mar 2006)

My eyes are starting to get that glazed look...

Okay, you may assume I'm fully Firefoxed, Open Officed etc. I'm getting conflicting thoughts on Toshiba though...? Just w'ndrin', what about this? <winces in anticipation of being told exactly why I'm a blithering silly person to even consider it> Found a offer code to get another £40 off it, which would be nice and go towards all the other things you're telling me I need to consider... #-o :lol: 

Peter, the back up thing is something I've been thinking about myself for a while...  "Iomega" into Amazon brings up, ooo, too many things for a bear of little technical brain. Any one in particular? (And yes, I'm taking my own thread off topic - I can if I wanna  )

Thanks very much, chaps. It's really appreciated - confusing, but appreciated.  

Cheers, Alf


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## ike (7 Mar 2006)

S'good - I ogled it in Dixons last Saturday. It's got a glasslike front screen which looks super, although some say can be a drawback in daylight cos of reflection. However this gets you a bit more bang for your buck and has better graphics with dedicated memory (Windows can then use the full 512Mb RAM if it wants too).

Oh, and it has a multi-card reader for camera cards etc.

Re backup: These Tosh's mentioned have DVD-RAM drives so you can backup data onto a DVD disk (I think :? :?

PS. Just noticed the Dixons machine has the extra RAM, so it's kind of swings and roundabouts on spec but I'say overall pretty much identical value for money. Sorry if I've just confused things even more.

cheers,

Ike


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## Vormulac (7 Mar 2006)

Hi Alf,

It seems to me that for the requirements you've listed, that Tosh would be a perfectly suitable one to go for. As mentioned earlier in this thread, virtually any laptop bought new today will do what you want. I have used Tosh laptops in the past and been suitably impressed. I actually have an HP at the moment, but that's a totally different and irrelevant story!

This Tosh has wifi in case you want to set up a wireless lan, it comes with 1Gb of ram, so that's fine. It doesn't have built in bluetooth or irda apparently, but that's not desperately important. Just my opinion but that looks like a good deal.

This is one of those areas where it's possible to totally overthink and just get lost in the minutiae - as I'm sure you're well aware! (that's not me being rude, I horrendously over-research every purchase, it drives SWMBO up the wall!)

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Vormy.


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## ike (7 Mar 2006)

Thinking on slightly, what I found very confusing to start with was the virtual plethora of outwardly identical models e.g for Toshiba several L20 models similarly priced, or in my case the M40 models (or the A100). 

I think what is being offered are different 'flavours' around a price point. For example machine (a) has 1Gb RAM but only XP Home edition. Machine (b) maybe has 512Mb RAM but has XP Pro (like mine).

I'd be getting out of my depth though to start saying what features are more important ie. the 'weighting' you would ascribed to each. 

Vormulac wrote:


> This is one of those areas where it's possible to totally overthink and just get lost in the minutiae



Well said! :? :roll: 


Ike


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## Mike B (7 Mar 2006)

Hi Alf

Take a look at www.pcpro.co.uk

Their reviews are pretty unbiased and they have loads of "Labs" (make sure you scroll down) where they have tested laptops etc in various price brackets and they even have an "A List" for the best products... 
(e.g. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/78822/ac ... 3wxci.html)

Finally, take a look in PC World / JLP etc but just be aware that in my experience you can get far better deals online - just remember to use your credit card (NOT a debit or switch) just in case.

Mike


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## ikd (7 Mar 2006)

Alf - based on your requirements =
Internet
email
photos
a little music.

Then this looks like a good bet
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Qu ... 1105,50540

and within budget. You dont say what you want to do with photos? i.e. store them or manipulate them. Like music, storing them will consume a fair amount of disk space. Manipulating them will require processor and RAM.

For another £60 you can get a further 512Mb RAM if necessary, or you can add it later if you not sure.

It has a double layer DVDRW so you can back your photos/music up to DVD (single layer disks store 5+ Gb of data each), its wireless (great for moving around the house) and the screen is a resonable size (15.4")


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## matt (7 Mar 2006)

Alf":w6fw5xpg said:


> Hmm, John Lewis... Now there's a thought; the AP has a bizarre faith in JLP so a laptop from them must be her dream machine, huh? :roll: :lol:



I work for JL (in fact, worked for the buyer of this stuff for several years), get discount, but have never purchased a PC from them. 

However... that's only because I know enough about PC's and software etc to be confident and self-sufficient. If a component breaks, I take the thing to bits and replace it. If the software screws up I can fix it. If the thing busts beyond repair, I can have a sensible conversataion with the supplier to make them realise I know what I am talking about so they just get on and sort it out. To summarise, I will take advantage of the prices available elsewhere.

If, however, I was not so self-sufficient etc, then I would buy from JL. After sales service is second to none and worth paying a little extra for!

Note that I made reference to "PC". If I were buying a laptop (read: not so easy to take apart and fix), then I would definately raise the priority of warranty and after-sales backup.


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## Alf (8 Mar 2006)

Oh deary me. After all that no laptop will be winging its way to Alf Towers after all! So sorry, folks, but it was very helpful and I hope it might have been of use to someone else.  

Cheers, Alf


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## ike (8 Mar 2006)

Was the advice that bad? I feel awful now!  

Ike


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## Alf (8 Mar 2006)

No, it was very good! Just in the end, after weighing up the pros and cons, sticking desktop bound made the most sense - if there was the available lettuce to have one of each, that would have been ideal... :roll: :lol: 

Cheers, Alf


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## ike (8 Mar 2006)

> Was the advice that bad? I feel awful now!



Just teasing! :lol: , but when you eventually _have_ to update :roll: , www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk is a handy source of computery info for any IT illiterates among us (I for one :? ).  

cheers,

Ike


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