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Laptop (PC) Recommendations. (Read 4308 times)

Houdini

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Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 11:03:28 am
Say, a grand-ish.  Thinkpad?

soapy

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#1 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 11:09:05 am
check ebuyer matey

a grand buys a lot

Monolith

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#2 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 12:20:06 pm
Are you a Mac man?

unclesomebody

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#3 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 12:32:07 pm
My experience with buying laptops is not extensive but I can recommend staying away from the premium brands like Sony. My first ever laptop was a Vaio and as beautiful as it was, it was not worth the £2,500 I paid!!!  Crazy. I'm currently running a £600 HP from Staples. It's got some Centrino chip, 100gb HDD, 1024mb ram, etc etc. It's alright, suffers a little from the lack of graphics card but I can live with that.

I would recommend having a look through the online retailers and definitely look at the lesser known brands. Just make sure that the components on the inside and decent (preferably branded). You can't go far wrong.

Don't buy a mac. They don't represent good value for money in terms of performance/£. With £1000 I know you can buy a very very sweet laptop. If I see any cracking deal I'll let you know.

good luck

dobbin

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#4 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 02:41:59 pm
Some of the Acer kit is worth a sniff if you are a consumer. I dont buy them because they dont do a discount for massive volume. I bought Dell, but thats becuase they came in cheaper and would basically do anything I wanted. If I wanted them in pink with roller wheels they would probably deliver. Except that the batteries explode they are a great laptop.  ::)

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#5 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 03:14:46 pm
I got an Acer last year and have been very impressed with it.  http://www.shopacer.co.uk was the website I got it off, but there are others.  I wouldn't spend that much more than I spent to be honest, £650,  unless you maybe want a large screen, although that makes heavier and bigger.  You could buy a £500 one now, and put the other £500 in a bank and get one for £540 in a couple of years time to replace it, which would be a lot better.  Mine runs half life 2 ok, not amazing but smooth enough and enough resolution to be good.  Only thing that's maybe a little annoying is that the speakers aren't very loud, but that might not be any different on an expensive model.

Edit: missed an "n't" out

account_inactive

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#6 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 05:32:23 pm
I've also got an ACER.  Been bon for the last 2 years :)

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#7 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 20, 2006, 06:12:31 pm
I'm on the Acre wagon as well. I got mine for £699 and its got 80gb hard drive, 1gb of ram, 512mb graphics card and a big bad widescreen.

Happy with it but it tends to scratch easy. Other than that really impressed.

unclesomebody

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#8 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
September 21, 2006, 03:41:13 pm
You could buy a £500 one now, and put the other £500 in a bank and get one for £540 in a couple of years time to replace it, which would be a lot better. 
Edit: missed an "n't" out

I think this is a particularly genius idea. Unless you really need a £1000 laptop then just get a £500-600 one and then treat yourself again in 12/18 months. Without VAT mine was under £500 which is a bargain. Don't know if you can find a way to get it without VAT but it always helps!

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#9 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
April 07, 2020, 04:38:35 pm
Thread resurrection time. I'm after a new laptop with approximately the following specs:

Decent processor - what is most important to look for here? GHz, number of cores, cache?
8GB RAM - preferably with the possibility of upgrading to 12 or 16GB
256GB+ SSD, not essential as I've got a spare I could put in, depending on compatibility.
Price around 500 quid, could go higher if there is a mega deal to be had.
Non essential but desirable: SD reader, HDMI, >=2 USB ports.

Main use will be streaming, internet browsing, word processing, adobe illustrator, a little gaming.

At the moment I'm looking at these models:

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-15s-eq0507sa-15-6-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-256-gb-silver-10203300-pdt.html

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/dell-inspiron-15-3000-15-6-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-256-gb-ssd-silver-10190038-pdt.html

Anyone have any recommendations?

Any knowledge on dealers who will ship to Austria or dealers in Europe that can supply laptops with UK style keyboard also much appreciated.

Cheers!

cheque

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#10 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
April 07, 2020, 04:55:49 pm
My other half wanted a laptop for Christmas and I got her this

Fits your specifications and I think it was around that price but I did have to shop around. She loves it and it is pretty nice.

crzylgs

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#11 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
April 07, 2020, 05:15:54 pm
It's been a while since I've worked in IT/Hardware supply so am not up to date with current good buys for exact models. However I can provide you with a couple more tools / pieces of info.

1) Regarding CPU you can't always compare GHz / Cores from CPU to CPU and also not between Intel/AMD. Sure use it as a guide. If you want a more accurate comparison, the website 'Anandtech' has a comparison tool called 'Bench' you can compare side to side CPUs:

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU-2019/2224

Similar tool:

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/

Here is the comparison for the two laptops you have initially picked out:

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-5-3500U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-2500U/m760067vsm378273

Any CPU that has 'U' after is basically a 'low power' version, meant to use less battery power. This could be good if you'll be in a battery only situation often? If not we always used to refer to the 'U' as 'under powered' as the trade of is performance for power efficiency. This depends on your situation, but if you'll usually be at home / in the office avoid the 'U' if you'll be using it on the commute, or for #VanLife maybe its a worthwhile trade.


2) 8GB RAM should be fine for your desired applications. It is usually the easiest and cheapest (even during times of worldwide shortages) upgrade.

3) Definitely go for a SSD. I'd also personally avoid 'hybrid' drives if possible. This next part may be over complicating things for you - Something to check on the technical specs is the type of slot/connector the SSD comes in. Modern SSDs don't all take the traditional laptop small 2.5" rectangle HD space, some have a type that is more like a small stick of RAM / memory stick - so you might not be able to ply yours in. Alternatively, if it has this type AND a spare 2.5" bay you could possible ADD yours to it if desired.

3) Around that price point these websites used (as mentioned I'm a couple years out of touch) to be decent:

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/

https://www.ebuyer.com/

I'd personally avoid Curry's but I've just read your bottom part about posting to Austria. Not sure but those two links I've added above are large companies so would like to think they are capable of EU postage!

As far as the manufacture/make goes, I wouldn't worry too much here - they all just re-badge someone else's components anyway. HP + Dell are both fine. I always liked 'ASUS' and avoided 'ACER' due to historic issues that I can't let go lol!

Hope that hasn't over-complicated things for you!

tomtom

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#12 Re: Laptop (PC) Recommendations.
April 07, 2020, 05:18:07 pm
I got one of these in Jan when my 5 year old Dell had a motherboard failure :(

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/s-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-S340-14IWL/p/81VV009GUK

It is utterly uninspiring - and the screen isnt as good as the lovely one my Dell had. But it is very competent. Its fast enough, good keyboard and battery life is decent. Its the Ford Mondeo of computers.

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