[jed]

I am not an expert on computer matters and need some advice.
I am looking to invest in a laptop for work which matches this specification

http://www.compusoftgroup.com/content/products/winner/system.aspx

Before now we have used DELL (the devil).

I am wondering weather I could get better value for money else were

Please Help im a twato !!!

[slackline]

I am not an expert on computer matters and need some advice.
I am looking to invest in a laptop for work which matches this specification

http://www.compusoftgroup.com/content/products/winner/system.aspx

Before now we have used DELL (the devil).

I am wondering weather I could get better value for money else were

Please Help im a twato !!!

First things first, what do you want to do with the computer?  What does your "work" consist of? (I'm a twat and have now actually read, rather than just looking at the link you gave, so its basically CAD of sorts non?)

Right down what you do now, and what you may want to do in the future (or non-work stuff).  Will you want to do lots of photo editing?  video editing?  email/web-browsing? programming? databases? web-development?

This will determine what spec computer to buy.  Theres generally little need or point in staying bleeding edge, since Moore's law is still holding the depreciation of your equipment drops of rapidly.

Multiple core processors are good as it means different process' can use different cores to do things, but they don't solve everything (not all copmutational problems are conducive to parallel processing).  On the flip side this is going to drain your battery power quicker.

What operating system are you looking to use?  Vista will basically mean that 2Gb is a bare minimum pre-requisite in the RAM front.

There are loads of subtle things such as front-side bus speed which will improve performance slightly, and it is generally better to have the higher specs, but unless you really need that level of computing.

Whats your beef with Dell?  I've a laptop of theirs that I've been happily using for six or seven years now (running GNU/Linux).  They're extended warranty and general customer service are very high standard (the HD failed a month or so before the warranty lapsed, and they replaced it 1.5 days later in my work office with a new HD that was 20Gb larger).

A friend recently had to buy a new laptop and after shopping round extensively decided he couldn't beat Dell on value.

[dobbin]

Dell are undoubtedly cheap, and their account management is great (if you are a corporate), but the hardware just seems to be loads more problematic than with HP (previous supplier), now this could be our flaky build, but we never used to see such problems as we do now. That said, buying corporate is completely different to personal so probably best to dismiss this as irrelevant wibble.

Apparently much of the problems we have are related to dodgy sata drives in the small D4xx series notebooks.

[jed]

From what your saying DELL seems to be the one to go with still.

I am finding the DELL computer we have currently is pausing for 5Min's at a time( this is probably down to too much on it).

I mainly use it for CAD design so nVidia GeForce graphic card is a must. Other than that its used for typical office work.

Computers piss me off!!!

[slackline]

From what your saying DELL seems to be the one to go with still.

I am finding the DELL computer we have currently is pausing for 5Min's at a time( this is probably down to too much on it).

Having too much on it shouldn't slow it down, its running lots of things simultaneously that slows it down.  Now you may be running things that you know about, but then (hazarding a guess that your running M$-windows) there is all the spyware/viruses/etc. shit that can infect your computer if your not careful.  Even if you are careful you still end up running adware stuff to block unwanted intrusions etc.

If its hanging lots it may be that your HD is particularly fragmented.  This happens because when you write a file to HD it doesn't get written in a contiguous block, but potentially all over the place (there are sections on hard dives that then say where the different parts of a given file are located on the hard-drive, so to the user its transparent).

Try defragmenting your hard-drive.

Also Ctrl+Alt+Del will bring up a system monitor so you can actually see what process is using all the CPU and/or memory.

It may be that you've not got enough memory, so when your physical limit is reacher the OS switches to "swap" files, basically using the HD for memory , which is veeeerrrrrrryyyyy slow since access speeds in comparision to RAM are exceptionally poor.

I mainly use it for CAD design so nVidia GeForce graphic card is a must. Other than that its used for typical office work.

Computers piss me off!!!

Important to check whether the CAD software will run under Vista as many retailers are shipping with this, although some ship with XP.  Get the best graphics card you can afford that is known to work with the software you intend to use, as this will make a vast difference.

[dobbin]

 

As a rough rule of thumb, I would recommend rebuilding a windows based pC on a yearly basis. *nix on the other hand - no need <sanctimonious twat smilie>

[Control freak]

Important to check whether the CAD software will run under Vista as many retailers are shipping with this, although some ship with XP.  Get the best graphics card you can afford that is known to work with the software you intend to use, as this will make a vast difference.

As of June 30 this year all big OEMs are required to stop selling WinXP as an option on the machines they ship. However Dell are exploiting a loophole in the licensing agreement which enabled you to downgrade from Vista to XP - essentially they'll just do the downgrade for you. The end result is that the machine leaves the factory with WinXP pro installed. This has only been announced in the last few days so it will be interesting to see if the other big names follow suit

Dell to ship with XP

[slackline]

As of June 30 this year all big OEMs are required to stop selling WinXP as an option on the machines they ship. However Dell are exploiting a loophole in the licensing agreement which enabled you to downgrade from Vista to XP - essentially they'll just do the downgrade for you. The end result is that the machine leaves the factory with WinXP pro installed. This has only been announced in the last few days so it will be interesting to see if the other big names follow suit

Dell to ship with XP

Aye, I was thinking about that loop-hole thing when writing.  All a big faff really, and a bit of a con.

Microsoft : "We won't support the software you paid good money for, but we do have this lovely new version, you'll have to buy it from us again, oh and 'cause its so bloated you'll also have to buy a whole new set of hardware to run it on, but don't worry we'll do this all again in a few more years time, its our business model you see, and we're in cahoots with a few old pals over at Intel."

*nix on the other hand - no need <sanctimonious twat smilie>

What distro do you use dobbin?

[jed]

Ive got it down to an ASA(think that's right) DELL, or LENOVO, all laptops

I tried to defragment the current comp yesterday but had to stop, will try again today.

I hope its not a bloody virus.

[dobbin]

Probably ACER?

(xUbuntu at the mo - mmm hmm! its the shit)

[slackline]

Probably ACER?

Could be Asus too.  In fact whilst I've not actually used one I've read good reviews of Asus PC's, so might be worth seeing how they price up for similar specs jed.

(xUbuntu at the mo - mmm hmm! its the shit)

Nice I've been using Xfce (under Gentoo) for a few months now, as I wanted something that would work with compiz-fusion (fluxbox doesn't play since it is itself a WM) and really like it.

[GCW]

Don't know about their full PCs, but I really rate ASUS motherboards.  Very good.

[jed]

We've decided on this little beauty!

https://www-secure.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/support/special/embedded_support/dtree.jsp?id=computer_performance&helpid=605330&products=nis.nis_2008&title=dt

better spec than we've had before.

This whole process has made me think about several more queries  I have IT wise.

1.I have a bt office email address and it is unreliable to say the least does any one have any suggests for a reliable email address for a business(FREE OF CHARGE OF COURSE)

2. Computers don't seem to last long these days.
    What do think is a realistic life span for an office laptop?

Would appreciate your advice, your knowledge puts be to shame (what a kiss ass!)

[slackline]

We've decided on this little beauty!

https://www-secure.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/support/special/embedded_support/dtree.jsp?id=computer_performance&helpid=605330&products=nis.nis_2008&title=dt

better spec than we've had before.

Dodgy link there jed, takes me to an FAQ type thing on embedded support at symantec's web-site.

This whole process has made me think about several more queries  I have IT wise.

1.I have a bt office email address and it is unreliable to say the least does any one have any suggests for a reliable email address for a business(FREE OF CHARGE OF COURSE)

Well there are tons of free email services out there (Gmail, Yahoo!, Microsoft), but probably what you want for a business address is one that incorporates your company name in the domain (thats the bit that comes after the '@' in the address).  Generally you have to pay for these.   However, if your company already has a web-site then they will already have registered the domain name (e.g. www.mycompany.co.uk), and the site will be hosted 'somewhere'.  Whoever's hosting the site might already provide email address' so that would be worth checking out.

2. Computers don't seem to last long these days.
    What do think is a realistic life span for an office laptop?

Depends how often you drop them 

I've a laptop that does everything I need (running web-servers for development, statistical packages, photo-browsing (occasional touching up), web-browsing, puzzle games, writing letters etc.) that is getting on for six years old.  Could do with a new battery, but aside from that its fine.

Just because a computer is old though, doesn't necessarily mean its obsolete.  Its more likely that new software/operating system will require more oomph.

The received wisdom is that Moore's Law applies, and this is something that Micro$soft take full advantage of.  Thats why whenever they release a "new" version of Windows you always find that you have to buy a new computer to match the minimum specs.  Very subtle and savy business model from Win/Tel. 

[dobbin]

Slackers, if ever we meet I shall buy you a jacket with patches on the arms :



We do laptop refresh every 2 years.

[fatneck]

Thought I'd drag this topic up and see if there's anyone still willing to offer advice!

I need a lap top for;

• Writing essays
• Going online
• Organising my photos
• Going digital with my tunes

I want it to cost less than £400 and I expect I'll get mobile broadband from someone like T-Mobile as my eldest daughter has it from them and it seems to work fine. I don't want it to do any fancy shit but I really need it to be reliable and to last at least a couple of years. I was looking at this package from Dell with Microsoft Word as the only add on meaning a total outlay of around £370 including delivery.

Any advice would be appreciated...

As long as it's not in dick l33t speak or whatever the fuck it's called!

[slackline]

Link doesn't seem to take me to any specific model (perhaps copy and paste the spec?).

Doesn't sound as though you want anything too high-spec really, but if your going to go with Vista I think the minimum RAM would be 2Gb.

Hard-disk space go for as much as you can afford.  Its not big deal to buy an external HD, and is in fact good sense, as its sensible to back your data up rather than just off-load it from your HD when its full).

A decent CD/DVD-ROM would be recommended if your going to be ripping your music, but they're all pretty much of a muchness these days.

Can't comment on mobile broadband myself, but sounds like you've got that covered.

Organising photos will be simple, but if you want to do editing whilst doing other stuff, then the more RAM you have the better.

You could potentially avoid the cost of licensing M$-Word by using the OpenOffice, I use it to open Word/Excel files I receive and it copes admirably (well I've never had any problems).  You do receive warnings about loss of compatability/functionality if you author something from scratch in OpenOffice and then opt to save as Word, and this may be a problem if you then have to share it with others, but its well worth considering (and besides at the end of the day unless your writing collaboratively you can convert your document to pdf and send that to people avoiding ever having to save in Word).

[dontfollowme]

Be warned the cheaper Dell latops are not that portable if you are ever going to carry it around. The Latitude range are more portable.

[Jim]

try to get a laptop with xp on it instead of vista. Vista is shit

[GCW]

Vista is shit

Amen to that.

[fatneck]

Cheers guys. I knew I could rely on the UKB faithful to sort me out!

You could potentially avoid the cost of licensing M$-Word by using the OpenOffice, I use it to open Word/Excel files I receive and it copes admirably (well I've never had any problems).

Good call.

try to get a laptop with xp on it instead of vista. Vista is shit

Will do my best.

Be warned the cheaper Dell latops are not that portable if you are ever going to carry it around

Appreciated but not an issue. It'll pretty much be used only at home and work. Although they are handy for Font trip daily slide shows!

Thanks again dudes...

[slackline]

fatneck,

This is the latest offering in the spam-mail I get from ebuyer and may suit your needs.  It does however have Vista on it, but you may be able to a) request it without; b) decline the license, get a refund and get XP instead.

[fatneck]

Cheers Slackers,

Just wondering if you forgot to put in a link to the lap top you were thinking of? (See what the question mark does there? Wierd!!!)

[slackline]

Cheers Slackers,

Just wondering if you forgot to put in a link to the lap top you were thinking of? (See what the question mark does there? Wierd!!!)

Ahh, yes, my faux pas, it was this one.

Quite a few others around the price range on ebuyer, these are < £395, theres also a utility to compare products on there (Dual Core would be a bonus on a laptop, it essentially means you have two processors in your laptop (although they are both on the same chip)).

[fatneck]

Thanks a lot dude. Will let you know when I've made my purchase!

Cheers,

Si