[robertostallioni]

This laptop is about to have its 5th birthday, and to celebrate I would like to buy a new one.
I only want to access interweb/games/pr0n as ever. Must be portable as there's no space for a desktop.
How much am I looking at paying for something reasonably quick? I want something that can play graphics rich games as this current piece of shit struggles with anything more than a flash game.
 What Card should I request? Do I need a good sound card? How much RAM? I don't video edit or fuck about with photos as such.
 Should i go for something reconned?

I would like to spend less than 400 quid but hey, if we all have to eat beans on toast for a couple of months I am sure I have my families support to stretch the budget somewhat.

[GCW]

Check this thread, tis the future.

As long as you don't need a CD/DVD drive.

[robertostallioni]

Do need a CD drive (for games) and do need a bigger screen. maybe a 17, 19 incher.(instead of this monster)

[slackline]

If you want to play serious 3D games then you'll probably have to get used to beans on toast.

I'd aim for a minimum 2GB RAM which is recommended for Vista, but try and get XP (or Linux, but less good for games), more is better though.  You'll want a decent GPU/graphics gard with as much RAM as you can afford (512Mb would be a good start, but again go with more).  Two main competitors in the graphics card area are nVidia and ATi, pretty much comparable, but have a search, theres a review here that compares recent cards and will give you an idea of performance/price.

Sound card depends on how much of audiophile you are, you can always get an external one at a later date if you find the internals  lacking and have it connected to your stereo for when you want to listen to tunes from your laptop.

No recommendations really, but I've an old Dell that has served me well.

[GCW]

This is quite a reasonable deal at the moment.

2GB RAM, albeit 667Mhz DDR2
1.86MHz Dual core, 1MB L2
160GB HDD
358MB graphics RAM

Not too bad for 350 quid.  Unforunately it's got Vista.

[GCW]

Quite a useful search engine here, which should give you an idea of what's available.

[robertostallioni]

Thats where the budgets going.


Considering something along the lines of...
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=Acer_Aspire_5920G_Laptop_LX.AQB0X.612&pagetype=version&page=
But with something like an Nvidia NX8800GT Graphics card.
Maybe a bigger screen too(If Santa has a lay-a-way scheme).



Cheers for the schooling chaps.

[GCW]

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=Acer_Aspire_5920G_Laptop_LX.AQB0X.612&pagetype=version&page=

Not bad spec, reasonable 2GB dual core processor, 4GB RAM, 250GB hard drive.  I'd probably suggest getting a better processor rather than simply upgrading the graphics, for gaming i bet it'd be faster.  You could shifty up to the T7600 which would give you 2.2Ghz but with 800 bus and a 4MB cache.

It's all about shopping about I'm afraid.  And, to a degree, you get what you pay for.

You could always get one, then get the screwdrivers out and look on e-bay for upgrades.

[andy_e]

That's the one sitting on my lap right now- not bad at all. No problems with it to date.

[Bubba]

Thats where the budgets going.

There appears to be a couple of shallow graves just outside your window  :'(

[robertostallioni]

Trust a lorry driver to spot that.

[GCW]

Hi, I'm Pete and I recommend Intel processors.

[robertostallioni]

Cheers Pete but..
beans on toast not necessary, its Sancerre and filet mignon all the way. Decided to follow Stephen Hawkins lead and keep the old Laptop for Net/Pron and go the XBox 360 option for gaming.

Keep on talking.

[andy_e]

That's the one sitting on my lap right now- not bad at all. No problems with it to date.

Scratch that- the screen back light has stopped working, as has the touch-pad mouse. 

[GCW]

Just built yet another PC.  Loading XP so I'll find out if I've fucked up soon enough

[robertostallioni]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet it looks like this

[GCW]

Almost, but it's carved like my previous Gizmo effort.