New Laptop
 

Right - who did actually go out and buy one? I'm caving in and buying one I think. I want one that I can shop, email and download stuff onto my i-pod with. Nowt flash, or anything to do with gaming etc. And small too. I will not reserve any space in my house for a pc. :D

Re: New Laptop
 

And the $64,000 question, what's your budget, cos Zingle like's spending all your money and more :D

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I wouldn't know what the value of what I wanted was worth to be honest. All I want to do is download itunes, the occasional bit of shopping, send some emails, and a bit of book keeping (for my husband, self employed yada yada).

The only thing I know I want is for it to be very fast. No hanging screens and stuff. That really bothers me.

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What size you looking for? About 13/14 inch?

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Laptops seem to go up in price the smaller and lighter weight they are, as well as increasing in price if you are really wanting a full blown desktop gaming standard PC in a not really portable laptop.

Often it's about trade off, but if you aren't needing to do flashy graphics stuff, want somethign with a bit of futuer proofing, then I'd be suggesting something with a core duo (mobile) processor, and ideally 1GB of RAM. Fit that around your screen size and your doing well.

A nice compromise on size, 14.1" widescreen, and all the other features seems to be Dell's Inspiron 640M. You can reduce the price significantly by cutting back on the warranty / support stuff)It's one of those things though, technology and offers change so fast that whatever is a good deal today, might not be so tommorrow.

Re: New Laptop
 

300 to 350 will get you a basic laptop but the screen will only be adequate 400 to 500 quid will get you an all rounder and the skys the limit for higher performance.

---------- Post added at 19:08 ---------- Previous post was at 19:06 ----------


my school of thought is come up with a dead maximum you can spend max no compromise and spend the lot on the best you can get ;) normally the first max you can spend thought is normally a good 100 quid less than you can stretch to lol

Re: New Laptop
 

my hp nx6325 is pretty kool and under £400

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I love our Apple Powerbook G4 15"...Apple have replaced these with Macbooks now I believe and (as with all things Mac)they can be expensive...but it's always worth looking round for a bargain...ours was a PC World ex-demo model with a full Apple guarantee and it was less than half original price. The learning curve from PC to Mac has been steep but well worth it IMO. If you do make the change go for one with Airport Extreme and a Superdrive if you need wireless connectivity and a DVD burner.

Plus, Apples always look so much nicer than PC equivalents :)

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Hhmmmm. I've never used an Apple before, but I am strangely drawn towards them. They are very good looking machines.... :drool:

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Not yet but I'm looking at this

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Whoa! That is seriously sexy!

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You've just got too much money :p

Last I knew you were looking at some weird and wonderful triple screen gaming PC?

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lol, gotta build my new pc first.....but I'll probably stick to single screen.....:D

---------- Post added at 15:29 ---------- Previous post was at 15:29 ----------

Oh yes! :D

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When I unpacked work's iBook, all the girls in the office crowded round and said "Ahh, innit cute?".

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You get apples at work? Lucky sod - we get lumbered with IBMs cacky T60s. :(

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Personally if your only main requirements are iTunes, emails and web browsing I'd go for an apple.

As well as looking better than most other laptops they are quite a bit faster to do things.

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Only one at work, sadly. While lecturers are allowed either desktop pcs or laptops, and, if they need them, macs instead of PCs, us lowly technicians have to put up with desktop or tower PCs. The one I have at work is there in case lecturers need to demonstrate anything on a mac in a lecture.. :(

Re: New Laptop
 

I bought from comet the follow (+specs)

Acer Aspire 5680WLMi

Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T7200 (2.0 GHz FSB, 4 MB L2 cache)
15.4” WXGA Acer CrystalBrite™ LCD (16ms)
NVIDA® GeForce™ 7600 SE 256MB VRAM (Dedicated)
160GB HDD
Slot-load DVD-Super Multi double layer (Support DVD±R Double layer/DVD±RW)
2GB DDR2 RAM
802.11a/b/g wireless LAN
BlueTooth
Expresscard Slot

XP Media Centre Edition

(Came with Bluetooth VoIP Phone)

Its very fast and powerful well with 2 64-bit processor what do you expect).

I've been playing Far Cry at Very High Spec.

The best £900 I spent.

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How big is the iPod make sure the HDD on the machine is big enough for all your tunes

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Orangebird,,

I think a lot of apples are sold to felames because they look stylish. As an example, my GF bought an apple ibook 14" just over a year ago. She didnt even consider a pc and i think the main drivers for her were
its small n cute
it looks stylish
she could use her ipod on it (my pc kept eating her ipod!)

To be honest,i do find it rather difficult to use her apple but that is probably becuase i am always on my pc. Maybe if i spent more time on it,it would grow on me.

I do think they are a tad over priced for what they are. You may as well buy a decent spec'd acer notebook. Brand names mean nothing these days as they are all mostly made by the same OEM's in Taiwan and then just badged up. Take a peek at the notebook lineup at www.dabs.com It provides a convenient search routine to narrow your choice and also gives user reviews/recommendations.

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Only a 4gig nano.

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OK all the CD's you have ripped. Unless you just rip the exact tracks you want on your iPod. Depends if you think you will start using your laptop as part of your home music / tv solution. Apple TV is pushing things in that direction. The AirPort Express started it streaming your itunes wirelessly to your stereo.

Re: New Laptop
 

Goodness me, no. I don't rip whole albums, just the tracks I like. And as soon as they're on the ipod I delete them off the laptop.

I won't even think about laptop-tv-music etc around the home. It confuses me. I've only just come to terms with Sky+. :blush: