Help choosing a laptop

[orangebird]

Just after a bit of advice really. Decided to bite the bullet and get a laptop for home use. Nothing fancy and fangle-dangled. I don't 'game', just browse, email and internet shop. What do you guys recommend?

edit - budget £<1k.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Firstly do you really need the portability. If it's only going to get used in one place in the house, then a desktop will suffice, and be a lot cheaper for equivalent specs. If you want portability even within the house, then you'll want a wireless setup in the house - would add to your budget to add an access point if you dont have that already.

The other big factor is screen size. Smaller is more portable as less weight, but screen size can be important when increasingly sites add more and more content.

As for what we might recommend, do you have any sort of budget? Ah you just added that in your edit

[Stuart]

I got a Sony Vaio PCG-K315. Not a massively powerful laptop (but powerful enough for what I need it for - I didn't buy it for games) and, having what Sony calls an x-black LCD, the display is absolutely amazing. In fact, it makes the Samsung 172T LCD I have on my destop machine look cheap and washed out.

The one I got didn't come with a wireless network connection (although, bizarrely, the drivers CD you create on the machine includes wireless drivers). It also doesn't come with any recovery CDs. Instead , you have to make your own (but the software they use makes this easy). It comes with 512 Meg ram, a single-layer, dual-format DVD writer, 40 gig hard drive and onboard Ethernet connection, and onboard fax modem.

You can get that laptop, and a cheap wireless card for about £600-£700, or if you want to spend £800-£1000, you get a more powerful machine with built in wireless network.

TBH, the best way to use wireless networking on a laptop is buy a laptop with a Centrino processor (effectively a Pentium 4 with built in wireless networking).

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Rob C

Firstly do you really need the portability. If it's only going to get used in one place in the house, then a desktop will suffice, and be a lot cheaper for equivalent specs. If you want portability even within the house, then you'll want a wireless setup in the house - would add to your budget to add an access point if you dont have that already.

The other big factor is screen size. Smaller is more portable as less weight, but screen size can be important when increasingly sites add more and more content.

As for what we might recommend, do you have any sort of budget? Ah you just added that in your edit

Thanks for the reply. It's not about portability, it's about space - I do not want a desk/hard drive/printer etc etc taking up room in my flat. I want a laptop purely because they take up less room.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Yep I'd suggest you look for the Centrino standard (wireless). Even if you don't want that immediately, you will one day. I'd also suggest you look at the Pentium M (mobile) standard processors. They run more efficently (bettery life and cooling) than the standard, but perhaps more powerful Pentiums. If you do go Centrino you are stuck with Intel as AMD haven't really got the mobile market sussed. It's the one area where Intel still have the clear adavantage over their rivals.

Sony laptops are very very nice, but can be a little pricey. I've heard issues about sourcing spares too. Bear in mind that the way laptops are built they have limited upgradeability, and parts generally aren't easy to come by. By going with a known name, despite there being good lesser known makers, you have a better chance of a repairs backup.

I'd be tempted to suggest sticking with HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Sony. Some good also rans can be Acer and Elonex. Time / Tiny did do laptops through their high street outlets, but they did have build quality issues a while ago, so I'd steer clear now.
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Given what you say about space, rather than portability look at something with a 15" screen, perhaps a widescreen format.
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This looks quite good in your price bracket:
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...hs1&l=en&s=dhs
you could always have a larger hard disk.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Thanks for the reply. It's not about portability, it's about space - I do not want a desk/hard drive/printer etc etc taking up room in my flat. I want a laptop purely because they take up less room.

You "could" go for a SFF (small form factor) PC with a TFT the actual footprint wouldn't be much more than a laptop and you'd get more for your money.

http://www.evesham.com/PCs/Info.asp?...6-6DFFF866B01E

You can get them a lot cheaper, that's just an example.

[Aragorn]

If you want a bargain, HP sell 're-manufactured' and end-of-line warrantied laptops through ebay - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/HP-Marketpl...enameZL2QQtZkm

eg Athlon64 widescreen laptop with wireless currently at £510 + del. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=5220319500

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

I got a Sony Vaio PCG-K315. Not a massively powerful laptop (but powerful enough for what I need it for - I didn't buy it for games) and, having what Sony calls an x-black LCD, the display is absolutely amazing. In fact, it makes the Samsung 172T LCD I have on my destop machine look cheap and washed out.

The one I got didn't come with a wireless network connection (although, bizarrely, the drivers CD you create on the machine includes wireless drivers). It also doesn't come with any recovery CDs. Instead , you have to make your own (but the software they use makes this easy). It comes with 512 Meg ram, a single-layer, dual-format DVD writer, 40 gig hard drive and onboard Ethernet connection, and onboard fax modem.

You can get that laptop, and a cheap wireless card for about £600-£700, or if you want to spend £800-£1000, you get a more powerful machine with built in wireless network.

TBH, the best way to use wireless networking on a laptop is buy a laptop with a Centrino processor (effectively a Pentium 4 with built in wireless networking).

Thanks for the reply. I'm not fussed about wireless stuff etc....

Anyone got an opinion on Apple?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Thanks for the reply. I'm not fussed about wireless stuff etc....

Anyone got an opinion on Apple?

You have a PM.

An Apple will be cool-but pricey for what you want to do IMHO.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

You have a PM.

An Apple will be cool-but pricey for what you want to do IMHO.

Thank you Have replied.

[bob_builder]

I do not want to hijack your thread but I am also looking for a laptop. Basically I am after something that I can take on holiday with me to access emails etc. via hotel WiFi (although I do not want anything too slow and would rather pay a little extra for a better graphics engine with dedicated memory).

I have been looking at Sepron and Turion machines with ATI X700 for around £650 but am happy to be corrected if Intel are better than AMD for laptops (as suggested above).