I need help finding a new laptop. I'm going to be spending around £600 but i struggle when looking at all the different processor speeds etc (is a mobile M as good as a P4?)

All advice and links to bargains appreciated :wink:

[EDIT] This One (http://www.go-mv.com/showdet.php?id=138) has won two reviews over the last few months. How would it's processor compare to my old 2.8 Celeron D ?

The lack of DVD/RW is a bit worrying too.

OK, i've found another two from my magazines.

Mesh Pegasus 15in PCW (http://meshcomputers.com/updated/review_sep05_peg15pcw.htm)

Acer Aspire 3020 (https://sslrelay.com/shopacer.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=1542fcd855d19d7/shopdata/0130_Notebooks/0033_Aspire/0086_Aspire+3000+3020/product_details.shopscript?article=0100_Aspire%2B3 022WLMI%2B%3D28LX%3D252EA4905%3D252E048%3D29)

What.... No one wants to help me chose a lappy :(

C'mon peeps. Someone blow my mind with some technical processor speed stuff. I really have no idea when it comes to hardware :?

depends what you want it for
do you want it to be mobile?
are you using it as a desktop replacement?
do you want it for games?
are you going to be using it on a train or where you have no mains power source ?
are you going to be carrying it about much?

if you want it to be very portable then centrino is the way to go.
if your not carrying it about and want to use it as a desktop replacement then you want power and video regardless of weight.

I have an Amilo 1840 which i am typing on. Its great but battery life is crap and its bloody heavy.

I also have a Fujitsu siemens 8010 for work which is half and half. It's centrino but has a good screen. not light but also good to use.

If you want something portable then screen size and power are not that important, you want lightness and long battery life. word and excel will work on almost anything.

seriously consider what you want it to do.

This laptop is never going to move from my house (that i know of). It will be used with the power connected almost all the time and will hardly, if ever, be used for gaming. I have my ps2 for that :wink:

I will need it to run for example:
Dreamweaver MX
Photoshop7
Firefox

All at the same time without complaining and slapping the fan on every few seconds.
I would like a minimum of 64mb graphics as well. It also needs to have a PMCIA slot but i think that is pretty standard now.
I think the Acer Aspire is widescreen (which would be nice)
DVD playback quality could be a factor as well. I had a 2.8GB Celeron D Toshiba laptop and the DVD playback was horrendous
:o

I read a review that said the Sempron out performed the Mobile M processors but it also mentioned that this could have been because of the extra RAM.

Could someone please explain why a centrino is a good thing? (Not being sarcastic there, I'm in the market for a laptop myself!)

I am an authorised toshiba repair person and up until recenty i would not have touched them with a bargepole. the new ones are better and good value but you still want a three year warranty. same with IBM and fsc / amilo. to be honest, as long as you get a 3 year warranty then you should be fine. Am too ****** at mo to make sense but shall try and ad something useful tomorrow
:)

That'll be cool. Thanks neeeeeeeeeek :thumbsup:

Bumpety bump :wink:

I've been considering a 14" Apple iBook G4.

http://www.apple.com/uk/ibook/

Although they cost more than what you've budgeted for. It'll do all the things you've listed.

Advantages:
6 hours battery life. May be optimistic, but thats better than the 2.5hrs of most PC laptops.
its not microsoft
its small
its got ethernet, wireless and bluetooth
OS X isn't as resource intensive as Windows.

Diasadvantages:
its Apple
its white (not available in black)

K.

The G4 looks a quality bit of kit karl101 :wink: I don't think I'll be able to go up to £700 for the lowest spec one though :(

Today i found the Acer 4151 LMI Centrino (http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/acer-travelmate_4151_lmi-laptop-4-n2.htm) on offer at Staples for only £549 (until Monday).

Is there anyone 'in the know' out there to take a look through these Notebooks/laptops and help me decide which to go for?


I'm also considering This (http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_2305LCi_LX.T5605.382/version.asp) for £400 and adding another 512mb RAM. What do you think?

if its never going to leave the house why not buy a top of the range desktop with 2gb RAM and stupidly fast processor, kit it up with decent peripherals and buy yourself a nice TFT screen with the leftover cash??

We already have a decent desktop in the living room Carl_Malibu. I don't like using it really. I prefer to have a laptop on my knee and sit watching football at the same time :wink:

well, fair enough...

I mean, if you've already got a desktop you could always give the £600 to me so that i can get myself a decent desktop? :P

No problem mate :)
Just pick my cat up from hell on your way to collect the cash :wink:

Originally posted by vidster
Today i found the Acer 4151 LMI Centrino (http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/acer-travelmate_4151_lmi-laptop-4-n2.htm) on offer at Staples for only £549 (until Monday).

Is there anyone 'in the know' out there to take a look through these Notebooks/laptops and help me decide which to go for?


I'm also considering This (http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer_TravelMate_2305LCi_LX.T5605.382/version.asp) for £400 and adding another 512mb RAM. What do you think?


Out of the two you mention above, I'd personally go for the 4151....

Reasons:

1 - Not a celeron processor
2 - Able to handle more memory
3 - Larger HD
4 - More support for external peripherals (ie Firewire)
5 - 533MHz data bus
6 - Windows XP Pro installed (though this could also be a reason not to buy this one;)
7 - It's lighter
8 - Longer battery life (apparently)
9 - DVD RW as opposed to CDRW
A - It looks nicer

What do you think of the first three i linked to sccsux?

Originally posted by Ant
Could someone please explain why a centrino is a good thing? (Not being sarcastic there, I'm in the market for a laptop myself!)

Centrino is a good thing because all the components are selected for low power and therefor lower heat output. They are designed for thinner, lighter laptops, with battery life in excess of 4 hours. Centrino isnt the processor as people tend to think, centrino systems use the P4(M) (M for mobile D for desktop). The M version chips for centrino systems are selected from better stepped (Chips are given steppings, much like batch numbers, some batches are better than others, depending on the silicon quality, the fab they were made at etc) chips. Centrino usually comes with low power mainboard, wifi, modem, and graphics etc selected for the power to heat to performance ratio.

One question, if your not foing to use it as a laptop, why not invest in a PC, something like a shuttle or similar?

As for laptops, have a look at the HP NX6110's, or the Acer Aspire 3022. Steer well clear of Mesh, my first laptop was from them, and the support was naff, took 6 weeks for them to change the faulty screen.

Joel

What's everyones thoughts on IBM Thinkpads?

How does This one (http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1386401930.112431420 1@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddfhfilmkjcflgceggdhhmdgmj.0&page=Product&sku=720540&category_oid=-21720&fm=1&sm=1&tm=0) compare to what i've pointed out so far?

Thinkpads are very good, they might not look the top (although the X40 is uber sexy), they are no-nonsence laptops designed for business, therefore are designed for being bunged in and out of cars, and a long life with decent power.

Joel

Dont touch them. I bought an IBM for a business colleague in 1999 thinking you cant go wrong with IBM and no-one gets fired for buying IBM. In 2000 You & Yours featured their Customer Services and included a grandmother who complained the computer she bought didnt work which IBM wanted to replace and which she refused because she wanted IBM to make that particular computer work. :gag:

Interestingly when I tried to get IBM to replace their defective computer because my colleague and I had lost confidence in the entire system (after a threatened hard disk failure, constant crashes, etc, etc, etc) they refused to offer a replacement and would only repair the machine. :suspect:

By the way that part of their company was acquired by a Chinese company with the brand name so you are not actually buying IBM.

I found IBM's post sales technical support very poor and will never again buy or recommend IBM to anyone.

Have a look at the link below, while stocks last its a bargain. Also re the post about IBM, the new range are really excellent value for money. Since Lenovo took IBM over a few months ago, they have really improved customer services and the build quality aswell.

However saying that the link I have sent is for a HP:confused:

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpresentation/index.php?product_id=HPYA044U8