Help finding the right laptop

Rozie

Hi, I'm a student so I don't have a huge amount of money to spend, but still need a decent laptop. I don't need a top of the range dealie with a 22" screen and a bunch of features I'll never use.

Basically what I want is:

DVD writer
Soundblaster card(these are cheap anyway, not very essential)
80 GIG HDD,
1024 MB RAM.
Don't care about screen size or resolutions much as long as the colour contrast is decent.
Needs to be able to run Oblivion well, and handle the games coming this year; specifically Spider-man 3 and Transformers, without looking like total crap.
NO WINDOWS VISTA. Pref Windows 2000 and a partition I can use for Linux.

How much am I looking to pay, and where online should I shop? Thanks. I wouldn't mind it being used as long as it was decent, I may have to go that route anyway, I can always buy a new battery if necessary but I doubt I'll be using it for more than an hour at a time unplugged.

Ruu_Old

Have you looked at Dell.ie? You could probably get an el cheapo one there with what you mentioned that should work for you.

Rozie

Ruu wrote:

Have you looked at Dell.ie? You could probably get an el cheapo one there with what you mentioned that should work for you.

Dell are decent value but since they're a "Name brand" I doubt they're the best.

Is eBay really that terrible idea, if I go with a reputable seller?

BostonB

Rozie wrote:

Dell are decent value but since they're a "Name brand" I doubt they're the best....

That makes no sense, to me at least. Someone you've never heard of is likely to be the best?

Rozie

Any suggestions?

Also I really need one with a Geforce graphics card if at all possible...

Tom Dunne

Rozie wrote:

Any suggestions?

Also I really need one with a Geforce graphics card if at all possible...

TBH, if you are not willing to take the Dell suggestion (which I can't for the life of me figure out), and as you seem to have a basic idea of what you want, why not look at the stickies and some of the previous threads? Then post up a spec of a couple of laptops and we will give you an opinion.

Havok has posted some great information on graphics cards in the past, have a good read of some of his posts.

gary the great

Why not go with dell?

The offer in the papers are offering Dual core processor, 1gig ram, 80gig hardrive for 560euro? if you need it for games etc add more RAM or whatever GFX card. You won't get any cheaper and I could nearly guarentee that.

Also have a look on www.dell.ie/outlet for great deals.
EG how about this:

http://outlet.dell.com/Emea_Dfo/EuDispatcher?target=SpecPage&serviceTag=DDBM3GAL&sessionID=GDmJlrVG!987456483!32376243!1174660809458

What a bargain, also has XP on it.

Rozie

Can I get a graphics card later then? I'm not familiar with laptops... I thought you couldn't add stuff like that on afterwards? It would have to be PCMIA or something?

How much better would that CPU be than my Athlon 2600+?

Where's a good place to buy laptop Gfx cards?

The big problem here is that if I buy a graphics card separate, I'll have to go opening it up and messing around and there's no guarantee it will work, and I'll void the guarantee doing so. No laptops seem to come with decent graphics cards though, at least in my price range. I don't understand it, I'd like a laptop that's in the E600 range, but with a graphics card worth around E200 but it's not possible.

All of Dell's laptops have absolutely **** graphics cards, unless you're willing to pay over 2 Grand. N o thanks.

Tom Dunne

Rozie wrote:

Can I get a graphics card later then? I'm not familiar with laptops... I thought you couldn't add stuff like that on afterwards? It would have to be PCMIA or something?

No, generally speaking you cannot change the graphics card on a laptop.

Rozie wrote:

How much better would that CPU be than my Athlon 2600+?

A hell of a lot.

Rozie wrote:

All of Dell's laptops have absolutely **** graphics cards, unless you're willing to pay over 2 Grand. N o thanks.

I think you would want to check your facts there Rozie, that is complete and utter nonsense. You seem to have formed this opinion of Dell which, quite frankly, is way off the mark.

Laptops are built for mobility. If you want a decent graphics card, you are going to have to pay more than €600, simple as that. You will, however, get a decent graphics card on a laptop for in and around €1000.

Rozie

I think you would want to check your facts there Rozie, that is complete and utter nonsense. You seem to have formed this opinion of Dell which, quite frankly, is way off the mark.

No, this was formed by fishing around on their site. Pretty much all of their laptops except their 2 Grand XPSes have extremely low end Radeon Mobility cards.

Tom Dunne

The Inspiron 9400 can be configured with an Nvidia Go 7900 for €1200, which, according to notebook forums, is a high-end card.

Rozie

tom dunne wrote:

The Inspiron 9400 can be configured with an Nvidia Go 7900 for €1200, which, according to notebook forums, is a high-end card.

Really? Hmm. I'll have to take a look at that. None of them would let me change the card.

EDIT: Yeah, it lets me do it. Doesn't let me change some stuff I'd rather change though. I'd rather get a slightly worse graphics card(7600) and more ram. Though after reading that forum, apparently, you can't change the graphics card. 7900 is the top card there is so it should continue to display games with relatively full details for some time.

Tom Dunne

You're welcome.

TerrorFirmer

Pity you missed out the Lidl deal - 7600 equipped laptop for 999 euro. Dell don't offer the 7600 in their laptops.

Other options:

Dell's 1501 with X1150 will run Oblivion, at a very cheap price.
6400 with X1400 will also run Oblivion much better then above, at a decent price.

Laptopdirect also have a fair few laptops with 7300 class cards for the 800 mark, would also run Oblivion.

Although if you can get a 9400 with 7900GS for 1,200, you would indeed be doing very well. Although to be honest requirements for Spiderman and Transformers will probably be low, due to the target audience - any half decent card would probably cut through them.

If you are looking for a card that will actually play all games on high settings for the next while, the Go7900GS is good, but don't make the mistake of thinking it can run every game at high settings - it can't. Most, but not all, and as newer games come out that'll become more common. Although, again, Spiderman 3 etc won't be too taxing.

Out of your requirements, the graphics card demand essentially doubles the budget...everything else could be gotten in a 600/700 euro machine. Trying to buy a laptop for high end gaming is just....not advisable in my opinion. Best to settle for a cheap but functional mid range machine.

Rozie

There are a few laptops that cover what I'm looking for but they're not available here.

Although if you can get a 9400 with 7900GS for 1,200, you would indeed be doing very well. Although to be honest requirements for Spiderman and Transformers will probably be low, due to the target audience - any half decent card would probably cut through them.

The problem is a 17" Laptop is a bit too big for me. I need something portable, so I'm looking for something more along like lines of a 7600-700 with a 14" screen.

BostonB

Rozie wrote:

There are a few laptops that cover what I'm looking for but they're not available here.

The problem is a 17" Laptop is a bit too big for me. I need something portable, so I'm looking for something more along like lines of a 7600-700 with a 14" screen.

Theres a few 12"~14" machines with 7400 cards. I've seen some HP's at a decent prices in retails stores. . The M1210 sometimes comes up on the outlet.

petes

HavoK wrote:

Out of your requirements, the graphics card demand essentially doubles the budget...everything else could be gotten in a 600/700 euro machine. Trying to buy a laptop for high end gaming is just....not advisable in my opinion. Best to settle for a cheap but functional mid range machine.

As Havok said. If you want a decent graphics card in a laptop you are going to have to pay for it.

Also Dells are quite reliable imo. I have been using them for ages now. My first laptop was a inspiron 8600. No problems that weren't self inflicted:)

Now have xps and no problems so far either.

We also buy solely Dell desktops/laptops for work.

Rozie

Well as I said Dell jump from the horrible cards in it's lower end machines to the absolute top of the range cards in their larger machines. I want something somewhat high end up not highest end. I think the 7600 or 7600 GT would be fine for me, but Dell doesn't do it in any of their laptops. The 7400 is miles behind.

Plus, I've found it's cheaper to get an Asus or Znote, you simply get more bang for your buck than with Dell. Dell seem cheap enough at first, but when you want to change stuff, they cost too much.

Thanks for the help everyone anyway.

BostonB

Rozie wrote:

Well as I said Dell jump from the horrible cards in it's lower end machines to the absolute top of the range cards in their larger machines. I want something somewhat high end up not highest end. I think the 7600 or 7600 GT would be fine for me, but Dell doesn't do it in any of their laptops. The 7400 is miles behind.

Plus, I've found it's cheaper to get an Asus or Znote, you simply get more bang for your buck than with Dell. Dell seem cheap enough at first, but when you want to change stuff, they cost too much.

Thanks for the help everyone anyway.

I guess you either want to game or don't. Most people don't want a halfway house. I'm guessing.

Whats the support like with Asus and Znote though?

Rozie

Decent, I think.

I don't know though. That Dell could come with a top of the range graphics card but it's a 17". I felt around in Currys today, and a 15.4 seems perfect, all the 17s were too heavy.

Rozie

Think I have my heart set on a Zepto/Znote. They're great value and I'd recommend them to anyone.

BostonB

Rozie wrote:

Decent, I think.

I don't know though. That Dell could come with a top of the range graphics card but it's a 17". I felt around in Currys today, and a 15.4 seems perfect, all the 17s were too heavy.

Depend what are using it for. 17 is ok if you are moving around the house or between locations now and then. If you are carrying it on a regular basis or using it on your lap, then I'd avoid a 17. I'd go 14 or smaller.