Multipurpose durable laptop

Attol

Unfortunately my laptop has decided to die on me so I need a new one. I´ve a few things I def want but there´s also things I´m not very experienced with so would need a hand with those! I don´t want a desktop so need this to be a decent alternative. I just prefer having my whole life portable!

2GBs RAM, ~100GB hard drive (this isn´t too important, I´ve an external one anyway), Vista, decent processor.

I would use it for surfing, college work, watching movies, music, pretty much everything. I´d do a little bit of gaming so need a gfx card that can handle stuff like Half Life 2, want to check out Episode 1 as well but I know very little about that side of things so what should I look for?

I want to be able to have it last me through college too. It would get extremely high usage. I usually left my old one on most of the day.

Widescreen would be good. Not bigger than 15.4" because of portability. Hmm... A comfortable keyboard because I type a lot.

Where would be the best place to find a decent quality laptop with those kindsa things? I´ve a budget of about 800 to spend, preferably more around the 700 mark but I can stretch a little more if it´s worth it. What should I be expecting to get at that price because I´m not too familiar with laptop prices. Cheers

StephenC_IRL

your looking more around the 1500 range for that sort of spec with a good graphics card, i personally suggest working your ass of for 1899 euro for a macbook pro, the aluminium case stands up to a lot more than a plastic laptop does imho, also you get the graphics you want, a great battery life (compared to most high spec laptops) integrated webcam, and it boots windows too

Attol

Sickening looking at desktop prices then comparing them to laptop ones! No way could I afford that much right now though unfortunately as I'm saving up for college. What could I realistically get for 700-800?

StephenC_IRL

800 will get you 1gb ram, core duo 1.6 to 1.8ghz, intel integrated graphics, or 64mb dedicated ati at best, 15.4" wide, 60-80gb hdd, vista home basic, xp pro if your lucky, something with a 2 hour battery at max, integrated wifi 802.11b/g (not A or N like the macbook has too) , chances are whatever you get will run halflife but not greatly, intel integrated graphics wont do half life,

you could try find a 2nd hand macbook pro (original core duo revision) for just about 900 euro

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=335473 only 512 ram ( i suggest an upgrade by some local shop once you buy) but this is reasonable

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=337904 integrated graphics will not fare you well for games, but aside from that this is probably the best youll do

TerrorFirmer

If Half Life 2 is the extent of the gaming side then it's not so bad - Half Life 2 will run well on the basic Ati integrated graphics that frequently appear in even the cheapest Celeron machines. Just make sure you avoid Intel integrated video. It also works, but quite poorly.

For 800 from Dell you'd get a 1501 machine configured with 2Gb Ram, 120Gb Hard Drive, X1150 video and Sempron 3500+ processor. More then enough for everyday uses, and adequate for running Half Life 2 at medium-ish settings.

But again it depends on the necessity of those requirements you've given. With such a cheap budget, you might get a laptop with a better dedicated card for that same price - but probably with only 1gb of ram, possibly smaller hard drive to boot. Which is the most important feature to you? Or, in reverse, a better dual core processer but paired with a gpu less forgiving to games.

Like take a look at this.

Nice big screen if that's what you prefer, fast single core processor and semi decent integrated graphics that will run Half Life 2 on medium-ish - only 660 euro, lacking that extra ram but 120gb Hard drive and a nice 17" screen with the ability to play Half Life 2.

This

Nice sturdy, well made laptop, with a card that will run Half Life 2 at high settings and comes with a dual core processor - 734 euro.

Another one

This will also run HL2 at fairly high settings and has some other nice features, but again, only 1gb of ram - only 660 euro.

Again, it really all depends on exactly what aspects you're prepared to sacrifice and those that you aren't....it's difficult to get all of what you've requested into that budget. Hope this helps a bit.

edit: just found a sweet one:

Here

1.86Ghz dual core, 160Gb Hard Drive, 2Gb ram, 7300 video card - you couldn't ask for much better then this for a new machine at this price - 734 euro.

Attol

Thanks for the replies! Now processor wise I'm very clueless. If I were to go for just a single core (prices are so much cheaper) would I be likely to get a better deal than if going for dual core? Would there be a noticable increase in performance when I wouldn't really care other than when ripping stuff or unraring or tasks like that? Basically the gaming aspect isn't really that important because realistically I'm a console gamer and that would just be an added bonus.

here.from.day.1

Attol wrote:

Thanks for the replies! Now processor wise I'm very clueless. If I were to go for just a single core (prices are so much cheaper) would I be likely to get a better deal than if going for dual core? Would there be a noticable increase in performance when I wouldn't really care other than when ripping stuff or unraring or tasks like that? Basically the gaming aspect isn't really that important because realistically I'm a console gamer and that would just be an added bonus.

Most oldish and some current games are not optimized for dual cores so they difference would not be great. The increase you would notice when ripping/burning etc would be if you are doing more than one of these tasks at once. It really comes down to what you want in the machine but bear in mind with a dual core the laptop will be that bit more futureproof and with the new Santa Rosa chipsets merom dual core prices will surely go down slightly. I would suggest trying to get a dual core if the budget permits even a low speed one shouldnt damage your pocket to much. :P