Advice on best laptop - spec etc

nubineeprincess

hey all

my laptop broke and will cost up to 500euro to fix - its 14months old so i think it would prob be better to buy a new one - budget 500 to 600euro - at least i will have 12month warranty with it you know??
anywho i was wondering what kind of spec such as speed, RAM, memory etc would i be looking for and where is best place to shop???
i use it for mostly storing/listening to songs(need to store over 2000 songs), using broadband for research,youtube etc..., word processing and writing essays etc. - so need one with good memory and the faster the better!
I would be really grateful for any help on specifications, brands or best places to shop as need to buy one like tommorow as urgent work needs to be done for college!!
Cheers all!!!

Run_to_da_hills

Avoid anything with a "Celeron" in it unless you intend using it for typing basic word documents and emails.

drunkmonkey

One of the most important things on a laptop that most people forget is the batter, any of those 500 euro laptops you see in most shops the battery will rarley last over an hour under heavy use....and it could cost you 2 to 2 hundred to upgrade the battery afterwards...

If you buy a laptop direct from dell, you can upgrade the battery for very little when purchasing, the same goes for the graphics card and the screen (look for a true life display, there is a huge difference in screen quality)

Dell currently have a 17inch widescreen laptop Inspiron 1720 for €599, call them direct upgrade the screen and battery, they might even give you the upgrades for free if your willing to hand over your credit card straight away....

It might take a week to arrive but you'll have a lot better machine at the end of it...

Failing that i'd see could I pick up a second hand 17 inch apple powerbook somewhere another king among laptops....

Tom Dunne

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Avoid anything with a "Celeron" in it unless you intend using it for typing basic word documents and emails.

Which is pretty much what she described above.

Ok, look for a system with at least 2Gig of RAM and at least 100Gig of hard drive space and some sort of Duo processor (don't worry about the preceding bit - it may be Core, Core 2 or Centrino, the Duo bit is the important bit)

Everything else isn't as important for you.

As for where to purchase it - try the Laptopshop or you just might get something decent in PC World (and I say might).

If you can wait, purchasing online would save you a hundred or so Euro.

is_that_so

Although Dell is probably the easiest and first port of call for you I personally like Toshiba although they may be outside your budget for a reasonable spec. Acer is another possibility but with their reputedly poor support , it may be one to steer clear of, but they are well-priced.


EDIT : Just saw Tom Dunne's post. PC World have Toshibas