Laptop recommendations (sticky has been read!)

Eoin

Hi all,

I am thinking about getting a new laptop.

Budget: €600 or so delivered. Might be able to stretch higher, but would prefer to keep the costs down.
Mobility: Size and weight are not an issue. The larger the screen and keyboard, the better.
Intended Use: Mostly web-development (Visual Studio 2005). No gaming, but I would like reasonable quality for the occasional movie. There would be occasional Paint Shop Prop usage as well.
Minimum spec: 2GB RAM, 15" monitor. Capacity is not too important; 50GB or more should more than suffice. I imagine that Wireless comes as standard these days...
Warranty: Not too sure, I guess the standard one. I'd be comfortable enough changing parts myself if needs be. I've no problems with a refurbished laptop.

I've had a Dell XPS laptop with a 17" screen for the last couple of years, and while the performance is only OK, the large screen and keyboard have been excellent. I'm really looking for something that is a desktop replacement as it will be used for several hours a day, so the more ergonomic the better. Tiny keyboards with squashed layouts are no good for me.

I've been looking at the usual sites, but it's been so long since I spec'd up a PC that I can't remember what the main things to look out for are.

These are a few that caught my eye:

L4354 HP Pavilion DV8000 Laptop - AMD Turion 64 ML-40

Sony Vaio LAPTOP 320GB Core Duo 2GB RAM

HP PAVILION LAPTOP NOTEBOOK- 2GHZ/ 3GB

Toshiba Satellite Dual Core 15.4" Notebook 2GB

Any opinions or suggestions?

thanks,

Eoin

Overheal

Keyboards on the pavillion series are probably the best thing about them

I could be wrong though about those particular pavillions: theyre pretty old. the processor for instance im pretty sure is a single core: you only get the 3.4ghz performance difference when you run 64-bit processing. Other than that, ebay is probably the worst way to go about a laptop purchase.

AlmightyCushion

Overheal wrote: »

I could be wrong though about those particular pavillions: theyre pretty old. the processor for instance im pretty sure is a single core

It's actually a dual core. It's common place on ebay to refer to a dual core 2Ghz processor as a 4Ghz processor. It makes it look better than the same processor marked as a 2Ghz.

Eoin

Thanks for the advice, I just used eBay as a starting point to get a shortlist. I doubt I would go for one, unless it was considerably cheaper.

So, dual core is a big thing to look out for?

AlmightyCushion

With your budget you should be getting 2GBs ram, 120 (maybe 160GB) hard drive, and a 1.6Ghz core2duo/1.9Ghz turion 64 minimum.

Eoin

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

With your budget you should be getting 2GBs ram, 120 (maybe 160GB) hard drive, and a 1.6Ghz core2duo/1.9Ghz turion 64 minimum.

Thanks for that - that gives me a good benchmark to look for.

Any brands to avoid, or ones to go for?

Edit - this Acer is pretty much the spec you've listed, and well priced too. Good option?

AlmightyCushion

Not really, I've had a couple of friends have some problems with hp but in fairness hp make about a bazillion laptops a year so they're bound to have their fair share of lemons.

Eoin

Thanks again. The last time I was looking at laptops, Packard Bell were the ones to avoid, so we're going back a while!

Dabs.ie seems to be pretty good value for money, a nice Toshiba one as well.

AlmightyCushion

eoin_s wrote: »

Edit - this Acer is pretty much the spec you've listed, and well priced too. Good option?

That's pretty good value. It has a 6 cell battery which is quite good, usually on cheaper laptops they give you a 4 cell battery to bring the price down. You'd get about twice as much battery life with the 6 cell over a 4 cell.

The toshiba is quite good value as well. Not sure about the battery though. One thing about that toshiba. If it's the model I think it is, then it'll have a shiny casing which is an absolute bítch to keep clean. It smudges very easily.

Eoin

Cool, another thing to look out for. I'll do some digging around and see if I can find some reviews...

Eoin

I went for a Samsung R60 in the end. Got it for €450, but have ordered 4GB of RAM for €80. Still well within budget, so delighted with that. Thanks for all the help.

sloppydrunk

where u get it eoin??

im lookin to buy a laptop meself

Eoin

I actually got it off eBay, but off a seller I have bought from before that sells a lot of new gear. All the items are auctions though - no "buy it now". Probably saved about €100 on what it was going for on Dabs.ie

edit: this is the store - http://stores.ebay.ie/LuzernTech