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what do I need!

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  • 19-03-2009 11:13pm
    #1
    Diamond Joan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14 ✭


    Ok guys I'm a technophobe so I'm looking for your help and advice here.

    I need a new laptop. Will mainly be used for basic office functions, web, watching movies, itunes etc...no crazy gaming or anything.

    I don't really want to spend more than about EUR500.

    I'm looking at some of the Sony stuff, for example the VAIO VGN-NS20E, which I think I can get delivered from the UK for less than EUR500.
    The spec is something like this:

    RAM = 2GB
    CACHE = 1MB
    PROCESSOR = Pentium 2.16ghz
    HARD DRIVE = 250GB

    What does all this mean in terms speed etc. Is this a "good" spec for my usage requirements above? Are there other important measures that I haven't listed above? My last laptop was a dell inspiron which just died, about 5 years old, and was annoyingly slow, even just doing basic stuff. I really don't want to go through that again!

    For several hundred euro more I can pretty much double the RAM and Cache, with same processor speed and slightly larger hard disc. Ok there will be some other bells and whistles as well like bluetooth, and better software (but not worried about software as I already have licences for the software I need). So question I guess is whether I need the higher specs?

    Thanks for any input, sorry this is a bit longwinded!


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    #2
    li@mo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 349 ✭✭li@mo


    I presume its Windows Vista.

    Laptops require a minimum 1Gb RAM to operate Vista.

    Therefore while 2Gb is sufficient, I think that I would probably have 3Gb just to keep up speeds and perfomance.

    The Hard drive is a good size. I dont know anything about processors so i'll leave that to someone else.

    Im using a dell inspiron mysef. 2 years old and its on its last legs. Cant see myself getting another dell


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    #3
    Kenno90
    Registered Users Posts: 3,184 ✭✭✭Kenno90


    Well to be honest if you were to get a dell inspiron now , they would be nothing like the one you got 5 years ago , there decent laptops and very affordable and now are blindingly fast,

    as for the sony specs your looking at,there not the best in the world , but would do you ( a technophob who isn't into heavy gaming) fine

    now you said that you could upgrade for a few hundred euro , the double ram would be sweet and all but you only really need it for memory eaters like cs4 photoshop or some games , as vista only needs 1 gb minimum

    the extra CPU cache you wouldn't even notice, performance wise

    and as for a bigger hard drive , you already have 250gb which can hold thousands upon thousands of photos and songs , so unless your planning on storing movies it's not worth spending a few hundred euro on to upgrade the system


    the laptop your looking at is 100% fine for basic office functions, web, watching movies, itunes etc...


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    #4
    Voodu Child
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,706 ✭✭✭Voodu Child


    That Vaio looks fine.

    The average user will be happy with 2Gb (Vista). I wouldnt spend too much upgrading it further, as it's very cheap to do yourself anyway.

    1Mb cache on a dual core is pretty small (512k per core), but you won't be doing anything particularly processor intensive so I wouldn't bother upgrading to a better CPU (unless it is very cheap). The T3400 should be fine.

    I wouldn't worry overly about a bigger hard-disk either. Unless you start storing movies on there (or have a massive music collection), 250Gb is decent enough, you won't run out of space any time soon. Just be wary of disk management, Vista can hog a load of disk-space for various reasons (backup, restore etc).

    The only other thing to say is how important it is to learn basic (software) maintenance. When most people talk about their computer 'slowing down', its usually because theres tonnes of crapware and unecessary startup programs, or it needs a good defrag etc. So it's good to learn how to keep a PC clean in that regard. And there are a few things you can do with Vista from day one that will help speed it up a lot too.


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    #5
    Diamond Joan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14 ✭Diamond Joan


    Thanks for the replies, I’m getting a better picture of things already!
    Actually, I think it’s 3MB now that I look again. And there’s another one for about 70 euro more which has 4MB and 2MB cache, might be worth the extra money?
    Might look at the dells again so, just was fed up with my last one.
    Thanks again guys.


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