Suggestions for laptop to be used as desktop

inigo

So the old Dell desktop is dying on me and I am thinking of replacing it with a laptop for web browsing, MS Office, very light photo work, DVD/movie watching and other light usage. Don't need big screens as I will use it with the existing monitor, etc. Budget is €500. And before you ask, yes I'm after a laptop (not desktop) as I will need mobility inside the house. Any suggestions or advice on what to avoid? Oh, and is it possible to get laptops with Windos XP instead of Vista? Let's say I quite dislike the latter...;)

Alanstrainor

Getting XP will be a struggle, i don't see the point in using it anyway, vista is a grand OS, it might take a couple of days to get used to, but once you have you won't go back.
Vista's replacement will be released this October, so going back to using an OS that is essentially two generations "behind" may not be the best of ideas.

docmol

Good deals on acer refurbished on dabs.ie Have bought a few for friends and family with no problems. Very nice screens. All around €350 (didn't touch the more expensive ones). RAM for these is dirt cheap as well. All come with Vista so min 2GB ram (already installed or just buy and fit it). http://www.dabs.ie/products/acer-refurb-as5920-c2d-2-120-dvdrw-vhp-5DL0.html?refs=50937-50220000
Just remember to uninstall all the bloatware before you use it!!

inigo

I've heard very bad things about Vista so I was trying to avoid it. Even more considering the new OP is coming out soon... but not soon enough for my old Dell I think.

Overheal

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Getting XP will be a struggle, i don't see the point in using it anyway, vista is a grand OS, it might take a couple of days to get used to, but once you have you won't go back.
Vista's replacement will be released this October, so going back to using an OS that is essentially two generations "behind" may not be the best of ideas.

the free upgrade is on now. anything you buy will be vista, with the free option to upgrade to 7.

badgerbadger

Overheal wrote: »

the free upgrade is on now. anything you buy will be vista, with the free option to upgrade to 7.

when they had the offer before vista came out with xp laptops the "free" upgrade ended up costing between €35 and €40

inigo

The free upgrade to Windows 7 with Dell (don't know about others) depends on the machine/OP you buy. It comes "free" with Vista Business and Ultimate for which you have to pay extra on basic machines anyway (between 50 and 115, exc VAT I suppose). I write "free" because it says "taxes, shipping & handling may apply"......

Overheal

Seems not to be the case this time.

Alanstrainor

Overheal wrote: »

the free upgrade is on now. anything you buy will be vista, with the free option to upgrade to 7.

Sweet, forgot it was July, for some reason i thought it was after August they were offering it.

inigo

So any suggestions then? :rolleyes:

dub45

I always think your are better off buying as capable a machine as you can. No matter what you think you always put extra demands on it within a very short space of time and then you regret not spending that little bit extra.

Just looking around at the moment there seem to be some incredibly well specced machines for between 500 and 599. Look forward to expanding the use of your new machine not limiting it:)

All I can recommend is getting at least 3GB of RAM on it. I like Vista, but I've noticed that you'll get a lot of "Not Responding" going on if you go lower than 3GB. I've got 3GB on my desktop and laptop and a friend has a laptop with 2GB. The difference is very noticeable.



For the record, I have a SONY VAIO NS20E/S that I'm pretty happy with. If you're only doing generic, light computer tasks, I'm sure it'd be up for that. You can get it for €500 by contacting Power City via their website and asking them to reduce it to that price. Ask them to email you a copy of the reservation and reference number, then print it and bring it to Harvey Norman or D.I.D and they'll beat Power City's price (or just buy it from Power City, if you like. Personally, I'd buy from Power City because they don't giv eme any hassle when it comes to doing stuff with them (returning, for example) but that'll vary from person to person.

The_Conductor

inigo wrote: »

very light photo work

This bit started alarm bells ringing for me. If you're going editing photos- get something with a discrete graphics card. Seriously- even an older 9200-9800 range nVidia has hardware acceleration and will chew through photographs a lot more readily than will any onboard solution.

I'd not discount getting a refurb either- I've an Acer too- lovely machine, I can't recommend it highly enough.

inigo

Thank you all for the replies. The Dell desktop refuses to start up, hence the delay. I think it will never do so again. I have read your comments and seen the following laptop which seems to be OK for what we need:

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=Acer_TravelMate_TN5730_Laptop_LX.TQH0Z.C93&pagetype=version&page=

Any thoughts on this laptop, Acer in general and/or laptopsdirect? Thanks again.

The_Conductor

inigo wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies. The Dell desktop refuses to start up, hence the delay. I think it will never do so again. I have read your comments and seen the following laptop which seems to be OK for what we need:

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/asp/versions.asp?rewrite=Acer_TravelMate_TN5730_Laptop_LX.TQH0Z.C93&pagetype=version&page=

Any thoughts on this laptop, Acer in general and/or laptopsdirect? Thanks again.

# Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 / 2.1 GHz ( Dual-Core )

Fine for everyday use. Not really for gaming.

# RAM - 4 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM ( 2 x 2 GB )

Great.

# Hard Drive - 250 GB - Serial ATA-150

Small enough in all fairness (my 8930G has 2 x 500Gb hard drives)

# Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional downgrade

Query this- by rights you're entitled to a Windows 7 upgrade voucher too

# Screen - 15.4' TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) - 24-bit (16.7 million colours)

Not the best screen resolution in all fairness

# Optical Drive - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - integrated

DVD-Burner. You can get a model with bluray for not much more.

# Graphics - Intel GMA 4500MHD

Onboard and while good with 2D graphics, quite poor with 3D. Acceptable in a laptop of this calibre- providing you don't intend to go gaming or graphics editting.

# Bluetooth - Yes

Standard

# Notebook Camera - Integrated - 0.3 Megapixel

Satisfactory- rather than anything else. Many laptops have 1.3 Megapixel cameras

# Warranty - 1 year warranty

Standard

Acer are fine- and I've bought laptops from Laptops Direct (and an airconditioning unit too) in the past. No probs to report.

Suggestion- Acer laptops do not come with restore disks- pay the extra £10-£15 for a set of restore disks- you'll regret it if you don't.........

inigo

Thanks for that! I don't intend to do any games and I'm not really interested in blue-ray. I have seen the same machine in elara for a bit less but with 2GB (i'd be upgrading to 4GB which would make a similar price as laptopsdirect). I will ask about Windows 7 and get those recovery disks. I have just discovered this one, not sure if it's any better:

http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-30-477464

It doesn't seem to come with XP which I really wanted, so that's a big minus.

The_Conductor

inigo wrote: »

Thanks for that! I don't intend to do any games and I'm not really interested in blue-ray. I have seen the same machine in elara for a bit less but with 2GB (i'd be upgrading to 4GB which would make a similar price as laptopsdirect). I will ask about Windows 7 and get those recovery disks. I have just discovered this one, not sure if it's any better:

http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-30-477464

It doesn't seem to come with XP which I really wanted, so that's a big minus.

Slightly bigger screen, and a bigger hard-drive, but without the XP disks (and no option to buy recovery disks). To be honest- I'd be more inclined to go with the other one.

inigo

Thanks smccarrick. Would you recommend another laptop with similar specs? I'll have a last thought about it tonight.

The_Conductor

I'll have a think and see what I come up with. Note: neither of these two would be considered to be 'desktop replacement' machines.....?

inigo

smccarrick wrote: »

Note: neither of these two would be considered to be 'desktop replacement' machines.....?

To be honest, what I meant is that it would be replacing our old desktop (I'll be using it with existing monitor, keyboard and mouse). I don't think we are heavy users by any means: internet, office, some movies and the "very light" photo correction work. So we don't need an amazing machine or an expensive one, but we would like it to last us a few years.

denat

smccarrick wrote: »

Suggestion- Acer laptops do not come with restore disks- pay the extra £10-£15 for a set of restore disks- you'll regret it if you don't.........

I bought an Acer laptop recently and burned my own restore discs using the installed software. Would these discs be ok if the worst happens?

The_Conductor

denat wrote: »

I bought an Acer laptop recently and burned my own restore discs using the installed software. Would these discs be ok if the worst happens?

Should be fine. Its not a bad idea- given the amount of crapware that ships on a new machine- pity the bundled software only burns a factory default disk- rather than an image of your current system....... Then again the restore disks do similar.

denat

smccarrick wrote: »

Should be fine. Its not a bad idea- given the amount of crapware that ships on a new machine- pity the bundled software only burns a factory default disk- rather than an image of your current system....... Then again the restore disks do similar.

Thanks - that's reassuring. The bundled software does allow you to backup your current, hopefully decrapified, system to disc.

Total cost for me was 4xDVD-Rs.

So maybe there's no need to pay >GBP10 to supplier for restore discs?

The_Conductor

denat wrote: »

Thanks - that's reassuring. The bundled software does allow you to backup your current, hopefully decrapified, system to disc.

Total cost for me was 4xDVD-Rs.

So maybe there's no need to pay >GBP10 to supplier for restore discs?

If you have a successful system image- no.
Most people don't.

Ps- if you used software shipped- it burns a 'Factory image' not a decrapified image. Acer backs up your factory settings onto a hidden partition- this is whats copied. Have a quick check- your available HDD space is probably ~5Gb less than you'd imagine it would be!

The_Conductor

OP- any thoughts on going slightly off the beaten track- e.g. getting a 'Mesh' laptop? For example: here

It has a decent screen, ok graphics, and all the right boxes are ticked. Nothing spectacular- but far better 'value' for what you get- than with some of the other alternates.

Ps- I am delibertly steering you towards a 17", the difference between a 17" and a 15.4" is startling.

The_Conductor

And a discounted one from Komplett here

inigo

Very nice indeed, but it's beyond my budget (originally €400 then 500, now 550?). By the way, I would be hooking the laptop to a standard 19" Dell monitor. Would this be better or worse than the 17" you mention?

The_Conductor

inigo wrote: »

Very nice indeed, but it's beyond my budget (originally €400 then 500, now 550?). By the way, I would be hooking the laptop to a standard 19" Dell monitor. Would this be better or worse than the 17" you mention?

Why get a laptop at all? You could get an Acer Revo and an external Bluray drive for far less than your budget.

Link to review here

inigo

Well, we wanted to be able to move it around the house and occasionally outside. The little Acer box looks great but is not portable.

The_Conductor

Heres another suggestion here

I've used Aria a few times in the past- they're based in Manchester and quite happy to ship here.

Re: the revo- I've got one, and I love it. I had the Asus B202 and while it has a lot going for it, the Revo is just in a different league.

inigo

I think I'm going mad with so many options! The Asus is interesting though. There seems to be the same model with Dual Core processor and 2GB RAM. I have found it in Argos too. But I have also seen some nice Toshibas for around 450... As I said too much choice!! One other thing though: I would really like to have XP and I am not sure the last few suggestions would come with the downgrade option.

The_Conductor

inigo wrote: »

I think I'm going mad with so many options! The Asus is interesting though. There seems to be the same model with Dual Core processor and 2GB RAM. I have found it in Argos too. But I have also seen some nice Toshibas for around 450... As I said too much choice!! One other thing though: I would really like to have XP and I am not sure the last few suggestions would come with the downgrade option.

Obviously you have the whole stable of Dells too- you can see them in PC World. They start at around the sterling £400/EUR500 mark.

inigo

smccarrick wrote: »

Obviously you have the whole stable of Dells too- you can see them in PC World. They start at around the sterling £400/EUR500 mark.

Mmm, no thanks! No Dell, no Vista. I know too many people who've had too many problems with both.

Overheal

inigo wrote: »

Mmm, no thanks! No Dell, no Vista. I know too many people who've had too many problems with both.

Truthfully I've had far more problems with XP than with Vista, and at this stage, I've used them for as long as eachother.

inigo

Overheal wrote: »

Truthfully I've had far more problems with XP than with Vista, and at this stage, I've used them for as long as eachother.

That's interesting. I think it's the first time I read that (which doesn't necessarily mean anything, really).

inigo

Back from holidays, my wife decided she wanted to keep her old laptop so I decided I'm building our new PC. You can follow/help me here.

HappyHarry

Forget whatever you heard about Vista.

It got a very bad rap in the media, and there are lots of people that love to bash M$ at every chance.

The majority of problems were caused by the lack of proper drivers or people trying to put it on underpowered hardware and then complaining that it didn't work as fast as XP.

Vista is now at Service Pack 2 level and is rock solid. Work far better than XP.
The new OS Windows 7 is better again but is actually like an Vista SP3!

Feck the nay sayer, don't install an 8 year old OS on your new PC.

And if possible put 4GB or more and the 64bit version of Vista \ Win 7.

As for Dell, I've quite a lot of experience with various manufacturers, and they are no better or worse than the others. They are often better value.

The_Conductor

I'd echo the bit about Dell machines- they are remarkable value. I'd view them sort of like the Ryanair of laptops though- if everything goes according to plan- you have a remarkably good value machine- if you do have a problem though- the insanity of several hours on the phone when you're an IT professional and know exactly what is wrong- can be soul destroying.

I'm personally surprised about the Lenovo Thinkpads- we've a few in work- and they've a reputation of being a rock solid (if slightly boring) workhorse.

I do think the OPs thread title is misleading- when people refer to a desktop replacement laptop- they don't normally mean something for some light internet browsing and a little office work- they'd normally have something a heftier in mind?