Buying a Laptop: The current Generation

Torqay

MAJJ wrote: »

Hi Torqay would you have a link for the above

PC Specialist UltraNote 15.6"

Back then, the SSD was a special offer, the price for the same configuration would be £676/€782 now or £576/€666 with a Core i5 3230M (prices incl. delivery, w/o OS).

CianRyan

Hey, my girlfriend is looking to buy a new laptop next month but she's(we're) clueless as to what to buy.
Her budget is around €1000-€1500, it'll be used for watching a lot of movies/TV and working on photoshop so image and screen/graphics card quality is important. Likewise, a bigger screen is better as it'll mostly stay at home. No bringing it to college, etc.
Warrenty isn't important, and she's easy whether it's PC or MAC as she's used to both. Not into Linux.

Asthetics are fairly important, she'd like something slim and sleek, also something strong that will last.
We were looking at the higher end Samsungs and entry level Macbooks, the Macbooks seem to have a lot less going for them for the same price.
Any opinions welcome, I'm sure it'll help. Thanks.

Serephucus

Don't go near the NP700Z5C, at any rate. I've use one, and the screen is just horrible, speakers are close to tablet speakers as well. The 17" version might be better (NP700Z7C) but I'm not sure.

The best multimedia laptop I've ever used is Dell's XPS 17. It's last generation at this point, so you'd have to get it on eBay, but it's phenomenal. The speakers are ridiculously good for a laptop, and are easily comparable to a cheap set of desktop speakers. The screen is wonderful (make sure you get a matte - non-glossy - one if you're going photo work) and it's generally no slouch at all in terms of general performance either. It's not exactly thin and sleek though.

The current equivilent is the Inspiron 17R Special Edition (SE), but the speakers aren't as good, battery life is horrible in comparison (might not be an issue for you) and the screen isn't quite as good either.

CianRyan

Good as they sound, I don't think she's too into them. Also not into buying off Ebay, never used it before and for such a big purchase it seems a bit much for a first time.

I should probably put emphasis on the asthetics, she didn't like the look of the Dells (also coming from one that she's quite pissed off with at this stage). Doesn't like the plastic and "chunkyness" of them. Hence looking at the Samsungs and Macbooks, metal construction, etc.
Going the right direction though, I'll check out the NP700Z7C and see if I can compare it with the former.

She's looking for about a days battery life, as said it'll spend most of it's life plugged into the mains but she likes traveling and I suspect the laptop will be along for the ride.

Thank you!

Serephucus

A day?! Not a chance in hell. Even the Samsung, which has some of the best battery life you can get in a laptop, will only get about 7 hours browsing. Most will get 3-4.

CianRyan

Serephucus wrote: »

A day?! Not a chance in hell. Even the Samsung, which has some of the best battery life you can get in a laptop, will only get about 7 hours browsing. Most will get 3-4.

Haha, well not continues use!
7 hours sounds good alright, would that be accesable within budget?

To be fair, the current lump of plastic use to last an hour tops of use but these days will last a matter of second with out the plug. No use to buying a new battery as she's buying a new laptop. It's also painfully slow to start and impossible to watch a video of reasonable quality with out it lagging, freezing or going pixelated.

So yeah, 3-4 hours will do fine if that's all we'll get.

The Blonde One

Hi folks. Looking for some advice. Have a budget of about 400 quid. Laptop will be used for browsing, downloading torrents, watching movies, streaming netflix. No gaming will be done at all. Must have HDMI port also. Not computer savvy, so have no idea what I should be looking at, or if a 400 budget is realistic. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Torqay

The Blonde One wrote: »

Hi folks. Looking for some advice. Have a budget of about 400 quid. Laptop will be used for browsing, downloading torrents, watching movies, streaming netflix. No gaming will be done at all. Must have HDMI port also. Not computer savvy, so have no idea what I should be looking at, or if a 400 budget is realistic. Any guidance is much appreciated.

15.6" Packard Bell, Core i3 3110m, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, HDMI... 330 yoyos at LD.

The Blonde One

Thanks so much for that. Would it be worth upgrading to 8gb RAM or would 4gb be enough for my needs?

Torqay

The Blonde One wrote: »

Thanks so much for that. Would it be worth upgrading to 8gb RAM or would 4gb be enough for my needs?

4 GB should be just fine. An aftermarket upgrade (2x4GB DDR3 1333 MHz SODIMM) costs about 40 yoyos... still within your budget.

The Blonde One

Thank you for your help!

Joshua J

Torqay wrote: »

15.6" Packard Bell, Core i3 3110m, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, HDMI... 330 yoyos at LD.

Cheers Torqay, pulled the trigger on one of these. Lacking a dedicated graphics card but good spec for the price. Nice find.

..Brian..

Are PC Specialist alright to order a laptop from? I was reading somewhere of a website to avoid at all costs but can't for the life of me remember which one!

Dinarius

..Brian.. wrote: »

Are PC Specialist alright to order a laptop from? I was reading somewhere of a website to avoid at all costs but can't for the life of me remember which one!

I'm typing this on my recently purchased PC Specialist Vortex laptop. Basically, it's a Porsche with a keyboard, and it's the best (and fastest) laptop I've ever owned.

On the law of averages, someone is going to have a bad experience with a company and post about it. The vast majority of those who have good experiences don't post anything.

D.

Ps. For what it's worth...it's.....Windows 8/Quad Core i7/180Gb SSD/16Gb (2 x 8) RAM/

..Brian..

Did you finance it or buy it out right? Any idea if they finance for purchases over here or UK mainland only?


:EDIT: Nvm, amazing what you can find out it you actually read the T&Cs! UK residents only.

Torqay

Dinarius wrote: »

I'm typing this on my recently purchased PC Specialist Vostro laptop.

Vostro is a DELL family of entry level business laptops.

Dinarius

Torqay wrote: »

Vostro is a DELL family of entry level business laptops.

Oops!

Apologies to Brian....my PC Specialist laptop is a Vortex! :P And fantastic it is too!

Thanks Torquay.

D.

Ps. I have edited my original reply.

jaytobe

Dinarius wrote: »

Oops!

Apologies to Brian....my PC Specialist laptop is a Vortex! :P And fantastic it is too!

.

Have you a spec and price on the Vortex? PC Speacialist states Vortex for extreme gaming, Is Ultranote good enough for home network, downloading, movies and music.

Serephucus

Brian, mysn.de is probably what you're thinking of.

Dinarius

Cut and pasted from Belarc...

2.70 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3740QM

16272 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

INTEL SSDSC2CW180A3 [Hard drive] (180.05 GB)

AMD Radeon HD 7970M [Display adapter]
Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 [Display adapter]
Generic PnP Monitor (15.3"vis, January 2009)

Cost was €1600. Probably a bit more now with weaker Euro.

D.

jaytobe

Thanks, above is for gaming use I assume.

Just looking for very good home performance use: home network, videos & music downloads, dropbox, Hard Disk size not important.

For €800 budget seems to be:

Ultranote i5- 2.9 GHz with 4GB RAM from PC Specialist @€;810

Any options?

wacotaco

I am looking to purchase a laptop in the region of 400e. I know very little but am just looking for something fast and reliable.
I saw this offer on pc world but have no idea if it is any good?

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-One-725-116andquot-Laptop/313707/301

or

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/SAMSUNG-Series-3-NP370R5EA05UK-156andquot-Laptop-Blue/313763/301

Any assisstance would be greatly apprectiated.

Joshua J

wacotaco wrote: »

I am looking to purchase a laptop in the region of 400e. I know very little but am just looking for something fast and reliable.
I saw this offer on pc world but have no idea if it is any good?

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-One-725-116andquot-Laptop/313707/301

or

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/SAMSUNG-Series-3-NP370R5EA05UK-156andquot-Laptop-Blue/313763/301

Any assisstance would be greatly apprectiated.

First one is yuck, second is over-priced. This is pretty good for the price. I bought a lappy off them came last week (not that one) am very happy with it.

pjjk90

Anyone have any opinions on this as a high end laptop?

Sony SVE1713C5E (17.3" 1920x1080)

(Here's the link but it may not work so the specs are below)

Intel Core i7 3632QM 2.2GHz
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L-SDRAM
2GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M
500GB/1TB Serial ATA (5400 rpm) (unsure which)
HDMI out/bluetooth/SD slot/HD webcam/DVD RW/3xUSB 2 - 1xUSB 3

Totalling €894 (or €974 with the 1TB HDD).

If anyone could tell me what they think of it, it would help greatly.

Thanks

Torqay

The GPU is anything but "high end", it compares to a Nvidia GT 630M and not really suitable for games at this resolution.

The Sony is more like a multimedia allrounder. Not the worst of deals but you'll find better value elsewhere.

At PC Specialist you'll get the Optimus IV in the following configuration for £820/€968:



Faster processor*, much better graphics**, 2nd HDD bay (if you want to add a SSD). Price includes their standard 3 yr warranty, delivery to Ireland and OS installation DVD. If you already have an operating system, you can order without Windows and save €100.

*




**

Brion

Guys, looking for some advice on buying a laptop. Need it to be decent but without breaking the bank. Not one game will be played on it so I can forget about that. Main uses will be browsing, basic stuff like word/excel/powerpoint, for playing music and maybe the odd film.

Hit me with some suggestions please!

Torqay

15.6" Acer laptop, Core i3 3110M, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, €377 at LD.

banjobongo

hi guys
IM looking to buy an ultrabook with a touchscreen, size about 12 - 13 inch, budget about 700 - 800 euros, decent keyboard and good battery life and not too heavy are the important factors, as its for my small business use, for when travelling/out and about.
The ones I like on the websites all seem either to have problems with the reviewers and/or are too expensive, ie over 900 euros.....
Any ideas?
thanks!
BB

Torqay

ASUS UX32A, 739 yoyos at LD.

For more info, read the review at Notebookcheck.com

banjobongo

Torqay wrote: »

ASUS UX32A, 739 yoyos at LD.

For more info, read the review at Notebookcheck.com

thanks Torqay - this Asus looks really good and Im really intersted, only small problem, its Windows 7. I wander should I be looking at windows 8 ultrabooks rather than 7? apart from this, it looks great.....