New laptop - guidance needed

Trogdor

Hi guys,

I know there's a lot of threads similar to this around already and it must be tiring to read the same sort of posts over over but i'd really appreciate any responses:)

I currently have a dell inspiron 1501 and while i've had no problems with it and still runs ok, after more than 3 years of hardship i think it's on its way out..

I'm not too into gaming but would use dreamweaver/photoshop from time to time and also do the odd bit of video editing/encoding. I initially started looking at dell and was thinking of maybe the inspiron 1564 but after reading a few posts on here and seeing the opinion of dell I'm looking elsewhere now as well but don't really know where to start. I was looking at something with a core i5 processor maybe although i'm not completely set on that. I'd be willing to spend up to around €800-850.

Thanks.

ricman

GET a toshiba with 256meg,or 500meg ati,or nvidia graphics card,theres good deals in did electric or harvey normon, eg toshiba 450 ,250meg nvidia graphics 550euro.
see whats the recommended spec for photoshop,etc use that as your guide.
aldi have 17inch dual core intel, laptops ,599 , not sure what graphics card is ,though.

Trogdor

Thanks ricman, will have a look at those!

limericklassy

i'd stick with toshiba and dell...

ricman

aldi 17inch is intel gma grahics,hd 350gig,dual core cpu,dvdrw drive,
also they have 15inch laptop,dual core cpu,intel, 350gig drive,graphics 500meg radeon,hdmi out, multi card reader,599euro ,that would be more suitable for photoshop.brand is medion.3 year gaurantee.

Darwin

Hi, at this stage I would make sure to get something with the new Core i-series processors rather than the older Core 2 Duo architecture. If you are not too bothered with gaming, you can opt for a model that doesn't provide a dedicated GPU (Graphics Processor), but rather provides integrated graphics as this will help keep the costs down. So what to buy? For heavy-duty video editing and photoshop work I would be thinking along the lines of a quad-core processor (i.e. the Core i7). The downside is these are rather pricey, can generate a lot of heat and drain the battery faster. For example, one of the best value i7 deals I can find is the Dell Studio 15 (I know you are not too keen on Dell) for €884 delivered going through the dell.ie/epp link. You can check out the specs here This happens to have a dedicated ATI card too. However, if you were reasonably happy with the service your old laptop gave you, I'm inclined to think a lesser Core i5 (a dual core processor) will do the job. Something like this HP laptop might suit your needs and it comes in under budget around €750 (amazon now offer free shipping to Ireland). The downside is it only has 3GB RAM which may not be enough for your needs. A newer model from HP - the Pavilion dm4 is getting very favourable reviews (e.g. here) and it comes within your budget if you can find somewhere selling it.
This Acer Timeline has a good spec and generally gets favourable reviews but is a little over budget. I haven't always heard good things about Acer, but then again you can say the same thing about most manufacturers. Hope that gives you some more food for thought...happy shopping

ricman

the aldi laptop s use intel i3 cpu ,i think.i3 or i5 not sure.
the 15inch,with radeon 512meg vram would be good 4 video editing,and photoshop.

Trogdor

Thanks will look into the aldi one and also the acer here

Darwin wrote: »

This Acer Timeline has a good spec and generally gets favourable reviews but is a little over budget. I haven't always heard good things about Acer, but then again you can say the same thing about most manufacturers. Hope that gives you some more food for thought...happy shopping

Is this the same model less bluetooth and gpu?

Black Swan

I've had laptops with both Intel accelerators and dedicated graphics cards. Accelerators are so limited, and the first time you discover this, you will wish you had spent a few more euros on a Nvidia or equivalent.

Darwin

trogdor wrote: »

Thanks will look into the aldi one and also the acer here

Is this the same model less bluetooth and gpu?

Yes, it would appear to be, but has a smaller HDD too. I would be a little wary of laptopsdirect, they get mixed reviews around here (e.g this thread).