Laptop purchase advice - small but usable?

panda_cub

Hey guys,

Looking to buy a laptop asap and know very very little about them.
Im still on my old Dell Inspiron 6000 but it's starting to fail me...

I need something that's light and very mobile, as I travel a lot.

All I need from it for college/work purposes is that I can draft documents, and lots of them - so keyboard needs to be good (i.e. not an iPad).

For my own use, I just use the internet for email, watching episodes online and social networks so no games etc.

Under €500.

Are netbooks difficult to draw up docs on, as that's the main issue I'm worried about?

Alanstrainor

Personally i'd want something larger than a netbook if i was drafting docs all the time. Something like a 12.1" or 13.3" would be ideal.

panda_cub

That's exactly why I haven't got a netbook yet. Are there any middle-of-the-road sized laptops, between 10 and 15 inch?!

Technique

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but this might help the OP as well as myself.

Which of these three 13" laptops would you recommend as a portable laptop for college (all from PC World)? Main uses are MS Office applications and Internet. Good battery life would be a bonus.

Dell Inspiron M301Z (€629)
AMD Athlon II Neo K325 (dual core)
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

HP DM3-1111sa (€649)
AMD Athlon Neo L335
4GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive

Toshiba L630-12U (€649)
Intel Pentium P6000
3GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive

My initial thoughts are that the Toshiba feels a bit heavier/bulkier due to a built in Optical Drive. The HP comes with an external usb drive which looks very sleek. The Dell has no optical drive. I think the HP is edging it because of this.

If anyone has any other alternatives, feel free to share.

dazzday

Something I reccomended from another thread. At this price this laptop need not be a long term investment but absolutly brilliant for
college or travelling. The form factor and battery on this is exceptional.

And Asus offer a 2year warrenty!

TBH for your needs the ASUS UL30 deal available at carphone warehouse is hard to look past.
http://www.campus.ie/campus-store/cpw.html

Although last years spec, at €399 its a steal. Excellent build quality, a realistic 7hour battery under use, light, cool and very quiet. Also has HDMI out for multimedia needs.
TBF the cpu is more than adequete for most tasks,especially multitasking and even 1080p playback or light encoding.

PlayGirl

Technique wrote: »

Dell Inspiron M301Z (€629)
AMD Athlon II Neo K325 (dual core)
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
.

also looking for reviews/advice on this one

Technique

dazzday wrote: »

Something I reccomended from another thread. At this price this laptop need not be a long term investment but absolutly brilliant for
college or travelling. The form factor and battery on this is exceptional.

And Asus offer a 2year warrenty!

Was in CPW yesterday, seems to be €450 now.

The Pontiac

Technique wrote: »

HP DM3-1111sa (€649)
AMD Athlon Neo L335
4GB Memory
320GB Hard Drive

That seems expensive. You can get this for £335 (€381) + shipping(?). It's the exact same laptop with the same processor, only with less ram and a slightly smaller hard drive. You can always upgrade the ram to 4GB anyway for around €30 (if you feel you ever need it). 250GB is loads of space too for a lot of people, and the one above certainly doesn't justify the price difference.

The one I listed there is actually the second bestselling 13" laptop (after the Macbook) from amazon, so seems to be a bit of a bargain.

Alanstrainor

<Ollie> wrote: »

That seems expensive. You can get this for £335 (€381) + shipping(?). It's the exact same laptop with the same processor, only with less ram and a slighty smaller hard drive. You can always upgrade the ram to 4GB anyway for around €30 (if you feel you ever need it). 250GB is loads of space too for a lot of people, and the one above certainly doesn't justify the price difference.

The one I listed there is actually the second bestselling 13" laptop (after the Macbook) from amazon, so seems to be a bit of a bargin.

The shipping is free as far as i am aware too.

The Pontiac

Alanstrainor wrote: »

The shipping is free as far as i am aware too.

I read in another thread that free shipping only applied to the UK. I'm not really sure though.

BostonB

I'd read some reviews and compare the battery life first.

Alanstrainor

Delivery is £6.84, just checked there!

The Pontiac

BostonB wrote: »

I'd read some reviews and compare the battery life first.

It's supposed to be 6 hours. At this price I wouldn't be looking for anything amazing really. It weighs less than 2kg (390 grams) and has a HDMI port too. The shipping is very reasonable too (Cheers Alan for checking). I'm actually looking for a 13"-14" lightweight laptop with an intel i3 processor but they're a lot more expensive and that HP really does look like a bargain. Very nice looking laptop too!

Black Swan

I have both laptop and netbook. The netbook is grand for university lecture notes, papers, projects, ebooks, e-library access, web surfing, email, and IM. I did expand the memory from 1 to 2 gigs, which was easy to do and cheap. The battery life runs from 8 to 10 hours, depending upon apps, so I never carry the power cord, which I had to do always with the laptop. Weighs less than 3 lbs including case.

The Pontiac

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

I have both laptop and netbook. The netbook is grand for university lecture notes, papers, projects, ebooks, e-library access, web surfing, email, and IM. I did expand the memory from 1 to 2 gigs, which was easy to do and cheap. The battery life runs from 8 to 10 hours, depending upon apps, so I never carry the power cord, which I had to do always with the laptop. Weighs less than 3 lbs including case.

The current range of 13"-14" 'lightweight laptops' seems to be a great compromise between a netbook and a laptop as they're very light, slim and are now very fast performers (a lot now come equipped with the current lineup of Intel's Core processors). They're actually classed as laptops (or notebooks) and not as netbooks, but usually come without a DVD drive. I haven't used my dvd drive in around 2 years. The 15.6" laptop is a more standard size, and would be cheaper than the 13-14" range with the same spec. The 17" laptop should really be thought of a desktop replacement or for gamers. The 13"-14" lightweight range of laptops seem to be gaining a lot of popularity (maybe due to the Macbook) as many feel it's just the right size for everyday use and portability. It does actually feel very comfortable and light on your lap, which really defines the word 'laptop'.

BostonB

There are gaming 13" laptops and 17" laptops which are useless for gaming.

So don't go by screen size as indication of gaming ability.

The Pontiac

If you want a gaming laptop, don't whatever you do buy one of the lightweight/ultraportables 13-14" laptops, for obvious reasons. Serious power equals lot of heat, power demands etc. Slim, lightweight and small in size won't accommodate this well, obviously. Not all 17" laptops are made for gaming - but if you need a gamer, then obviously bigger is better with a dedicated graphics card, bigger air vents, bigger screen, more power etc. Well, just bigger really.

BostonB

What matters is the design of the laptop, regardless of size. theres been plenty of 17" laptops which had heat problems through poor design.

Theres also the Alienware M11x an 11" gaming laptop.

The Pontiac

BostonB wrote: »

Theres also the Alienware M11x an 11" gaming laptop.

LOL. You should bring the video review of it up on youtube and read the comments. It was the first hit I got on youtube.. Like, why would anyone buy an 11" for gaming? What do people expect? It's really and truly beyond me.

"Damn i just got it and it can barely run Grand Theft Auto on low..." 1 week ago

"M11x is better for portablitity. It has a long battery life and it's small. M17x is more powerful and plays games better." 6 days ago

"Biggest waste of money EVER" 1 week ago



"what an ugly designed useless notebook.. i mean come on if you want to play games buy an xbox or a ps3 hell even a wii is more fun than playin on an 11inch glossy display ,and gaming while travel or outside??!!wtf? if i am ouside the house that mean im outside to see the world and interact with people, places,things not playing some video games on a tiny screen with a keyboard and a small mouse! ****in nerds buy a macbook pro at least it looks better" 1 week ago


The video itself is just an advertisement, but the comments reveals it's a piece of crap... "M17x is more powerful and plays games better". (the 17" version) The very first comment on that youtube page is "Damn I just got it and can barley play auto theft on low" and another comment on the first page by someone that just bought it, that they can't wait to get the M15x or the M17x etc. etc.

Even if it was any good, it'd probably be fried in about 6 months from overheating.


Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2eHef6d_wU . And then read the comments.

BostonB

That vid is a lot of people confusing themselves because they haven't a clue about computers and isn't useful to anyone. You could configure a 11x with a much faster CPU than the 17x.

Your dragging this off topic. I'm simply making the point to look beyond screen size as indication of how powerful a laptop is. You need to look at the specification. For example not all small laptops/netbooks, have good battery life.

You need to pay attention to the details of the spec.