Advice on what to avoid when buying a laptop?

the_syco

Hi all,

Someone asked for tips when buying a laptop, so I'm thinking of giving him the below. Can anyone think of anything else important to keep in mind when looking for a laptop?

Avoid Intel Celeron & AMD Sempron.

The Celeron brand will often have less cache memory, or have advanced features purposely disabled. The GHz may make you think you're getting a good deal, but when you start to use it, you'll notice power missing. It's cheaper for a reason, and something to keep an eye out for when you see a "cheap" laptop. Cheap for a reason. The Sempron is AMD's cheap chip. Another to avoid.

Avoid eMachines. They're prone to being piles of poop, and using the cheapest of parts. Their parent company, Acer is not bad, however.

Avoid Windows 7 Starter Edition. It has a max of 2GB RAM, and will prevent any RAM upgrade you decide at a later stage. For more info, look at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

If using Windows 7 32bit, get a minimum of 2GB RAM, or if using Windows 7 64bit, get one with a minimum of 3GB, preferably 4GB. It can run on less; it just won't really run anything else very well. If getting XP, ensure it at least 1GB. It can run on a lot less, but you'll regret it. Avoid Vista. Windows 7 and XP, with the correct RAM, run at about the same speed. Vista is slow.

Battery Cells: the less there are, the less it'll run for. Bare in mind, any time amount given is with the laptop doing very little or nothing at all. If you're watching movies, playing games, using programs, that three hours may become less very fast.

Overheal

If you are concerned about battery life you honestly want those lower specs. If you could care less, then get a meaty juice-guzzler with dedicated graphics a flashy quadcore and 4gb of ram. Thats where their trade-off point is though: battery life. You'll be burning through your charging cycles much quicker (1-2 hours instead of 3-4 or 5-6) and that will lead to a much quicker death of the battery altogether. Quadcores and Dedicated graphics still use up more power at idle than their lower-consumption counterparts.

Also, nothing out there right now really requires you to have more than 4GB of Ram, not even the high-end gaming, and most stuff is perfectly happy with 2 or 3. Unless you're some kind of video-edit junkie doublethink the cost in power and in money.

BostonB

http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/29271-what-should-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

Note everyone need the latest and greatest.

the_syco

Overheal wrote: »

Unless you're some kind of video-edit junkie doublethink the cost in power and in money.

-.-

That's why I'm asking. When looking for a machine, I look for something I can game on, which can handle video processing, etc.

Overheal wrote: »

If you are concerned about battery life you honestly want those lower specs.

Interesting. I have no idea about a good trade-off.

Overheal wrote: »

Also, nothing out there right now really requires you to have more than 4GB of Ram, not even the high-end gaming, and most stuff is perfectly happy with 2 or 3.

I think like a "video-edit junkie" at times, so to me, I need more RAM. For the person who I'm advising, they only need it for web browsing, Youtube, the odd movie, etc. Having used XP and Vista on the "minimum spec", I advise against it as it usually ends up slower to load internet pages than their current Pentium 2 computer (I do not kid; Vista on min specs is sloooow), thus I usually say get at least double to what the min specs are.

BostonB wrote: »

http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/29271-what-should-i-buy-form-must-read-before-posting.html

Note everyone need the latest and greatest.

Hrm...

1) What is your budget? Unknown

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
a. Netbook; 10” screen or less
b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen Most likely this one
3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator. Ireland

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike: eMachines (I once supported them - they're poop)

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
They want new (xmas present), and tbh, I don't intend on fixing it for them should something go wrong, so let them buy it new.
6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
No idea. For his secondary school kid, me thinks, so Internet, Youtube, and most likely some football game.
7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
No idea.
8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
No idea, probably some football game
9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
Unknown
10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
No idea - best bang for buck, so I don't think they'd mind
11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows format. Will never advise people to buy Windows ME, or it's bastard child, Vista.
Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. If you are unsure of what to purchase, we would highly recommend you check some notebook screens before you buy to see what you like. You may also wish to take a look at the notebook screen guide for more information.
Netbook resolution: WSVGA
Actual resolutions: 1024x600 and 1024x576
Offered on Netbooks 10" and smaller
Netbook standard resolution. This is the lowest resolution available, and is designed to easily read text and icons on smaller-sized netbook screens. However, this leads to a somewhat “crowded” display that can generally only handle one visible window at a time. Typically not available on larger machines.
Standard Resolutions: WXGA, HD, 720p
Actual resolutions: 1280x800 and 1366x768
Offered on larger Netbooks and Notebooks up to 16"
Lower resolution screens offer big text and icons that are easy to read. Less stuff fits on the screen, which translates into more scrolling. Multiple windows can be worked with, though they may have to overlap some.
Midrange Resolutions: WXGA+, HD+, 900p
Actual resolutions: 1440x900 and 1600x900
Offered on all Notebooks. Keep in mind text will be very small on a 12" WXGA+ notebook.
A set of in-between resolution options that are found on some machines. Considered base resolution on 17" inch and higher laptops. Text and icons are smaller than standard resolution screens, and more windows fit onto the screen. These resolutions are very good for working with multiple windows side-by-side, without having to overlap them.
Maximum Resolutions: WSXGA+, WUXGA, FHD, 1080p
Actual resolutions: 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 1920x1080
Offered on Notebook 15" and larger
On these screens text and icons will be very small. Text can often be hard to read, though some do like it. A very large number of windows fit on the screen, and there will be little need to overlap any of them. Max resolution screens are good for applications that require high detail (CAD, graphics editing, etc.)
Unknown

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Unknown
Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Probably: it's for a secondary school kid.
15) When are you buying this laptop?
Before xmas
16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
Forever :rolleyes: - I don't want to hear about it failing in 2 months time
Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
I'll say 300GB, as that seems enough for games for the kid. Which reminds me, I need another 2 TB HDD.
18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?Yes. DVD burner would be critical for backing up his stuff, so aye.

Hope this leads to more advice. As said, I always want more speed, HDD space, and RAM. Also will be getting a GFX card shortly, so yeah, speed is good.

I have a Dell laptop, XP, with 256MB of RAM: 4 times the amount needed to run XP, one quarter of the amount of RAM I need to actually use it, so I don't need to wait two minutes for the page to open, so coming from this perspective, one needs more RAM than the min spec.

Thus I ask for your perspective on what one needs to look for when buying a laptop...

AlmightyCushion

Celeron and semprons while low end aren't actually awful processors and for someone on a budget and only wants to use it for pissing about on the internet it's not a terrible choice. So buy for what you need it for now and what you will need it for in the future. Buying a laptop with a core i7 and a high end graphics card when you only want to use it for the internet is as much of a waste of money as buying a cheapo laptop when you want to play games on it.