Advice for first time laptop buyer?

Wendell Mee

Hi everybody, I am FINALLY about to bite the bullet and get my first laptop. I honestly don't know how I lasted this long without one. As you might imagine, I find picking my first one a little daunting, so I was wondering if you guys could help me out. Following the template in the 'Help' thread:

Budget: I could pay up to €800 for one, but I'd prefer one in and around the €600 range if such a machine exists.

Mobility: Don't care.

Warranty: 2 years would be nice, but 12/18 months would be fine. Especially for a reliable brand.

What Operating System do you use?: Windows, for all its faults.

Intended use: Bit of everything! Obviously will be used for internet. Will also be using MS Word and Excel. I have a pipe dream of trying my hand at some programming language (as I don't know any); Python or something, but this is not essential right now.

I also have a stack of old games I want to play, so may need a decent graphics card. I don't play World of Warcraft, Crysis, The Sims, any of those big ones. Instead, I'd be looking to play the likes of Mass Effect, Fallout 1+2, The Witcher, Plants Vs Zombies. The most recent games I'd be interested in would be Mass Effect 2 and The Witcher 2, though obviously they'd need a bit more power.

It'll be used for general multimedia stuff as well, playing music and DVDs (won't be streaming anything). So a big screen would probably be best.


From a quick look on a few sites, I found a few that seemed decent enough.

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-5750-156andquot-Laptop/308012/301

ACER Aspire 5750 15.6" for €590

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5084791/Trail/searchtext%3EGREAT+DEALS+ON+LAPTOPS.htm

HP G72 Series 500GB 17.3 " for €380


Any advice you could impart for a first-time buyer would be much appreciated, as there's so much I don't know! Like, should I buy now or wait till the sales? What sort of packages (anti-virus, MS Office) should I get at the same time? Is it better to buy them online or in Argos/PC World?
Thanks!

Jaafa

This http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003299/Asus_15_6_K53SV_SX152V_i5_2410M_4GB_640GB/K53SV_SX152V/default.aspx

or this will do you very well. http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02PC/02_NOTEBOO/21_15/productdetails/80003313/Asus_15_6_X53TA_SX076V_A6_3400_6GB_640GB/90N71I329H2246VL133C/default.aspx

1. Asus for 630 with i5 processor and GT540m graphics card. 630euro

2. Asus again with AMD A6 processor and HD 6650 GPU. 550 euro

Both 15' screen but both available in 17' screen sizes.

Both will do everyday tasks fine, multimedia fine and can run even newest games like BF3.
For your purposes you would want any specs lower than the second laptop there. Both laptops have pretty much equal GPU's but the i5 is much stronger than the A6. In real life this makes little difference though, you will gain at most 5-10FPS. Look at some video reviews maybe see which you'd prefer the look of etc.....

EDIT: Just to point out why the two laptops you chose aren't suitable. The Acer has a solid CPU but no dedicated graphics card (instead it has the integrated HD3000), this means you won't be able to play mass effect or the witcher on decent settings, if at all. Older games and less graphic intensive games like Fallout 1 and 2 and plants versus Zombies, would run fine on it though.

The HP has an outdated CPU and and GPU so is completely out of the question.

Wendell Three

Hi, Wendell Mee here again. I forgot the password for my original account and my email is corrupted, so can't get password reset, lol.

I still haven't got around to getting a laptop, but I found one I like the look of:

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/TOSHIBA-Satellite-L7551MU-156andquot-Laptop-Red/309536/301

TOSHIBA Satellite L755-1MU 15.6" Laptop - Red. €670.

Could someone tell me if this would be suitable for what I want? The price is about right, it looks ok, and Toshiba's are meant to be reliable. But would it be ok for games? I know this is probably pushing it, but would it be able to handle Mass Effect 3 in addition to the games I mentioned earlier?

Or if anybody could recommend a more suitable laptop, I'm all ears!

Jaafa

As I mentioned in my previous post, you need something with a dedicated graphics card. That Toshiba only has Intel integrated graphics, Mass effect 3 wont run at all.

Look for something with a minimum of a Nivida Gt540m Graphics card. Use this site to compare other graphics cards to it. The list on the side of the page will tell you if another graphics card is at least as good as the Gt540m.

Look for an i3 or i5 processor, i7 is not necessary.

Thats the two most important parts, processor (or CPU) and graphics card (or GPU) the rest of the specs will likely be fine on most laptops.

Look on sites like komplett, savonlaptops and hardwareversand(note German layout keyboards on this site, but easy to get used to).

TPM

will you not struggle to get a laptop that will be suitable for gaming for 800 or under

_AVALANCHE_

TPM wrote: »

will you not struggle to get a laptop that will be suitable for gaming for 800 or under

No