Help on Laptop for Internet Browsing, large-ish screen needed

vicwatson

Friend just wants a laptop for browsing the web, they will NOT be storing pictures/videos etc etc etc no gaming, very basic usage, no webcam blah blah blah

Don't have a budget but I guess up to €500.00.

Will need to be fast processor but doesn't need large hard drive etc etc.

It will LITERALLY be used for reading the daily newspapers online, seriously ! That's the only use it will get.

Any recommendations gratefully received.

I think he might consider a desktop too, though he had a laptop that's gone kaput and it actually never left the desk in the 3 years he's had it !!

Torqay

Large-ish screen?

17.3" Acer with a 3rd gen Core i3, €508 at LD

vicwatson

Torqay wrote: »

Large-ish screen?

17.3" Acer with a 3rd gen Core i3, €508 at LD

I meant 15.6" upwards and that looks good thank you.

Are Acer a decent brand?

The one he had was a Dell bought just 3 years ago, been used for internet browsing ONLY in that period and repair guy told him the motherboard is f***** and would be effectively cheaper to buy a new laptop than repair the one he has :eek:

How do motherboards just break ?

theidiots

vicwatson wrote: »

I meant 15.6" upwards and that looks good thank you.

Are Acer a decent brand?

The one he had was a Dell bought just 3 years ago, been used for internet browsing ONLY in that period and repair guy told him the motherboard is f***** and would be effectively cheaper to buy a new laptop than repair the one he has :eek:

How do motherboards just break ?

Anything with an i3 processor would be fine. Vents and fans need to be cleaned out from dust on laptops every six months to a year or so or the motherboard will start to overheat badly. You can download a program called cpu temp which will basically give you the laptop temperature. If it shows up higher than 55 degrees then your fans and vents need to be cleaned on the laptop.

I personally wouldn't go with Acer. Something like this would be could.
http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/SAMSUNG-Series-3-NP3530EC-156andrdquo-Laptop-andndash-Blue-Silver/312174/301

Any laptop you buy make sure it has an i3 or an i5 processor because there the new generation and other processors are nearly outdated or are terrible at this stage

Torqay

theidiots wrote: »

Something like this would be could.
http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/SAMSUNG-Series-3-NP3530EC-156andrdquo-Laptop-andndash-Blue-Silver/312174/301

Any laptop you buy make sure it has an i3 or an i5 processor because there the new generation and other processors are nearly outdated or are terrible at this stage

That's a 2nd gen Core i3 (really outdated) and quite pricey for that matter.

Torqay

If a 15.6" display is fine, have a look here.

vicwatson

How about a desktop for him?

Would they work out any cheaper and he would enjoy the bigger monitors that generally come with ?

Thanks for all the help thus far

RodgersLFC

I've had an Acer for over a year and have found it to be great. No complaints at all.

http://www.komplett.ie/komplett/product/zkb_02pc/80008779/acer_aspire_v3_731_b9606g50makk/details.aspx

Would be a suggestion, damn nice machine for the price.

Torqay

vicwatson wrote: »

How about a desktop for him?

Would they work out any cheaper and he would enjoy the bigger monitors that generally come with ?

24" monitors sell from around €150, that leaves 350 yoyos for the computer, ish. You mentioned a "fast" processor, although I don't really see the need for it, if its only purpose is to read a few news websites. For that kinda money you might get a Core i3, if you build it yourself. Readily build computers in this price range will get you a Pentium at best. If space is an issue, you might consider a small HTPC with an Atom processor, they sell from around €300. They're silent and certainly good enough to browse the web.

Overheal

vicwatson wrote: »

How do motherboards just break ?

Heat, humidity, bumps, wear and tear, static. Take your pick. A high quality desktop motherboard might typically have solid state capacitors on it which could be rated for say, 10,000 hours at 60°C. work out the math. Run the PC for 20 hrs/wk and you'll perchance get ten years from it. Run a PC constantly, and those capacitors if they fail as designed may fail by the end of the year. That assumes a lot of course, and ignores a lot of mitigating factors, like cooling and such. Laptops have it bad because their parts go through pretty large temperature ranges of hot and cold. For the same reason if your pc ran nonstop for six months and one night you decide to give it a break, it might not turn back on again, I've heard of such cases. Presumably the parts just cracked during cooldown.

That's why I like desktops and I like to run em cold. Overcloking will just take an extra toll on your system, but I do like to fold proteins in winter to keep the room a degree or two warmer. Laptops meanwhile are treated with much less fragility and have much poorer cooling. Three years is atypical for a laptop life cycle. Every once in a while I'll get a customer who is making their first upgrade in fifteen years, and for them these old boxes were only ever a way to check email and pay their bills for a couple hours every other week. You're better of thinking of your pc as a really expensive, and useful lightbulb.