Need some pointers buying a new laptop

DuhJerk

Hey all,

I'm not the most tech minded and am looking for some help in search of a new laptop. My old dog is about 7 years old now (Toshiba Satellite A215-S5839 - 15.4" - Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 - Vista Home Premium - 2 GB RAM - 160 GB HDD) and is slowing down a fair bit so I'm looking for something bigger and better to last me a good few years if I treat it well and pet it everyday (as I don't really have the mind for upgrades/installs etc).

It will be used for personal/general work (word processing etc), photoshop and audio (and maybe some video) editing. No real game playing except for temporary bouts of Command & Conquer Red Alert.

As I said I'm not tech minded so I don't really know/understand what to look for and what I might need spec-wise, so some help would be appreciated in that regard. Are there brands/maunfacturers that people would recommend? Best places to buy? Time of year to buy?

My maximum budget would be around €800 (perhaps a bit more if there's some good deals around, I dunno maybe I'm asking too much/not enough)

Thanks

mordeith

DuhJerk wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm not the most tech minded and am looking for some help in search of a new laptop. My old dog is about 7 years old now (Toshiba Satellite A215-S5839 - 15.4" - Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 - Vista Home Premium - 2 GB RAM - 160 GB HDD) and is slowing down a fair bit so I'm looking for something bigger and better to last me a good few years if I treat it well and pet it everyday (as I don't really have the mind for upgrades/installs etc).

It will be used for personal/general work (word processing etc), photoshop and audio (and maybe some video) editing. No real game playing except for temporary bouts of Command & Conquer Red Alert.

As I said I'm not tech minded so I don't really know/understand what to look for and what I might need spec-wise, so some help would be appreciated in that regard. Are there brands/maunfacturers that people would recommend? Best places to buy? Time of year to buy?

My maximum budget would be around €800 (perhaps a bit more if there's some good deals around, I dunno maybe I'm asking too much/not enough)

Thanks

How intensive is your PS / audio work? You'll get away with 4 GB RAM if it's not extreme. What screen size are you looking for?

Alanstrainor

mordeith wrote: »

How intensive is your PS / audio work? You'll get away with 4 GB RAM if it's not extreme. What screen size are you looking for?

4GB is just about okay, but the OP should aim for 8. More is always better, and 8 is the sweet spot at the moment I reckon. Even in terms of future proofing it would be wise to get more RAM to begin with.

DuhJerk

Photoshop work is fairly light but audio editing will be more intensive with this laptop, so I guess I'll aim for 8 GB.

Around 15" screen size suits best for me.

Thanks.

Hollister11

Get a decent processor in it. If you purchase a slow one, you will be drive insane with it. Maybe an i3

DuhJerk

How do you tell the quality of processors? I've seen variety of them?

K.O.Kiki

DuhJerk wrote: »

How do you tell the quality of processors? I've seen variety of them?

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html

From best to worst:

Core i7, i5, i3, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium, Celeron/Atom.

AMD's mobile chips (Athlon etc.) are pretty dire right now.

----

Things to look for in your budget:

1920x1080 screen with IPS
8Gb RAM or more

Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processor

Good brands are Dell and Lenovo Thinkpad.

Skerries

€767 from https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

that doesn't include an OS but you can use Windows 10 or buy a cheap win 8 licence from Reddit

Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)


Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4210M (2.60GHz) 3MB


Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)


Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS MEDIA ACCELERATOR 4600


2nd Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)


mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive
120GB Kingston SSDNow mS200 mSATA (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)


DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)


Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)


Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING


Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack


Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0


USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD


Battery
UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)


Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor


Keyboard Language
ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD


Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED


Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*


Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE


Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE


Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE


Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM


Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)


Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (€27)


Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days