Need laptop buying tips

cregser

A mate of mine is planning on getting a laptop and since I've just built a computer he's asking for my help. But whatever I know about PCs doesn't apply to laptops. I'm glad to help, but I need help to help him. :rolleyes:

From what I know, when buying a laptop it's best to look out for deals rather than building one yourself (such as Dell,Sony,Toshiba etc). As laptops use smaller and completely different components with more of an eye towards power saving, I have some questions.

• Can anyone point me to some good laptop review sites?
• Whats the best makes, components etc. for laptops? e.g. Intel/AMD, ATi/nVidia, mobos
• Could you suggest a basic spec (cpu, mobo(?), gcard, hdd)?

Thanks for reading

[EDIT] I should say he's willing to spend €2,000 max and wants to use it for gaming.

maxheadroom

cregser wrote:

A mate of mine is planning on getting a laptop and since I've just built a computer he's asking for my help. But whatever I know about PCs doesn't apply to laptops. I'm glad to help, but I need help to help him. :rolleyes:

From what I know, when buying a laptop it's best to look out for deals rather than building one yourself (such as Dell,Sony,Toshiba etc). As laptops use smaller and completely different components with more of an eye towards power saving, I have some questions.

• Can anyone point me to some good laptop review sites?
• Whats the best makes, components etc. for laptops? e.g. Intel/AMD, ATi/nVidia, mobos
• Could you suggest a basic spec (cpu, mobo(?), gcard, hdd)?

Thanks for reading

[EDIT] I should say he's willing to spend €2,000 max and wants to use it for gaming.

How important is portablilty?

Have a look at ASUS and ACER laptops. It may be cheaper to buy in Germany (http://www.laptop.de seems to be a reasonable shop).

Look at www.notebookforums.com. Consider buying a machine from an Original Design Manufacturer rather than a retailer - for instance the alienware sentia is originally made by a company called uniwill

Nukem

Man 2k nice machine for that - have to agree with ACER love there lappies. Also check the deals on Dell and the Rebate store might snatch a sweet deal for 2k. What does he want it for exactly office stuff wireless games?????

deckie27

Lidl have one on Monday next quiet good for €1500 here
One thing this might be a little heavy for carrying around all the time

Dec

Nukem

Supposed to be a solid machine - but read something about the hinges cracking with the weight. Might be worth a quick google.

jetsonx

maxheadroom, laptop.de good site...is keyboard layout different i.e. german keyboard layout instead of english/american?

Nukem

maxheadroom wrote:

Look at www.notebookforums.com. l

Oh!!!! my god they have some beautiful machines - i mean lovely.

Excellent link.

maxheadroom

jetsonx wrote:

maxheadroom, laptop.de good site...is keyboard layout different i.e. german keyboard layout instead of english/american?

Most if not all of the machines they sell can be customised to have an english keyboard fitted. It normally adds about €60 to the price.

For buying UK models, uk.insight.com seem quite good, as do ebuyer if you could manage to get an account registered...

jetsonx

maxheadroom, did you buy off laptop.de before?....how do you know about customization ? I agree ebuyer is a bugger to register on. ps: have u seen notesbookbilliger.de amazing prices as well.

maxheadroom

jetsonx wrote:

maxheadroom, did you buy off laptop.de before?

No, but I was considering it before christmas. Eventually got my new laptop through a friend of the family who could order it at the trade price...

jetsonx wrote:

how do you know about customization ?

If you click on any laptop they offer in their shop it gives you a list of things you can change. After using jes-computer.de for a year or so I'm pretty handy with "Computer-German" even though I can't speak a word of it...

jetsonx wrote:

I agree ebuyer is a bugger to register on. ps: have u seen notesbookbilliger.de amazing prices as well.

I'm still waiting on ebuyer to respond to an enote I sent them regarding my account. They said they would respond within 3 business days. That was over 3 weeks ago.

notesbookbilliger.de are good, but they don't seem to offer customisations.

cregser

Good to see this topic has taken on a life of it's own

deckie27, that Lidl deal is excellent. I'm even tempted after just building a PC! It might get out of date fairly soon though.

I'm looking at the other links now. Others I've found are www.rockdirect.com and www.dabs.com.

My mate wants the laptop for a bit of everything (as you do) but he does like his games. I would be tempted to recommend something more than a Radeon9700 to him. But current gen gcards would jack up the price alot. I think he wants DVDRW/CDRW combo drive too.

Molly

On the topic of buying laptops, i've been looking around for one with a 12.1 inch screen but with a semi decent graphics card. Anyone know if such a laptop exists ?

maxheadroom

Molly wrote:

On the topic of buying laptops, i've been looking around for one with a 12.1 inch screen but with a semi decent graphics card. Anyone know if such a laptop exists ?

Might be worth looking into some of the IBM X30 or X40 series laptops.

Other than that, there's the Sony Vaio S series which has a 13.3" widescreen display and either radeon mobility 9200 or 9700 graphics. I have an S2XP (Christmas Pressy) and its lovely - weighs less than 2 kg, DVD+-RW etc. The new S3 series (which don't seem to be out yet) will apparentely have nvidia geforce 6600 GO cards.