Buying a Laptop: The current Generation

Monotype · 30-08-2012 7:14pm

Postage is free (but you need to select super saver shipping).
Cost would be about...
£429.99 ÷ 1.20 × 1.23 = 440.73975 for Irish VAT.
Then there's usually a few percent for credit card exchange rate. This is typically 1.75% for European currencies. At least that's what it is for AIB Visa and Mastercards.

£440.73975 × 1.0175 = 448.452695625

and in euro that's...

€565.93 at xe.com

Amazon are usually very good with regard to customer service. If there's problems with it immediately, amazon will often pay for the shipping of items back to them. You'll still have the Toshiba warranty, however long that is, if anything goes wrong in the long term.

If it's a laptop for college, I would definitely not overlook the weight of laptops. Laptops can seem an awful lot heavier if you are dragging them around all day.

mischiefman · 30-08-2012 7:54pm

***** >>>>>>>>>>>Last Post! Thanks
I understand that, but weight doesn't annoy me that much at all. The actual price with free delivery is 580e basically-I have relations in Britain...worth my time getting them to buy it and send it to me? Gonna buy this tomorrow morning. Anyone have any better laptop in mind for the same price? Would this run games like CoD or Battlefield....even if the graphics aren't good, would it run?? Just a side interest!-it is for college after all!

Monotype · 30-08-2012 8:10pm

Where do you see €580? Should be at least €10 cheaper unless you get a bad exchange day. If you get it shipped to Britain, all you'd be saving is the Irish VAT, which is £10. They'd probably spend most of that shipping it over to you!
Graphics... not really for gaming, no.
It's Intel's best effort at graphics so far, but it's not really suitable for more than the basics. Older things should be fine. Stuff built on the source engine too - HL2, Portal 2 etc.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

artyeva · 31-08-2012 2:18am

can someone help me and just point me to the laptop i need so i can click 'buy' and be done with the searching?! mr artyeva's laptop is too slow for what he needs it for so he's taking my old toshiba which will be fine for him and i'm getting a new one but i'm going crosseyed here trying to compare things when tbh i don't fully understand 'em

things i'd like include:
- 17'' screen a must.
- 6/8GB ram.
- HDMI port.
- wifi.
- decent enough webcam.
- i have no idea whether i should be looking at i3 or i5 or i7 processors or whether i even need 8GB ram but something that can handle video and photo editing with ease and won't feel slow and outdated in a year.
-pointless me adding anything about graphic cards here cause i don't understand the differences between them and no amount of googling helps. it's like a mental block. i won't be gaming on it if that makes a difference?
- good speakers - my current one has harmon kardon speakers/dolby 'surround' and the sound out of them is pretty damn sweet. don't want to downgrade there.
- i also love the 'truebrite' or whatever they call it screen on this toshiba. very easy on the eyes.
- weight and battery life aren't important.
- hard drive size isn't too important either as i mainly use externals for storage but 500gb would be nice.
- budget is up to €900 but flexible.
-don't mind if i purchase online or in a bricks and mortar as long as it's NOT pc world or any of the dixons group! the mental scars are still there from the last time i bought anything from them

i'd go in and have a look at something in store alright, but wouldn't be willing to buy there.

i've looked at these so far:

Toshiba Core i5 Laptop - L875-10G

Toshiba Satellite Pro L870-149

Lenovo 17.3" G780-M842YMH - i5 3210M/6GB/500GB

HP Pavilion DV7 17.3 Inch 1TB 2.5GHz i5

i don't know much about lenovo or hp cause i've only ever owned toshiba and to be honest i'd be ok with going with another toshiba if someone could point me in the right direction?

Monotype · 31-08-2012 10:11am

@artyeva

I don't know enough laptop models to help you out straight off but I can give you some help as to what you should be looking at.

First of all, wireless - don't even look at the specifications, you can assume it's there.

As for the i3/i5/i7 - that's just intel's branding and doesn't actually mean that much. What you should be looking at is the generation of CPU. Ones that are 2XXX are last generation - like that Toshiba from HN or the HP. Performance is still pretty good on these, but you should expect an appropriately discount on them. The newer ones, the 3XXX series are faster and have better graphics power.
The i3s and i5s are dual cores and some of the i7s are too. A "U" at the end means it's a low voltage product (battery lasts longer, but it's slower). "Q" is for quad cores. Take a look at the table on wikipedia to clarify what you're getting. For the most part, you can compare the clock speed (GHz) in these to get an idea of performance, except when you are talking about 4 cores vs 2.
If you are talking about just a bit of video editing here and there, any of them will do, but if you find yourself wanting to be encoding for different formats and converting videos a lot, you'd want to be looking at the quad cores or a desktop.

If you are using a lot of external hard drives, I'd look into getting a laptop with USB 3 or eSATA (check to see if your drives support either of these) which will be much faster than USB 2.

Torqay · 31-08-2012 10:43am

artyeva wrote: »

things i'd like include:
- 17'' screen a must.
- 6/8GB ram.
- HDMI port.
- wifi.
- decent enough webcam.
- i have no idea whether i should be looking at i3 or i5 or i7 processors or whether i even need 8GB ram but something that can handle video and photo editing with ease and won't feel slow and outdated in a year.
-pointless me adding anything about graphic cards here cause i don't understand the differences between them and no amount of googling helps. it's like a mental block. i won't be gaming on it if that makes a difference?
- good speakers - my current one has harmon kardon speakers/dolby 'surround' and the sound out of them is pretty damn sweet. don't want to downgrade there.
- i also love the 'truebrite' or whatever they call it screen on this toshiba. very easy on the eyes.
- weight and battery life aren't important.
- hard drive size isn't too important either as i mainly use externals for storage but 500gb would be nice.
- budget is up to €900 but flexible.

17" Sammy, Ivy Core i7 quad, 6 GB RAM, GT 650M (2GB DDR3), 1TB HDD, Bluray, HDMI, USB 3.0, JBL speakers + subwoofer... looks like this one was made for you.

735 Sterling (after cashback) here.

Review on notebookcheck.com

artyeva · 31-08-2012 3:24pm

@ Monotype - i don't know how you've done it - but you've managed to make that click for me! thanks for that link.

@ Torquay - seems that's unavailable at the moment but cheers, i hadn't even considered samsung before and the price isn't too bad either. [i hope they make better laptops than they do fridges though

] i'd never heard of notebookcheck.com either, that's the sort of reviews i'm looking for, thanks!

edit: ok, just looked at that link again and now it's in stock.

artyeva · 04-09-2012 3:58pm

mr artyeva has vetoed that samsung - the budget has depleted...and he's given me TODAY to make a decision as to what to buy as he's in a rush to get everything sorted, bought and swapped.

so within my budget i'm left with these two choices:

this toshiba from komplett

'lower level' i7 but i've read on another thread here that it's actually 'faster' than the 3612QM of the lenovo cause the 3612 saves on power at the expense of speed?? what does that mean in real terms - would i even notice it? the ram is upgradeable too, and doesn't seem to be too expensive. and the screen is gloss - yay.

or this lenovo from save on laptops

more ram, 'better' graphics card... but the graphics card on the toshiba, according to notebookcheck is on a par if not slightly above the nvidia of the lenovo. the rendering of video files will be the exception rather than the norm, and to be honest, anything would be better than what i'm using at the moment. from what i can glean from the scant reviews online, ''backlit led'' screen is glossy?

is it just flip a coin time or am i missing something between these two?

Monotype · 04-09-2012 4:27pm

There doesn't seem to be much between the 3610QM and the 3612QM. It looks like slightly different speeds, different sockets and the 3610QM doesn't support VT-d which might have some effect if you were running virtual systems a lot (i.e., running another operating system inside another).

They'd be much the same architecture so they should perform similarly as there's only a small speed difference between them. I'm not informed about laptop sockets, but I'm guessing they're different to allow more power/savings. People rarely update the CPUs and since you're buying quite a powerful one to start with, it's most likely something not to be to worried about.

Intel spec sheets -
http://ark.intel.com/products/64901
http://ark.intel.com/products/64899

RAM is quite cheap at the moment and you can get 8GB for €40, so it's not something to be very worried about.

There wouldn't be a huge difference between the nVidia 630M and AMD 7670. You already mentioned notebookcheck, so you've probably seen these.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-630M.63761.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7670M.69483.0.html
It only makes a difference in games, unless you can make use of unique features which can assist in programming or encoding. For watching HD videos, both vastly exceed your needs.

Backlit LED doesn't imply glossy. It usually means a thinner screen and lower power.

The first one has higher resolutions - you'll have more pixels on the screen and images will be sharper. Ideally, you'd want 1920x1080 for a 17'' screen but they only seem to offer it on the high end ones.

McG · 04-09-2012 5:12pm

ordered a laptop from pcspecialists at the weekend. I'll let you know my experiences once it arrives

i7 3610qm, 8gb, 128GB ssd, nvidia gtx660m

artyeva · 04-09-2012 7:39pm

thanks for that Monotype. decided to go for the toshiba, but can't seem to get komplett to accept any of our visa debit or credit cards, will have to wait till tomorrow and phone it in. typical :rolleyes:

Paudyyy · 05-09-2012 3:55am

So yeah, moving down to Cork next week and hoping to buy a laptop on the way down whilst passing through Dublin! Have a few models in mind but considering my status (Student) I'm obviously strapped for cash!
I was wondering if any of you's could advise me on one machine in particular which caught my eye! The HP Pavillion G6
Costs 429.99 and for the specs it seems to be pretty decent for that price
6gb RAM
500 gb hard drive
Processor: AMD Dual-Core E2-3000M (1.8 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache)
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6380G Discrete-Class
Looking for a laptop for general use but also for some light gaming (Nothing too unrealistic considering the price etc)
Thoughts?

Torqay · 05-09-2012 8:52am

Paudyyy wrote: »

The HP Pavillion G6
Costs 429.99 and for the specs it seems to be pretty decent for that price
6gb RAM
500 gb hard drive
Processor: AMD Dual-Core E2-3000M (1.8 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache)
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6380G Discrete-Class
Looking for a laptop for general use but also for some light gaming (Nothing too unrealistic considering the price etc)
Thoughts?

Nothing decent about this laptop. In processor benchmarks, the AMD Llano chip doesn't even score 50% of the slowest Sandy Bridge Core i3. The GPU (which is integrated not discrete), albeit faster than Intel's HD 3000 in certain scenarios, is certainly not made for gaming.

If you want something decent, that will play some modest games, you'll have to extend your budget to around 600 Euro and get some Core i3 laptop with a GT 630M or HD 7670M.

Monotype · 05-09-2012 10:06am

I'd look at AMD's Trinity laptops instead if you were thinking of going down the route of more powerful integrated graphics.
Here's a list of the APUs (CPU+GPU) you should be looking out for. I'd forget about the A4 and A6, just look at A8 and A10. You're looking at the mobile ones - i.e., A8-4500M, A10-4600M and A10-4655M.
The graphics power scales quite a bit in the higher ones as well as the CPU speed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amd_trinity#Trinity.2C_Weatherford_and_Richland_.28all_32.C2.A0nm.29

The only problem is that there aren't many out at the moment. There's a list here of them, but most of them would still be only available on American sites.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/676413-ultimate-amd-trinity-notebook-list.html

I'm seeing a few turning up on amazon now -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-NP355V5C-SuperMulti-Graphics-Premioum/dp/B008EJGJHC/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Packard-Bell-EasyNote-15-6-inch-A10-4600/dp/B008KWFX34/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-NP355V5C-SuperMulti-Integrated-Graphics/dp/B008EJGJJA/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-NP355V5C-SuperMulti-Integrated-Graphics/dp/B008EJGJK4/

More expensive than what you were looking at, but still a bit cheaper than a dedicated card.

Jarren · 05-09-2012 11:05am

If Mr Aartyeva enjoys playing modern computer games why not settling for something like this

43.9 cm (17.3 "), 1920 x 1080 matte
Core i5-3210m 2x 2.50 GHz (3.10 GHz Turbo), 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 2.0 GB DVD burner
WLAN a / b / g / n, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, HDMI / VGA
1.3 MP Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/90477802/acer-aspire-v3-771g-53214g50maii.asp

Installing extra RAM is easy, you can get the RAM chips from http://www.crucial.com/uk/

^ That unit will come with the German keyboard layout but is very easy to find a way around that.
(windows settings/uk keyboard/changing the keys/stickers etc )

The GPU is very decent based on the budget

Position 56 http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Monotype · 05-09-2012 11:31am

You forgot a link Jarren!

Torqay · 05-09-2012 11:48am

I'd stay away from the A-8, the IGP suxx. The A-10 should be comparable to the Core i5 / GT 630M combo but if Samsung is asking 720 yoyos for these, I can't see them selling well.

The Packard Bell for 450 Sterling on the other hand looks decent enough (if it wasn't for the brand).

Jarren · 05-09-2012 12:03pm

Monotype wrote: »

You forgot a link Jarren!

Fixed

Cheers

Monotype · 05-09-2012 12:04pm

Actually, I was trying to figure out why Samsung were charging so much more in comparison to the Packard Bell. It seems a large price difference for just a bigger hard drive and RAM. It's actually got dual graphics, i.e., the integrated HD 7660G as well as the HD7670M.

I happened to see this on notebookcheck...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7660G-HD-7670M-Dual-Graphics.81173.0.html

Performance can potentially be good but you're open to crossfire issues and bad support.
It could be a good technology in time, but it's only in its infancy at the moment.

Torqay · 05-09-2012 12:30pm

Monotype wrote: »

Actually, I was trying to figure out why Samsung were charging so much more in comparison to the Packard Bell. It seems a large price difference for just a bigger hard drive and RAM. It's actually got dual graphics, i.e., the integrated HD 7660G as well as the HD7670M.

I happened to see this on notebookcheck...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7660G-HD-7670M-Dual-Graphics.81173.0.html

Performance can potentially be good but you're open to crossfire issues and bad support.
It could be a good technology in time, but it's only in its infancy at the moment.

Well spotted.

Doesn't really make much sense to me though. The HD 7670M is not really that much better than the HD 7660M IGP. And Crossfire? No thanks.

sob1467 · 06-09-2012 10:21am

I have a quick question which isn't worth starting a new thread about.

A few pages back this Tosiba Satellite C855: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-Satellite-C855-18D-15-6-inch-i5-3210M/dp/B008CO24DC/ was recommended its a I5 and it costs £430 or €540.

And now in Argos the same laptop but with a Intel Pentium dual core B950 processor for €450.

I think the Argos laptop is worse than the Amazon or am I wrong and is the Argos one worth buying instead of the Amazon one? Or are there other similarish laptops that you would recommend?

Monotype · 06-09-2012 10:43am

Firstly the pentium is B950 is 2.1 GHz while the Core i5-3210M is 2.5GHz. So the i5 has a higher frequency. The i5 also features turbo which allows it to go faster again.

Secondly, the core i5 is also a newer generation so that 2.5GHz could be equivalent to about 2.7GHz relative to the older generation.

Finally, the i5 features much better graphics processing since it's a higher range product and it's a newer generation.

So processing power of the argos is worse than the one on amazon. However, there's more features to a laptop aside from the CPU.

Paudyyy · 07-09-2012 6:47am

Torqay wrote: »

Nothing decent about this laptop. In processor benchmarks, the AMD Llano chip doesn't even score 50% of the slowest Sandy Bridge Core i3. The GPU (which is integrated not discrete), albeit faster than Intel's HD 3000 in certain scenarios, is certainly not made for gaming.

If you want something decent, that will play some modest games, you'll have to extend your budget to around 600 Euro and get some Core i3 laptop with a GT 630M or HD 7670M.

Off to AIB to try and talk my way into a student loan then! haha :P
Thanks for the advice man!

rai555 · 15-09-2012 9:59am

What your opinions about this lad : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-acer-aspire-v5-571-hd-led-core-i5-3317u-4gb-500gb-dvdrw-webcam-w7hp-64bit

I would be concerned slightly about build quality but rest look good

Kolido · 16-09-2012 11:42am

I'm in the market for a new laptop, something for browsing and entertainment so around 400eur

I would usually go for HP buy I'm looking at Toshiba and Lenovo also. I'm not familar with these two brands, does anyone know what the build quality and reliability of Toshiba and Lenovo are?

Also can anyone recommend a good online site for laptops that ship to Ireland, I know of Elera, komplett and laptop direct.

I've heard that saveonlaptops.co.uk ship here but I could find this option on the website, can anyone comfirm this?

Thanks guys, I appreciate any help given.

mmcinerney · 17-09-2012 9:16pm

Hi guys I'm a student looking to buy my new laptop. now I am pretty ok with computers but a lot of the terminology goes straight over my little head. I am looking for something with fast internet ability, good graphics. Ideally would be able to play a few good games on it, like if it was capable of playing Medieval 2 total war I would be happy out. my current family desktop does it no justice.

budget of about €400-€600

thanks

Jarren · 17-09-2012 9:34pm

GT630M. +third gen Intel cpu

http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/15_16_inch/80008308/acer_15_6_v3_571g_53214g50makk_i5_3210m_4_500gb/details.aspx

MRTULES · 18-09-2012 12:31am

Just wondering, that laptop from Argos is going for €360 but was €600. On the UK site it is going for €370 (£300) but down from only €460 (£370). What is up with this? People would see this as a real bargain if they see its reduced from 600 euro. any thoughts? Was Irish Argos ripping people off?

Jarren · 18-09-2012 6:13am

Kolido wrote: »

I'm in the market for a new laptop, something for browsing and entertainment so around 400eur

I would usually go for HP buy I'm looking at Toshiba and Lenovo also. I'm not familar with these two brands, does anyone know what the build quality and reliability of Toshiba and Lenovo are?

Also can anyone recommend a good online site for laptops that ship to Ireland, I know of Elera, komplett and laptop direct.

I've heard that saveonlaptops.co.uk ship here but I could find this option on the website, can anyone comfirm this?

Thanks guys, I appreciate any help given.

Based on your needs /budget

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/p...t%3ELAPTOP.htm

mmcinerney · 18-09-2012 10:20am

Jarren wrote: »

GT630M. +third gen Intel cpu

http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/15_16_inch/80008308/acer_15_6_v3_571g_53214g50makk_i5_3210m_4_500gb/details.aspx

Thanks I probably will be getting that one.

Buying a Laptop: The current Generation

Comments