Fancy a New Laptop.....

[dc5-2ltr]

...can anyone advise? All I`m after is a decent spec lappy to mainly browse the net .I`ve got my main PC to do all the power hungry work but would like something reasonable with wifi built in to roam around the house with....any makes or models stand out or worth considering?? Thanks,David

 

[dave c]

mac book pro, or even just a mac book

 

[mikegsi]

If it's just for browsing around the house whatabout a netbook?

 

[VTeCMonKeY]

mac book pro, or even just a mac book

hell yes macbook air if you're flush 8)

 

[civic17_99]

If it's just for browsing around the house whatabout a netbook?

A netbook is a good idea, they have built in wifi there nice and compact and if your just browsing the internet then they are fine. They dont come with DVD drives thats the only down side so depends if you need one of those or not.
Plus there nice and cheap aswell.

Something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172831 even comes with a wifi card that supports Wireless N.

 

[sovietspybob]

Just be aware that the netbooks are very very slow when you want to do anything remotely taxing as there basically stunted pentium M's still using the old intel 945 motherboard chipset. As said macbook if your rich and just want to browse the web and do basic things as they do offer a very sleek GUI.

Otherwise Dell do some fairly decent laptops the Studio 15 range is ok, i'd possibly avoid the entry inspiron as they do tend to be lower spec and look a bit more dated.

I've personally got a Dell XPS 15" laptop as, at the time (12 months ago) it offered the best bang for buck

Also if you get a dell make sure you search google for 'voucher codes' as theres almost always some codes floating about, i got over 130quid off my laptop with less than 1 min of googling!

 

[DanSwift1988]

Toshiba make really affordable, robust Laptops. I've had mine for around 2 years now without a single issue and it gets used for round 4 hours each day. Had coffee spilled on it twice, dropped it etc and it still goes strong.

Example - http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/13704613/ ... oduct.html

Good spec and price and will never break! Worth a look

 

[IntegraDan]

Toshiba make really affordable, robust Laptops. I've had mine for around 2 years now without a single issue and it gets used for round 4 hours each day. Had coffee spilled on it twice, dropped it etc and it still goes strong.

Example - http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/13704613/ ... oduct.html

Good spec and price and will never break! Worth a look

I can vouch for Toshiba too...I've had mine 2 years and never had one glitch...also been dropped too :?

I had a go on a net book you get eye strain looking at that 13" screen!! not for me...!

 

[sovietspybob]

I have heard good things about the consumer Toshiba laptops, i've just never gone near them as their business ones (the Tecra range) are really terrible, so bad that you wouldn't even say thanks if you got given one sort of bad...

 

[dc5-2ltr]

Thanks for the input guys....I have a Dell pc which has been fine for the last 4yrs and my Bro has a Tosh laptop which he likes so I`ll probs go for one of these..Cheers, David 8)

 

[coyote_dc5]

I also have a Dell which had 1GB RAM and a 2GHz CPU. It had XP on it when shipped but did state Vista Ready! The thing was really slowing down so I did some research and ran the Windows 7 checker on it and all seemed well. I bought 4GB or SODIMM ram for it for £65!!! of ebay and now it runs like a dream 8)

Just my ten pence worth to save you forking out for a whole new laptop #-o

 

[larz]

dunno what the story is with ALDI in the UK, but over here they do fantastic PCs and Laptops at unreal prices. Great 3 year warranty and HUGE spec. I'm a computer software engineer, and know computers. If you're after a solid PC with great support, that'll last you years and you don't fancy spending more than £500 they're the ones to go for...

You just need to know when they have them. Some stores sell out in the first 10 minutes, others have them in stock for weeks.

 

[TimB]

go to an apple store and have a play on the Mac Book, you'll never go back to windows..

 

[blueguy]

dunno what the story is with ALDI in the UK, but over here they do fantastic PCs and Laptops at unreal prices. Great 3 year warranty and HUGE spec. I'm a computer software engineer, and know computers. If you're after a solid PC with great support, that'll last you years and you don't fancy spending more than £500 they're the ones to go for...

You just need to know when they have them. Some stores sell out in the first 10 minutes, others have them in stock for weeks.

Yep, it's the same over here aswell fella, but as you say they sell out in minutes.

 

[TypeGRRR]

go to an apple store and have a play on the Mac Book, you'll never go back to windows..

FACT! \/

 

[dc5-2ltr]

go to an apple store and have a play on the Mac Book, you'll never go back to windows..

FACT! \/

Right lads..now you`ve got me pondering..I`ve always liked the look of the Macbooks but never used one...anyone out there come from a pc to macbook(or vice versa!) and can put any good or bad points forward...can I stil download "naughty" programs like utorrent to a macbook or are there any built in restrictions as to what can be downloaded...any and all advice will be taken on board as I`ve now decided to go to the new Apple store in Newcastle to try one out but would like to go there with a bit of knowledge from mac users on this forum...Thanks again,David \/

 

[dc5-2ltr]

Anyone help??

 

[dave c]

Whey I've just gone from PC's to macs....They are fudgin awesome, i cant fault them at all.

I have one of the brand new 27inch iMac's at work and a 15inch Macbook Pro at home.

Pro's

EVERYTHING

Con's

NONE
oh actually some softwares take a little longer to be available on mac but that is getting quicker and not as much of an issue.

Buy one, you wont regret it.

Grumble wise...no restrictions lol

 

[sovietspybob]

*puts on flame proof suit*

i sodding hate MAC's had to use them in college for music production and they were dire compared to a PC, granted they are better nowadays (they were still OSX though) but are they worth over twice the price of a simarly speced windows 7 laptop? thats something only you can decide.

I just found them rather unstable compared to a PC once you had it loaded up with a similar ammount of stuff that a PC generally runs, once you've got a ton of programs installed it dosen't seem to cope as well as a windows PC in my experience :shock:

Mac users should give windows 7 a try as it looks pretty swish now and i've not had a single problem with it since i upgraded my main gaming rig just after xmas

Either way you need to try a mac and see if it 'does it' for you, just don't be blinkered by the Apple 'scene' as a lot of people will try and tell you it'll solve all you're lifes problems just because it has a shiny apple picture on the lid...

Rant over :lol:

 

[blueguy]

My bro has been using PC's since the good old days of 286's with a whopping 33mhz! (me too - I think we've gone through about 10 PC's over the years ). You could say he is/was a hardcore PC user.
In these times, he still has a high powered desktop PC but also a macbook pro. He's had the macbook for the past 3 years and he would never swap it for a laptop PC. He's found it runs faster and smoother that PC equivalents and critically is a lot more stable.

However I have to agree with sovietspybob's view though, reports so far on Win 7 suggest it is a cracking OS. I certainly wouldn't discount it, especially if current views are based on the 'wonderful' Vista OS........

Last but not least. This is just my view based from sources I trust. I do not own a macbook or have used Win 7 yet. I'm currently deciding which next step I should take :xyes:

Dave c, I take it you're using ilife? Do you find it as good as everyone says it is?

Cheers