Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / Yet another laptop buying advice thread...

Author
Message
Melancholic
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Nov 2009
Location:
Posted: 17th Jul 2010 14:54
Link
There seems to have been allot of these sorts of threads recently. So what better time but to post mine!. As I’ve been having some troubles recently finding a good laptop. Unfortunately i need a laptop as my main computer, so bare in mind that it will be used everyday. I would like as much performance as i can get for my price range. I’m looking to spend around £600 or 5,000DKR. My family have used HP's in the past i can say that their positively awful, so HP is out of the question.

Specs I’m looking at aren’t too bad, basically, as I said before, best performance for my money. Ideally i would like at least a 2.2ghz Dual Core and a Nvidia 330m but that isn’t happening in my budget, so ive been looking at the gt 240m which seem to be almost as good. The screen should be 15" at largest as well. Below are some laptops I’ve looked at

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5739G_Laptop_LX.PH602.129/version.asp

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz
4 Gig ram
Nvidia GT 240m
320 Gig HDD

Though the problem with this one is that it just seems too cheap, i cant find simmiliar components in a laptop for under £600. The single air vent at the back also puts me off as all laptop ive had experience with has suffered from heat problems.

Next one ive looked at is a Dell Studio 15 found on this page(the £599 one)
http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/home/laptops_great_deals/fs.aspx?refid=laptops_great_deals&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn

Specs:
Intel Core I3 2.26 Ghz
4 Gigs DDR3
Ati Mobility Radeon HD5470
500 Gig HDD

And i cant really find anything wrong with this except mild specs...

Thanks for anyhelp

Back to top
Profile PM Email
PAGAN_old
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2006
Location: Capital of the Evil Empire
Posted: 17th Jul 2010 18:02
Link
there are some new MSI and ASUS laptops that have a HD5870 in them which is a really awesome GPU. They cost around $1000-1500 but thats because of the wea CPU which is core i5 or Core i3. if you manage to get one of these, you could upgrade the ram and the CPU later on (i wonder if CORE i7 can be put into a core i5 notebook.

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Satchmo
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 29th May 2005
Location:
Posted: 17th Jul 2010 20:31
Link
Yes I have an MSI GX640 with an upgradeable cpu(I can put an i7 in later on if I want, currently have an i5).

Back to top
Profile PM
Melancholic
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Nov 2009
Location:
Posted: 17th Jul 2010 20:49
Link
Thanks for the advice guys, though unfortunatly those laptops cannot be got within my price range. Though i definatly will keep upgradable CPUs in mind, am i right in thinking that all the Core I series are compatible with each other?

On another note, anybody got any suggestion on brands? Or which ones to stay away from?

Back to top
Profile PM Email
PAGAN_old
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Jan 2006
Location: Capital of the Evil Empire
Posted: 18th Jul 2010 23:37
Link
Quote: "Yes I have an MSI GX640 with an upgradeable cpu(I can put an i7 in later on if I want, currently have an i5)."


AWESOME! i think i am diching my acer and bying that MSI

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
Back to top
Profile PM Email
BiggAdd
Retired Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Aug 2004
Location: != null
Posted: 19th Jul 2010 00:40
Link
My mate just recently bought one of these:

http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/envy/discover_15.html

Apparently got it for £700 in currys, meant to be £1200.

Back to top
Profile PM
Melancholic
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Nov 2009
Location:
Posted: 19th Jul 2010 01:23
Link
Thanks for that BiggAdd, unofrtunalty there is no sign of this deal on their website Do you know if its only an in store thing?

Another option ive been looking at is this. The only problem is that it only has 2 gigs of ram. Im thinking i could just add more. Ive been inside my laptop before and it looks as simople as dekstop ram, just slotting in. Is it this simple?

Back to top
Profile PM Email
BiggAdd
Retired Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Aug 2004
Location: != null
Posted: 19th Jul 2010 01:37
Link
Quote: "Do you know if its only an in store thing"


I think he picked it up from the store, but he might have been very very lucky.

Back to top
Profile PM
AndrewT
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Feb 2007
Location: MI, USA
Posted: 19th Jul 2010 05:36
Link
I have to second BiggAdd's suggestion, I've heard some very good things about HP's ENVY line.

i like orange
Back to top
Profile PM
Melancholic
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Nov 2009
Location:
Posted: 19th Jul 2010 14:39
Link
Well, ive given up on my search for ultimeate performance. Now ive changed my search to a 310m/320m/ or HD 5470 and a 2.2Ghz proccesor(preferably an i3). What im more worried about now is brand, im definatly not going HP as my family have 4 of them and a 6 year old dell(with single core 2Ghz and intel graphics) has outlived them significantly... Im thinking of going either lenovo or Asus, any horror stories about thease?

Back to top
Profile PM Email
AndrewT
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Feb 2007
Location: MI, USA
Posted: 19th Jul 2010 16:26
Link
Quote: "Well, ive given up on my search for ultimeate performance. Now ive changed my search to a 310m/320m/ or HD 5470 and a 2.2Ghz proccesor(preferably an i3). What im more worried about now is brand, im definatly not going HP as my family have 4 of them and a 6 year old dell(with single core 2Ghz and intel graphics) has outlived them significantly... Im thinking of going either lenovo or Asus, any horror stories about thease?"


If you're concerned with reliability, you should probably go with ASUS based on this study:

[href=http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf]
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf[/href]

Note that the study was done by a warranty company, so the results may be exaggerated, but the ranks of various brands should still hold true.

i like orange
Back to top
Profile PM
Melancholic
15
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Nov 2009
Location:
Posted: 23rd Jul 2010 14:43
Link
Well my new laptop is getting delivered tomorrow, I went with a Samsung r580 with a horrible black/red paint job. Though it has good specs;

Intel Core i3-330m 2.226 to 2.5 GHz
4Gb of ddr3 ram
Nvidia GT 330m
500GB Hard Drive
Blueray drive

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Satchmo
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 29th May 2005
Location:
Posted: 23rd Jul 2010 22:05
Link
Yes those should be fine enough to handle any new game on relatively high settings. I'm not sure about the 330m though.

Back to top
Profile PM
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2025-05-23 21:33:40
Your offset time is: 2025-05-23 21:33:40