My laptop has reached 5 years old this year and to be honest it seems to be struggling to cope with increasing errors despite being updated to all things current, now MSE wont even run a full scan without freezing since a security update to Vista, so Im thinking a new one is in order since I can afford it now and I am not allowed to spend on cars.
So, Im a cheap so and so which means £300-350 - what is the best brand in that price range, I currently have an HP and it has had quite a few repairs to things like the keyboard and a new screen, so the build doesnt seem that good and I would atleast like to get the best I can, even though I know I am at the bottom end of the market.
I dont do anything fancy, dont do big downloads and I dont do much other than surfing news etc so my needs are not great - there is a large number of things on my laptop I have never even opened, let alone used. I have this fibre optic broadband now which seems faster so it would be nice if whatever I get can utilise that perhaps better than my current laptop.
Any suggestions?
|
Most the machines I currently have on my bench are 18 month old laptops which were cheap end HP crap at the time. I always try and convince my clients to spend a bit more if they haver the money, e.g on a Thinkpad which are much better built.
The cheap laptops I see range from needing new keyboards, hard drives and screens (not the fault of the laptop. Overheating is another major issue with laptops and HPs are by the far the worse for this.
What I am saying is try and spend money on build quality rather than spec.
|
>>Overheating is another major issue with laptops and HPs are by the far the worse for this <<
Indeed, I am quite sure mine reduces my heating bills.
|
If all you do is surf then you'd have to also consider a tablet - might do all you need. And if the laptop was running okay originally and was fast enough then a reinstall of Windows might be all that's needed to get it running well again - or switch to a variant of Linux like Ubuntu.
If you really want a new laptop, then Lenovo tends to get the best feedback in terms of build quality.
|
Me? I know nothing!
However, Which? says with a maximum price of around £350:-
Samsung Series 3
Lenovo S300
Acer Aspire E1
Laptop reliability index
Brand Score
Acer 91%
Apple 90%
Sony 90%
Toshiba 90%
Asus 89%
Compaq 89%
Fujitsu-Siemens 89%
Lenovo 89%
Medion 89%
Packard-Bell 89%
Hewlett-Packard 88%
Samsung 88%
Dell 87%
Overall reliability 89%
Last edited by: Duncan on Fri 12 Apr 13 at 12:45
|
>>And if the laptop was running okay originally and was fast enough then a reinstall of Windows might be all that's needed to get it running well again - or switch to a variant of Linux like Ubuntu.<<
I recall some months ago something flashed up saying the service packs for Vista would no longer be available - it has taken a day of updates to make it function when I have reinstalled Windows in the past and I wouldnt like to wipe it and discover I cannot update it.
It was running fine until the last set of updates came through - when I run the full scan it gets stuck on IE9_main every time, then MSE freezes and Explorer is very slow. Certainly something didnt take.
Thanks for the tip, ill check em out.
|
Uninstall MSE and put something else on instead. MSE can slow down a machine in my opinion/experience.
Also try a different web browser. You might find you prefer to IE9 - e.g. Chrome or Firefox.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 12 Apr 13 at 14:22
|
>> Uninstall MSE and put something else on instead. MSE can slow down a machine in
>> my opinion/experience.
Quite the opposite in mine.
|
|
I agree with Zero (choke), I found that MSE on and other stuff off significantly speeded stuff up.
|
|
Dont sweat it, Its just like an alcoholic admitting they have a problem. All will be well in your life now.
|
>> Quite the opposite in mine.
And mine. Since I got shot of AVG on my WinXP system and replaced it with MSE the speed of the machine has returned to normal.
|
|
I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply i always give to this question, a lenovo with an intel "I" cpu/chipset (I3 - I5)
|
>>Any suggestions?
It depends so much on the criteria; For example, You carry it a lot so weight matters, or you don't so it doesn't. And there are so many personal criteria.
For me, and I have no particular requirements, I have done well for myself and friends by going down to PCWorld / Comet/ Wherever and looking at the machine that is slightly out of date, stock is running down, and a new model is due.
And whilst different people have different experiences, I've always done ok at those shops. Mind you, and I think this makes a difference, I don't need or rely on any expertise on their part.
|
Let me put it in car terms - a Dacia Sandero diesel - basic but with a reasonable turn of speed, nothing fancy, frills are lost on me.
I must admit I really like the way the touchpad works on my HP, my mum uses a mouse on her HP and I cannot understand why.
|
|
Don't buy until Windows replaces W8 with an update mid year to fix the shambles..
|
Good tip thanks.
I can wait, it just means I cannot run a full scan - it will do a quick scan OK although I dont know the value of that. It works very well right up until I run a scan, then it gets all moody with me and I have to restart it.
|
>> Don't buy until Windows replaces W8 with an update mid year to fix the shambles..
The shambles is never going to get fixed. A report this week has said that Windows 8 has more or less killed the home PC market stone dead.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 12 Apr 13 at 21:38
|
>> >> Don't buy until Windows replaces W8 with an update mid year to fix the
>> shambles..
>>
>> The shambles is never going to get fixed. A report this week has said that
>> Windows 8 has more or less killed the home PC market stone dead.
>>
Having tried Spamette Major's boyfriend's shiny new Core i5 laptop with Win8 I should think most home users who've been brought up on XP/Vista/Win7 will be having a few WTF moments if they 'up'grade. Totally unintuitive. Eventually realised that hitting the Windows key generally took me back to a screen that made sense. If I bought a Win8 machine I'd have to use one of those 3rd party apps. to make it look like Win7 to preserve my sanity.
|
>>If I bought a Win8 machine I'd have to use one of those 3rd party apps. to make it look like Win7 to preserve my sanity.<<
I spent most of thurs helping a PC non literate who wished to transfer his data/install new applications on his newly purchased W8 machine. Nightmare for me, having never seen W8 before. You find things in the end, but nothing is intuitive! Even repeating tasks that I had completed sucesssfully 30 minutes earlier was a voyage of rediscovery. Loss of sanity or early onset Alzheimers?
Which 3rd party app do you recommend to make it look like XP or W7? The sooner I install it for him the better. Are they then easily fully reversable back to W8? Since I will not be around here for half the year?
What does hitting the 'Windows ' key actually do? I did not try that!
Last edited by: pmh on Sat 13 Apr 13 at 17:42
|
I haven't been tempted to re-try the experience but from memory hitting the Windows key toggled between the Win8 'touchscreen' start menu and something that resembled a normal desktop. I haven't tried a third paty app. myself yet, but this look like a good place to start:-
blog.laptopmag.com/make-windows-8-like-windows-7
I am not looking forward to the day SWMBO's Dell Dimension 5150 XP machine finally dies and the replacement runs WIn8.
|
|
Just install W7. Microsoft doesn't own us.
Last edited by: Martin Devon on Sun 14 Apr 13 at 21:23
|
Recommend a new laptop - RattleandSmoke
