My five year old Toshiba laptop has just died. I've started looking for another one, but am pretty cluless regarding internals and specs. I need a reasonable spec, for home use only. I don't really do any gaming, but I'd like something with a decent graphic performance for DVD, photo editing and internet use.
I've got a budget of 'around' £450 but could push a little more. I've been quite impressed with my old Toshiba, considering the abuse it's had. Two other makes I'm looking at are HP and Acer, but I know nothing about their build quality or reputation. I'm considering these from John Lewis (I can get %20 discount). Thoughts, suggestions and pointers to other possible examples would be appreciated.
www.johnlewis.com/230936753/Product.aspx
www.johnlewis.com/230878157/Product.aspx
www.johnlewis.com/230906906/Product.aspx
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...I'd like something with a decent graphic performance for DVD, photo editing...
Those sort of applications are right up Apple's street.
Many graphics professionals use AppleMacs - BigBadDave on here to name one.
There is something about an AppleMac that is cooler, more fun and easier to use than a PC.
Don't know much more about them, but given you have a decent budget, I'd have thought an AppleMac was definitely worth a look-see.
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They only seem to have 14" screens though, which seems a bit teeny. My 'old' one had a 19" HD widescreen, so I suppose everything will be a bit of a comedown. The Apple software is a bit of a mystery to me as well. I like the reassurance of the Windows bluescreen now and again.
Last edited by: midlifecrisis on Tue 6 Jul 10 at 17:14
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Buy yourself a nice ickle iPad :-) Apple do a nice discount for the Police so I'm led to believe, You need to register from a PNN address to get the discount.
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After many years of snootily avoiding Macs because they were used by tiresome East Coast intellectuals - I thought of myself as a good old boy with a battered Chevy rather than some mimser in spectacles with a spick-and-span Mercedes - I have capitulated and got a MacBook Pro, essentially because my old PC desktop picked up a spyware and Macs are relatively immune to such things.
I can confirm that the screen is extremely fine, although I believe that by paying even more eye-watering prices you can get even finer (and bigger) screens. The machine is good too. But they are goddam expensive. Even if you get last year's model from Amazon it costs the best part of a grand, shudder. Twice the money of a decent PC in fact.
Zero says it's a swizz and it may well be. But I wonder what the Sheikh thinks? He's the resident hands-on grease monkey.
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I don't understand why anybody would want a large laptop. Surely a small laptop, with a separate screen to plug in? Or else a desktop.
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The MacBook Pros are available in 13", 15" and 17" sizes. The 15" might be big enough.
you mention editing photos etc so do not follow PU's suggestion of an iPad. The iPad is a device for consuming media and not creating it.
From what you say, you don't need a powerful graphics card in your laptop. Even low end integrated graphics will do what you need.
P.S. But the cheapest 15" MacBook Pro is a lot more than £450 but I could recommend a Mac too.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 6 Jul 10 at 17:51
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I like to use it for internet entertainment (not THAT kind!) and other intensive video uses, so good graphics performance is useful. I'm erring towards the HP. It's cheaper, got a 17" screen and fairly decent graphic performance (I think).
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>> I don't understand why anybody would want a large laptop.
SWMBO bought a 17" laptop for writing her essays on, which she does in the dining room. She wanted a decent size screen, and something that when she's finished she can easily just put away out of sight in a cupboard. It does the job nicely.
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For reliability Asus and Toshiba come out tops. HP are the worst.
tinyurl.com/ydw7mbm
I bought a 17" Toshiba to replace Mrs. K's old Thinkpad.
Kevin...
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My friend 'in the know' has also recommended the Toshiba. So I'm likely to choose that one, but I hadn't budgeted for the outlay, so I've got to wait until the wife isn't looking.
(Mods: sorry, I didn't even know there was a computer section)
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Will this do the trick?
tinyurl.com/2wotdtr
Kevin...
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I still think you're over emphasising the graphics. Unless it's for games or using the graphics card to say decode HD video, nearly any laptop will be fine. And most laptops do have hardware to decode HD video streams - even the best CPUs can struggle.
My desktop PC has a graphics card which can speed up HD video encoding why has hardly been turned on in the last 6 months (been in storage) but not much during the 6 months before that.
Edit. for the Aero interface effects on Windows Vista/7 you need an okay graphic card.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 6 Jul 10 at 22:37
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I'm not over emphasising anything.
I gave a link to a decent quality laptop that should do everything mlc needs for £100 less than he had budgeted for.
Kevin...
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The over emphasising was aimed at MLC. Sorry for any confusion.
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Must admit I'd only go for a Thinkpad (been hammering these for 15 years, they've never let me down despite some major abuse) or the Toshiba has a good reputation. At that price I'd suggest that you're in the 'consumer' rather than business machine segment of the market so the Tosh might be the best bet.
I like Macs but they're premium priced and whilst the O/S is good, it isn't THAT good and the hardware is standard Intel fayre, much the same as the Thinkpad or Tosh IMHO.
Personally I run Ubuntu, but if you must have Windows then follow the advice regarding graphics cards etc and get plenty of memory - Crucial do well priced upgrades in my experience.
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"I'm considering these from John Lewis (I can get %20 discount). "
How?
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Probably Police related. I can currently get 15% of HP, 10% off Dell and the same off Apple from my employer.
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Bought myself an Acer two months ago. The one which is only 1" thick but comes with a separate video card. I am very happy with it.
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I bought an HP laptop as a bit of a distress purchase when the HD went on our (admittedly 10 year old!) desktop. It's OK but it does have a lot of HP-orientated software loaded on it which is a bit of a pain. When my Parents wanted a new one, we had a bit more time, and we bought a Dell. It was much the same price as the HP, but it is a much nicer piece of kit. The feel of the keyboard and general construction feels a step up from the HP. Dell is well respected in the business community for longevity of machines in full time use, and I will certainly be firing up the Dell website first when it comes time for a replacement for the HP!
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Pleased with our Acer. 17" screen, 360 MB HD & 3MB RAM, built in webcam and came with Windows 7 Home Premium.
Bought from Curry's (Excuse: there's one half a mile from our daughter's place) at Xmas when in the UK. Cost then £430 +-
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Buying a laptop that uses the latest Intel processor, the i3 Duo, if it is within your budget, is worth considering as they have built-in graphics and are able to achieve a good battery life for the performance they give.
It has been stated that AMD at present cannot compete.
The best buy laptop performer below £500, according to the September issue of PC Advisor, is provided by the Acer Aspire 5470-333G32Mn -- 15.6" screen. It has a 2.13GHz i3-330M processor and achieves a battery life of 248 minutes and costs £478.
The 2.2 GHz Intel 2 Duo T6600 in a Samsung R530-JA03, one does 284 minutes at £500 --- the same mag.
Last edited by: busbee on Wed 7 Jul 10 at 18:29
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Thanks for all the replies. The discount is because a member of my immediate family works for the JL Group. I've found out that the discount might only be 12.5% and after reflection, I think the £629 Toshiba was being a bit impulsive.
I'll certainly be looking at the cheaper versions as I think they'll be perfectly adequate.
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There used to be a geezer on ere called Rodent&Steam - he knew a thing or 2 about computers, I hear.
How's about this laptop from Tesco, 15.6" Acer, 4GB, 320GB, Windows 7 etc., etc., etc.
direct.tesco.com/q/R.207-1342.aspx
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I'd second the Acer recommendations. Got an Acer Aspire 5738g at the end of last year, Intel Core 2 Duo, 15.6 inch screen, and very pleased with it. Wanted something with decent performance that could be our main PC and it's just the ticket. Picked it up online for about £500. Just 2 problems, the AC adapter packed up very early on but was replaced by Acer very smoothly. Also found the "gesture control" touch pad quite annoying, would find that I kept accidentally activating features I didn't want. So I just deactivated it so it's just a normal tuch pad now.
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As well as value, spec and folks advice make sure you try out the potential purchase. Some well reviewed laptops have very cheap feeling keyboards which was a big turn off for us.
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by the way I know it wasn't in your original requirements but I think there are a lot of laptops in this price bracket that don't have HDMI ports. My Acer does and I use it all the time to hook it up to the TV to watch Iplayer and the like, show pictures or listen to spotify, really excellent feature. So might be something to consider.
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Which laptop - Iffy
