recommend me a good laptop?!?!

Kev

Pro Cut Vinyl
Founding Member
Official MSC Trader
I'm looking for a laptop mainly for business use but will more then likely replace my desktop at home.

I have a budget of no more then £500 I wish to spend.

  • CPU ideally 2.0ghz or higher
  • Memory 2-3 gig
  • hardrive 250gb will be fine or a little less
  • Operating system - prefer XP, but I can always format vista lol!
  • screen size min 15.6" would prefer 16" or 17"
  • needs wireless lan built in
  • Don't really need it for games or media playing.
I don't mind buying from ebay as long as they are a reputable seller, bought my last desktop from ebay and it's been great.

This one gives you an idea of what I'm looking for

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Studio-17-1737-Laptop-2-16-3GB-250-Blue-e10_W0QQitemZ300344094828QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Laptops_EH?hash=item45ede7306c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

any thoughts?

thanks for any advice
Kev
 

rlees85

Ex. Club Member
i know this will get mixed opinions but after working in a computer shop and getting all sorts coming in I can say I have noticed the following:

A lot of really old dells, acers came in. but very few new ones.
A lot of new HP and Toshibas came in, and no end of blown up e-machines and e-systems.
Vaios are good but cost more then its worth if it does break.

Basically I find dell and acers good, as they seem to last longer then a few years unlike most other new laptops.
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
Can't go wrong with dell kev. My one is a workhorse and gets used all the time for everything I do. Not sure about your budget tho it was a lot more than that at the time.
 

meji

Club Member (Trial)
Yeah I know, I personally would suggest you go for the one I recommend.
If I had a spare £500 I'd of bought it that night when I posted the link.

Also Dell are terrible btw.
 

rlees85

Ex. Club Member
Yeah I know, I personally would suggest you go for the one I recommend.
If I had a spare £500 I'd of bought it that night when I posted the link.

Also Dell are terrible btw.

the MSI one is good by looks of it. how are Dell terrible by the way? Dont think ive ever seen a broken dell laptop in my 10 years of IT..
 

meji

Club Member (Trial)
Well in my 11 years of IT I've been using Dell computers from Primary School then Secondary School and now they're even at do not swear College. They're really overpriced for what spec they are. Also my brother in law bought a Dell XPS when they first came out, it was like £2000 or something. Within 6 months I could buy a better spec PC for £300 which runs games like Crysis on Medium.

But let's not argue it's just my personal opinion and experiences I've had with Dell.

But yeah I've just noticed that laptop I linked in my above post has Draft N WLAN.
If you have a Draft N router you're laughing Kev.
 

Micra_Mamp

Ex. Club Member
from personal experience i would recommend ACER, i have an acer aspire 8730, 18.4" screen, 250GB HDD, webcam, 4Gb ram, Nvidia GeForce 9300M 1.5Gb, core 2 duo 2.3ghz processor

got it for only £500 from currys, could be worth looking into, hope this helps (Y)
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
Well in my 11 years of IT I've been using Dell computers from Primary School then Secondary School and now they're even at f*cking College. They're really overpriced for what spec they are. Also my brother in law bought a Dell XPS when they first came out, it was like £2000 or something. Within 6 months I could buy a better spec PC for £300 which runs games like Crysis on Medium.

In my 24 years of IT experience (20 of that using PCs) I felt happy to buy a DELL.

Yes it was £2K something, but so what? It's earned me 20x that back and is still working fine.... And still has a better screen than most laptops out there today..

Not everyone buys a laptop to play games on.
 
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Kev

Kev

Pro Cut Vinyl
Founding Member
Official MSC Trader
Mine will not be used for games, purely for work use running my website and home use browsing the internet.

I'm probably edging towards a decent dell, just priced out a studio 17 with a few upgrades on the dell site and that even included a dedicated graphics card was priced reasonably well.

I can also claim the VAT back, so I'll get a small saving there.

Soo many reviews and everyone has different opinions, I was looking at this until I read several reviews about ACER's over heating and mine will certainly be on for all of a working day. But again I'm sure people here who own Acer's probably haven't had any issues :s

Kev
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
Cooling is good on dells kev. The true test is leave it doing hard work on a bed and see if it turns off. I know LOADS of aces that do, my dell is FINE.
 

paddymarsden

Iggy Iggy oooooooooo
i'd have to agree with ED, ive been dealing with Dell for only 5-6 years but the kit is top notch and the after sales service is excellent.

If you want to save a few bob Kev, spec up a laptop on Dells website and send me the info and i will have a word with a big supplier and good friend of mine to see if she can beat the price. If so you can just contact her direct and take a card payment no need to open a business account.

The company is called CCS Media and they beat every Dell quote i give them believe it or not, only thing is that Dell build to order so can take up to 14 days sometimes.

let me know what you want to do.
 

Micra_Mamp

Ex. Club Member
Cooling is good on dells kev. The true test is leave it doing hard work on a bed and see if it turns off. I know LOADS of aces that do, my dell is FINE.

i'm using my acer on my bed and have done for a few hours now, hasn't overheated :) never has done
 

Hugh

Moderator
Moderator
Well from my experience most Dell and HP kit will last a long time as long as it's a business laptop and not a home user piece of kit. Toshiba are pretty good too as I've seen kit 8 years old plus still run ok for basic applications.

But for you're budget I'm with Edd and Paddy on this and think Dell would be your best bet.

I'm running this at home at present but it's a multi purpose machine and was £1345. http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=32113
 
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Kev

Kev

Pro Cut Vinyl
Founding Member
Official MSC Trader
Actually funny you mention that, I went in PC World today as well to have a look at what was on offer with the current clearance sale and there is some good deals to be had.

I might even be going back tomorrow to purchase one, still very keen on a Dell Laptop.

Kev
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
Just check the underside for fans kev. Its so annoying when they are there and overheat because of it.
 
just incase you dont get the spec you want ive got a spare cpu and ram the cpu is a intel dual core and the ram is 2x 1gb ddrs (i think will have to check)
 
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Kev

Kev

Pro Cut Vinyl
Founding Member
Official MSC Trader
Well I ended up with Dell Studio 15 with the following spec laptop for £458.99 delivered

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Colour Option: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Studio Topo Pattern Design with Midnight Blue U Trim [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Processor:
[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]T8100 Intel Penryn Core2 Duo 2.10GHz (3MB Cache, 800MHz FSB) [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Memory
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]: [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 4GB (4096MB) DDR2 800MHz[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hard Drive: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 250GB Serial (SATA) 5400 RPM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Display/Screen:
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]15.4" 1280x800 (WXGA) CCFL Widescreen Display with TrueLife[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Optical drive: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DVD-ReWriter Drive[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Graphics Card:
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3450 Graphics with 256MB RAM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Webcam:
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]No Integrated Webcam[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sound Card: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]IDT High Definition Audio[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Wireless:
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dell TrueMobile 1397 Wireless (A/B/G)[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3G/Mobile Broadband: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]No, Please See Upgrades Section Below For Availability[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bluetooth: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]NO, Please see Upgrades section below for availaility[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
Battery:
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Standard Life 6 Cell 53Whr/56WHr Lithium Ion Battery
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Keyboard: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]UK English Layout (QWERTY) - Not Backlit[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Additional features: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] - Full Size Keyboard
- 8-in-1 Multimedia Memory Card Reader
- Slot Load Optical Drive
- FireWire (For Video Editing etc)
- Broadband Ready Network Card
- Touchpad
- Built-in speakers & Microphone
- HDMI Output for watching High Definition Movies on external HD screen
[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ports: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- 4 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Integrated 10/100/1000 LAN (RJ45)
- 1 x FireWire IEEE1394a
- 1 x VGA
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x ExpressCard 54mm Slot
- Microphone/Headphone Sockets
[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Software: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
- DVD-Playing & CD/DVDWriting Software
- Open Office Software Suite
[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Included: [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- Battery[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
- Worldwide AC Adaptor/Charger (110v-240v)
- Recovery Media/Discs
[/FONT]

So far I'm very pleased with it, seeing how I get on with Vista, I may replace it with XP, but thought I'd at least give it a chance.

Thanks for all the advice and opinions guys.

Kev
 

paddymarsden

Iggy Iggy oooooooooo
sorry i didnt get back to you Kev, my contact couldnt get much of Studio's as the E Series are her main sellers and desktops


sounds like a good buy, where did you get it from ?
 
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Kev

Kev

Pro Cut Vinyl
Founding Member
Official MSC Trader
No worries Paddy, I'm delighted with what I've bought.

Kev
 

paddymarsden

Iggy Iggy oooooooooo
Its not allways about cost , the one you recomended was an Athlon which has the same clock speed but less cache and Intel core 2 chips are so much better than Athlons these days for performance
 
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Kev

Kev

Pro Cut Vinyl
Founding Member
Official MSC Trader
the 1 i told u was cheaper and same if not better spec.....no one listens to me :(

lol after reading many different reviews and listening to people's opinions I opted to go for a dell laptop and that wasn't just people here.

Thanks for your input though :)

Kev
 

Arnold

www.alanarnold.co.uk
Moderator
Site Supporter
What warranty did you buy Kev?

I have a Dell at home (which has broke) and i've bought twelve Dell latitude laptops at work. 11 of them have had faults within 3 years. Motherboards or power supplies usually. I would recommend an extended warranty on any Dell system I purchase now. These were all £1200 systems. Great systems when they work, and I would still recommend Dell, especially over Packard Bell and other crap like that.

I would also ditch Vista from it before you set the machine up for too long!
 
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