Computer people, recommend me a laptop!

[Adz]

Hey all,

My last laptop died, motherboard melted. I will need another and have no idea where to start looking.

I presume the internet is better than a high street store?

I have been looking at ebuyer, amazon, ebay etc.

My budget is around what I paid for my last one, £350.

I will like to be able to run things smoothly on it and webcam image. Whats the best and correct specs I should be looking for?

Many thanks,

[RogerTheDodger]

Have a look at dell outlet Dell Inspiron Laptops - Performance with Portability | Dell UK

[Stephen]

I would suggest for a decent answer you might need to advise what you will be running on it.

Personally I'd steer clear of Dell (just my opinion and I'm not defending it either ) and look at whatever Acer PCW/Dixons have on offer at the £347 mark. Usually packed with memory/HDD.

[newman]

Indeed, it all depends on what you want to do with it. Will it be your only workstation or just something you intend to take with you a lot? What will you mostly be using it for? If it's just some webcam imaging, email and chat then you don't really need that much power. If you intend to do a bit more with your pics, post process them in photoshop, do some gaming etc, then you need more power. One thing I'd avoid in any event is a laptop with one of those onboard intergrated graphics chips. Get one with a real graphics card, either ATI or nvidia (whichever rocks your boat) and you'll actually be able to use it for more than email if and when you need to. 4GB RAM is something I'd say is an absolute minimum nowadays, of course more is better (you'll need a 64bit OS to take advantage of more than 4GB RAM, though).

One other important factor with a laptop is portability. If you mostly intend to keep it in one place and only move it occasionally then portability isn't that important, but if you'll be carrying it around a lot then I would suggest getting as light and battery efficient laptop as possible. Screen size and power come in second compared to weight and battery power with laptops you carry around a lot. Your back and shoulders will thank you later

[obscura]

Acer 5742Z. There is one lappy about with dual core, 500gb HDD, 4Gb mem - think its on www.acerdirect.co.uk site. This model comes in various guises with more or less HDD/mem. I agree, wouldn't touch dell either.

[newman]

I own an Acer 6935g. Bought it some two years ago and it's still in excellent condition, so I'm happy with it. It was high end back then but since two years have passed you'll probably be looking at different models, but as far as the brand itself is concerned my own experience with an Acer laptop has so far been very good.

[Woody]

I use this one:-

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 M19KTUK

I use it for EQMOD, stellarium, PHD, APT all running at once. It has the Nvidia Ion chipset so handles Stellarium no probs. Also has a 16:10 screen rather than the usual 16:9 so a little nicer to use. The processor is the bottleneck on this one so as suggested above if you are going to be doing lots of post processing then go for something more powerful.

[MikeWilson]

+1 to everybody suggesting Acer. They're generally the best regarded PC laptop manufacturer and come only second to Apple for support and build quality.

ASUS UL30A-QX328V

^ This for £350 meets your budget and will do everything you're looking for.

I'm waiting for the price to drop to £300 before I pick one of these up as an upgrade for my Acer Aspire One (150).

All the best,

Mike

EDIT: Woody's IP S12 looks perfect. It's even got quite a generous screen resolution!

[Carbon Brush]

For my 'shed' I have an ancient laptop with some slow processor and little memory.

But it does have these curious appendages called parallel and serial ports. Very useful for connecting to astro kit that is several years (pre-usb) old.

As I have not worn out the windows XP that came with it, I don't worry about older software (2yrs+) not being W7 compatible. Skymap pro runs well as does PHD and vieo capture.

In fact the only 'modern' kit compatibility is the QHY5. It must have a USB2 port. USB1 will not suffice.

Should I need to delve into the past, I still have access to a real vintage laptop. It was upgraded during it's active life from Win95 to Win98!

The important thing here is that you don't need this weeks latest super go faster box to run most astro stuff.

Look for last weeks (obsolete) model on sale cheap. Or find someone who thinks they do need this weeks model and offer them silly money for their old box.

[haitch]

If you want processing power the Intel Core series processors are really good.

My Core i5 laptop knocks the spots off my previous dual core one.

[Adz]

Wow thanks for all the help guys, I was really stuck in a minefield.

This is the laptop that I used to have Asus X59GL-AP007C Laptop, Core 2 Duo T5800 2GHz 3GB.. | Ebuyer.com

It was really good and I think that had a lot to do with the graphics card not being built in like you mentioned...?

I was really impressed by ASUS, its just a shame about the motherboard overheating - although it may have been my fault so I probably shouldn't hold them to the slaughter!

I would like to get something of equal or hopefully better spec than the above model, preferably Asus or Acer.

So this was the old spec:

Core 2 Duo T5800 2GHz

GB RAM 250GB HDD

15.4" TFT

DVD SM DL,

6 Cell Battery

nVIDIA GeForce 8200

Vista Home Premium

[Adz]

It will be my workstation but I won't be doing a lot of moving. So it doesn't have to be one of those ultra slim and transportable models.

I would like a keyboard easy to type and the screen size the same, I already have a bag too. Webcams seems to be built in standard now really?

Some programs I would load up would be AVG, Ad aware, Stellarium, Firefox, iTunes, Adobe Reader, Open Office, Dropbox, Wecam capture software (forgot the name I think it was amcap or something) and finally Steam. - Would games run you reckon?

So clarifying some specs now, I think I would need 4gb Ram, good processor, nvidia graphics card, hard drive isn't so much of a problem? I have many externals. The only astro related stuff I will be connecting (at this stage ) is my webcam which is a simple USB so dont need serial ports thanks.

[newman]

Yep, my Acer has a built-in webcam. Never actually used it though since it's my secondary when-not-at-my-desktop computer I don't use as often as my primary, and I usually don't need a webcam on the go.

Now that we've established that you don't need that much portability but do need power I'm guessing that you probably want something like this:

- Intel core i5 or i7 CPU;

- a proper graphics card, not an integrated solution;

- 4GB RAM or more.

Now it depends on your budget, really. I would suggest doing what I do when buying stuff like this - look at your local stores for brands you want (Acer or Asus, I guess?) with specs you want inside your price range. Once you've found a few candidates try finding as much reviews as you can on them online. You should have a clearer picture of a proper candidate forming in your mind soon.

Or maybe somebody here recently bought a high end laptop and can share their experience. Like I said mine is about two years old so I'm a bit out of touch with current models, so I don't want to recommend something that seemed ok after 5 minutes of research but isn't so great in reality. But in general whenever you're buying a pricier piece of equipment the rule of thumb is, never buy before giving yourself at least a few days time to find proper reviews, user opinions, etc. Sometimes things will have good reviews from reviewers that only had them for a few days, but then you'll find a user opinion that shows you the problems that arise through extended usage.

Hope somebody else can be of more help

[MikeWilson]

Hi Adz,

Good advice above (newman has faster fingers than I!).

Here you go:

Samsung R540

Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)

Intel Core i3-380M CPU

Intel HD Integrated Graphics

4GB DDR3

500GB HDD

HDMI/Webcam/DVD Writer

15" display @ 1366 x 768

£349.97. http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Samsung_R540_1055339.html (I've never bought from them before, but I know others who have and had a good experience).

This CPU is more than twice as effective as your old one. The GPU is integrated, sure, but it is more than twice as effective as your old one. Windows 7 is more efficient and I think you'll find this machine a substantial upgrade from your old one. And I found it for you under your budget

Now is a really good time to be in the market for a new laptop.

All the best,

Mike

[MikeWilson]

If you want processing power the Intel Core series processors are really good.

My Core i5 laptop knocks the spots off my previous dual core one.

Just for your info, your Core i5 laptop has a dual core CPU. Only some of the mobile Core i7's are quad core but all the desktop versions of the i5 are quad core. Intel seem to be taking their product naming approach from car manufacturers!

[JohnnyD333]

I like Mr. Wilson's recommendation. Everyone has a preference with a brand, I love my Dell and have bought Dell for 10 years now, many people prefer Apple or Sony. One thing I would recommend, as mentioned by most, is the i3 or i5 Intel chips. They are blazing fast, I can run Registax, DSS, and have live video feed coming in while cruising the web with no chugging. Put that with 4gig of RAM and a descent graphics card and you are good to go.

[Glen]

Morgan's site (where most people go for the webcam) do a good price on laptops, might be worth a look.

Buy Cheap Laptops & netbooks at Morgan Computers

[MikeWilson]

If you can stretch your budget by £15 and be able to wait a short while then there's a (latest version) SandyBridge Core i3 that's about 25% faster than the Core i3 Samsung model I posted earlier... much better bang for your buck...

[nigel999]

I would recomend saveonlaptops ....I used them recently to buy the Asus UL 30a I'm typing this on. 13 inch screen. Nice little Notebook.

A lot lighter and portable than the 15" form factor.

I paid £299 for mine , was a weekend promotion £50 off. They seem to do this regularly for different machines..might pay to keep eyaes peeled.

I'm very much a believer is ASus , used their components when I was in the business , excellent quality.

Cheers, Nigel

[haitch]

Just for your info, your Core i5 laptop has a dual core CPU. Only some of the mobile Core i7's are quad core but all the desktop versions of the i5 are quad core. Intel seem to be taking their product naming approach from car manufacturers!

It's a Samsung SF310 and when I bought it I understood lappy i5s to be dual core. Only thing is, when Excel recalculates my iterative circular references (deliberate), it says it is using 4 processors. I've never really figured out where the other 2 come from .

Edit: Looked it up and I think it's because it runs 4 threads (i.e virtual processors).

I do love the little graph that shows when it is speed boosting!

[MikeWilson]

I would recomend saveonlaptops ....I used them recently to buy the Asus UL 30a I'm typing this on. 13 inch screen. Nice little Notebook.

A lot lighter and portable than the 15" form factor.

I paid £299 for mine , was a weekend promotion £50 off. They seem to do this regularly for different machines..might pay to keep eyaes peeled.

I'm very much a believer is ASus , used their components when I was in the business , excellent quality.

Cheers, Nigel

Thanks for the recommendation Nigel. I'm really tempted by that laptop - do you expect that they'll offer £50 off that particular model again?

Many thanks,

Mike

[nigel999]

Thanks for the recommendation Nigel. I'm really tempted by that laptop - do you expect that they'll offer £50 off that particular model again?

Many thanks,

Mike

Hello Mike...thats difficult to say...a case of eyes peeled I think. Their offers seem fluid, so no telling what will be promoted next.

I first came across the UL30a in PC world last year, at either £649 or £599 , cannot recall which , but very much kept in mind how much I liked it...the form factor is great, light and with more detail than a netbook. Yet less bulky than a 15. Price was what stopped me buying then.

Performance is not huge, but at worst "adequate" . Battery life is very good. However they now supply with a 4400 mah battery, whereas before they were 5600 mah . Like most laptops though, extra batteries of either rating are easily available.

All in all I like it, it "feels" right, polished comes to mind. When you add that 12" and 13" notebooks are usually big bucks, then at £299 its an absolute bargain.

Here's a review from an excellent German laptop review site.

Review Asus UL30A-QX050V Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

HTH

Cheers, Nigel

[MikeWilson]

Hello Mike...thats difficult to say...a case of eyes peeled I think. Their offers seem fluid, so no telling what will be promoted next.

I first came across the UL30a in PC world last year, at either £649 or £599 , cannot recall which , but very much kept in mind how much I liked it...the form factor is great, light and with more detail than a netbook. Yet less bulky than a 15. Price was what stopped me buying then.

Performance is not huge, but at worst "adequate" . Battery life is very good. However they now supply with a 4400 mah battery, whereas before they were 5600 mah . Like most laptops though, extra batteries of either rating are easily available.

All in all I like it, it "feels" right, polished comes to mind. When you add that 12" and 13" notebooks are usually big bucks, then at £299 its an absolute bargain.

Here's a review from an excellent German laptop review site.

Review Asus UL30A-QX050V Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

HTH

Cheers, Nigel

Thanks Nigel,

That review and your recommendation was helpful - many thanks. I think I'll hold off for a month or so, if no offer comes then I may bite the bullet at RRP. At £299, it's a fabulous fabulous deal but tech is getting cheaper and better all the time and I'd like to bide my time for that irresistible deal

All the best,

Mike

[haitch]

Mmmmm.....

Acer Aspire 5742 i5-480M 3GB 320GB 15.6"HD W7HP (LX.R4F02.259) - dabs.com

[newman]

That's nice, but the fact it doesn't list what graphics card is in it almost certainly means it's an intergrated chip. Since he won't be moving it about much I have no qualms recommending something with a large screen (therefore heavy and probably power hungry). Maybe something like this?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Acer Aspire 7750G (Review) | Tech Buzz

Now, I'd read a lot more than one review before I'd splash out on it, but it comes with a good CPU, a decent amount of RAM, a graphics card that should run most modern games without problems, a large screen, bluray, and plenty of HDD space considering it's a laptop. Just one possibility though - haven't done nearly enough research to do anything more than just pointing it out as a possible option.