What laptop should I get?

[SJN-Fox]

I would spend the money on more ram rather than a slightly faster cpu. For what you want to do, the difference in processor speed will be barely noticeable, but the extra memory will make a difference.

 

[joe501]

I would spend the money on more ram rather than a slightly faster cpu. For what you want to do, the difference in processor speed will be barely noticeable, but the extra memory will make a difference.

Right that sounds like a good plan. So now it is a question of finding a good value laptop - with XP and lots of RAM... any ideas where to look?

 

[joe501]

So, can anyone please help me find a laptop with the following for under £500?

RAM - 1048 or more
OS - XP
HD - 60 or more
Wireless Internet Enabled

They are the only specs that matter to me, am I setting a reasonable price budget? I looked on the PC World website but they are only selling laptops with Vista - where else should I look?

(Oh and SJN, I sent your lego this morning - 1st class )

 

[Ox Fox]

Depends what you want to use it for whether you go for a Mac or a PC.

There's very little you can't do on a Mac that you can do on a PC. If there's something specialist you need they can run Windows. That's unless you're a hard core gamer (as not all games are available for Mac) in which case surely a console would be a better bet anyway. Some of the benefits of a Mac are that they come fully powered and equipped (unlike a lot of out of the box budget PCs), come with full strength applications, OSX dumps on Vista, no virus problems at all and they look nice.

 

[joe501]

look what I have found - seems pretty perfect for me

http://tinyurl.com/2u7pnl

 

[M17TT C]

There's very little you can't do on a Mac that you can do on a PC. If there's something specialist you need they can run Windows. That's unless you're a hard core gamer (as not all games are available for Mac) in which case surely a console would be a better bet anyway. Some of the benefits of a Mac are that they come fully powered and equipped (unlike a lot of out of the box budget PCs), come with full strength applications, OSX dumps on Vista, no virus problems at all and they look nice.

I was thinking that he may want to use it for graphical design or photo/film editing in which case it would be more benifitial (sp) to pay the extra for a Mac.

 

[Ox Fox]

I was thinking that he may want to use it for graphical design or photo/film editing in which case it would be more benifitial (sp) to pay the extra for a Mac.

definitely

 

[SJN-Fox]

Right that sounds like a good plan. So now it is a question of finding a good value laptop - with XP and lots of RAM... any ideas where to look?

See the Dell website - www.dell.co.uk or www.pcworld.co.uk or www rm.com

 

[joe501]

how about this? http://tinyurl.com/2u7pnl
what is the processor cache like on that - someone on another forum said it was the only bad thing about this laptop?

 

[Steven]

how about this? http://tinyurl.com/2u7pnl
what is the processor cache like on that - someone on another forum said it was the only bad thing about this laptop?

It certainly fits your bill, it is whether anybody has had good or bad experiences with the supplier and/or brand.

 

[joe501]

It certainly fits your bill, it is whether anybody has had good or bad experiences with the supplier and/or brand.

well from the reviews on that link it looks like a solid purchase - now I just have to raise the funds!

 

[Matt_B]

I was thinking that he may want to use it for graphical design or photo/film editing in which case it would be more benifitial (sp) to pay the extra for a Mac.

Not at all, other than Flame or the video editing one (Avid I think) any mac programme can now be run on a PC. And you have Premiere and Final Cut Pro which do exactly the same on a PC.

The reason there are seemingly less virus problems on a mac is because fewer people try to hit them, you are living in a false sense of security. If somebody attacked now you would be almost defenseless.

And Vista is as good if not better than OSX

I'm not arguing PC is better than MAC, just that nowadays there is precious little difference between the two, except the feel of the OS, and that is down to preference.

 

[fcukcov]

http://www.europc.co.uk/?home.aspx

I got my last pc from here, okay they are refurb but you cant tell and mine is excellent.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

I purchased one of these bad boys from Dell about an hour ago. Think ive grabbed meself a bargain ...

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/p...nspn_1501?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~lt=popup

£359 !!!

Mobile AMD SempronTM processor 3500+
Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Basic
1024MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2 x 512MB)
15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280 x 800)
80GB (5,400rpm) Hard Drive
+ more bollox I dont understand.

Oh and FREE speaker set at the minute too !!!

 

[Macky]

Not at all, other than Flame or the video editing one (Avid I think) any mac programme can now be run on a PC. And you have Premiere and Final Cut Pro which do exactly the same on a PC.

...

Not natively, or do you mean PC versions are available?

 

[Durham Fox]

Arent most new Mac's now able to run windows?

 

[Matt_B]

Not natively, or do you mean PC versions are available?

PC versions available. If you take the top design programmes:

Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign ... so on with the creative suite
Quark
Dreamweaver
Audition (don't know the mac equivelant)
Premier (Avid)
After Effects (reffered to as Final Cut in my last post, mistakenly)(Flame onthe mac)

Are all native to Mac and PC, or as with the latter 3 have equivelants.

 

[Matt_B]

Arent most new Mac's now able to run windows?

Yes because they realised the profitability and release the intel chips in Macs. I don't know about the availability of native software for Macs with intels.

 

[joe501]

OK I have changed tack completely now - looking to get a Dell after seeing NF's bargin.

Here is what I am considering:

Dell Inspiron 6400
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5200 (1.60 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache)
Windows Vista Home Premium
1GB RAM
80GB Hard Drive

£499 Deliviered

Is this a good deal?

 

[Nottingham Fox]

OK I have changed tack completely now - looking to get a Dell after seeing NF's bargin.

Here is what I am considering:

Dell Inspiron 6400
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5200 (1.60 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache)
Windows Vista Home Premium
1GB RAM
80GB Hard Drive

£499 Deliviered

Is this a good deal?

I'm not up to speen on all this, but if you think there's £140 worth of difference then yes it's a good deal!