new laptop recomendations please

[Saint Keith]

my 2005 inspiron is finally giving up the ghost i was going to replace it a couple of years ago but it just klept going and going

 

so the time has come for a new one

 

i dont want a tablet, want a proper laptop, do a lot of word, excel, powerpoint and outlook, and general surfing

 

would like to get one that's lightening quick ideally

[pap]

The Dell Inspiron 17r Special Edition is a good machine for the price. Will set you back around 700 notes.

 

Excellent performance. Full HD screen. Nice graphics card.

 

Downsides? No Blu Ray drive. Battery life is not superb. However, if you're going to be near a mains socket and can watch Blu Ray on something else, it's a good shout.

[Kingsland Red]

Finally got away from an Microsoft orientated Acer laptop about 6 months ago and got a MacBook Air from the Apple Store in West Quay.

The whole set up is vastly quicker to Microsoft based computers, and work colleagues wondered why it took me so long to escape the dark side.

Word, Excel, Powerpoint and general surfing etc plus all my business downloads off a dongle make life very simple, after several very slow and virus infected Dell and Acer laptops.

[Badger]

Finally got away from an Microsoft orientated Acer laptop about 6 months ago and got a MacBook Air from the Apple Store in West Quay.

The whole set up is vastly quicker to Microsoft based computers, and work colleagues wondered why it took me so long to escape the dark side.

Word, Excel, Powerpoint and general surfing etc plus all my business downloads off a dongle make life very simple, after several very slow and virus infected Dell and Acer laptops.

 

Showing some computer ignorance here, but is there any reason a MacBook, or indeed any manufacturer's laptop, should be less vulnerable to a virus than another ?

I thought it dependent on software, and protection used ? Sorry - limited knowledge here.

 

Have a bit of a vested interest as I'm considering a new Desktop PC, and same problems to consider.

[hypochondriac]

Showing some computer ignorance here, but is there any reason a MacBook, or indeed any manufacturer's laptop, should be less vulnerable to a virus than another ?

I thought it dependent on software, and protection used ? Sorry - limited knowledge here.

 

Have a bit of a vested interest as I'm considering a new Desktop PC, and same problems to consider.

 

A mac book runs their own os not windows and as a consequence is much less susceptible to viruses.

[Badger]

A mac book runs their own os not windows and as a consequence is much less susceptible to viruses.

 

Thanks.

[trousers]

A mac book runs their own os not windows and as a consequence is much less susceptible to viruses.

 

But what makes the Apple operating system less vulnerable than Windows?

 

Is it tougher to crack (and if so, why?) or is it simply because hackers prefer to target Windows because is more widely used and can therefore cause more widespread damage in one hit?

[hypochondriac]

But what makes the Apple operating system less vulnerable than Windows?

 

Is it tougher to crack (and if so, why?) or is it simply because hackers prefer to target Windows because is more widely used and can therefore cause more widespread damage in one hit?

 

Well it's created to run on their own machines rather than a generic laptop so in that sense it will be more secure. It's also much less popular so less hackers create viruses for it and also when it has been targeted apple are normally very quick at releasing an update that solves the problem.

[pap]

But what makes the Apple operating system less vulnerable than Windows?

 

Is it tougher to crack (and if so, why?) or is it simply because hackers prefer to target Windows because is more widely used and can therefore cause more widespread damage in one hit?

 

Mac OS X and above are based on a Unix-like system called BSD. User management and privilege was a thing on Unix long before it was standard in Windows. Prior to NT, pretty much every Windows box gave people Administrator level access. Even after that, user education meant that despite multi-user support, most people were STILL running with admin rights. This issue was mostly sorted with UAC ( the on-demand admin mode that pops up when you want to install something ).

 

Windows' massive popularity over its rival has made the OS unsafe in the past. Microsoft will tell you that things are better, and they are, but anyone checking their Windows updates log might be slightly alarmed at the number of critical security updates that get sent to your PC.

[trousers]

Cheers Pap - so, in other words, Windows is a victim of its own success (in part)?

[pap]

A victim of its own success and past incompetence.

 

From a hacker's perspective, it was a dream come true in the old days. Opened up and used by nearly everyone.

[Treesaint]

my 2005 inspiron is finally giving up the ghost i was going to replace it a couple of years ago but it just klept going and going

 

so the time has come for a new one

 

i dont want a tablet, want a proper laptop, do a lot of word, excel, powerpoint and outlook, and general surfing

 

would like to get one that's lightening quick ideally

 

If performance is your main criteria and you aren't overly bothered with having something wafer thin and sleek like an Ultrabook or Macbook, you will get the best bang for your buck from these guys:-

 

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptop-computers/

 

All their machines are built to order so you can customise depending on your needs / budget.

 

I ordered an Optimus IV 17 inch last week which came to approx £800, an equivalent model from Dell / HP etc would be £1k+.

 

Worth a Google for discount codes if you go for it - G4DPC was working last week for another £15 off

[sotonjoe]

Just get a Mac.

[pap]

Just get a Mac.

 

Unless you want value for money or the opportunity to play computer games around the time of the original PC release.

 

Just providing balance, like. Definitely wouldn't get it from the Mac camp.

[Bearsy]

i've had a couple windows laptops and i've got a netbook thing too and the bad thing is they all get slower and slower as time goes by. It's probably cos of all the porn or whatever, but it's proper annoying and i end up reinstalling the windows like every 6 months which is major ballache.

 

My brother tho has Macbook and he says that don't happen with them. Is this truth? I might get one if it's truth!

[pap]

Most laptops slow down because they're full of sh!te, Bear.

 

Dust is a serious issue in computers, especially pronounced in lap tops. One of the reasons I like Dell kit so much is that the cooling system is well designed. You can clear out all the crap without having to get 90 things out of the way first.

 

Check your vents. If there is no air coming out of the sides and your machine gets hot quickly, it's likely the cooling system is bunged up.

 

One tin of pressurised air + screwdriver + service manual = job done. I'd advise anyone thinking about doing this to YouTube your computer's model number and the term "remove dust". Chances are, someone has already done it and filmed it.

[Bearsy]

Interesting! By "dust" I spose you mean biscuit crumbs and ejaculate. I will investigate the vents later! Thanks for infos!

[ecuk268]

My trusty 6-year old Inspiron contracted a nasty virus and would not boot even in safe mode.

 

I booted it from Ubuntu CD copied any files that I wanted to a stick and then installed Ubuntu instead of Windows.

 

I've now got a faster startup and shutdown, faster operation, no viruses and longer battery life.

 

Most common applications are available free, Open Office will handle MS Office documents and you have a Windows emulator if you really need it.

 

Who needs Windows??

[pap]

Who needs Windows??

 

I need Windows. I wish I didn't, and I do actually like Mac OS. Problem is that developers will always see the Mac as a niche market. In terms of breadth of software, Windows blows all other OS's off the face of the Intel and variants landscape.

 

Why is it a niche market? High barrier to entry is one. Your Mac is underspecced for the money. Fact. Every time I buy a new PC, I consider a Mac. Then I look at a PC for the same money and see that it has much better components in it. I buy the PC.

 

I don't mind paying a premium for decent quality gear; but Apple take the p!ss on their stuff. Look at the 13 inch MacBook as an example. I don't know any other way to spend a grand on a computer and NOT be able to play modern games at 1920x1080.

 

If there were any games to play....

 

All this suits Apple, but it's crap for their customers. Unlike the tablet and phone space, they seemingly have no interest in hoovering up the home computer market. They easily could, but I suspect the real plan is to cannibalise the laptop sector.

 

Macs are great machines, but deep down, every Mac owner knows they are on the second best platform, third best once Steam properly lands on Linux.

[Thedelldays]

if you are a gamer...go for a decent windows laptop..

if you (like me) only play football manager and use your machine for web/streaming/office and powerpoint...i would recommend paying the extra for a mac any day of the week

 

they are just miles better than a windows machine for my use....

[trousers]

Just get a Mac.

 

I was thinking about getting one for my 12 year old son.

[pap]

I was thinking about getting one for my 12 year old son.

 

FFS, trousers! Don't marginalise the boy at such a tender age!

[Bearsy]

I was thinking about getting one for my 12 year old son.

 

Throw in daughter and you got a deal!

 

 

Sorry

[Patrick Bateman]

I use a MacBook Air for work and at home. It has MS Office on and also for legacy web-based applications that need to run IE, I have an MS VM installed (Parallels Desktop) which I only open up occasionally to do legacy-based tasks (i.e. the ancient timesheet application).

 

I will not go back to a Windows-based laptop for the foreseeable future. This Air is SO quick - it's rammed with applications that run on start-up and it still pastes any Windows-based laptop. If I open my laptop up on a train, it takes me a max of 5 seconds to get in and do what I need. A minute later, the person sat next to me is still waiting for their Windows lump to stabilise and use it.

 

So having been a heavy MS user until 2 years ago, I now won't go back. Windows offers me nothing extra apart from slowness and bugs (and ugly laptops).

[Saint Keith]

i have gone for one of these

 

Acer Aspire V5 Thin and Light Laptop, Intel Core i5 2467 1.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 15.6" HD LED, DVDRW, Intel HD, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Cost: £435.41

 

£275 cheaper than the same spec for a Dell

[pap]

i have gone for one of these

 

Acer Aspire V5 Thin and Light Laptop, Intel Core i5 2467 1.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 15.6" HD LED, DVDRW, Intel HD, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Cost: £435.41

 

£275 cheaper than the same spec for a Dell

 

Gfx card?

[Saint Keith]

Gfx card?

 

yep. it didnt list everything in that

[pap]

yep. it didnt list everything in that

 

This one?

 

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1296049/acer-aspire-v5-571

[Saint Keith]

This one?

 

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1296049/acer-aspire-v5-571

 

this one. http://www.ebuyer.com/399392-acer-aspire-v5-thin-and-light-nx-m1kek-001

[pap]

this one. http://www.ebuyer.com/399392-acer-aspire-v5-thin-and-light-nx-m1kek-001

 

Don't shoot the messenger but that machine is only just above entry level.

 

Low resolution, integrated Intel graphics card. I personally wouldn't have gone near it, even if I was buying for one of my kids.

[Saint in Paradise]

I am really dim about these things as I don't really have any interest.My wife has an Acer laptop

and she has lots of pictures stored on it.How easy would it be to transfer these to a Mac laptop?

[suewhistle]

Don't shoot the messenger but that machine is only just above entry level.

 

But it's probably perfectly fine for what the user wants it for, and I've no idea how it compares with my old Acer5735 which does likewise and which I only got at the time because I couldn't source a new power supply for my old one. I used to work in business IT writing user requirement specs, so look at what I want to do. I've absolutely no interest in games, don't do CAD or video-editing or any other intensive processing task and for myself and many others it'd be fine. With my next machine I'd get a bigger HD to allow plenty of space for partitioning and dual-booting with Ubuntu (if I can find that old disk..).. but this one will do me for now.

 

PS Thanks for reminding me I need to do another back-up!:-)

[pap]

Not reallly just about the games, Sue. The screen resolution is low, and I believe the OP specified lightning quick as a consideration.

 

Put simply, any work you can't hand off to the GPU is stuff that has to be processed in software. Not only that, but the Intel integrated stuff has a concept of shared memory. If the GPU needs to store more than the 128MB of dedicated memory, it starts bunging stuff into the slower RAM ( which other programs also need ).

 

For anyone who genuinely wants a lightning quick PC, one of the best options is to whack an SSD in, at least as your boot drive.

[pap]

I am really dim about these things as I don't really have any interest.My wife has an Acer laptop

and she has lots of pictures stored on it.How easy would it be to transfer these to a Mac laptop?

 

Get a USB pen drive. Plug into PC. Copy the files over to the USB drive.

 

Then plug the USB drive into the Mac, and copy all the files from USB drive onto your Mac.

[JPTCount]

for your needs you shouldnt need more than an i3 processor, 4gb of RAM and say 250-500GB, and shouldnt cost you more than £400.

 

or try a chromebook

[Saint Keith]

Don't shoot the messenger but that machine is only just above entry level.

 

Low resolution, integrated Intel graphics card. I personally wouldn't have gone near it, even if I was buying for one of my kids.

 

its plenty for what i need. i dont do gaming or anything like that. just office stuff and surfing. its a significant step up on my 2005 inspiron

[Saint in Paradise]

Get a USB pen drive. Plug into PC. Copy the files over to the USB drive.

 

Then plug the USB drive into the Mac, and copy all the files from USB drive onto your Mac.

 

Ah even I can do that so Thanks !!

[toofarnorth]

my 2005 inspiron is finally giving up the ghost i was going to replace it a couple of years ago but it just klept going and going

 

so the time has come for a new one

 

i dont want a tablet, want a proper laptop, do a lot of word, excel, powerpoint and outlook, and general surfing

 

would like to get one that's lightening quick ideally

 

You've done well. Mine died three years ago. Thinking about replacing the one i replaced the dell with to be honest.

[buctootim]

This is a really good deal, you'd be very hard pushed to find a better spec for less than £500.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/12886496/art/hp/pavilion-g6-2210sa-15-6-l.html

 

Alternatively check put pixmanias other laptops - a good company, i buy from them for allsorts.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/19343/xx/xx/2179/9/criteresn.html#/#aj-s-19343/amount-low=0,amount-min=0,amount-high=1492,amount-max=1492/sortFilter=topsellers-DESC/display-list/

[pap]

This is a really good deal, you'd be very hard pushed to find a better spec for less than £500.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/12886496/art/hp/pavilion-g6-2210sa-15-6-l.html

 

Alternatively check put pixmanias other laptops - a good company, i buy from them for allsorts.

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/19343/xx/xx/2179/9/criteresn.html#/#aj-s-19343/amount-low=0,amount-min=0,amount-high=1492,amount-max=1492/sortFilter=topsellers-DESC/display-list/

 

1366x768 again.

 

Almost the lowest resolution going. Ok, ok - I'm an elitist when it comes to tech, but that's entry level widescreen resolution. At 15.6in, you'll see pixels. All the time.

 

Processor is good, HD is not great, not sure that is enough memory either, considering the GFX card is going to pilfer some ( quite how they can say "up to 1.68Gb dedicated memory" is beyond me. It's either dedicated or it ain't ).

 

That all said, it is a good machine for the money; no doubt about it.

 

Like I say, I'm just an elitist bugger when it comes to tech. It's not just about the games either. As I said earlier, any work your GPU can't do natively gets handed off to the CPU where it'll run in software. Any memory your GPU borrows from main RAM is going to be expensive physical memory, depriving other programs of that self-same memory.

 

When you run out of memory, your computer will then start shuttling stuff off to the HD, and pretend it's memory, which is all well and good except it's tons slower than RAM. Open too many programs and you end up with a situation called thrashing, where the HD is accessed all the time for stuff that is supposed to be in RAM.

 

Budget machines are not for me. However, if you get one, buy RAM. It's cheap and will give you a big performance boost. 8Gb seems to be the sweet spot for Windows 8. If your graphics card is nicking any of that memory, get 10Gb total.

[buctootim]

1366x768 again.

 

Almost the lowest resolution going. Ok, ok - I'm an elitist when it comes to tech, but that's entry level widescreen resolution. At 15.6in, you'll see pixels. All the time.

 

Processor is good, HD is not great, not sure that is enough memory either, considering the GFX card is going to pilfer some ( quite how they can say "up to 1.68Gb dedicated memory" is beyond me. It's either dedicated or it ain't ).

 

That all said, it is a good machine for the money; no doubt about it.

 

Like I say, I'm just an elitist bugger when it comes to tech. It's not just about the games either. As I said earlier, any work your GPU can't do natively gets handed off to the CPU where it'll run in software. Any memory your GPU borrows from main RAM is going to be expensive physical memory, depriving other programs of that self-same memory.

 

When you run out of memory, your computer will then start shuttling stuff off to the HD, and pretend it's memory, which is all well and good except it's tons slower than RAM. Open too many programs and you end up with a situation called thrashing, where the HD is accessed all the time for stuff that is supposed to be in RAM.

 

Budget machines are not for me. However, if you get one, buy RAM. It's cheap and will give you a big performance boost. 8Gb seems to be the sweet spot for Windows 8. If your graphics card is nicking any of that memory, get 10Gb total.

 

With respect Pap thats typical geeks advice 'just get a bigger better machine for £00s more' without really taking onboard what the OP says he wants and needs to do - " i dont do gaming or anything like that. just office stuff and surfing". That machine will be brilliant for what he wants.

Edited 8 January, 2013 by buctootim

[pap]

Actually Tim I think I was fairly balanced in my post.

 

I qualified myself as an elitist. What you say is fair. This is geek advice. However, many reading this thread will want to approach different parts of the market when considering new hardware.

 

Many who buy entry-level machines will benefit from my recommendation of extra RAM.