Need a decent laptop :p (Not anymore :D)

[mistermojo]

Basically I'm going to university in September and I'll be needing a decent laptop cos I'll be doing modelling/rendering and some graphics stuff (and playing the odd game in between getting dru- I mean working).

 

The plan is to sell my desktop gaming PC (to who, I have no idea) as I can't be bothered with lugging it all the way to uni and back.

 

Don't really have an exact budget, I have quite a bit of savings but I don't really want to spend much more than £700, need to save as much as I can for uni. It depends on how much I can sell my old PC for as to how much I can increase that by, if at all.

 

Ideally the laptop should have:

 

• A good processor (2.2Ghz Dual core as an absolute minimum, i-Series or a faster dual core would be better)
  

 

• 4Gb Ram (or 2Gb with the option to upgrade later).
  

 

• Dedicated graphics, 1Gb memory would be great but I won't hold my breath on my budget.
  

 

• 500gb Hard Drive (could compromise on this as I'll be buying an external drive).
  

 

• 17" screen would be a nice bonus.
  

 

I'm aware the above is quite unrealistic for £700 tops, but the laptop needs to last me 3-4 years :p

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps with my laptop hunting :lol:

[GTAMADDOG]

You've seen my suggestions already :p

 

Haha.

[BAk99]

Alienware :run: :lol:

No more said.. now watch the hate mail :P

[Sponge]

*sits back with bag of chicken and awaits the arrival of the Ginger Jazz.*

[Jazzi]

I hardly think you can get an Alienware laptop for £700 >.<

 

 

A good site I use is pricerunner.co.uk

How about ths:

 

Dell Inspiron 17R

Intel i3-350m processor running at 2.26GHz

4GB DDR3 SDRAM (not sure on expansion slots)

500GB HD

17.3" TFT LED Screen at 1600x900px

£598.99 :)

Here's the link :)

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pi/27-2622175/Laptop-Computers/Dell-Inspiron-17R-Intel-Core-i3-350M-2.26GHz-4GB-500GB-LED17.3-DVDRW-Win-7-Home-Premium-Product-Info

 

EDIT:

OR this;

 

Toshiba Satellite L670-12J

Intel i5-430M processor running at 2.26GHz

4GB DDR3 SDRAM (still not sure on expansion slots)

500GB HD

17.3" TFT LED Screen at 1600x900px

£610 from PixMania.com

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/27-2614561/Laptop-Computers/Toshiba-Satellite-L670-12J-Intel-Core-i5-430M-2.26GHz-4GB-500GB-LED17.3-DVDRW-Win-7-Home-Premium-Compare-Prices

[The Queen]

How about this?

 

http://www.uklaptops.co.uk/shop/Alienware_M15X_Laptop__Q720_1.6Ghz_4.0GB_RAM_500GB_HDD_Black.html

 

I reckon you can get at least £250 for your current desktop to add to your price range. ;)

[Sponge]

Price: £808.50

 

Dave, methink's that's a little too much ;)

[mistermojo]

Alienware do look very overpriced. For £750 you only get a 1.3Ghz Pentium :(

 

Jazzi, the one you suggested does look nice, the graphics is a bit of a worry though. I've used that site in the past, might give it a whirl myself :)

 

Ninja'd, twice

[The Queen]

You're selling your desktop on top of the £700 though are you not? Or am I mistaken?

[Sponge]

Don't forget though, (Generally) the faster laptops are, the less reliable they are (Look at Bak99's Failienware. Already had to go back, and the poor guy hasn't had it that long)

 

Id say if you wanted to keep it for 3-4 years of Uni use, you may have to compromise a little on the performance. Either that, or pay a little extra for an extended warranty

[Jazzi]

There's so much better laptops out there than Alienwares. My little Toshiba cost me £100 refurbished and its lasted me for almost 3 years so far, and still going strong. I'd pay for the specifications and not the brand.

IMO, Japanese laptops are the way to go if you're wanting to keep it for quite a long period of time.

[mistermojo]

You're selling your desktop on top of the £700 though are you not? Or am I mistaken?

 

I don't actually have the money yet, the money is sourced from about £150-200 in my account, my savings for university, and the money I get from the desktop.

 

So it's not a definite amount of money to spend, I just want to keep the cost as low as possible while still being a decent laptop.

[Sponge]

How about take your desktop to Uni, but keep it in your room. Then buy a little netbook or something. They're really cheap (£200 brand new)

 

I know you didn't want to lug a computer around, but with a bit of organising, perhaps it could work?

[mistermojo]

How about take your desktop to Uni, but keep it in your room. Then buy a little netbook or something. They're really cheap (£200 brand new)

 

I know you didn't want to lug a computer around, but with a bit of organising, perhaps it could work?

 

I was planning to do this originally but I've had my PC a couple of years now, gamed on it quite alot. Sooner or later the CPU will give up (overclocked it in the past). I would be a hassle to take everything up there, especially on the train, only to find it breaks after another year and the cost of replacing it while at uni would probably be more than I could afford :(

 

Plus I have a secret pet hate of Netbooks :p

[Jazzi]

Plus I have a secret pet hate of Netbooks :p

 

Its not a secret any more :cheeky:

[Sponge]

Alright, that's fair enough. But what happens if your laptop breaks? It'd be a while before you'd receive it back off the manufacturers. When my old Medion (shh, my mum bought it me!) decided to give up on life, it took them over a month to get it back to me.

 

Could you survive for that long? :lol:

[mistermojo]

Alright, that's fair enough. But what happens if your laptop breaks? It'd be a while before you'd receive it back off the manufacturers. When my old Medion (shh, my mum bought it me!) decided to give up on life, it took them over a month to get it back to me.

 

Could you survive for that long? :lol:

 

I'll be careful :p

 

Not gonna spend my whole time at uni locked in my room playing games so hopefully I'm not gonna run it into the ground that quickly :)

 

Besides, if the worst happens everything will be backed up on my external hard drive and my memory stick, and there's so many high spec computers at uni I should be able to get the work done without too much hassle :lol:

[EW]

Buy one of the new dell's with either an i3 or i5 there cracking laptops and seriously reliable. we've got a few in work atm one of wich is about 500quid iirc

[mistermojo]

Buy one of the new dell's with either an i3 or i5 there cracking laptops and seriously reliable. we've got a few in work atm one of wich is about 500quid iirc

 

MADDOG actually found a really nice Dell which is better spec than I was after, and under budget. It's 15" but I've just found out that 17" laptops are usually around 42cm wide which is a tad big...

 

Here =)

 

Quite tempting I must say :drool:

[Robban93]

Look at the one i have

it's a bit old though:p

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/asus-g71gx-rx05/4505-3121_7-33695862.html

 

have had this for six months, and i really recommend it;)

"see my specs"

[T3hReaper91]

@ Maddog's suggestion it does look good but there is one bit that worries me.

 

Wireless Networking Dell Wireless 1501 Mini Card (802.11g/n)

 

Makes it sound like its an external wireless card but im sure that aint a big deal even if it aint.

 

Anyway here is a suggestion of mine will show you more later

 

http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_7738G_904749.html

[mistermojo]

@ Maddog's suggestion it does look good but there is one bit that worries me.

 

 

 

Makes it sound like its an external wireless card but im sure that aint a big deal even if it aint.

 

Anyway here is a suggestion of mine will show you more later

 

http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_7738G_904749.html

 

Yeah I'm not sure about the Dell anymore, I went down to Imagitec this morning and the guy there reckons I shouldn't go near Dell or HP with a barge pole as most of the repairs they do are on those two makes as they often have faults.

 

He reckoned Acer were a pretty safe bet so I'll have a look around.

[T3hReaper91]

Yeah I'm not sure about the Dell anymore, I went down to Imagitec this morning and the guy there reckons I shouldn't go near Dell or HP with a barge pole as most of the repairs they do are on those two makes as they often have faults.

 

He reckoned Acer were a pretty safe bet so I'll have a look around.

 

Yea i dont like dell mostly and acer are the best for laptops in my opinion thats why i dived straight there lol.

 

Imagitec is the computer shop in lydney aint it?

[Sponge]

Good thing about Dell: Cheap and look good

Bad thing about Dell: Try and upgrade ANY part of the system (More RAM, new GFX etc) and it'll kick you out.

 

Acer are a brilliant brand, they've really gotten themselves together these past few years.

 

I'd say either Acer or Toshiba

[GTAMADDOG]

Sounds like a load of old tosh to me about the Dell thing but whatever. Upgrading. Meh, it's a laptop, it's not really made to be upgraded in my opinion. You use it and then when it gets too slow and old you buy a new laptop. I wouldn't risk upgrading any laptop, especially while I'm at university.

 

HP, don't know what they're on about, I'm using a HP laptop to write this (It's my mum's laptop) and it's been perfectly fine since she bought it, I've even run Team Fortress 2 and Counter Strike Source on it without issue and it's hardly top of the line. My sister's boyfriend's laptop is a HP laptop as well and that's been perfectly fine also.

 

My dad has an Acer laptop and I personally think the touch-pad on it is appauling. I actually get so frustrated with it I give up using the laptop altogether.

 

I'm not a particular fan of any brand. I'd just go for what offers the best price : performance. Don't limit yourself to one or two brands because of what someone else says about other brands.

 

It's the same with everything at the end of the day, nothing's perfect and people choose to focus on the negatives more than the positives of things so what probably is a decent product ends up getting frowned upon and overlooked.