Reply With QuoteA friend of mine who is into computing always swears by Sony.
On that basis I have had a couple and they have been spot on.
Cheers
John
My girlfriend is looking to buy a new laptop, mainly for web browsing, possibly some games although not too complex graphics wise and some document writing. Budget up to around £300-350. I have seen the two that I think look okay, but I am no computer expert. Do these (below) look good for the money, or should we be looking at something else? Any help appreciated :)
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/advent-mo ... 5-pdt.html
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavili ... 0-pdt.html
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/advent-mo ... 0-pdt.html
A friend of mine who is into computing always swears by Sony.
On that basis I have had a couple and they have been spot on.
Cheers
John
I have had a HP,Sony Vaio,Samsung to name but a few :D
The HP wore horribly,the text came off the keys in a very short space of time and the touch pad also wore through to the base plastic colour very quickly.
Likewise the Vaio track pad went very shiney very quickly although it did get used a lot like the HP.
Out of all the ones I have had the most basic Samsung R519 was the most reliable in terms of Windows freezes,locking up etc.
Also it wore very well and I only just got rid of it cause I got the Macbook Pro.
Bought one recently, see viewtopic.php?f=2&t=190715
Obviously not a full laptop, but I've bought the family an Acer Aspire One D257 netbook recently from Tesco for £199.
250gb hard drive, 1gb ram (which I've upgraded to 2gb for £9.50!), 1.6ghz dual core Atom and windows 7 starter (now upgraded to home pro).
I've loaded Office, iTunes etc on it and it all runs loveley... :shock:
If screen size isn't an issue.... :albino:
Only one brand to go for mate, and that's Lenovo! I know you've not heard of them and neither have your mates but they make a very good quality product.
They took IBM over and the machines are basically (internally) made by the old IBM staff. I'm told their customer service is second to none, though wouldn't know because we've had no problems with ours! PC world do a good deal on their relatively basic model. (Don't go for the intel core processor, get the next one up...and don't be fooled by the slightly more expensive price at pc world than on a lot of websites. PC world sell it with an upgraded RAM which is worth having. Also if you buy at PC WORLD do it through Quidco cos there's a deal on there that will give you 2 or 3% cashback on it whatever brand you go for.
Apols I can't give you model numbers etc, am doing this on a phone right now so can't get them. Private message me if you want more info and I'll reply when on the pc! Other advantage of lenovo is that they are cheaper than similar spec machines by other brands cos people don't know them and they're trying to gain a reputation here.
Good luck!
Toby
I wouldn't recommend a HP due to hard drive going on mine & the repair guy in the shop saying that this was a common fault with HP. I am very impressed with my Sony Vaio & would have no hesitation in recommending one to you. Samsung also seems to rate highly & my GF swears by her notebook & the battery seems to go on forever.
If it must be a laptop Lenovo are fabulouslouly buit to a price . But if it is just for web browsing and few games and you have £350 you really should look here first.
Since changing to a Mac I couldn't go back, tried to convince my girlfriend to even get 2nd hand Mac rather than pc laptop, a year on my mac is exactly same in terms of running speed etc
Andy
I also swear by macs but your budget won't stretch to one. I had to supplement my macs with a pc laptop to run a specific piece of software and plumped for a toshiba after endless reading of reviews, comparing prices and talking to pc laptop owners. A year on and the machine is still going strong with no issues at all. Mind you, that could be because it is only used two or three times a month!
You could have just run that piece of software in VMware on your Mac.Originally Posted by jmarchitect
I am going against the trend but off my laptops HP have been the most reliable followed by toshiba.
I have a lenovo at work and its been dead twice in 15 months
Thanks for the replies so far. Surprised about HP, I have had one for the past 2.5 years, used a hell of a lot. Granted the screen went but it is used daily for hours on end so not too bad. My brother has a Samsung will see what he thinks of his. Keep the opinions coming please :D
HP may, or may not, be selling its PC business: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/HP-UK- ... 13293.html
Mine had the same issue. Got it fixed and now the onboard graphics is playing up. No way to fix it as it's part of the motherboard. And certain keys have worn off, despite the fact I am not a heavy user at home. Also started to overheat. Bit of a joke HP.
I looked into running a pc emulator on the macs but the software company advised I would not be entitled to support as their software had been written for pcs, not in emulation mode on a mac. I have only looked at Bootcamp and Parallels up until now but will have a look at VMware. Thanks for the suggestion.You could have just run that piece of software in VMware on your Mac.
I have to say this is a good idea, my wife used a laptop for internet, email and games only, I bought her an iPad and it does everything she needs better than any laptop. Small, light, easy to use, good battery and a great screen. since owning it she hasn't needed to go on my PC for anything. I even bought one as well instead of sitting and flicking through a magazine I now pick up the pad and flick through that.
Just seen this thread so you may already have it sorted.
However if you are still looking I suggest you look at "Medion" as a brand.
For the price you get high spec's, good build quality, excellent design plus first class back up if needed.
Amongst others Sainsburys sell them, so Nectar points as well.
Good luck.
Cheers - This looks quite good, although not sure if any better than what I have seen at PC W*rld?
http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics/pr ... 30010927A1
Dare I say, Dell, cheap and cheerful, great customer service when it comes to repairing parts.
Check the Outlet for some bargains http://www.dell.co.uk/outlet
Would skip on a netbook, as agree that screen is way too small to be practical.
If the majority of use will be online why not opt for an Operating System built and optimised for the web?
I've had my Chromebook for a couple of months now and whilst it still has a few rough edges (being ironed out with almost weekly updates) the positives of the Chromebook far outweigh the negatives!
http://www.google.co.uk/chromebook/#features
Below is an extract from my earlier post:
Positives:
It's not Windows!
Fast boot - 8 seconds & instant resume from sleep
Battery lasts 8 hours+
Excellent 12.1" screen
Good keyboard (Mac like)
Built in 3G so I can truly work from anywhere (3g signal permitting)
Regular updates
No need for anti-virus
Negatives:
Getting the occasional glitch requiring a reboot which isn't so bad as only have to wait 8 seconds
The machine occasionally slows but I can live with this in the knowledge that this is a new Operating System and my Chromebook gets weekly updates
Easiest description for a Chromebook is that it is the Chrome browser and nothing else. I am not sure how this would fit for those on Exchange server. I migrated our small business from Exchange to Google Apps almost two years ago and all the Google stuff obviously is designed to work together and it has transformed my working life to be able to work from anywhere."
+1 for the iPad... but the Samsung Galaxy Tab look nice as well. Tablet might be just what she is looking for.
HP - have a look at the Elitebook - its a proper machine used a many many companies and as such they are very good and robust,
I also have a Sony (both running Win7 and there is no doubt the HP is best.
Try to get a secondhand one.
something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Awesome-HP...item4cfac0ed6b
As for the Ipad (I have one of these as well), OK for surfing, great for games (Angry Bird, etc), OK for email, completely hopeless for writting documents,spreadheets, etc. It is NOT a PC and never will be unless you want to buy lots of add-ons. Also a 64G Ipad will cost you the best part of £600 where as £600 quid will get you a seriously nice latop (with 300+Gb storage). I do however accept an Ipad is better on battery life :wink:
Andy
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I do not recommend Sony! We are a family 3pcs Sony laptops, and each had already been Advertised! :evil:
Does it need to be brand new? Especially given what your partner will be using it for.
I ask as I have a Dell Latitude sitting in my spare room that does not get used so much any more.
I used it for business up until summer this year, when I was provided with a smaller.
It has 4GB RAM and runs Windows 7 comfortably so would more than suffice the needs of your partner. Don't have full specs to hand though if you were interested that's not a problem. This would also fall well below your budget...
I also have a docking station for it, making 'desktop' use quite feasible in addition to the typical portability of a laptop, see below:
Personally I would stay clear of Sony and HP but that's only from personal experience.
Dell always tend to be 'solid performers', Toshiba aren't too bad either, whilst I would rank IBM ThinkPads and Apple products at the very top of the tree.
Ipad - I would quite like one, but as said above not really a full pc/laptop in terms of writing docs etc etc so that probably isn't what she wants. The used idea sounds okay, but I am fairly sure she would prefer just to buy a new one. Feel free to PM spec of the Dell though and I'll pass it on :)
Got myself wanting a new laptop now too :lol:
For quality and a stealthy look a Thinkpad, for quality and a bit of flash a Vaio.
I'm not in the market for one as yet but if i were i'd seriously be looking at this one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Z570-L ... 2a13bcc1de
I've currently got a dell and its not great. Previously I have had toshibas and they have been great
^
In what sense is the Dell not great? I've had three in succession and they've been heavily used and well up to each task with very good typing keyboards.
Nice deal but certainly not one for a power user.I'm not in the market for one as yet but if i were i'd seriously be looking at this one.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-Z570-L ... 2a13bcc1de
My family's 3 Dell laptops all broke down (hard-drives twice and graphics card once) within one year. Needless to say have now moved to Vaio and very pleased.
+1 I have had a few now, and the one I purchase about a year ago is spot on :)
Yet my sister's 17" Vaio required a £200 motherboard replacement - and it was only that little becasue my BiL replaced it himself - he's an electronics engineer.
To further add to the belief that Lenovo is an up and coming firm:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201 ... 04050.html
I definitely think you can't go wrong....
Toby
Unless the machine is running pretty heavy duty software, a netbook is a great compromise. We had a Toshiba one that stopped working after 12.5 months (12 month warranty) :roll: Got an HP this time - with the new AMD processors for netbooks. Chose it because of the good reviews and its doing well so far.
At the minute on Hot Deals UK there s a HP i3 laptop for £319 with £100 cashback.It s getting loads of attention at the minute so you may have to be quick.
Added to this, if you have bought it on a business account you can trade in an old laptop for up to £150.
Could be a brand spanking new laptop for £69
Also, you can't seem to get many games for the Mac.
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