Hey guys! My family have a 10 year old Desktop. I hate it. It's slow, it has 20gb TOTAL space, and I'm pretty sure all the other specs are very crap too since the only upgrade it ever received was a DVD-RW drive :| Thus, I'm interested in getting a laptop for myself very soon. Linux on my PS3 just doesn't quite cut it. I know next to nothing about hardware (don't worry, I'm a bright guy and a whizz with software, etc.) but I'm looking for a decent laptop, one I can use for downloading music, using iTunes, etc. at a comfortable speed. As far as games go, I would like it to play decent ones, but nothing too high-spec (as I'm aware gaming machines are veerrry expensive?). If it could run The Sims 2 well, for example, I'd be happy So basically, I've come to you whizz kids for some advice and recommendations. Any help would be extremely appreciated. Any questions will be answered. Thanks alot
how much are you willing to spend? most laptops can play sims 2 comfortably, even old atm iam using Sony Vaio NR32 with Pentium Dual Core and i wud recommend it, it not to dear and has handled everything i have thrown at it
Maybe about £700? I'm not too sure, I'm asking for it for a joint birthday/christmas gift My girlfriend has a macbook. It just seems so simple to buy, lol. After sampling both OS and linux, I think Windows is the choice for me, though. But I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the possibilities. Is there a 'best' manufacturer to go for? I appreciate your input, I'm looking at Sony shizzle now. Thanks
Are you looking more for portability or performance? Portability(get one with a 8400GS): http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330?c=uk&l=en Performance: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1530?c=uk&l=en I would personally pick the performance one I recommended because that is still pretty portable and nice looking but has much better GFX card for the price.
Hmm page doesnt exist anymore. yes, my recommendation goes to the XPS M1530. It looks so cheap with the 600ish tag, but it's pounds
Thanks for all the input. It's really appreciated. I've got the assumption that I won't go wrong with a Sony or Dell. But like you say, it's all for how I want it. Portability is not an issue, as I won't be taking it with me for my job or for college. If higher portability will dampen the performance (at the same price) then I'll go for performance obviously Also, talking budget; my parents are willing to put £500-600 towards it, and I'm willing to add about £200 onto that. So we're talking about £700-800.
Ok, so you will just keep it at home? Just buy a desktop then. My recommendation will still be with the Dell XPS M1530.
No no, I still want a laptop. I want to be able to move it around the house, etc. Lol, so I want a bit of portability, for the probability of taking it to work in the future, Seems like a good page for advice, terms, etc. So, I won't go wrong with a Sony or Dell, will I? I've narrowed the search a bit then
I have a Sony laptop and it's great. It's not a gaming Laptop, but amazingly enough it was cheap. Expect to pay more for the Sony then the Dell for the same thing. Sony DOES charge for it's brand. Both Dell XPS and Sony Vaio are top-notch in quality though.
Sony or Dell, both good brands, but stick with the good warranty, as nvidia mobile graphics will cause you grief if you don't.
Thanks everyone for the tips and help. I'm going to go with a Dell. How do these specs sound? It's a Dell Studio 17 Base Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5800 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache) Video Card (particularly this) 256MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3650 Memory 3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [1x2048+1x1024] Are they decent/average etc? Oh yeah, £549 btw.
Yeah that sounds good. The HD3650 is about the same performance as a 8600GTS and is probably higher quality.
Really? Cool, so that can play most games comfortably then? Like I said, I'm not going for a super-high tech gaming machine. Also, thanks for the rapid reply
Well, I wont be REALLY powerful. It's on par with 8600GTS. It's not the best but you cant expect much in laptops. There are numerous reviews for the 8600GTS if you want to look up performance.
ACE! Thanks so much guys, I've actually learnt a fair bit about laptops now too. I'm going with the laptop mentioned above, should arrive in a weeks time Wish me happy birthday for Sunday!!
