Best laptop for one thousand pounds ?

[TimS]

I am returning to the UK within the next couple of weeks and have to replace my aging laptop.

I have a thousand pound budget (not directly my money, so no benefit in saving on purchase price). All software on top of that.

I use the laptop daily and travel a lot (so rugged and reasonably light). Good(ish) battery life would be helpful.

High quality screen with high resolution (as long as my aging eyes last out) is high on list of priorities.

Mainly multi programme use but generally limited to Word, Excel (large budget spreadsheets) and regular Powerpoint work. Hopefully will improve my access skills in coming months.

No need for mega storage (in modern day terms) as no major photo/video/editing requirements.

Not really a gamer so no great graphic demands. Similarly no music interest.

May use as a home (expat apartment) entertainment console.

Your recommendations welcomed.

[Lancelot37]

I like Dell, so that's where I'd be looking. Tell them your requirements and they will advise.

[seacue]

I suggest that you might find a short list by doing a Google search for "rugged PC" (leaving off the quotes). The first item it returned allowed one to click on "Laptops", which then gave a discussion paragraph or two - and a list of rugged PCs in a sidebar down the right of the screen.

Even though your needs seem to be covered by ordinary Microsoft Office software, I'd think twice about Vista this early in its life. It may be hard/impossible to avoid, however. Dell and HP still sell some models with XP, but this statement is neither an endorsement nor damnation of those makes.

Budget some money for an external hard drive for backups to be left "home" when you travel, perhaps in a safe.

---
A month ago I was in the San Antonio, Texas, airport and our departing plane couldn't get departure clearance for a number of hours due to weather at the destination. Fortunately they didn't board us until clearance was received. I got talking to a fellow who traveled around the USA every week. He said he bought two PCs at a time to have a duplicate as a spare since he couldn't be without if one failed. They seemed to be small, light, non-rugged models. He said they survived for two or three years on the road. Remember that a PC is fairly out-of-date in three or four years anyway.


Sorry to be so non-specific and just "theoretical".

seacue

[OzPax1]

No contest really. Sony Viao's (http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/View.action?site=voe_en_GB_cons) or Levono Thinkpad's (http://www.pc.ibm.com/uk/thinkpad/). Both makes cost a little bit more then your £1K budget for decent spec models, but are more then worth the extra cost IMHO. I particulay like the Thinkpads

[PPRuNeUser0211]

I'm inclined to agree on the vaio comment! I have had several in a row and all work as advertised, rarely (in fact, never in my experience! touchwood!) go wrong (unless struck by lightning, fair cop that really!) and do what they say on the tin. The portable/ultra portable variants are good, my current is a VGN-SZ1XP, weighs in under 2kg, tough enough for my liking (lug it all over the place, came with a handy slip on type cover which just lets you pop it in that and then dump it in any old bag rather than having to have a laptop case for it). The SZ5 is the current model, so would expect to be able to pick up a 3 or 4 for around your budget level.

Toughbooks are good but massively expensive!

[TimS]

Thanks for the comments so far.

Came on to post that current reserach was leaning towards a Sony Vaio C2Z/B and ask for any specific cmments on this model ( I have located a supply at GBP 850 incuding VAT).

The SZ range seems well outside my budget (nice though)

[Eboy]

While these are reliable laptops, do not ignore the availability and speed of support in your decision.

[randomair]

Try samsung Q35, cheeper than a grand and decent competition to the sony viao.

[Saab Dastard]

I have used Toshiba for years, until 2003. They were all very good, very "coporate", but heavy. I believe that build quality and reliability issues affected the company decision to move to Compaq (now HP, of course). From what I gather, the quality and reliability issues still affect Toshiba.

I find the "corporate" HP laptops to be fine - nothing outstanding in looks or performance, just competent. I can't speak for the SOHO HP laptops.

I was impressed with the quality and performance of the IBM Thinkpads (now Lenovo) I have come across over the years.

Both IBM / Lenovo and HP have pretty thorough websites for support and downloads, but I have no idea what their support for individual owners is like, as we have a global maintenance agreement.

Our organisation has a short-list of 3 brands for the next global standard - HP / Lenovo / Dell.

I have seen a significant number of our suppliers and partners with Dell laptops that have enormous wide screens - which they generally all love and speak highly of, although there is an obvious weight penalty. But great for presentations (and watching DVDs!).

My parents have a Dell each, and have no complaints. One laptop even survived being left under a leaking skylight for 10 days, with no ill-effects (after drying out for 48 hours in the airing cupboard)!

I have also heard a fair amount of negative stuff about Dell, but I get the feeling that if expressed as a percentage of ownership, that is not much above average, if at all.

I have insufficient knowledge of the Vaio to comment.

The brand that seems to get most plaudits from press and public appears to be Acer.

Don't buy Evesham - they just went under :(

SD

[seacue]

One comment about "wide screen" laptops. They are obvious wider but not as tall as the old 4x3 format. This might be a bother in some cases.

A friend bought an HP with a 17" widescreen. One feature that I thought was VERY nice is that it has has a standard PC keyboard with separate number pad. I don't like most laptops since the number keys are second functions embedded in the QWERTY keyboard.

But the 17-in models aren't going to be light and may not come in rugged versions at your price.

The Toshiba hard drive on my less-than-two-year-old HP laptop failed. HP wanted something like US$450 to just sell me a replacement drive, not installed. My local computer store sold me an identical Toshiba replacement drive for about US$75. Installation took under an hour. The XP CD that came with the laptop formatted the new HD and loaded the opsys in one swell foop. Very easy, but of course I had lost everything I hadn't backed up before the failure. It took at least a couple of days to reinstall the user files which I had backed up. Getting going again would have been MUCH faster and easier if I had made a drive image using Acronis True Image or Symantec Ghost.

Back up often. That's why I suggest buying a good external hard drive. Keep a fairly current Acronis or Ghost drive image on the external drive. You may need it some day.

Hard drives DO fail. I had treated my PC gently and seldom travel. I used it as a desktop replacement.

seacue

[RVR600]

My Dell 9400 is up for sale as I now have a Macbook Pro.
It has about 8 months warranty left.
It may not fit into your idea of portable though as it is most definitely a desktop replacement.