Buying a laptop.... which one??

[Fogbound]

I am starting a new job in the New Year and am going to treat myself to a laptop (to keep in touch with the PPRuNe!!)

I've just been down to PC world and seen a laptop that seems to do the biz but I was wondering if anyone had any info on it or other deals around.

I am looking at the £800.00 mark and have been told to avoid Celeron processors as they are slow. The laptop I am considering reads like this:

Packard Bell K5266
2.66 GHz
Intel Pentium 4 Processor
15" TFT display
DVD ROM & CD-Rewriter drive
256Mb DDR RAM
40 Gb hard Drive
64 Mb nVidia GeForce4 Go 440 Graphics
Microsoft WIndows XP home edition & Works 7.0
4 Usb ports
Firewire Port
Infra Red port

£798.98

I want to access the internet, watch DVDs and play games along the lines of the Sims (sorry Ibut I like that game !!!)

Any advice is greatly appreciated.:ok:

[Rupert S]

gen an ibook. You can get one for around £800 depending on which processor (although the slower G3 processors will be more than adequate for the Sims :} ). Networking with other computers of any kind on any operating system is extremely easy through Mac OS X and it will run Linux if you prefer to use that.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Fogbound,

The best option for a notebook would be with the following features:


Pentium M
Centrino Chipset
Radeon Mobility 9600
15" TFT Screen


Now this is above your price range but it does have the best Performance/Battery Life/Features. If you could afford the extra money a notebook with those specs in it would give you the best usability for the future.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. 512Mb of RAM with WinXP is a good thing to have too.

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Firstly I wouldn't go near PC World to buy a new machine as in my experience the vast majority of the gear they sell is slightly outdated, I am sure others will comment. Secondly I would not touch Packard Bell if it was the last one in the shop and I promised the wife a laptop for christmas and it was the last one in the shop (scarily almost true)

I too am looking for a new laptop as I mentioned and at present am looking at the Dell Factory Outlet (Dell do have problems with after sales support but I hope with my experience that should not be an issue, plus I have heard they are getting better) where I am looking at spending around £700 for roughly what you are getting. Or try Dabs who often have different deals.

I also would shy away from celeron's but in truth for what I would class as business use you probably won't notice the difference.

Dell Outlet (http://www.dell.co.uk/outlet)

Dabs (http://www.dabs.com/uk)

Hope you end up with a good un...

FSD

[child of the village]

Sony actually also have a factory outlet on their website:
www.sonystyle-europe.com . They are sold out at the moment, but I have "heard" there are more up for grabs (limited stock) from GBP 600 - GBP 1600 in the near future...;)

[PPRuNe Towers]

Another vote for the iBook here.

Mine is still running without a break since May 2001 and PPRuNe is run, not just read, on Macs including the one I describe. If you work on the move there is nothing that can touch the operating system for connectivity.

and, err, all the Sim software is available for it as well.

Rob

[Rupert S]

Good choice, Towers! But is pprune really run off an ibook? I always thought it would be something a little more robust like an X-Serve RAID :} . Just checked the uptime on my powerbook: it's been restarted 3 times since I bought it and has been on for the last 2 months - if that isn't reliability, I don't know what it!
My iBook however, served me well but I upgraded because i needed the faster performance for video and graphics editing...
now if apple got off their high horses and switched to an x86 processor, we could have something very special...

[PPRuNe Towers]

Dual 1 gig processors at the server farm presently but soon to be upgraded RS. Site is administered from wherever I am in the world using the iBook

My iBook has fallen over once in over two and a half years of being permanently switched on - that happened in August 2001. My challenge to the IT pro's to match it's longevity with something they've specced and paid for with their own after tax income has never been taken up.

Any road warrior worships their portable Mac and before the rabble start up the only thing you can change yourself with a laptop is memory and, if you've got the bottle, hard drive. Both are standard PC units at standard PC prices when you're downroute and, heaven forfend, it gets dropped:\ :\ :\

Rob

[Rupert S]

agreed, it is a very robust machine, i've dropped mine a few times with nothing worse than a few scratches.
I've got an old Performa 475 running mac os 7. It doesn't have a sleep mode but it's been switched on almost permenantly for the last 8 years. I can't complain.

[timbo04]

The first bit of advice would be to avoid PC world at all cost!!!! I once tried to buy a pc from them but was almost made to take a warrenty I clearly did not want - including a "sit down chat" with the sales manager and a computer demonstration of the aforementioned overpriced warrenty. They are sharks of the highest order and derive most of the profits from the sale of warrenties hence the high pressure. They are part of the dixon group and when I studied consumer law they appeared frequently under the TDA and Sale of Goods section as repeat offenders. Try Dell which are good value, or buy from Technoworld.co.uk (cheap) or dabs.com I normally go for Sony but had an Acer once which was really good value.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Fogbound,

Just another thought, if you know anyone visiting the U.S. in the near future, it would be worth it to have them pick up a notebook in the U.S. There is a pretty big price gap between the two countries for notebooks.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. If you are looking to Sim/Game, just remember this about Mac Gaming (http://webdev.o1.com/rvb/movies/switch/RvB_switch.mov). :eek:

[Fogbound]

Fantastic. Thank you soooo much for the advice. I have looked at the Dell outlet site. It seems to be the stuff i'm looking for. Especially the £1200 notebooks for £600!! I was looking at the Inspiron note book with Pentium 4 processor and 512 Ram.

I won't do PC World then if I can get a Dell cheaper and higher spec. They seem to be the ones that come out on top of the list from the questions I have been asking.

I really appreciate the advice

Thanks guys

Happy New Year

[FJJP]

Before you make your final decision, consider what I did. I have a lot of contact with my local computer shop (AnTechs) and the manager there is V helpful. He's usually working on a stripped down machine at the back of the shop in full view of the customers - I tell you this just to let you know that he's an expert, not some pimply youth given half an hours high pressure sales training with little knowledge of how the damn things work.

Anyway, 3 months ago, like you, I decided to buy a new laptop, as my old notebook started to leak steam! I went to see my man and ask for his advice, prices, specs, etc. I knew roughly what I wanted so was able to give him a detailed account of my needs. We discussed the relative merits of a handful of machines when I asked him what machine he used. He brought out his own laptop and gave me a demo.

Then I realised that if it was good enough for him, what better recommendation? Now I have a BenQ, with shedloads of features (more than I will probably use, but you never know). Cost about £950, and I have it hooked up to my home wireless network.

Worth thinking about, especially since they will be close to home and you can get face to face support...

[Golden Runways]

Hello all!

A laptop is hot on my list too. Read links and replies with interest. Have been looking at the following: Acer Travelmate 920, and the Multivision Solus 1010/30 (http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm?go=hardware.top&cat=15), and Toshiba A30-104 or Sony FR315B. Anyone got links to reviews or experience with these? The BenQ joybook looks good too, the 5000 at £950ish.

The manufacturer of my desktop PC went bust, I am keen to avoid that situation again, obviously! Budget is £1000 absolute max. Can’t do Apple as will be sharing Sonic Foundry video and music editing capabilities (legally) on both machines. Otherwise just used for maintaining my web site and surfing.

The Sony seems appealing. Will probably buy an external DVD burner for both machines to share, the Sony would allow this in my budget. As usual all help most welcome!

My system still running well since REAL ONE player said goodbye!

This Dell offer looked good too:
P4-2200
15.4
Inspiron 8500
40Gb (i) - 4200 RPM
256RAM
32MB ATI RADEON
4X DVD/+RW
£799.65

[GMS]

This article may be of interest. PCWorld.com (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109606,00.asp)

[Timothy]

We have 30+ Dell laptops in our office and their after-sales service is ABSOLUTE CRAP.

We have stopped buying them for this reason and are experimenting with other brands, including a no-name. Anything has got to be better than Dell.

Will

[amanoffewwords]

Dell may have few problems with their back-office at the mo, but they are reliable - I have installed 671 of their machines so far (as a contractor) - with only 2 DOAs + 6 other miscellaneous minor problems due to missing or damaged parts on printers/screens. They're not #1 (http://edition.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/05/16/us.dell/index.html) for nothing.

Going back to the original thread I bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro from Morgans (http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk) but only because they matched the spec I wanted 100%, otherwise it would have been a Dell, or an IBM if I could have afforded it - as mentioned before these are v high quality.

Personally I'd stay away from Sony and anything PC Worldy, especially Packard Bell.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

amanoffewwords,

When it comes to desktops, Packard Bell is pretty much at the bottom of the list, but I do not find any of the other Dead End Computer makers (Dell, IBM, HP, Compaq, Gateway, etc.) much better. They all cut corners. They all use fast processors and surround it with junk, just because they know the Mhz number sells comps. The average user does not understand what all goes into making a good computer.

My favorite example was the Intel i845 Chipset. Nothing like pairing the memory bandwidth hungry PIV with a mobo that only uses PC-133!!! But, those mobos were cheap, (especially with onboard sound and video), and the RAM was much cheaper than the DDR RAM at the time. All the Dead End makers sold the heck out of the computers with that mobo, touting the high PIV Mhz when you could take a PIII 1Ghz with an i815 Chipset and run circles around their high Mhz Machines. The Dead End makers were not much better in the days of the PIII. They would only use PIIIs with 100Mhz FSB's (since PC-100 was cheaper than PC-133), even though there were PIIIs with a 133Mhz FSB that would give a much better performance.

When it comes to Notebooks, everything is proprietary, so all you can do is look for a notebook with all the specs you want. Usually Dell, IBM, Gateway, Toshiba, and Sony are good. Then I would put HP/Compaq, Acer in the next tier.

There are two things about Sony:

[list=1]
You will pay an extra $200.00 to have the name Sony on the Case.
They put a Memory Stick Reader for they Proprietary Memory.
[/list=1]

I guess that is long enough of a rant. :eek:

Take Care,

Richard

[Tinstaafl]

Pax D & I each have *very* nice Toshiba laptops. They have a huge range of features:

P4 M @ 2Ghz
512 DDR RAM (1Gb max)
60 Gb HD
Combo DVD & CD-RW. Fortunately the drive can have its region coding easily removed.
1600x1200 15"screen driven by nVidia GeForce440 Go 64Mb graphics chip. Can drive dual displays: any two of screen, monitor & TV.
802.11b WiFi + Bluetooth
3xUSB
1x1394 Firewire
2xPC-Card slots
usual modem, 10/100 LAN, 2xPC-card slots, external monitor port & IR


Other goodies:
various line ins & outs, incl digital optical f& PAL/NTSC TV outs.
Harmon Kardon speakers + subwoofer. Best sound I've ever heard from a laptop.
SM & SD slots

Remote control for playing music & DVDs. Can play music CDs without switching the whole thing on.
A really useful touchpad that has an integral backlight & is programmable for various applets, functions & hotspots. Some applets include a calculator, signature utility & the like.

Excellent range of boot devices: external USB floppy, HD, CD/DVD, PC-Card, network.



My biggest gripe is with f@#$%g Toshiba & some of their decisions:

1. There is no way to access the BIOS without booting WinXP.
2. It's not possible to entirely switch the machine off. There's always a trickle to the IR & CD player circuitry. Bit of a bastard, that.
3. They only supply a #$$%%^&*&((%$&^ :mad: restore disk that wipes the whole drive for a single partition. This effectively cripples some of the utility of Windoze XP AND prevents a system re-install without touching a separate data partition. :mad: :mad: :mad:


They're a bit over a year old now & the only mechanical gripe I've had is a button on the pad coming off. A bit of bluetack fixed that.

[BlueRobin]

Spec in original post looks okay to me.

Dell desktop support has gone the same way as PC World - staffed by plebs (we're a long-term Dell desktop company).

Anyhoo, well done on getting a job, H! Is it on a flight deck?

[Timothy]

Dell desktop support has gone the same way as PC World - staffed by plebs I don't think the problem is that they are "plebs". The trouble is two-fold:

- They are distributed between India and Ireland. The brains are in India, the management is in Ireland, and both offices employ people with such a poor grasp of received English that communications with them and between them is appalling. The call queuing system means that if a call is passed between offices (typically between India and Ireland, but sometimes within them) take an unbelievable time, anything up to 40 minutes in my experience. I have had four-five hour support calls, most of which has been taken up with music on hold and then re-explaining the dificulty to the next person.

- Individuals are not empowered to take any decisions outside their procedures, and if the problem does not fit the procedures they try to just terminate the call, rather like an error message terminating a program.

Our experience is much worse than that of amanoffewwords. I don't think we have had any DOAs, but innumerable problems with keyboards, disks, power supplies, screens, touch pads, the lot.

Having had over 30 Dell laptops, about 10 desktops and at least two servers, we would not dream of buying anything from them ever again, unless they announce that they have brought their support desk back in house.

Will

[Fogbound]

I am online and e-mailing from my new laptop! It's not the Dell. On further inspection of the offer for £600 by the time you add VAT and postage and their seemingly mandatory £176.00 warranty and service! you are up around the £1000.00 mark!! bit of a disappointment really!

Whilst looking for PC World on the search engine I came across a sponsored link for europc.co.uk A scottish based company. They had the exact same laptop as a £799 one at PCWorld that they had sold out of. It was one of the ones I was initially considering.

Windows XP
Intel Pentium M 1300-600 Centrino
224Mb DDR SDRAM pc266MHz30Gb IDE notebook hard drive
14.1 TFT screen
internal DVD CD-RW Combo drive
56K V90 modem

£621.58 delivered inc VAT

(It is a Packard Bell Easynote T5 135 though, I guess time will tell if those Packard Bell warnings further up will haunt me!

I ordered on the internet sunday evening and it was here when I got home today (wednesday). It is what they describe as refurbished and looks like it has never left the wrapper!

I will say that I was concerned that the big box seemed not to have much padding in it and it did seem to rattle a little? hmmmm. Also the lack of an instruction manual for it is slightly concerning?

In the course of typing this my spacebar has started to stick a little. I will admit this is more than somewhat worrying! hmmmmm. any advice? Is it me or a laptop thing!

Oh well!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Fogbound,

You cannot complain about the price when you get a Centrino Chipset and a Pentium M along with a DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive.

The RAM your new T5135 uses is:

PC2100 DDR 266 SDRAM SO-DIMM

There is a second DIMM Slot so you can add RAM to the notebook. A second 256Mb stick of PC-2100 would do a world of good to boost the performance of that machine for you. ;)

No need to have more than a total of 512Mb. That is the sweet spot for WinXP.

Enjoy your new notebook,

Richard

[BlueRobin]

Yup WC, this offshore-ing practice leading to a reduction in the quality of service. Didn;t have time to extrapolate my reasoning hence "plebs". Now, got to look lively at work... :(