Laptop / Notebook advice sought

[JasCal]

I have decided to take the plunge and finally get round to getting a laptop / notebook, I have normally preferred desktop computers.

A has recommended that I go for one of these Acer laptops from Tesco (http://direct.tesco.com/q/N.1999033$4294960081/Nr.99.aspx) site.

Would people who use laptops agree with this? Is Acer a reliable brand? Are they 'powerful' machines?

[waveskimmer]

I bought my compaq from john lewis,you get a 3 year warrenty with them,

I find it more than adequate,I would also highly reccomend ESET anti virus, hope this gives you some idea

[spannersatcx]

I have an Acer, not had any problems with it. Is it powerful enough, depends on what you want it for really!

[call100]

I'll second Toshiba for build quality and reliability and also Sony.

[green granite]

My wife has an Acer laptop with a 17" screen which she brought to replace her desktop so that she had more space, now we've got rid of Vista and replaced it with W7 when it was in beta it's never any bother.

For good value I Suggest you look at: Acer Laptops | Buy Acer Aspire Laptops, Acer Netbooks, Acer Notebooks from Acer Direct (http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/) .

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Would people who use laptops agree with this?
I do have a laptop, as I have occasionaly need for a portable machine. Given the choice, as right now for example, the laptop is switched off and I'm using the desktop.

The first problem with laptops is inadequacy of the various pointing devices. My current laptop has several, but they're all crap, so I carry a mouse around with me. No big deal that, doesn't take up much more room in by briefcase. If I'm asked to use a laptop that doesn't have a real mouse I find myself trying to remember how to drive Windows from the keyboard. (Of course this won't worry you if you use Linux, as that's all keyboard driven anyway.)

The next problem is that you get a crappy little screen, unless you want to spend lots of money on your laptop. Still, if you only want it for emails and web browsing I guess that might be tolerable, but that doesn't suit me for software development. You could just plug in a proper monitor, but you're not going to carry that around with you so what you end up with this way is just a small slow expensive desktop.

The next problem is that you get a crappy little keyboard on which I find typing impractical. If you're a hunt-and-peck two-finger merchant that may not bother you, but as a properly trained touch typist it does bother me. One solution is to carry a proper keyboard around with me, but actually I don't bother - instead I don't do any serious typing on the laptop, if I've got some typing to do I use a desktop.

Finally, for the same price a laptop is small and slow compared to a desktop. Again if you only want it for email and web browsing that may not be a big deal, but there's really nothing at all you can do about how slow laptop disks are if you need to do any disk intensive work.

I used to use my laptop largely as a portable hard disk, to move stuff from one desktop to another when it was a bit big to email. These days USB memory sticks meet that requirement so I use the laptop less and less. Just email whilst travelling mostly.

[green granite]

Agree with the mouse thingy much better than the touch pad, the other thing is to turn the touch pad off otherwise it bu**ers you about when you're typing.

[timmyneedham]

Get a Macbook, although you might want to hang on for a couple of months - I think a new one's probably due.

TN

[Mike-Bracknell]

First rule of IT purchasing: When asked for opinions, people will try and justify their own purchasing decisions to drag others into their clique. Therefore, selectively ignore replies in this case where people are only 'users' of laptops as the sample size is too small.

So, answering the OP's question from a standpoint of having hundreds of laptops under support, Acer is a reputable budget brand and I would consider ASUS laptops as well if your budget is tight. In the sub £400 range however, there's very little to distinguish one make from another, so choose on level of available support from the manuf. and whether recent driver updates are available readily from the website. Sony are ****e in this regard btw.

[Spurlash2]

... that no-one has asked; What do you want to use it for?

Database admin, large spreadsheets, games, photo manipulation, music, video...et al.

Define a use, and make the purchase.

[mustpost]

GG, agree, Acer fine, put some decent memory (3GB) into this 17" Aspire 3 yrs ago, still going strong. The new ones look good as standard.
Now Macs, well the imac is going strong after 2 yrs, but a friend's Macbook air has just expired (battery, HD and charging circuit) after 2 years, and I still have his broken G3 powerbook from 1999 (£2200 new!)
Moral of the story, don't be an early adopter with portable Macs, if you still like the brand have deep pockets.
Asus worth a look for windows portables, Toshiba also ..

[Loose rivets]

I left an American Logitech keyb. in the UK so I've got the same both sides. Near to flat as a Laptop. But, I did have one of the first Vaio which had a super little keyb. When I got the new one, the keyb is all spongy. Horrible...it bends as one types!

What's more, the batteries run out at 5 - 10 % a day, as per design. I bitched like billio and got a spare battery, but I still have to take it out to lesson the cycles which of course are recorded.

Other than that, it is very good. Drives a Hi Def screen well, showing Net flix and the like with no problem. Spectacular for photos. $640 less $50 for catching a thief in Best Buy. Actually, twas my son's eagle eye that got them.


What I hate is a small Enter or Shift keys. Backspace as well has to be double or it's a non-starter.

Last week I wrote and phoned HP at 'Executive level.' I wanted a laptop, but not all the tat they put on a drive. None of it...just the OS. I was asked to write in, but so far no reply. If I can't have C D and E as drives, I don't want to know. I do not want D tied immovably to Restore which HP seems to do.


As an aside, the first one was an insurance write-off. Sony in Belgium wanted 1,300 Quid for the part. The whole shebang was 999!!!!! The man there tells me that if they find a fingerprint in it, the guarantee is finished. Yes, they 'dust' it for fingerprints.

I managed to fix that one with a bit of MB micro surgery and used it for years.

[deltapapa]

Don't get a HP, they're rubbish. We have three Toshiba laptops and a netbook in this house, no problems with any of them, nice build quality and very reliable.

And from my experience I love my HP and wouldn't have anything else - on the other hand I wouldn't touch another Toshiba - it was nothing but trouble. So the lesson I would say is good and bad in all brands!

I had an Acer desk top many years ago - had no complaints.

[hellsbrink]

Personally, I would always go Acer or Asus.

The PYT is sitting across the room with her Acer laptop (can't remember the model but the specs of the OP's option sound familiar). As usual, the amount of USB ports is too small but a cheap hub is always an option. The machine runs like a dream, same as the one I got my stepkids a few years back, never any problems apart from the usual things that people do to computers (lack of updates to AV, etc).

As far as Asus goes, never heard a bad word about them either.

Oh, obvious points. Get an external mouse (and keyboard if you're going to use the machine at home a lot). Them touchpads are a bugger, I HATE them!!

[johnboyy2g]

Someone else asked, what do you want it for, and that is the most valid question. What do you want to spend is the second.

There are good brands. I am using my Lenovo (IBM) and I got it with a quad core I7 because I do video converting and editing with this laptop.

But, if your only using if for email, websurfing, word processing, spreadsheets, then you don't need a super powerful chip.

Sony is good but bells and whistles you might not want...and you do pay for it.
Lenovo (IBM) is good, and a fair price.
HP is good regardless of someone else said.
Acer is a price leader, it is not as rugged as some other brands.

You must also consider if some company has a sale, this often can make a fair buy into an excellent buy.

I got my Lenovo on sale before Christmas, I have been happy with it. My only complaint is I hit the mouse pad to easily and it causes me aggravation. Mine is the Ideapad series but the Thinkpad series does'nt use a pad, it uses a little button that you shove around,,,,,I had that before and it takes a little while to get used to but you never have problems with an overly sensative touch pad.

[MG23]

Acer are OK, but they're not the best brand out there. I bought an Acer laptop in 2007 (primarily because it was the only one I could find with XP rather than Vista) and replaced it last year because the keys were falling off the keyboard and couldn't be put back.

The build quality on my new Toshiba laptop and the Asus netbook seems much better. Someone did a laptop reliability study a year or so back and AFAIR Asus, Toshiba and Apple were in the top three slots (not necessarily in that order).

[Mac the Knife]

"Of course this won't worry you if you use Linux, as that's all keyboard driven anyway."

The same way that Windows 7 can't use more than 640k of RAM?

Predictable ol' Gertrude....

:ok:

[parabellum]

Surprised no one has mentioned Dell, I swear by them, both laptop and desk top. I have bought three Dell refurbished laptop machines that had been out on lease, the most expensive was just under AUD$400.00, plus about another $50.00 for a wireless mouse. Good keyboard, large keys. Some of the leased machines will have been worked hard, others will have sat gathering dust! Luck of the draw.

[beaufort1]

I'm currently on my 3rd Acer, have found them extremely reliable.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Surprised no one has mentioned Dell, I swear by them, both laptop and desk top. I have bought three Dell refurbished laptop machines that had been out on lease, the most expensive was just under AUD$400.00, plus about another $50.00 for a wireless mouse. Good keyboard, large keys. Some of the leased machines will have been worked hard, others will have sat gathering dust! Luck of the draw.

Because when the OP mentions Acer, then you know the cheap end of the laptop market is being considered. Dell don't do ultra-cheap that well, although they're my vendor of choice for higher in the marketplace.

[Saab Dastard]

Before they became Lenovo, I thought that IBM's ThinkPads were the best laptops someone else's money could buy! :)

I have no experience with them post-Lenovo.

Also in the corporate arena, I generally found Compaq / HP had taken over Toshiba's mantle as laptop of choice, certainly from 2000 to 2007 or so.

Now I'm not so sure.

Spending my own money on a laptop I'd look first at Acer and Dell, then Toshiba.

SD

[srobarts]

I am delighted with my new Lenovo Thinkpad Edge which arrived built to my spec from China last week. It was ordered in their year end offers on their own website.

[Parapunter]

I took a chance on a borked old hat Toshiba L300 for fifty quid off fleabay. It duly arrived, I gave it a rebuild with win7 and I have to say it's as good a pc as I've owned. It certainly boots up & shuts down quicker than my all singing, all dancing media box & the build quality is great.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Surprised no one has mentioned Dell, I swear by them, both laptop and desk top.
I've got a Dell and it works fine, but it's still a laptop.

I get desktops built to order by a local shop, that's the way to get decent service later.

[BigEndBob]

I would certainly go to somewhere like pc world and have a close look at all laptops, as these days they all seem to be cheaply made.
I was tempted, but went back to my trusty hp510 thats served me well the past 7 years, runs win 7 no problems (no aeros).
Upgraded battery for £25 now get 3 hrs between charges.

[Booglebox]

Bit of a bump, but I thought I'd add my 2p.

I've had quite a few laptops (now on my 7th) and, basically, my advice is to go with the business models. Ones from Tesco that have naff glowing buttons to open the DVD software, etc. are a waste of time, with poor build quality, none of the features you want and all the features you don't want- and are usually loaded with rubbish software upon arrival.

Macs are good but I wouldn't recommend them as they are often incompatible with 3rd party software, and Windows has matured to the point where it is on par for features with OS X and actually works.

The other day I went on eBay and got a Lenovo T61. It's matt-black and sober and business looking, not shiny or naff. It needed a bit of TLC, but it was extremely cheap (£150)- a new hard disk, new battery (£100 total), and giving the air vents a good clean and it's better than new (2 years ago it would have been about £1000). It has both the "nipple mouse" and a trackpad, and it has a virtually full size keyboard with proper key travel that is highly rated among laptops. It also has a nifty little light above the screen so you can see the keys at night, and little holes beneath the keyboard that go all the way to the bottom so that if you spill your tea on it it drains through with no problems.

So my advice is to get a business-class laptop (Dell, HP or Lenovo), second hand if need be. They are more durable than consumer laptops and spare parts are available and cheap. They are also much, much easier to take apart if you need to.

[jimtherev]

What BBox said - tho' I don't know anything about Macs so no opinion there.

I have a Lenovo T42 which I give all sorts of hammer: never any problems. In the past year three people have asked me to find them a cheap lappy and in each case it's been a Lenovo T-series. All three people have been delighted; what's even better is that none of them have come back to me with 'Jim, can you help...'. It's a product which reminds me (in build quality) of the old - very old IBM PCs. They were the original brick s-houses of the PC world - rugged as they come and used by many long after they became obsolete.

And yes, all four Lenovos have been refurbished units from Ebay.

[61 Lafite]

Whatever you buy, I'd make sure you look at the warranties and insurance.

I've been using laptops as my main machine for over 15 years, both my own and in corporate environments. At home Mrs Lafite and the two teenage Lafites have laptops: wife a Vaio - fulfils all requirements by being pink. For kids - Dells, mainly for durability and the warranty/insurance/maintenance offers.

Laptops often have problems due to the constant need to make the electronics smaller, the performance better, to make the package itself lighter. In general this translates into too much heat being created with less ability to get it out of the machine, and everything's pretty bleeding-edge technology, so it's more likely to break.

This then increases the failure rate well above that of a desktop, and because so much of the machine is modular, bits are expensive to replace - often the whole motherboard because thats where everything resides. The fan is a critical part - if that goes, and if the machine doesn't shut down fast, you're in big trouble.

Current laptop is a Lenovo T61p, was top of the range when new, has had engineers out 4 times under warranty - screen problems, overheating (fan), Graphics card failed, and something on the motherboard broke.

I now always buy one with a 3 year warranty minimum (pay more for it), and upgrade to next-day onsite support. I also back it up daily, but I use it for work and home.

Its also worth checking on accidental damage: you're going to take it places and you will, eventually, drop it onto something hard. The screen will crack. You learn several things over time:

- if kids are going to use it, it needs warranty and accidental damage cover for at least 3 years. Hand over lots of money at purchase time and smile: you'll easily get it back.

- if you *ever* put a laptop into a laptop bag, secure it with the straps, because sooner or later you'll pick up the bag with a flap open and it'll fall out if the strap's not secured. It always falls on to a hard floor.

- If you leave it on a table next to your sofa, and you also put glasses of tea/wine/beer on the same table, you *will* eventually knock them over and soak the laptop, which will then require an engineer and new parts to fix it.

Other than the above, it's the way to go, despite all the problems, I couldn't live without my laptop, & take it everywhere!

Lafite

[Booglebox]

a Lenovo T61p, was top of the range when new, has had engineers out 4 times under warranty - screen problems, overheating (fan), Graphics card failed, and something on the motherboard broke.

Gulp!!! *looks suspiciously at T61 nonchalantly humming away in the corner*

I would second all of what you said, although aren't T-series supposed to have spill-proof keyboards with drain holes?

I got a Mac from John Lewis a few years ago, and when it was 2 days before the end of the 2 year warranty period (free with JL laptops), it started to repeatedly do the mac equivalent of the blue screen of death. JL collected it from my house in the middle of nowhere and delivered it back a week later having spent £600 on it, all for free, and the guys working on it phone every couple of days for the odd question and status update. So awesome.

[LH2]

A has recommended that I go for one of these Acer laptops from Tesco (http://direct.tesco.com/q/N.1999033$4294960081/Nr.99.aspx) site.

Would people who use laptops agree with this?

My purchasing goes like this:

Walk into computer shop
Ask "what's the cheapest laptop you've got in stock right now?"
Pay for it
Walk away with laptop under arm
Use laptop until lost/stolen/landed on (trials cycling with laptop in rucksack not good idea :ouch:)
Repeat process


Works for me, if nothing else because I hate shopping, and this approach minimises the amount of time I have to spend in the store.