Best value laptops

[Tasslehoff]

Hi,

Looking at buying a new laptop soon, want to try and keep it under £600. What do you guys reckon is best value for money at the moment? I've been told that any brand should do, providing it has a i5/i7 processor.

And advice would be appreciated:ok:

[Saab Dastard]

I've been thinking about a Lenovo TS Edge E520 Core i5 - around £600. Not sure about the offset trackpad though...

SD

[Genghis the Engineer]

I doubt that many are poor nowadays - it's such a competitive market that the prices tend to be pretty consistent, and the quality very uniform.

Lenovo - they who used to manufacture for IBM, have an excellent reputation, I doubt you'd go wrong.

I happen to get a good deal on Toshibas, so am on my second. Currenly a Portege because I like the long battery life and light weight, don't mind the smallish screen, and didn't want to compromise on computing power. Like my previous Toshiba (which is now running very happy with my brother 5+ years after I bought it) it's flawlessly reliable.

Things I'd personally look at when buying a laptop:
- Average score on Amazon !
- Battery life, and availability of a spare battery
- Weight
- Does it have a card slot?
- Can I turn the touchpad off ? (mine has a button to do this, which is really useful when I'm doing a lot of typing on public transport!
- How's the screen?
- I'd not buy a seriously underpowered netbook (which most of them are).
- Lots of USB ports, ability to drive external screen(s).
- How good are the speakers (I tend to watch DVDs when working away - it's the one thing however that Toshiba are really crap at, so I end up using headphones.)

G

[mixture]

- Can I turn the touchpad off ? (mine has a button to do this, which is really useful when I'm doing a lot of typing on public transport!


You should have just bought a Thinkpad with a nipple.

I also think your typing style is a bit suspect if you manage to activate the trackpad whilst typing. :cool:

I've been told that any brand should do

Every PC laptop at a particular price point is, for all intensive purposes, the same.* Save for one or two minor differences (e.g. a couple more USB ports or whatever).

What ends up differentiating them is post-sales support. That's where the difference between the manufacturers becomes apparent.

Toshiba post-sales is good. HP and Lenovo next. Then Dell and the smaller brands last.


* = We're not talking Apple laptops here, as that's chalk and cheese. Apple laptops are generally always a worthwhile investment. :cool:

[Genghis the Engineer]

I also think your typing style is a bit suspect if you manage to activate the trackpad whilst typing :cool:

Possibly true, but it tends to only give me trouble when the laptop is genuinely on my lap, and I'm crammed into a seat in steerage on British Rail or Easyjet. Sadly, that's quite often.

G

[mixture]

Maybe you need a FrogPad (http://www.frogpad.com/), a one handed compact keyboard.

(Never used one myself, but have been occasionally been tempted to buy one for curiosity !).

[srobarts]

I have had a ThinkPad Edge 15 for just over a year now and when SWiMBOs laptop expired I bought her the E520. We are delighted with both, the offset touchpad takes a little getting used to until one realises that it is centred on the keyboard and the addition of the numeric keypad means it has to move across. Incidentally I now swap machines when I have a lot of numeric work as the numeric keypad is a welcome addition on the E520.
The touch pad is fine but can be over sensitive for gestures which means in cramped areas you can accidentally zoom or scroll when you don't want to. I have turned of the gestures feature for both of ours and all is now fine. I am a lifelong TrackPoint (Nipple) fan so only leave the touchpad alive for those who borrow my machine.
One of the other factors I always weigh into the financial decision is the extended warranty. With laptop repairs so costly I always add a warranty extension to 3 years. On more than one occasion it has paid for itself enough times over to cover the times I did not need it.

[green granite]

I also think your typing style is a bit suspect if you manage to activate the trackpad whilst typing

Not if you're a trained typist, your hands are quite low, SWMBO (85wpm at her peak) has the bottom thumb joint of her hands about 5mm above the pad and she was always complaining about the cursor jumping about whilst typing, having found out how to to disable the pad the problem disappeared. Also the fact that the manufactures bother to provide an option to switch off the pad whilst typing says it all really. .

[Mike-Bracknell]

My best advice for anyone looking to buy a cheap laptop is:

Go into Currys/Comet/PC World, and try out the keyboard and trackpad/nipple/etc for yourself. If you can get on with it then you're going to save yourself inevitable heartache and disappointment. Then do an about-face, spending no money in the aforementioned shops, and buy it online from a reputable shop that gives you decent aftersales (if you need that).

Aside from that, most components (as is already mentioned) are much of a muchness at those price-points that you're not likely to have any specific pluses or minuses from ownership, so look for differentiation on software bundled with it, and go "Professional" rather than "Home" on Windows if you can.

[Tasslehoff]

Thanks for the replies; so no real need to stick to the intel CPU's?

[mixture]

intel CPU's?

I'd say stick with a decent intel.

[Saab Dastard]

Srobarts,

Thanks for your feedback - very helpful! :ok:

I've been a "nipple fan" like you for years (I disable trackpads completely, if possible), and I'm also keen on the separate numeric keypad - hence my interest in the E520 - so it's really good to hear positive feedback on that model.

Mike B
go "Professional" rather than "Home" on Windows if you can.
I agree that was certainly the case with XP, but I'm not sure it's so true now with 7 - unless you need to join a domain or use the XP compatibility mode. Win 7 Home Premium is a much more "complete" OS than XP Home, IMHO.

SD

[Mike-Bracknell]

I agree that was certainly the case with XP, but I'm not sure it's so true now with 7 - unless you need to join a domain or use the XP compatibility mode. Win 7 Home Premium is a much more "complete" OS than XP Home, IMHO.

SD

Whilst I agree it's not a dealbreaker (hence leaving it to the end and using it as a differentiation between laptops), the question of extended support could be a differentiator:

Microsoft unlikely to be offering extended support for consumer editions of Vista - Computeractive - News (http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2136851/microsoft-unlikely-offering-extended-support-consumer-editions-vista)

(as is usually the case, I couldn't find the specific definitive link I wanted to put up so that above is a near approximation - extrapolate to Win7 with care).

Also, if you DO want to join a domain, Microsoft in their extreme generosity offer a version upgrade from Home to Premium for £120!!

[Milo Minderbinder]

fro a reliability / repairability point of view DON'T buy anything from

Acer
Packard Bell
Gateway
E-machines
Ei-Systems
Advent
MSI
ECS/Elite
Asus

the first five are all part of the Acer empire and have reliability issues
All suffer from poor availability of spare motherboards if a replacement is required

From both issue,, Dell,. HP/Compaq / Lenovo are far ahead

[mixture]

Saab Dastard,

See the comparison here (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/compare)

Go non-pro and you don't get, for example :

XP compatability mode
Network Backup (obvious you can do this with robocopy/thirdparty)

[Saab Dastard]

Mixture, I'm very aware indeed of the differences between the 2 editions.

My point is that the Home Premium version of Win 7 is not as crippled as XP Home was - you couldn't even properly use NTFS security! At least 7 Home has a backup program, even if it's not network backup.

SD

[mixture]

I'll take your word for it, but I would still say that unless the original poster is hellbent on scraping every penny of savings, I would still suggest going pro.

[rgbrock1]

I would whole-heartedly recommend Acer laptops and/or netbooks. The build quality might not be as great as those of other manufacture but they definitely give "bang for the buck". (Or Pound in your case!)

The Mrs. and I have an Acer Aspire something-or-other with a 17" LCD screen and Dolby digital speakers. We bought it a couple of years ago for about $500.

My kids all have Acer netbooks, courtesy of Dad and his Mrs.
They really enjoy using them.

Acer. Highly recommended. (And, no, I don't work for Acer nor do I have anything to do with them. Just a very happy customer.)

[peterh337]

A used top-end Lenovo is the best. I have bought loads of them for the firm and family etc. Zero failures.

£600 should get you a good one.

Google for "refurbished Lenovo" etc.

[Tinstaafl]

I recently replaced my old 2001 Toshiba laptop with a used Lenovo. The Toshiba was a Frankenputer I assembled from the working parts of mine, my wife's same-model-as-mine & a parts carcass from eBay. Turns out there was a graphics card/m'board soldering fault across the model series that affected many of them. Both of ours suffered the fault at different times - hences the parts carcass for that and other issues until there were only enough working parts to make a single working machine.

Still, 9 years is pretty good going.

I chose a used Lenovo W500 because there doesn't seem to be any laptops sold new today that have 15.4" matte WUXGA (1920x1200) screens. Damn near everything is glossy and, at most, 1920x1080 resolution ie 16:9 aspect ratio instead of 16:10. My old laptop was 15.0" UXGA (1600x1200) and damned if I wanted to lose a couple of hundred pixels of resolution to suit the HD aspect ratio marketing idiots. I do mostly documents & web browsing, not movie watching so bugger that loss for a joke! Nor do I like glossy screens. I couldn't give a rat's arse about ultra-vivid colours vs 'normal' colours. I care more about seeing what's displayed on the screen and not the lights behind me.

I rather like this W500! Both a trackpad & trackpoint, 3 USB 2.0 slots + another 4 on the mini docking bay, SD/memory card slot, Cardbus *and* Express card slots, Bluetooth 3.0 & -N Wifi, a camera and the usual array of input/output ports including. It has an Intel 2.8GHz Core 2 Duoprocessor which is more than powerful enough for me as well as two graphics engines: a low power draw Intel mobile graphics chip+ a higher performance ATI FireGL graphics card. Choose graphics performance or battery life as needed (I can get 5 hours or more out of it if I need to. Even more if I bought the optional optical drive bay battery pack).

If Lenovo was still making these I'd have bought one new. Unfortunately it's been superseded by the W510 or 520 with a HD resolution screen. If Jayne's desktop replacement 17" behemoth dies while getting another one of these still makes sense then I think she'll end up with a W500 too.

[Tasslehoff]

A used top-end Lenovo is the best. I have bought loads of them for the firm and family etc. Zero failures.

£600 should get you a good one.

Google for "refurbished Lenovo" etc.

I'll consider this :ok:

If I do buy new and it comes with windows 7 home, will my office 2007 (genuine) operate, or will I need 2010? I don't really need all the functions of windows professional.

Lenovo certainly looks great online, like the customise option to choose setup. Never really heard that much of them before, thanks all for enlightening me :)

[mixture]

will my office 2007 (genuine) operate

Is it an OEM or boxed license ?

[Tasslehoff]

Waiting for my better half to come tell me where it is:O will check once I dig it out

Not sure what OEM means?

[mixture]

Did it come bundled with your computer ? (Another easy way to identify it is the price.... did you pay a pretty cheap price for it ?).

Basically, OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, and Microsoft licenses do not permit transfer of OEM licenses between devices. They live and die with the device they were provided with.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Virtually all Win7 machines from the big manufacturers come with a copy of Office 2010 preisntalled. This can be used in three ways: as a trial, or it can be upgraded by puchasing a licence for one of the full versions, or it can be activated as an "Office Lite" version for free - this give cut down version of Word and Excel, but good enough for most home users
As for your copy of Office 2007, this will install OK on Win7, though for the sake of stopping confusion I would suggest you uninstall the Office 2010 trial first
If you are one of those who didn't get an Office setup disk, just the product key, you can download the Office 2007 installers from Digital River. This page links to them
Direct Download Links for Microsoft Office 2007 Suites and Applications « My Digital Life (http://www.mydigitallife.info/direct-download-links-for-microsoft-office-2007-suites-and-applications/)
These are real genuine downloads from Microsoft's online reseller. They are not warez or hacks

if any of these don't work, post there are alternatives from Digital River. Also the full set of Windows Vista and 7 are also available from them. Not however XP or 2003

[Genghis the Engineer]

I set up a new W7 PC for my parents last month. Checking what they really needed, I deleted the trial version of MS Office, and simply installed a current version of Open Office. They remain delighted with it.

I couldn't use it myself - I've tried, but I use too much of the high end functionality of Word and Excel doing engineering work, but for the vast majority of users, it's more than adequate - and in many ways a bit more user friendly.

G

[mixture]

Milo,

Preinstalled equals OEM.

[Tasslehoff]

I bought it separate from my old laptop (stupid Sony viao), which also came with a trial version per-installed. I uninstalled that as mentioned above before installing the full version. I guess doing the same will work on w7.

[Milo Minderbinder]

"Preinstalled equals OEM."
Not quite as black or white as that nowadays. It depends on what the keycard you use to activate it says - and some of the "higher" versions of Office don't come as OEM: only retail or VLK - but the key still works with the preload created by the Office preinstallation kit.
Even if what you have IS an OEM key, then M$ typically refresh the registration database every 120 days anyway, so theres a good chance you can reactivate it online, And even if you can't do it online, then use the phone option and answer the questions "correctly". I face this problem all the time when rebuilding machines with blown motherboards.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Tasslehof
Should be OK, though you may have to activate using the phone. Thing to remember is that if the system asks how many machines the software is installed on, the answer is ALWAYS "one"

[mixture]

Milo,

The fact remains, only VLK/FPP licenses are transferrable. Discounted licenses (MLK,OEM, PKC etc.) are not.

From this Microsoft page (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/office-product-key-card-frequently-asked-questions-HA101847520.aspx) :

How many licenses /installations do Office Product Key Cards allow?

Each Product Key Card allows one user to activate one Office 2010 suite on one preloaded PC.

Can I install an Office Product Key Card on more than one PC?

No. The Office Product Key Card can only be installed on one PC. If you ever need to reinstall Office you can do so on the same PC on which Office was originally installed.

Reinforced on this microsoft page (http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/products/office/pages/office_2010_sell.aspx) :

Product Key Cards:
1 user/ 1 PC (must meet system requirements)
No disc; software download available
Not transferable to another PC

[probes]

Damn near everything is glossy.
Exactly. :sad:. Glad there's anyone more who doesn't like this. I've been told they are of sooo much better, pixels and all... the only ones who do not seem to value true quality are my eyes.

[peterh337]

Damn near everything is glossy

Yeah, hate it too.

Welcome to the Apple world. Style and "great movie experience" over usability.

My son has the £1800 Imac. Great for media playback but there is no way you can use it for any "work" if there are windows anywhere behind you.

Most laptops have gone that way too.

But Thinkpads are still mostly matt. Very usable. The downside of that is you don't get very good colours for image editing, playing movies, etc.

[Milo Minderbinder]

the trouble with matte screens is they damage more easily when customers try to clean them with polish, so they end up being sent back for warranty repairs when its not the manufacturers fault. Gloss screens are more resistant

If you want a matte screen, take a look at some of the Samsungs
Heres one that has a matte screen, though I'd be worried about longevity due to the nVidia graphics chip. nVidia still have not sorted the problem of low-lead alloys and melting points....
Series 7 CHRONOS - OVERVIEW | SAMSUNG (http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-computers/high-performance/NP700Z5A-S01UK)

[Tinstaafl]

You can often get matte screens as an option from ODM resellers such as Eurocom, Sager et al. Those guys buy barebones machines or parts from Clevo & others and then fit them to order. Jayne's 17" monster is one of those. It came with a glossy screen but they would have put a matte one in if asked. A few years ago while idly considering replacing my laptop I inquired about that and they were quite happy to do it.

Alternatively you can always buy a matte screen & install it yourself. I did that to Jayne's machine when the screen died. It's so much nicer to use her laptop now that we're not also watching the window behind us.

[Milo Minderbinder]

If you can find someone building Clevo chassis then thats a good idea. Build quality on those is usually bullet-proof.. Only problem is getting spares if the plastic parts do actually break

[probes]

As for bullet-proof, we were told the flat screens actually are bullet proof and can be used for personal protection if a gunman enters your building.
A reputable lecturer, didn't just banter, I guess.