Laptop specs...

[Jimmy Macintosh]

Normally I'm a desktop man, prefer the easy to upgrade and more power of the desktop, but recently became curious about laptops. Remote possibility in the future where I'll need to do a weekly commute and can't be without DVD and internet for 4 nights a week.

I'm not looking for deals, they change on a daily basis, but I have no idea of a good spec'd laptop.

Memory 1-2Gb?

Processor how high do they go? I see lite versions, are any dual core higher?

I'm guessing that 120Gb hard drive is about the biggest.

What about graphics? are the inclusive options any good or is it like onboard graphics of a desktop...better to get a stand alone graphics card. IS it worth trying to get one that I can hook into my plasma (either HDMI connection or component, I know S-Video is rubbish for this type of connection)

What do I need inorder to connect it to the internet, wireless modem? router? do you use something that can log on through my mobile phone?
Is media centre still available or is it all vista now? Does it matter?

Would the Apple equiv be any good?

Are there brands that people tend to avoid?

I know this is a VERY wide topic but at the moment I just don't have a clue.

Thanks in advance.

[Saintsman]

Think about what you are really going to use it for.

If all you are going to do is sent e-mails, surf and watch the odd dodgy DVD then I suggest something at the lower end of the market. They are nearly all wifi these days too.

Don't waste your money on high spec if you are not going to use it.


BTW, I have found a good source of cheap laptops (and desktops & PDAs) on E-Bay. HP off load last weeks models but you still get the warranty etc. Check out HP Renew Shop if you're interested.

[Farmer 1]

Nothing to do with spec, I know, but if your computer breaks down, are you able and willing to mend it yourself, and do you like sending emails that will not be answered?

If the answer to both questions is Yes, then I thoroughly recommend Toshiba.

[James 1077]

Go for a Mac - you'll never go back!

[Jimmy Macintosh]

Farmer excellent, first smile of the day.

I have considered the MAC, especially as I'm getting into X-Plane a bit more and wouold be tempted to have it run on the machine that it is written.

In answer to Saintsman, primarily it would be e-mail and DVD, but I would want to run some games...maybe even some heavy maths processing software. Of course these last ones won't be a main function, i.e. Nastran/Patran, maybe even a version of CATIA or PRo-E type software. The games would probably be things like C&C Generals, was thinking about flightsim ... would want more than keys and touchpad available though.
Are laptops capable of running the engineering software? or am I asking too much?
If so then I would just go a for a bog standard machine, otherwise I'd be intrigued to know what's out there and is good.

I'll give an example of why the dilema is there for me...

I recently bought an upgrade for my desktop, it was a graphics card. The one in the machine was an nVidia FX5200, 128Mb RAM, I bought an ATI 9250, 256Mb RAM, it turned out through many conversations and comparisons that there was next to nothing between them, I think the nVidia actually had the edge. I thought it was a good upgrade but it was more a step sideways.

[Saab Dastard]

You can't upgrade / modify the graphics capability of a laptop, AFAIK. You are stuck with whatever is provided.

For serious gaming, a laptop just isn't going to have the VGA grunt (and HEAT) that a dedicated, high-end card in a desktop will give you.

I don't know enough about media centre & TV-out to give an opinion on interfaces available, but you don't need that fast a CPU to run a media centre PC, so you will certainly find a laptop CPU fast enough.

There's not a great deal of point in worrying about the size of hard disk - you can easily connect an external USB disk (OK, it's another thing to carry).

Every laptop I've seen recently has built in wifi and a LAN interface, so the network side is easily covered.

You should still be able to buy with XP installed from the big manfrs - until the end of this year, I think - but I don't know about WMC edition.

I have yet to see anything positive about Vista that makes a compelling case for it - quite the contrary, in fact!

I've just made a backup backup copy of my XP installation CD, with SP2 slipstreamed.

SD

[Keef]

I use a laptop when out and about, and there's a docking station for it in the Norfolk hideaway. It connects via VPN to the machines in Essex (very easy to set up, provided you have broadband at both ends, and a fixed IP address at the "home" machine). That's an ideal setup for me.

With a laptop, what you buy is what you get - there's no significant upgrade route, apart from adding a bit more memory. The range of prices is amazing: you can get a very competent machine for around £500 (new), or pay up to £1,500 for not a lot more in terms of usable function (unless you're a mad keen gamer).

If I were buying a new laptop (no immediate plans), I'd be looking for a Centrino, 2GHz or faster, with 1GB of RAM and a reasonable sized hard drive. WiFi and LAN are essential, as is "separate" graphics (ie not using the main memory. I'd look for bluetooth if available.

I'm quite attracted to the IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad T-series (T60), mainly because I have a ThinkPad now and it's been excellent.

[BigEndBob]

Just bought a HP 510 770 (Actually its a 780 apparently).
Would be considered to be at the low end of the market, £350 or less.
Intel Centrino, 2.26ghz 512 ram, dvd burner, 15 " brightview, 2 usb, wireless.

Having dumped the supplied software, Xp Home and installed Xp Proff, plus downloaded latest video driver, i am amazed how good it is.

Runs Flightsim 2002 smoothly without any problems, better than the Athlon and nvidia desktop i am using now with 1gb of ram. Would be quite happy to dump the desktop. So far the few games i have loaded run smoothly. They are only a couple of years old.

Also downloaded latest codec for watching video (Try cccp). All the HDTV, 720p stuff i have downloaded from..(cough) p2p, runs superbly.

Only downside it has only a mono speaker, (spoil the ship for a peneth a tar, as my Dad would say). Does have stereo earphone socket.

Cannot see what a £900 laptop would do any better than this. Battery time could be a bit longer, 1.5 hours currently.

[Jimmy Macintosh]

Excellent stuff thank you, I now have a couple of start points.

Thank you all.

Looking around 1/2-1 Gb Mem, seperate grahpics, 2+ GHz processor (start at Centrino)

[Brewster Buffalo]

Anybody any view on the Sony VAIO series....are you paying more for the name?

Also isn't 2GB the best for Vista..