Another Laptop Thread

[Teaos]

Ok I just snapped my old laptop in half (Literally). So I need a new one since I'm stuck posting on my iTouch and a 5 year old PC that sounds like its about to die the second I ask it to do anything above running a screen saver.

I know very little about computer, just that larger number usually means better...

So here are the options, I'm buying from thissite since its local and cheap, my [rice range is 700-1,200ish:

Thisfor $1,200:
HP DV6000 Multimedia laptop Intel Core 2 Duo T77100 1.8Ghz 15In Wide Screen, 200GB Hard Drive, Dedicated 128Mb Ge Force 8400 Graphics, 3GB RAM, CD+DVD Writer, Fingerprint Scanner, Bluetooth, Wireless, Firewire, 5-1 Card Reader, Webcam, Vista Home Premium

This:

Sony Vaio VGN-FE28GP Core 2 Duo 2Ghz, 2GBRAM, 120GB Hard Drive, 128Mb nVidia Ge Force 7600 Graphics CD+DVD Writer, Wireless, XP Professional * 12 months warranty *

Here:

HP DV6000 Multimedia Laptop, Core 2 Duo 2.2Ghz, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, CD + DVD Writer, 15.4 Inch Screen 256Mb Ge Force 8400 Grraphics, Wireless, Bluetooth, 5-1 Card Reader, Webcam, Windows Vista Premium

Here:

http://www.laptopuniverse.co.nz/product ... t_no=30044

Or pretty much any good ones under about $1,200.

Any help would be great.

[Sionnach Glic]

How did you snap it in half?

[Mikey]

Ok I just snapped my old laptop in half (Literally).

On purpose?

[Teaos]

I was opening it up and the screen snapped off the main body of it.

[LaughingCheese]

I was opening it up and the screen snapped off the main body of it.

Ah, half that way, not the whole body in half. I was like "Teaos, you don't know your own strength!"


So, what are you going to be using it for?

Internet and documents?

Moderate gaming, 2D graphics?

Extreme Gaming, video editing and 3D graphics?

How much hard drive space do you need? What what kind/how much connectivity do you want (IR, Bluetooth, ports, etc)?


Also, why is amazon out of the question?


Here's some nice Asus one's:

ASUS N50Vn-A1B

ASUS N50Vn-B1B


Toshiba Satellite A305-S6908

Toshiba Satellite A355-S6925


Toshiba Satellite L355-S7902


The first two are great gaming laptops, if that's what you want.

The second two are low to mid range laptops, spec wise.

But if your just using it for documents and internet, and taking notes in class, you don't really have to be picky at all, unless your after something with a large hard drive for less.

[Teaos]

Just a general use one, moderate gaming, older ones like WC3 and maybe WoW but none of the really modern ones that need awesome computers.

Mostly internet browsing, downloading music and movies (mostly this) and general word documents ect.

I wanna use the site I posted because i know its reliable and I know its cheap, its also local (as in their office is 10 minutes from me) making them easy to deal with.

[stitch626]

Asus' are good, HP's are ok.

Stay away from Sony's because they use custom parts. Makes fixing them more expensive. And the usually aren't priced as good as others.

[Teaos]

Thanks. I want to go apple but they seem a bit pricy.

[stitch626]

Yes, Apples are really expensive. Too expensive IMO.

[IanKennedy]

Sorry, that's a myth. You cannot get anything of that quality and size anywhere else for less. Sure you can get cheap boxes for a lot less but not with the spec of a mac laptop.

[Teaos]

From what I've seen just by looking around I've found Comps with similar RAM, HD and processor (the 3 important bits) for around 500-700 less than a similar Mac. Whats the advantage of going MAc?

[IanKennedy]

From what I've seen just by looking around I've found Comps with similar RAM, HD and processor (the 3 important bits) for around 500-700 less than a similar Mac. Whats the advantage of going MAc?

Every Mac laptop has a Core2Duo with a 1066MHz frontside bus and DDR3 SDRAM, Firewire port (fast port for connecting disks and camcorders and the like), they also have a built in high quality webcam, gigabit eithernet, 802.11a/b/g WIFI, Bluetooth EDR, dual layer DVD writer, digial audio in and out (5.1 surround sound) including builtin sterio speakers and microphone, plus a display port that will drive a 30" monitor with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 at the same time as driving the built in display. It also has a 5 hour battery life. Not to mention video editing software. DVD creation software, Website editing software, Photo editing/management software and software to make your own digital music (via real instruments) (Look at iLife on the apple website). All current models come with an aluminium case. Not your typical cheap laptop. The OS is native 64bit at no extra cost.

OK, it's not a cheap laptop, but it's not a cheap spec either. Toms hardware tried to match the mac laptops against a PC laptop and all machines with the same spec cost more and came from the likes of Dell, HP etc).

[Teaos]

Hmmm, I have always wanted a Mac but people always told me it wasnt worth it...

Is there a down side to it? People claim they are not good for gaming? (Not that I game much) But if its not good for gaming I imagin that means something about it isnt up to spec.

[IanKennedy]

Hmmm, I have always wanted a Mac but people always told me it wasnt worth it...

Is there a down side to it? People claim they are not good for gaming? (Not that I game much) But if its not good for gaming I imagin that means something about it isnt up to spec.

Typically, the graphics card is the point of issue for gaming. All laptops are a bit iffy for serious gaming, as heat is an issue. The Mac (if run as a Mac) does not have that many games available compared with a PC. You can run some games in the new version of Parallels (the pc in a window application) however I've no idea of the viability of that option. You can run windows on any intel Mac, either on it's own or dual booted with MacOS. Since I'm not really into games I can't really comment on these abilities one way or another. As for the laptops the cheapest has an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, but it has shared memory rather than dedicated video RAM. The Pro laptop has both a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor; 256MB of GDDR3 memory on 2.4GHz configuration; 512MB of GDDR3 memory on 2.53GHz and 2.8GHz configurations PLUS an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory. You can switch between these two at will, in order to lower the power requirements.

[MetalHead]

Teaos, do yourself a favour and don't buy from a retailer.

EBAY is king.

To give you an example, I spotted a hardcore gaming system on ebay for £400.

Quad Core Processor, 1GB of video memory, 2GB of DDR II RAM, 500GB Harddrive, CD/DVD R/W.

£400.


Or, here in the UK, you can go into curry's and get a bog-standard laptop for about £370.

While you might not need higher spec, It's not overly expensive to get higher performance these days, and it provides alot of added flexibility + eleminates those complaints a few months down the road of "oh hurry up, come on, LOAD"