Buying the (right) Laptop/Notebook

Hello,

I'm currently saving up for a laptop/notebook and am a good bit on my way to getting there - so I thought I'd pop the question, (not that question ) in regards to getting one.

My budget will be around £800/$1,397 - I'd be willing to work above or below that but not in a huge fashion. Reason being, I have a decent PC and although I will use the laptop, daily - I don't want to spend a huge chunk of cash on something that will need re-charged every 3 hours or so.

I have a good idea of what I'd like - but seek the advice of people who know a bit more (I'm being very modest) about the subject at hand.

I would use my laptop for on the go application use, Macromedia Flash, Director, Photoshop, DVD watching and Music listening. Gaming definitely wouldn't be a neccesity - although I don't want a bog-standard/poor graphics card. Whilst it would seem unlikely for me, I'd definitely like to have the option of wireless internet both in and outside the house - I'm not sure if this bumps up the price up beyond what I can afford (when you add all the other parts) but it would be something I'd be interested in. A notebook adaptor slot would be the solution to the inside and I assume the centrino would be the solution to the outside?

I'd expect to get a laptop with the following specs, or close to it for the money I've said above;

Batt. Time - 3 hrs or more

Pro:

1.5/6/7 Ghz

I'm really unsure what to go for in terms of the pro. make. I've been well advised against Celeron - I assume this is well founded, granted with the lack of cache and bus speed issues.

512MB Ram

60GB Hard drive +

They're obviously the minimum specs I'd require - and there isn't a great deal of info to go on (I know) - but I'd just want a bit more info on processors in particular and whether my £/$ meets what I want. Where are the best places to buy notebooks? And so on.

Thanks for any help

 

I can only speak for myself but I have had the best luck with ThinkPads. I do repair work on laptops and have recently decided to only work on ThinkPads.

The Compaq and HP laptops I've worked on have been mostly unstable and their method of repair in warranty is almost always to first reinstall the software and lose all of your data.

Toshiba laptops seem to me to have a mounting issue for the LCD panels. They crack more screens than anything else I've worked on and it's not the screens because some of them are the same mfg. number as in IBM and they aren't having the same problems.

Don't know much about Dell and Gateway

Check out IBM for their reconditioned units and you can get what your looking for in your price range.

I run an R-40, 2.0 P4, 512MB RAM, 40Gig, 14" screen, CD-RW/DVD ROM and its about $1000 on IBM site

 

I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 6000 here in the US.

2.0 ghz Pentium M
100gig 5400rpm harddrive
2*512mb DDR2 ram (way overpriced from dell, but I wanted it quickly)
9 cell battery - laptop can last 5 hours if I turn down the graphics card and reduce the light one notch.
x300 128mb video card, can play decently, would more than fit your needs if not gaming
cd/dvd burner
bluetooth/b/g
windows media center

for $1250 after taxes and after the $500 off coupons you can find online.

 

shnerdly, cheers for that. Let me know how you get on in regards to repairing ThinkPads - it'll give me some idea of how they perform. On another note - are laptops 'that' hard to upgrade? The difference between upgrading desktops and notebooks is obviously quite different - but laptops are made out to be very hard to upgrade.

theguy, that definitely sounds like the sort of thing I'd be after. The specs of that far exceed my expectations and it's still cheaper. I think the taxation and shipping from the U.S would spike that a bit - but it could be well worth it.

Another thing for wireless internet - I have a 1meg line at home, does wireless really slow things down or remain about the same? I would be getting a Linksys .g router and cards, and it's apparently 54mbps.

 

Cheers Halo.

I hadn't thought of looking at the UK sites - as I looked on there a while ago and thought the prices were a lot dearer. In converting from dollars to pounds, I thought I was getting a bargain - but that's not really the case as I've discovered.

As said, I would be using the laptop for application work (Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Director, Word) and maybe light gaming. My desktop comp. is good enough for gaming so I'll leave the 'high intense' gaming for that. That said, I don't want a rubbish graphics card either, which would annoy me if it let the whole 'laptop' down.

The Inspiron 6000 as theguy said, is definitely one of the more popular options available to me. Thankfully I have a lot of time to wait and chop and change my opinion - as opposed to rushing out and buying a laptop that may do a job.

 

HarleyK, I guess I wasn't very clear about what I do. I have been working on Loptop's and PC's for a long time. I have decided to stop working on all Laptops except IBM. I've been working on them for quite sometime. To answer your questions, they can be hard to upgrade, depending on what you want to upgrade. Be sure the one you buy has adequate sound and video for your needs. Thats two item that are not generaly upgradeable. RAM, HD, CD/DVD, Processor and battery are generaly easy to upgrade. I included processor because most of them are right under the keyboard now a days. Some of the old ones were soldered on the MB or not very easy to get to.

You should also make sure the machine has WIFI allready in it. You can use a PCMCIA or USB device but their in the way for me most of the time. To add internal WIFI later can be quite a challenge because running the antenna leads from under the MB to the top of the screen often requires major disassembly.

 

Cheers for that shnerdly.

I don't think I'd be overly keen to upgrade my laptop, particularly if I get the specs that are in the Inspiron 6k. That sort of range is what I'd consider to be good enough for what I'm looking to do with my laptop. And after that you're probably going into a greater depth of cost than I would be willing to pay.

Cheers for the tip on the WI-FI, I've did a bit of research and it seems you're not the only one that is annoyed by the PCMCIA/USB alternatives. A card sticking out of the side of the laptop is not something I'd be brilliantly excited about, as it just screams 'snap' - if it was to be dropped, by accident of course.

Is it popular for WI-FI to be built into a laptop or is it more of a new thing that is being put in?

I'll keep on looking and researching, as it's quite important in computers. Thanks for the advice so far.

 

I think you mistyped, there is no P4 M, just a pentium M. Yeah, try to go with a Pentium M over a Celeron M and P4. Pentium Ms supposedly perform at 1.5 times their clocks compared to a P4, so a Pentium M 2.0ghz may perform as well as a P4 3.0 ghz. 2mb L2 cache as well. Also, if you go with dell, they have an onboard wifi thing working, you know part of that Centrino stuff.

 

Oh, did you add the $500 off coupons? I'm not sure if these work on the UK sites, but check out http://www.xpbargains.com/dell_coupons/ or do a google search online for coupons.

 

Hello again.

Halo, I've looked at the 6000 and it doesn't say anything about Wi-Fi, that I can see. I googled the terms, Wi-Fi and Inspiron 6000 and a few bits of information came up in regards to it having Wi-Fi. I'll assume it has Wi-Fi, but can anyone confirm that it does? (that's probably a very stupid question, given the centrino side of things, but better safe than sorry I suppose)

Also, how difficult and how long does it take to set up Wi-Fi? Obviously I'll need a router, but is it really that complicated? Securing the network would be a must.

theguy, I never really thought about the coupons for two reasons: The Non-USA factor and that I didn't know where to get them. But cheers for giving me that site. If I can knock a few hundred quid off it - it'll be more than welcome.

Although I see Dell are very quick to offer discounts as well, which is encouraging. I'm thinking of customizing a laptop to around £1000/$1,746 and then hoping that a discount of £239/$400 will deflate it back to my original price. The discount offer above was $400 off Inspirons over $1699 (USA) - so I assume something similar will be available on Dell UK.

I wouldn't have a problem ordering from the states, if discounts are more available there and I have to go with it - I'd obviously have to find out if taxation applies - as I don't want to get my laptop and think everything is fine - then a nice bill at the end of the month arrives...

I haven't set my decision on the 6k in stone - but it's definitely far and away the best one I have seen as of yet (thanks for suggesting it )

In regards to operating system - Windows Media Centre comes as standard on the laptop - I'd be willing to settle for WMC but haven't ever used it, first hand. Would it be recommended or would getting XP Professional (+£30(I think)) be a better job? I assumed WMC was XP Pro/Home with the media part added on, but XP Pro is dearer, I assumed there's a good reason for that? (inexperience showing here)

It is my understanding that Dell don't supply a Installation disc in the event of formatting the computer. I've never bought a whole computer (this one was built piece by piece) so I'm not at all sure how these companies work. Do I even get a serial key for that version of Windows or is it simply already installed on the laptop and that's that.

If I do get a serial key and and wish to format my computer - I assume it's perfectly legal to attain a copy of the proper Windows O/S (for which the serial key is for) and to re-install that on the laptop?

Upon reading about the Inspiron, I noticied that a user found there to be a lot of 'bloatware', already installed before he had got to begin his work - so this is why I ask about re-formatting.

Thanks for any advice and I apologise for blabbering on.

 

Yes, it does include an internal wireless card. It's easy to connect to an existing network, but setting up that network may be difficult.

I did a brief search for UK coupons, and came up empty. It may just be a US thing. I'm sure if you order from here and have it shipped, you'll still be saving a ton of money using a $500 off coupon.

XP MC is exactly like XP Home except there is a desktop icon which brings up a few media tools, unnecessary if you ask me, but oh well. Yes there is a ton of bloatware on these things, so if you want you can buy XP Pro, and do a fresh format. Also, Dell doesn't give any real OS CD, so yeah, I can't really do that. It's all preinstalled.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this question. "If I do get a serial key and and wish to format my computer - I assume it's perfectly legal to attain a copy of the proper Windows O/S (for which the serial key is for) and to re-install that on the laptop? " By attain do you mean like download it? I wouldn't suggest that.

 

I had a quick search for UK coupons and just found coupon sites so that's alright.

As I said, ordering from the U.S wouldn't really be a problem. I've ordered from there before (E-buyer) and had no real issues with tax or delivery time. As you say, for the sake of $500 off, I would be willing to wait for a slower delivery.

Thanks for letting me know of the Wi-Fi card, I assumed it had one, but thought I'd check anyway.

The actual MC looks pretty cool - although it wouldn't be a necessity. The likes of what it can do isn't really suitable for a laptop, I think.

It's probably best I don't say how I would attain my cd - although one of many options is to buy a os dell disc from Ebay. This practice is perfectly legal. Could you tell me if you get a serial key or not though? I'd like to have the option of formatting, even if I don't intend to use it. I suppose I could check the serial of the os through a thing like Jelly Bean Keyfinder or something similar?

 

If you buy an OEM copy of WinXP from someone like Dell, it would come with the installation key. XP Pro is usually around $150, XP Home is usually around $100

 

Cheers, Shnerdly.

Just the serial key that is most important to me.

 

you can request an actual windows CD from Dell and they will give you a serial number as well. My dad did that when he bought a laptop from dell. Just make sure to specifically ask for a windows CD instead of a restore disk.

 

Cheers Josh. How did he go about 'requesting' the disk?

 

i was looking through some dell laptops the other day, and yes you can request a windows os cd. its in the customization. if you go through and customize the laptop, then one of the options is to have them send you a windows os cd.

 

Wow, I have to check that out. I couldn't find an actual key in the box here, I'm not sure if I threw it out or if it was even here.

 

Cheers, Ace. It would obviously be better to get the os cd as opposed to getting a quick restore disk.

In relation to getting this laptop - anyone fancy recommending some good routers? I'm hoping to go with "Linksys" as I've heard they're pretty good, but they're plenty of different options and types - so I'm not so sure which to go for.

It would be sharing an ADSL (I think) and would be linking to one laptop, and two desktops throughout the house.

 

I've tried a lot of different brands of router and I keep coming back to Linksys. It's a good choice and if you get a WRT54G or GS or GL all ver 4.x and older you have a lot of firmware options like DD-WRT that give you more power and more control.

 

linksys or netgear.

 

Has anyone bought from Compudirectpc before? Just had a look and their prices seem very reasonable, so I thought I would compare the two...(I'm sad that way)

CompuDirectPC –

Dell Inspiron.

Intel Pentium M Processor 760 (2Ghz/2MB Cache/533Mhz FSB)

15.4 Inch WXGA LCD Panel

80GB 5400rpm Hard Drive

24x CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive

Crucial 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Notebook Memory – OEM

6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

128MB DDR ATI’s Mobility Radeon X300 PCI Express x16 graphics

Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)

Microsoft Windows XP Pro (OS)

Total - $1505 Total - £861.92

Dell –

Inspiron 6000

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 760 (2GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)

Genuine Windows® XP Professional

15.4 inch WXGA LCD Panel

1GB DDR SDRAM 2 Dimms

80GB 5400rpm Hard Drive

8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW)

Dell 1370 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)

128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY™ RADEON X300 PCI Express x16 Graphics

6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Total - $1,707 Total - £977.11

Subtract about $200 for some sort of offer and you’re talking about:

Total - $1,507 Total - £862.69

Quite ridiculous how close they come to each other. I think Dell does free delivery on Notebooks (time only offer, but I suppose that’s one of them long running deals) so I’m waiting on CompuDirect to respond on their delivery prices. If they’re free I have a nice problem on my hands.

I can’t see any real difference between the two, bar the wireless connection and DVD burner from Dell, which is a thrown-in extra.. I assume the wireless device in the laptop (going by model numbers, purely), that the Compu is a more recent version? If anything else is spotted, – don’t be afraid to shout it out.

Another thing, is that a good graphics card?

Cheers.

 

Went to Dell.com and asked if they did deliveries to the UK, they declined and pointed me in the direction of the UK/Europe site (naturally)...

So I went on, compiled all the items that I wanted (stated above/below depending on what way the thread is) in the laptop and went to basket, just to get a rough idea of what it would cost including delivery and VAT.

£1,057.....Great.

£60 (around $120) for delivery (when USA delivery is free ) and then VAT onto that creates the above total, which totally blows it out of my budget. My best hope is to either lower what I want in my laptop, find UK coupons or buy from CompudirectPC - who haven't replied as of yet.

Any suggestions?

 

one suggestion is to get less memory (memory in one of the few things in a laptop that is upgradeable). Like only get 512mb. Later on you can upgrade to more ram if needed.


sidenote - I just checked the dell website for the UK (I live in US). it says that you can buy an inspiron 6000 in your price range that includes VAT and delivery.

 

The specs for a dell inspiron that is exactly your price range is as follows A(including VAT and shipping). I just went through it really fast, so you could tweak it and get exactly what you need.


Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735A (1.70GHz 2MB L2 cache 400MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
512MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x256)
Internal Keyboard (UK/Ire QWERTY)
Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics Up to 128MB shared system memory
60GB (5.400rpm) IDE Hard Drive
No Floppy Drive Option
Internal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem
8X DVD+/-RW with Software (No Media)
Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card
System Documentation
Gedis Bundle Reference List N02605 - DHS 6000 Good
Microsoft® Works 7.0
Standard Warranty 1-Year Collect and Return service
Cover It with Dell Support Services Basic: 3-Year At Home service & Multimedia E-Learning
AntiVirus & Security Software No security subscription
AC Adapter D-Series 65W Power Cord
Order Information Inspiron Order - UK
Primary 6 Cell 53 WHr battery
Money Off Savings Save £50 inc VAT
Dell System Media Kit No Resource CD
Colour Choice No QuickSnap™ Cover Option
Dell Media Experience No Dell Media Experience
Promotions Hidden Option Class Free Upgrade to Windows Media Center 2005
Promotions Hidden Option Class Memory Upgrade from 256MB to 512MB
Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.
Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
15.4" Wide Screen UltraSharpTM WXGA (1280 x 800) LCD Panel

 

Cheers for that, Josh.

I think for Photoshop, the lack of memory will be a problem - despite it being upgradeable as you say.

I understand you can get the Inspiron for my price range at its default settings - but in the development of this thread, I've got quite greedy and wanted a few more things than my original post - probably my downfall.

I'll wait until I get word from CompuDirectPC and then I'll hope for the best. It's a shame the way Dell US don't export, but ah well.