nicholab Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 I am looking for something to replace the desktop due to space constants as the spare room is destined to become the babies room. I still feel the need for a proper PC not just a tablet. I would like some idea of good laptop options in the 13 to 15in range. A mac book air would be nice but it is a bit out of the price range I think that could be the same for ultra books as well.
mac_shinobi Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 what is the : 1. max price that you can afford ? 2. sort of specs you are after cpu, ram, hdd or ssd , graphics card etc ? 3. Are there any particular brands / makes you would prefer or want to avoid etc ? 4. Are you going to ignore any warranty purchase ie using the standard warranty cover versus purchasing extra cover to get the laptop covered for say 3 years etc ? What laptop magazine is normally a good starting point as it's only a couple of quid from the local news agents or wh smiths etc and it covers all pros, cons of each laptop, how they perform , any common issues ie over heating, etc etc
nicholab Posted February 15, 2012 Author Posted February 15, 2012 I think £500 would be the max I would like Intel i3 and some reasonable graphics.
jamesb Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Depending on what you want to use it for, you might want a look at the ASUS Prime. It's got surprisingly good graphics, and means that you've got both a tablet and a functional ultrabook (the docking station is a bit of a misnomet - it basically converts it into a laptop). Hits the top of your pricemark though, and does mean that you're on Android which might limit you for some things.
Dos_Box Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Shaun pointed out the Dell XPS range to me last year, and although it's £50 over the £500 pound budget the XPS 15 still has some cracking specs: 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor (2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz) English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) 15.6"(40 cm) HD WLED TL (1366x768) 720p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera 2 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz 250 GB SATA hard drive (7200RPM) 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 525M Graphics Card 8x DVD+/-RW Optical Drive More here: Dell XPS 15 Laptop Details | Dell UK Edited February 15, 2012 by Dos_Box
mdench Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 i bought one of these this year and soo far been sooo happy with the performance The nSpire Pro 2450 15.6" HD LED Glossy Screen (1366 x 768) Processor Description : Intel i5 2450M Mobile @2.50ghz 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory (can be upgraded to 8gb) 500GB sata 2.5" Hard Drive SATA DVD Writer NVIDIA GT540M 1GB Graphics card built in webcam bit more expensive at £510 without an OS so would need to add on the extra for the cost of 64bit windows or you could look at this Intel Core i3 2350M 2.3GHz 4GB RAM 500GB HDD 15.6" LED DVD Writer NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M Webcam Windows 7 Home Premium 64 £484.09
glennda Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Lenovo G570 Windows 7 Laptop M517AUK - Laptops Direct Screen size - 15.6 in - 1366 x 768 Processor - Intel Core i5 2430M - 2.4 GHz RAM - 4 GB Hard Drive - 500 GB Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Optical Drive - DVD?RW Warranty - 1 year warranty
DeltaBravo Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Samsung RF511 15.6 SAMSUNG RF511 15.6" Laptop - Silver at cheap prices | PC World Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit Memory: 8GB Hard drive: 1TB Graphics card: Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Fairly good deal for £599
mac_shinobi Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Samsung RF511 15.6 SAMSUNG RF511 15.6" Laptop - Silver at cheap prices | PC World Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit Memory: 8GB Hard drive: 1TB Graphics card: Intel® HD Graphics 3000 Fairly good deal for £599 Quick search on google products for the same model , found this ( £565.34 free delivery for the same laptop ) --> RF511 - silver [TDO_12302891_551602] - £565.34 : Digital Equipment, Totally Digital Online, Big Brands at Low Prices Google Products search for this samsung laptop --> Samsung RF511 15.6" Laptop - Silver Intel Core i5-2450M Processor, Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Memory: 8GB, Hard drive: 1TB, with 1.3 MP Webcam Might also be worth while dropping @Millgate a pm to see if they can do a better deal for you ? Edited February 15, 2012 by mac_shinobi 1
Millgate Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 We dont really do personal purchases and the laptops mentioned are consumer so you would probably get a better deal from PC World or whoever. The Samsung one looks quite good. Also have a look at the Toshiba Satellite Pro C660-2F6.
featured_spectre Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-i3-370M-Processor-DVD-Super-Windows/dp/B005WOEJBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A2OAJ7377F756P&s=merchant&qid=1329309747&sr=1-1 < Best laptop for the price I can find!
mac_shinobi Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Acer Aspire 5733 15.6 inch Laptop (Intel Core i3-370M Processor, RAM 6GB, HDD 640GB, DVD-Super Multi DL Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit): Amazon.co.uk: Amazon Warehouse Deals < Best laptop for the price I can find! Maybe so but from previous few years acer support from posts on EG have been far from good, not sure if that is still the case I would go with the Samsung one if you could afford the extra £££
featured_spectre Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 For home products Acer are pretty decent, its the business support I have always hated. Home support was fantastic on the other hand. Probably because if you are a business and you get poor service then you go elsewhere, but personal customers tend to speak to friends about bad service etc so they work hard to ensure all is well with the product. 1
mac_shinobi Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 If apple wasn't a choice for me then I would go with a samsung or HP laptop as had a couple of them and they have always been brilliant ( at least for me ). Am not too keen on the Acer laptops, a little scheptical about Toshibas thus leaving Dell, Lenovo and possibly some others. Although not sure ref HP now, thus leaving Samsung but then obviously comes down to money and if the OP can afford the extra £££
jonnykewell1 Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 Think this is a perfect laptop, we had a few teacher buy them now through my recommendation and they love it. Really nice feel to it. Asus X53E Laptop - Laptops | Ebuyer.com
jonnykewell1 Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 then double the memory for £32 Corsair 4GB DDR3 1066MHz/PC3-8500 Laptop Memory SODIMM.. | Ebuyer.com what more could you ask for
tonyd Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 I picked up one of these a couple of months back - Buy Asus UL30/A32a netbook 13.1 inch 3gb 320gb win7 at Morgan Computers using a 10% off code like 'SALE5' (that may still work if you are luck, I was). I ended up with a fairly small light laptop, with great build quality, amazing battery life, Win7 Home Premium, and costing £225, and it still had the original 1 year warranty that had never been registered. Ok, it is not the most powerful machine, but for the money, it's nice to use and the 10 hour+ battery life is quite simply amazing, also very loud loud speakers too, much better than any other laptop I've used (and I see a lot of laptops at work...). Highly recommended.
Oaktech Posted February 15, 2012 Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) I'm looking to replace my aging and a bit worn out acer 5520g, which has been bloody brilliant, I've been looking at either an HP probook, because i need it to be made of stronger stuff than most home use laptops, but they are pretty big money (the spec i'm looking at is ~£700) and having played with quite a few laptops for people recently, If you are looking at any HP machines then steer well clear of the G series as they appear to be really fragile, and also the toshiba satellite series, as they are very plasticy and despite what looks like good specs on the box they all seem to be dog slow (we've had 3 staff members bring them in for BYOD settings and they scored lower in the windows experience ratings at merely days old, than my 4 year old acer does) The current suprise seems to be the samsung range, particularly the series 3, we bought 10 of them for one of our offsite training centres, they were £300 each by the time we had applied a £180 cash back offer from BT business. we expected to get them back loads with faults and breaks as they are being used by phys-ed students who are not renowned for their finesse with electronics and so far we have had one back with a keytop pulled off! Well worth looking at the RF511 that has been mentioned already, or the cheaper option, NP300E5A-A02DX which is £479 from PC world, or less if you google! I've just googled and come back with this... http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/10789413/art/samsung/series-3-np300e5a-a01dx-1.html?key=0&srcid=10551&partenaire=google_ppc_uk&mctag=gg_goog_1432&nopopup=1&CodePromo=oui&gclid=CL7X8ZCToK4CFYgifAodMHMG4A which is offering it at £394 inc vat. Edited February 15, 2012 by Oaktech
nicholab Posted February 28, 2012 Author Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) What do people think of the Dell vostro 3550? Core i3 with HD 6630M Edited February 28, 2012 by nicholab
SYNACK Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 From a quality point of view I have never found a good Acer anything, everything I have ever seen from them has been second or third rate. Get a reputable brand HP, Dell and try of the business lines if you want something to last. Also stay away from Alienware as they are as reliable as a Chinese space rocket. 1
mac_shinobi Posted February 28, 2012 Posted February 28, 2012 From a quality point of view I have never found a good Acer anything, everything I have ever seen from them has been second or third rate. Get a reputable brand HP, Dell and try of the business lines if you want something to last. Also stay away from Alienware as they are as reliable as a Chinese space rocket. It come with special engrish manuarl
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