What sort of laptop is best?

JumboBeef

JumboBeef

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Hello all,

I currently have a laptop, bought from a High Street chain, with Vista, which I use for my editing. It is only six months old and the screen is starting to go (for the second time :bat: ) so I going to get it repaired (again) and then flog it.

So now I'm looking for a new one and my question is: what spec should I be looking for in a laptop (it has to be a laptop). I do like Dell, but I can't even work out which one of those I should get.

:help:
 
OK, so what's your budget...? and... what will you be using it for mainly...?
 
£700ish (but I'm happy to pay less :p )

Doing things to digital photographs! (With Photoshop mainly)
 
My current one is a High Street Chain's own brand (not going to say which, but think of the biggest PC seller in the High Street...well, in the retail park).

I do like Dell, my wife has just bought one (a desktop) with a super 21" screen.
 
OK, well for £700 you have a good budget. Now, I don't want to start a Mac vs PC debate but I have and use both a Dell Latitude and a Mac and I can honestly say I much prefer the Mac, by a clear mile.

You can get yourself a Macbook for a little more than than, otherwise perhaps you can have a look on the Dell outlet store where you can also fins loads of great bargains to be had.

Good luck your research and final choice.
 
OK, thanks but I'm hoping someone can tell me what sort of spec I should be looking for, memory, speed, video cards etc and what is worth paying more for and what is not:)

I'm sure Macs are good, but they're not for me (sorry).
 
I'm considering changing from PC to Mac. I think Apple need to rent out demo Macs to prospective customers... Everyone is familar with the Windows way of doing things, and changing away is a little scary and quite a leap of faith, and a quick fiddle (ooh err!) in the shop doesn't really help.

Being able to try before you buy would convince a lot of people to go fruity. At least you can install Windows XP and run your old stuff as well.
 
theMusicMan said:
OK, well for £700 you have a good budget. Now, I don't want to start a Mac vs PC debate but I have and use both a Dell Latitude and a Mac and I can honestly say I much prefer the Mac, by a clear mile.

You can get yourself a Macbook for a little more than than, otherwise perhaps you can have a look on the Dell outlet store where you can also fins loads of great bargains to be had.

Good luck your research and final choice.
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Most of these threads end up turning in to a PC vs Mac debate, it's inevitable.

I've never owned a Mac, but I want to at some point. When it's time to upgrade my PC, I will buy a Mac of some sort :)

As said, your budget is pretty good, but it's on the low side for a Mac. You will be able to get a decent laptop for that price here.
 
Get a Beemer Coupe among laptops:
get a http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/.

MacBookPro17_2007.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies.

Most of these threads end up turning in to a PC vs Mac debate, it's inevitable.
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I can help here: I don't want a Mac. That might be short sighted of me, or a point of view from someone living in a cave, but I want to stick with windows.

So, the question is, what sort of windows laptop should I buy for £700.......?
 
As I said, but you chose to ignore or think I was starting a Mac vs PC debate (which I wasn't) - go to the Dell outlet store, there's great bargains to be had on there. It's where I got mine from.

Latitude, 2G RAM, 120GB drive, 3 yr next day on site warranty: all for £829
 
With your £700 budget, one option is the Dell Outlet Store on ebay, and for that I managed to get a new laptop very high spec including a very high res screen, fast chip and reasonable hard drive and RAM. Specs change over time, so the spec is not so relevant now, but the fact is that it had a very light 1cm scratch on the case, still came with the full warranty and it was 30% off the retail price!
 
Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you! Yes, I have looked on the Dell website but the whole point of this thread is I don't know which sort (ie: what spec) of laptop I should be looking for ~ what is important and what is not.

Thanks!
 
First of all what software are you going to use to view your images?

If it's Photoshop you'll need at least 1Gb of memory, preferably 2.If it's something like elements then you may get away with less, but personally I'd still stick with 1Gb. Many "off the shelf" laptops come with this amount of memory anyway.

My Compac has 1.25Gb of memory and it runs Photoshop CS3 Ok ( a bit slow though) However this isn't my prime computer so being slow isn't normaly a problem.

Tip: buy the correct amount of memory now. Normally there are only 2 memory slots in a laptop usually with memory chips in both. If you need more you'll have to discard one or both of the memory modules.

Hard Drive. Bigger the better. You'll need to figure out yourself how much you need. The good news is though is if you run out of HD space USB external drives are available and are and easy way to expand you storage.

Processor speed. As fast as you can afford within reason. Don't go mad and pay £100 for an extra 5% speed increase.

Wide Screen? Thats up to you, but it does make working with some applications a lot easier

Please , buy some anti virus software. Some computers come with it preloaded with a 90 day or longer trial.It does ruin you day when the worse happens. Plus some image recovery software would be nice

Finally look for a reputable make.

Christmas is coming and all manufacturers seem to have some great offers.

I just checked on PC Worlds web site A Toshiba wide screen with 1Gb memory and a 160Gb hard drive £499. I paid that for my Compac 15 months ago and it's half the spec of the Tosh.

Hope this has helped some

John C
 
JumboBeef said:
I don't want a Mac. That might be short sighted of me, or a point of view from someone living in a cave, but I want to stick with windows.
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Yep, Jumbo, you actually seem to DO live in a cave:
Macs can run Windows (XP, Vista, 2000), and/or Linux flavors, and/or Macintosh OS. And Macs can run those side-by-side, simultaneously! So you can Drag & Drop from one to the other. No other machines, networks, cables, or conversions neccessary.

Try THAT on a Windoze laptop!

So, if you get just one Mac, you'll effectively have 3 PC's available to you . . .
 
Yeah £700 would get you a spare keyboard maybe, could save up for the rest :(
 
whitewash said:
dunno what to buy but DONT buy an acer you'll be disapppointed
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Yep I second that, Acers are RUBBISH!

I'd go with a Dell or a Mac (if you can find one within your budget, the MacBooks go for about £700 MacBook Pros are more).
 
8utters said:
Yep I second that, Acers are RUBBISH!

I'd go with a Dell or a Mac (if you can find one within your budget, the MacBooks go for about £700 MacBook Pros are more).
Click to expand...

Yeah, you can run Windows on MacBooks too.
 
OK, maybe a Mac would be nice, but I could just about buy the cheapest one with £700, that nice one up there is about £1,700 from what I can see.:(

The cheapest Mac seems less value than a £700 Dell, for example, so I don't think I'll be converted yet.:gag:

Thanks for all the replies, Chappers your post was most helpful. :thumbs:
 
I was looking at laptops last year, didnt need it in the end, but what I noticed was screen quality (which I guess is important for looking at photos) varied a lot. Screen size was one factor but watch the resolution being offered, you'll need to run it in the native highest resolution and it has to be big enough to be readable, a small screen with very high resolution may become unuseable, and a big screen with low res is a con because people on the highstreet buy by the inch not the pixel. Also watch the types of coating. There were high contrast coatings being claimed for a number of machines, some have anti-reflective then there are the "bright" screen coatings "Xglass" etc . . . for photo editing use I would have to wonder if they could throw the image out?, let alone the problems with background reflections on some of the shiny coatings.
 
Hi,

Do you need a laptop, or could you use a desktop instead? I ask because £700 will quite likely get you a better desktop than laptop.

For image manipulation, more RAM is best, a quick chip (preferably dual core eg Intel Duo) and if you have no other computer, then a big hard-dirve will be needed. As Wookie says, check the resolution on the screen. 15.4" wide-screen seems fairly usual at your price range.

No reason to go Mac, unless you've got more money than sense and like white oblongs.

Also I've had acers and had no problems.
 
Mike_J_Smith said:
Hi,

Do you need a laptop, or could you use a desktop instead? I ask because £700 will quite likely get you a better desktop than laptop.

For image manipulation, more RAM is best, a quick chip (preferably dual core eg Intel Duo) and if you have no other computer, then a big hard-dirve will be needed. As Wookie says, check the resolution on the screen. 15.4" wide-screen seems fairly usual at your price range.

No reason to go Mac, unless you've got more money than sense and like white oblongs.

Also I've had acers and had no problems.
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See, there's always one idiot who has to come in and make ridiculous comments such as the one you make above.

PC's are good, Mac's are good - they both have their strenghts and weaknesses. Give it a break will you for gawds sake.

Reported this post.
 
Clearly each forum community has different views on acceptable behavior, I seem to have mis-judged this ones (new here!). Apologies for any offence caused (none meant).

Let's get back to speccing the OP a top notch laptop!
 
No worries Mike. I think it's because we have had history with the Mac vs PC "debate", and it usually always ends up with loggerheads and heated arguments....lol

I suppose its just a touchy subject for many people! :D
 
Thanks again for the replies.

Really, I'm sure Macs are great, just not for me.

Yes, it has to be a laptop, to replace my current laptop. I already have a desktop and my wife also has a super Dell desktop with a fab 21" (I think) screen.

I was also considering an external hard drive to store stuff on and I'd back it up on disk.
 
Just one additional thought.

If you are going to buy say from PC world, check the web site. Often there are web prices and shop prices. The web is cheaper, sometimes by a lot.

If it's the one you want and it's cheaper on the web use the collect at store option. Web price and pick it up in an hour.

Dosen't make sense does it

Cheers
 
I've never used it but Dell have an official refurbished outlet store on-line which could save you a couple of £s.
 
In terms of specification for photo editing it is best to go for more RAM than processor speed and you should aim to have at least 2GB espeically if you are using Vista. If you struggle finding a suitable machine with 2GB you can always fit some more yourself (it's really easy) take a look at cricual and get 2x 1GB chips and replace what's there.

As for HDD size, provided you get an external HDD to backup your photos to then 60GB is plenty.
 
Don't quite agree with SimonT above about 60 Gb being plenty.

My little LG (80 Gb HDD)is getting on in years and I have been looking at replacements lately and therefore I would like to know what bad experiences others have had with Acers

I (imho) just REALLY dislike Dell machines as they are overpriced and underspecced down here in my village.

I had excellent service from my LG but the service SUCKS!!

Rant over - back O/T:

My personal take on the original question would be to buy the best spec you can afford now and even stretch that a tad maybe.

If you must have a laptop and a desktop won't do then go for it but upgrades are normally rather limited and very pricey

Centrino core two duo processor - 2,0 Ghz,
2 Gb Ram
120 Gb hard disk - preferably Sata
DVD Dual layer (preferably blu ray) writer drive


These are the essential MINIMUM specs I would go for.

The other stuff are not all that important ( 15 types of wireless etc etc)

A spare battery is handy (9 cell if you can) and a docking station.

Well these are the specs I would go for in my next laptop

HTH!

Cheers M8
 
I'm :thinking: now.

My wife loves her Dell :love: and I was sort of sold on one for me too............
 
I think I'd rather risk Acer than another Dell :(

No worries Mike. I run XP - on an imac and a macbook. Sooooooooooo reliable. Sooooooooooo stable. Forget OSX if you don't want to go there but do consider a macbook or its bigger brother and run XP (or Vista) on it. I've been using MS products for as long as young Gates but it is only in the last couple of years that I've realised that most MS shortcomings are due to the crap machines we try to run them on.

If you really really really don't want an apple product then get a free laptop ;) I think this will be within budget :)
 
JumboBeef said:
I'm :thinking: now.

My wife loves her Dell :love: and I was sort of sold on one for me too............
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Hey if you like it go for it - provided the specs are on par.

I might not like them for very subjective reasons but all the Dells i have seen struck me as well built solid machines and they don't give hassles.

Cheers
 
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