I am going to buy a new laptop in the January sale, I have a budget of 650/700 euro max. Am looking for the 150GB memory mark, it will be used for photos, music, notes, numerous chess training programmes (we are talking millions of games being stored in these programmes) so I have been advised 3GB RAM. I don't want to go bigger than the 15'4" screens as storage becomes a hassle after that. So speed, memory and sleek style is on the agenda, any ideas?
Hi LOB, I have lots of friends with Macs...They are not very happy about it..but i dont know.
I have heard dodge things about macs also
I am on a dell Inspiron 1501 at the moment.. with a rubber stump for an E and T key
I love my Mac personally. I'd recommend a Macbook. You can get one that will exceed what you're looking for for about €750. It pushes a little past your budget, but not too badly. Check out apple.com, you might be able to get a deal on one. It'll have all the specs listed for you there too.
Anyone who's told you any bad things about their Mac probably knows absolutely nothing about computers. Far, far, far, far superior to an Inspiron. I know Dell's an Irish company and all, but keep your bias out of it, Aoife!
Dells no Irish at all.. :|
In fact it is pulling out of Ireland :P
Just looking at the macbook site, these things seem pricy
Hi Lob, my friend just bought a HP notebook for around 700 and she is really pleased with it. I cant remember if Comet operate in Ireland but that is where she got it and she got a good deal, so the sales may be even cheaper (you can also order online
best wishes Kerrianne and good luck with the chess
Dell is based in Round Rock, Texas, in the US. I would know, I work for them. ;)
You could go with a mac, personally I dont like them much. If you are going to go with a standard compuwter, I would go either with a Dell or a something like a Sony Vaio or an Acer. But dont use Vista. Vista is terrible. Use Linux or Ubuntu for your OS instead.
I'm also a big advocate for the Mac. Check out the refurbs that Apple has at the Apple Store. (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=MTMzNTY)
The refurbs come with the full warranty and are eligible for the AppleCare extended warranty. I've purchased many refurbs from Apple and have never had a problem.
Just make sure you get that 3gb ram LOB you will need it if you are using it for lots of graphics.
The general consensus from most people that I talk to is that Macs are better computers, if you can afford them (which most of my friends can't). But then I'm in the Video Production world and Macs run circles around PCs when it comes to video editing. If you're looking for widespread applications, way more people own PCs than own Macs (probably cuz they can't afford Macs either), so you'll have fewer compatibility issues with PCs.
hi aoife
i have an acer laptop my wife got it for me in 06 (pressey):) i do everything on this from playing chess to doing my time sheets for work to reading electrical drawings , loading photos itunes etc and to date i have not had a problem yet. my wife got it in a shop called click.ie they were very helpfull, she told them what i was looking for ie adobe reader (programe for reading drawings)microsoft word,exel etc and they sorted her out.
i hope this is a help to you
liam
by LOBMy Carboard Box Ireland
Paul,
I built my own computer 1 year ago.
For speed look for a dual core processor and I prefer Intel, a 1.86Ghz+ processor and only 2GB of memory, it should be sufficient for now.
Do make sure you can expand your memory however and look for a laptop with 4 Gb memory capability if you can afford,they are still expensive. And be sure your memory is DDR3 SDRAM this is new tech and is much more powerful in speed transfer.
If you can put 2Gb memory now and add 1 or 2Gb in a year from now it should be okay as the price of memory drops tremendously. If not, do go with the 3Gb, however the 4Gb is needed only if you do photos and video editing.
Music does takes up quite a bit of space and I would recommend a 320GB hard disk, your 150 is too small in my opinion and ask for an upgrade to the 320 hard disk or at least a 250GB, might cost you only 30 or so euro.
I bought 2GB memory Corsair XMS in october of 2007 and paid Can$ 437, I added another 2 GB memory a month ago and paid, and please do sit down, $42 Can.
Try to get a laptop with at least 533Mhz FSB, front speed bus, if you can get an 800 the better, this is where you get the speed from.
Go with a 32 bit system as many softwares and programs are still not available in a 64 bit system.
Depending on what you want to do with photos and especially if you plan to play games on your laptop you have to review your graphic card.
If it is an onboard card,meaning it is on the motherboard, quality is at best acceptable. If you want a better graphic card do your research and send me a message or post here and I will try to help you.
Here is a few links for reviews on laptops:
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-reviews/?filter=100021_10197309_&tag=mncol
http://viperlair.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=13/st=page/popup5[]=45:384/sortby=priceA/page=5/start=96
http://www.hardwarezone.com/channels/mobilecomputing/
Trust this will you, any questions if I can help I will.
Their are many laptops that have great storage capacity. I'd stay away from Macs though. They are far overpriced. You could get a laptop from another brand that has the same hardware as a Mac for several $100s less (80 EUR). However, Macs do have an advantage and that's their operating system, which I find to be far superior than Windows Vista.
A few suggestions I have as far as brands go would be Gateway and Asus. They both have great prices. With gateway, I'd recommend their M Series notebooks. Those have 15.4" screens with a 250GB or 320GB hard drive. All of them are also under $1000 (800 EUR). Asus laptops have a bigger selection, offer bigger hard drive capacity, but I think might be a little more expensive.
Hello LOB.
The main thing, nobody told you before: do you need or not a dedicated video card? This is the main issue you should have in mind. If you are working in Photoshop or you're playing new games (like ... well, I know no examples, I don't play any games) then you will need a video card with dedicated memory. If you are using it for office/internet, then you don't need dedicated graphic card. It is not possible to add a graphic card afterwards. Look here for a list:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html
As for brands Apple, Lenovo are regarded as the best. The second class is Dell, HP, Toshiba. Stay away from an Acer! Gateway sells only in North-America.
All this advice is brilliant I could not have named off half of these brands! :)
I was advised costelus to get a dedicated memory card with the laptop because though I don't have the time to twiddle with videos, photos or games too much I do enjoy occasionally doing those things - but when the workload calms down I will use it!
Thanks to everyone :) Keep it coming please I am building up a list
Up to Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo T9500 (2.60GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Try Alienware for speed, performance and top class looks, they have an Irish website and ship from Limerick or somewhere like that.
Price might be an issue though.
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