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My old trusty Toshiba Satellite has finally given up the ghost so I'm looking for a reasonable budget (ish) laptop. Not needed to play games but I do watch HD video on it. Found this which looks alright for the money. Anyone know of any better options out there or suggestions on manufacturers that I should perhaps consider or avoid like the plague? As I'm not playing games presume that I don't really need one with a dedicated graphics card or do I? Be grateful of any help, cheers.
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My old trusty Toshiba Satellite has finally given up the ghost so I'm looking for a reasonable budget (ish) laptop. Not needed to play games but I do watch HD video on it. Found this which looks alright for the money. Anyone know of any better options out there or suggestions on manufacturers that I should perhaps consider or avoid like the plague? As I'm not playing games presume that I don't really need one with a dedicated graphics card or do I? Be grateful of any help, cheers.
Thats decent for the money I think, those laptops always seem to get good reviews these days. Maybe the screen resolution is an issue if you're going to watch full HD videos?
Thanks for the comments guys, really appreciated.
So it looks like my options (within my budget) are either a slightly lower spec CPU with less RAM but with a dedicated graphics card or a slightly better CPU with more RAM but an integrated card? Benchmark test figures on the i5 2430M do seem to be a fair bit higher than the CPU's in the 2 clearance models.
Hard drive size is not really an issue as a 1TB drive is not something I would ever fill on a laptop TBH.
Don't know if the HP or Lenovo machines would be better quality than the Packard Bell though? Think HP's Pro-Book is their flagship range so that might well be worth considering?
Will do a bit more homework and have think, thanks again for the help guys.
So it looks like my options (within my budget) are either a slightly lower spec CPU with less RAM but with a dedicated graphics card or a slightly better CPU with more RAM but an integrated card? Benchmark test figures on the i5 2430M do seem to be a fair bit higher than the CPU's in the 2 clearance models.
Hard drive size is not really an issue as a 1TB drive is not something I would ever fill on a laptop TBH.
Don't know if the HP or Lenovo machines would be better quality than the Packard Bell though? Think HP's Pro-Book is their flagship range so that might well be worth considering?
Will do a bit more homework and have think, thanks again for the help guys.
pete_21 wrote:
So it looks like my options (within my budget) are either a slightly lower spec CPU with less RAM but with a dedicated graphics card or a slightly better CPU with more RAM but an integrated card? Benchmark test figures on the i5 2430M do seem to be a fair bit higher than the CPU's in the 2 clearance models.
Its not even a contest in my opinion. You sacrifice CPU, RAM & HDD for a bottom end GFX card that doesnt perform much better than the intel one. If you really want a dedicated GFX card, they've got an Acer Aspire 5750G on there with a GT 540M for 430 pounds, much better trade off in my opinion. However, if you dont want to play games I cant see why you'd bother.
Don't know if the HP or Lenovo machines would be better quality than the Packard Bell though? Think HP's Pro-Book is their flagship range so that might well be worth considering?
ProBooks are a budget range aimed at the business user, the flagship range is the EliteBook. I doubt you're going to find significant differences in quality at the price point you're looking at anyway.
So it looks like my options (within my budget) are either a slightly lower spec CPU with less RAM but with a dedicated graphics card or a slightly better CPU with more RAM but an integrated card? Benchmark test figures on the i5 2430M do seem to be a fair bit higher than the CPU's in the 2 clearance models.
Its not even a contest in my opinion. You sacrifice CPU, RAM & HDD for a bottom end GFX card that doesnt perform much better than the intel one. If you really want a dedicated GFX card, they've got an Acer Aspire 5750G on there with a GT 540M for 430 pounds, much better trade off in my opinion. However, if you dont want to play games I cant see why you'd bother.
Don't know if the HP or Lenovo machines would be better quality than the Packard Bell though? Think HP's Pro-Book is their flagship range so that might well be worth considering?
ProBooks are a budget range aimed at the business user, the flagship range is the EliteBook. I doubt you're going to find significant differences in quality at the price point you're looking at anyway.
Dr. Garin wrote:
[Its not even a contest in my opinion. You sacrifice CPU, RAM & HDD for a bottom end GFX card that doesnt perform much better than the intel one. If you really want a dedicated GFX card, they've got an Acer Aspire 5750G on there with a GT 540M for 430 pounds, much better trade off in my opinion. However, if you dont want to play games I cant see why you'd bother.
I did spot the Acer machine and hadn't ruled that (or any of the suggestions) out, this machine will definitely not be used for playing games but I as I mentioned I do watch a fair bit of HD video (usually streamed on the likes of Eurosport HD etc. which I think is only 1080i?) Perhaps a dedicated graphics card would be worth considering although an integrated card may well be able to handle this fine?
ProBooks are a budget range aimed at the business user, the flagship range is the EliteBook. I doubt you're going to find significant differences in quality at the price point you're looking at anyway.
Ah, new it was called a something book! Regarding quality differences I was actually quite surprised, I had to flatten and reinstall OS on a friends Samsung laptop a few months ago and it was horrible, a really cheap and nasty thing, looked like it would break if you looked at it too hard! I'm sure Samsung make decent models but this thing was horrific. I've used similar priced and spec machines which I've found to be considerably better put together than that one.
Thanks again for your help Garin, it is appreciated. My Mrs. has given me a £450 budget which I appreciate is not really a massive amount of money but I'm hoping to get something reasonable(ish) for that.
[Its not even a contest in my opinion. You sacrifice CPU, RAM & HDD for a bottom end GFX card that doesnt perform much better than the intel one. If you really want a dedicated GFX card, they've got an Acer Aspire 5750G on there with a GT 540M for 430 pounds, much better trade off in my opinion. However, if you dont want to play games I cant see why you'd bother.
I did spot the Acer machine and hadn't ruled that (or any of the suggestions) out, this machine will definitely not be used for playing games but I as I mentioned I do watch a fair bit of HD video (usually streamed on the likes of Eurosport HD etc. which I think is only 1080i?) Perhaps a dedicated graphics card would be worth considering although an integrated card may well be able to handle this fine?
ProBooks are a budget range aimed at the business user, the flagship range is the EliteBook. I doubt you're going to find significant differences in quality at the price point you're looking at anyway.
Ah, new it was called a something book! Regarding quality differences I was actually quite surprised, I had to flatten and reinstall OS on a friends Samsung laptop a few months ago and it was horrible, a really cheap and nasty thing, looked like it would break if you looked at it too hard! I'm sure Samsung make decent models but this thing was horrific. I've used similar priced and spec machines which I've found to be considerably better put together than that one.
Thanks again for your help Garin, it is appreciated. My Mrs. has given me a £450 budget which I appreciate is not really a massive amount of money but I'm hoping to get something reasonable(ish) for that.
A little while back my daughter got this HP G6 laptop - via Argos.
HP and Argos weren't either of my first thoughts but it's proved to be a great machine and I've been very impressed.
I haven't compared it with your specs but it might be worth a look.
AND it comes in different colours! - whoops, sorry I thought I was talking to my daughter ;¬)
While typing this DELL have just phoned out-of-the-blue on my mobile.
"Hello it's DELL here. It's been 4 years since your bought from us."
>Hi, sorry if it's a sales call I'm not interested.
"No, it's not a sales call"
>OK, sorry.
"Just phoning to make sure everything is running ok.
>Yes, thanks.
"Any other questions?"
>No.
"Bye"
>Bye
HP and Argos weren't either of my first thoughts but it's proved to be a great machine and I've been very impressed.
I haven't compared it with your specs but it might be worth a look.
AND it comes in different colours! - whoops, sorry I thought I was talking to my daughter ;¬)
While typing this DELL have just phoned out-of-the-blue on my mobile.
"Hello it's DELL here. It's been 4 years since your bought from us."
>Hi, sorry if it's a sales call I'm not interested.
"No, it's not a sales call"
>OK, sorry.
"Just phoning to make sure everything is running ok.
>Yes, thanks.
"Any other questions?"
>No.
"Bye"
>Bye
[s]Hmmm...[/s]
The HP G6 was one that I was actually considering Hmmm (i5 6GB RAM model) cheers for the heads up.
I think that model only comes in a choice of light black or extremely dark grey though ! ;)
I think that model only comes in a choice of light black or extremely dark grey though ! ;)
Seriously considering disobeying the boss and chucking in a few extra quid to get this
Had a play around on a few laptops today and was actually a little bit disappointed with i3 and some i5 machines. They opened MS Word files OK but when giving them any real work to do the i7 machines were noticeably snappier. This added with a dedicated GFX card and 6GB RAM seems a decent option for the money to me. What do you guys reckon? are Acer machines alright? or should I just buy one of cheaper machines and go down to the pub with the difference? :)
Had a play around on a few laptops today and was actually a little bit disappointed with i3 and some i5 machines. They opened MS Word files OK but when giving them any real work to do the i7 machines were noticeably snappier. This added with a dedicated GFX card and 6GB RAM seems a decent option for the money to me. What do you guys reckon? are Acer machines alright? or should I just buy one of cheaper machines and go down to the pub with the difference? :)
That certainly busts your original budget! :¬)
I'll let the others say if they think it's a good buy or not.
You've been linking to the same laptop website. Are they a company that you've used before and can recommend?
I've never heard of them - but I don't get out much!
I'll let the others say if they think it's a good buy or not.
You've been linking to the same laptop website. Are they a company that you've used before and can recommend?
I've never heard of them - but I don't get out much!
[s]Hmmm...[/s] Page: