To laptop or not to laptop, thats the question

[Freak]

Right, I have never used a laptop.

I just didnt see the need for me to use one.

Now I am going to uni in Sept. I think its an option.

I need to decide if I am to take this rig with me and get something for when I am at home. Or to get a laptop for uni.

I think that the last ones a gd idea. Would be good to get something that is able to handle games as well.

I have absolutely no idea when it comes to this.

As for as portability comes into it, I would imagine it being mainly in my room only going to lessons if it had to.

Any ideas, suggestions, where to look etc will be greatly received. Looking for it to not cost the earth.

 

[Diablo]

In my opinion, depending on how addicted you are to the amazing sound system/screen you have at home, go for the laptop.

I lived on the fourth floor, up a tight spiral staircase in my first year, and it was a nightmare to haul my rig upstairs. I'm going for a laptop (that's what most people will have BTW) next year.

The thing is, I was glad of my rig because it meant that I could have friends round to watch blurays on a hidef screen with a really decent speaker system. I'm taking it next year as well.

But for most people a laptop will be adequate, especially if you intend to do work in the library or in lectures and want a laptop (tho a netbook is ideal in lectures). Personally I would get a decently powerful laptop and a big external disk, and maybe some niceish speakers and you'll be all set.

The novelty of having a desktop is offset by the complete lack of desk space (in my case, I had a massive desk and still had no space) and heaving 20+kg of pc up the stairs.

 

[Freak]

Thanks for that info.

I can always go for a laptop, then if I need a desktop I can always do that.

Im doing computer Science, the first year would appear that I dont need a lot of computer power to do the work.

Bit of programming etc it would seem. Building foundations for the years to come. So a laptop would be ok.

I could always get a small tft screen to take with me to get over a small screen, a mouse. THink that would be ok.

OK, laptop for uni. But now, I need to know what to look for.

 

[Diablo]

What's the budget?

 

[Freak]

It depends on how good it is.

My mum suggested something like under 400

 

[tinytomlogan]

Tehn if thats the budget its time to hit the bay, as you wont get new for that.

 

[Freak]

hmmm, ok then. As I know nothing.

What would you suggest that I get?

I was looking on Laptops direct for a bit - then it broke.

There were some there. Toshiba Satellites seemed to be better than the others at that price range.

I would imagine that all i would be doing is "Office" work. On it,

 

[tinytomlogan]

Get more bang for your buck if you buy used mate.

Have a look through ebay, then just hit the reviews up.

I spent a couple weeks looking for mine, then found what I wanted and got a good deal, its now running windows 7 and I couldnt be happier.

 

[Diablo]

I would go for a 15.4" screen (or there abouts), above that they are no longer portable, and below that they really are too small.

Look for DDR2 ram, as that's dirt cheap to upgrade. Try to get a graphics chip in it (not integrated if you can) if you plan to do anything like watch movies on it.

I can't see anything new for that budget with decent performance. I recommend above 2.2GHz if you can get it (dual core), 2GB (4GB ideal) RAM, 250GB+ HD. You ought to be able to buy that for about £500 new TBH.

 

[Freak]

Thanks for the idea.

Though I have no idea what to look for.

Guess that I will have to learn about lappy cpu and gpus then and the like....

Didnt see post above.

Thanks all, thats a brilliant starting point.,

 

[alexhull24]

Wouldn't touch the Satellites from experience. Satellite Pro's are good, and Tecras are great, but more pricey and less features, but better quality.

I find Fujitsu Siemens, Lenovo and Sony to be the most reliable brands, though not all their machines are equal of course.

 

[Diablo]

Sony tend to be pretty expensive new, but well designed. Lenovo are again pretty good, a lot of buisnesses trust them as they are pretty robust.

Laptop GPUs are a fair bit less powerful then their desktop counterparts (a 260GTXm = an 8800 GTS I think), but they are more energy efficient. CPUs are more energy efficient, but a 2.0GHz laptop cpu will be the same as a 2.0GHz desktop performance wise. (with the exception of pentium 4s, but you shouldn't be looking at those TBH)

Check the speeds of the hard disks if possible. a 4200rpm HD will be horribly slow.

 

[Freak]

Vaio VGN-FZ11Z

 

[alexhull24]

Vaio VGN-FZ11Z

Not sure how much it'll cost, but that only has a 200gb 4200rpm drive, 667mhz RAM, the CPU isn't the latest, and the gfx chip is mediocre and known to sometimes have issues over many heat cycles. Looks pretty though!

 

[monkey7]

Take a look at LeNovo's 13.3" series. I can't find them at the moment, but I recall a 1280*something screen, intel 4500 or nVidia 9300m graphics, T5750 or something and then the usual stuff for a reasonable price.

 

[mrapoc]

Dell are having crazy offers on and off recently

I got a lappy with bluray, 4gb of ram, p8600 (2.4ghz) and 500gb hdd for £650 (also an ati something or other hd graphics 512mb)