Buying a laptop, need advice.

[bullhead]

Seeing its my birthday, I decided i'd like to treat myself to a laptop computer, I can look at and use whilst it warms my upper legs.

I plan on using it for the following;

- Writing stories and such
- surfing the web/online buying
- watching dvds
- storing media such as mp3's and movies

Can anyone point me in the right direction, towards something fairly affordable and reliable?

bull, x.

[Triv1um]

Sonys, HPs and IBMs are the nice reliable laptops.

Try to get something running XP, 1gb ram, and 2ghz+ processor.

Without a budget figure its hard to see what you could get. The spec I just wrote is for a budget laptop.

[mexicansnake]

Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not yet!!!! USB 3.0, wimax, penryn core 2 duo, solid state harddrives, ddr3 are coming in a couple of months!!!.

[Triv1um]

Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not yet!!!! USB 3.0, wimax, penryn core 2 duo, solid state harddrives, ddr3 are coming in a couple of months!!!.


something fairly affordable

Hmmm.

[mexicansnake]

Hmmm.

They will become mainstream!! that means they they will have the same price, 2008 will blow away the old laptops.

But if you want something ultra small, poweful and cheap you should check the asus EEE, but it doesnt have a dvd drive cuz is REALLY small. Its like $350 USD and is from Asus!!!.

[bah]

Solid state drives are certainly dropping in price, but they have a long way to go to reach the 'bang per buck' of HDDs.

The new macbook comes standard with an 80gb HDD for $1799 for the whole PC. There is an option to change that for a 64GB solid state drive, for $999 :)

The EEE pc is kida cool, especially if you need an ultra-portable, but the small screen and kb makes doing long amounts of typing uncomfortable, the 4gb internal storage (1/2 used by the OS) makes storing media difficult without an external HDD and no optical drive means no DVD watching.

Theres just so many options, how much are you looking to spend?
The main things (as Triv1um said) would be at least 1GB RAM (you don't want to sit around waiting for it to stop chugging while paging to/from a laptop HDD) and XP not vista (unless your a masochist).

[bullhead]

I'd be willing to spend between 300 and 400 pounds.(590 and 785 dollars)

[dejkirkby]

http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=425397&cm_sp=FeatureEnd-_-Laptops-_-position1
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=407038
http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-3760.aspx
If you are storing digital media, then I'd recommend an external HDD too.

[mexicansnake]

I'd be willing to spend between 300 and 400 pounds.(590 and 785 dollars)

Compaq presario series, I had one v3000 earlier and it was perfect, small solid and fast and of course cheap!.

I hate my current macbook!:mad: sigh 4gb of ram... But I still hate it.

Btw bah, you can mod the EEE and solder a flash drive and several gadgets, its perfect for modding.

[Axelius]

Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not yet!!!! USB 3.0, wimax, penryn core 2 duo, solid state harddrives, ddr3 are coming in a couple of months!!!.
Waiting for something with computers is always nonsense. As soon as USB 3.0 is out there is something new announced you would have to wait another three months for. Just buy it when you need it!

[mexicansnake]

Waiting for something with computers is always nonsense. As soon as USB 3.0 is out there is something new announced you would have to wait another three months for. Just buy it when you need it!

Thats not the case... Dude this is like a revolution for the laptops its a HUGE change, read some wikipedia pages about penryn and you will see. I say just wait a month or less and there will be the new laptop platforms.

[bullhead]

Thanks a lot guys. I just ordered the one at the top of dejkirkbys list, the ACER ASPIRE 5315. It will do what I need it to do. I ordered it off amazon for £300. It seems to be a lot of smash for your cash, so im content, until if screws up that is! It is a PC after all...
bull, x.

[Triv1um]

How your enjoy your new purchase :D

[kcajblue]

i have an acer aspire 5610.
i dont really use it for anything really, so it does its job.

[bah]

Get vista off that thing ASAP and it will be fine. There shouldn't be any issues getting XP drivers for all the hardware.

I have an old compaq presario v2000 (intel mobile 1.6, 768mb ram).
It originally had 256MB ram and chugged like all hell, $60 or something for a 512MB stick and it runs great.

Your not going to be playing new games (San Andreas runs on really low settings, q3 based games run fine) but it will be great for what you want it for.

[bullhead]

I just got it today. Its better than I was expecting for the money I payed for it. The screen looks great.

Thanks to all, and to dejkirkby for leading me to it.

bull, x.