Suzi, since getting an apple macbook lappy a few years ago, I really wouldn't ever consider having anything else

Sooz ... I work on the theory that laptops are to be bashed about and abused, so I never get anything 'state of the art'. The last three have been Acer ones, bog standard, just over £300 each, and they have been great.

 

When I get feed up with them I magnanimously give them to one of my children and get a new one.

 

it depends what you want to do with it, but if its just a bit of Internetting and some basic Microsoft Office stuff I would thoroughly recommend one.

 

Also ... I always buy my laptops from Tesco and get the clubcard points!!

Ha ha Rexi,, I work on the theory that I want a thing of beauty to be loved and cared for! Also something that is v reliable, lasts a long time, had great after sales service if needed and doesn't get viruses or any of the other problems that I hear people talk about on here so often. My last one was a Packard Bell, always regretted not paying the extra couple if hundred quid for an apple, especially as it only lasted a couple of years, if that, and was constantly overheating

I'd say think what you need the lappy for first... ie I play games on mine so need a good graphics card or good integrated graphics and storage. . all the lappy's out there for roughly the same price are not the same in that one may have better graphics and less storage and another may have loads of storage and less graphic performance, same with memory too, if it hasn't got a minimum 4 GB don't bother  . . it's how they keep them all around the same price by giving more of one thing and less of another in different lappy's..   oh and screen size, do you want something a bit bigger than the standard 15.6?  ..

 

Once you know what you want a laptop for and how much you want to pay then look at various ones of similar prices and their specs and choose one that best meets your needs. . read the reviews too   Battery time is quite different across the board.. nowadays most have similar'ish performance and longevity so make and price is not always an issue... I'd go for a Win 7 tho, that Win 8 looks dreadful

Olly what graphics card would you be looking for? I like to play games too but I never know what graphics cards to look for.

I'd give you my expert advice Soozy but i'm a bit busy at the moment *toddles back off to the games forum*

Thank you all for your advice.

 

Olly ^^ that's all really useful as I don't have a clue about all the tech stuff. I do want one for basic e mails/Word/Spread sheets.

 

I don't really download music or film but would like good sound. 

 

A list of 'minimum' this that and the other would be good as it all means nothing to me.

 

Gonna go off and look at the Acer and the Mac Book.

 

Supes I used to have an Apple Mac years ago and loved it - have got used to the PC now. Is it very different in the way it operates?

Like the others have said - depends what you want it for. I am a big fan of Asus. One definite bit of advice I would give you is, never, ever, get HP/Hewlett Packard. No matter how many people tell you the are ok - they're not.

If I had the money I'd have a MacBook - I dream of having MacBook

Hmmmmmmmmmm - just looked at the Mac Books - not sure I could jstify paying that - we'll see.

I have limited funds so when I was looking before I couldn't afford dedicated graphics but did compare those that had HD integrated graphics and went for one that had the best as far as graphic memory and was within my price range and so far they have played the games I have. . Just downloaded Max Payne 3 but am not sure I have enough graphics power to play that one tho . .not tried it yet  

oops I went for an HP Pavilion after 2 mths of research. . So far so good .. hope it stays that way

Bought loads of computer stuff from here,

 

http://www.novatech.co.uk/

 

very well priced and good service. My I5 (bare bones) was £270!!!

Soozy go for min 4 GB of memory, more if you can as it means you can run more things at the same time especially if you have good processor power too..

 

Storage is up to you and what you think you need..tho nowadays 500 Gigs is considered slightly above smallish.. but if you can get more memory which is better to have  and only 500 Gigs [usually they sacrifice storage for more memory to keep to the £350-£400 price range that a lot of lappys sell for]  that's fine you can always get external storage for piccies etc..

 

Processor power go for Minimum i3 tho Dual core will probably be fine for your needs but may not be enough for the future apps you may install,  I went for Dula Core but I had limited budget... but my lappy runs loads of things all at once including games and so far hasn't slowed at all.. again, either storage or memory or graphics will be less good if the processor is a better one and you're in the price range of most 'cheap' or 'on sale' lappy's..

 

 

HD graphics is nice but not essential..

 

Go for a good Lithium Battery with 6 or more cells if you use it on the move. .again they are expensive so storage or memory or graphics will be less to account for that..

 

For every plus on a laptop in a comparison price range there will be a less in another area of the same laptop. .if that makes sense. .tis down to the individual which plus is the best for their needs and which less is not so bad. .eg I saw an 8 gig memory lappy but the graphics were crap and storage was only 320G ..and I saw a great 'cheap' larger screen one but the memory was only 3 gigs and graphics and storage were crap in comparison too..

 

it took me 2 mths of doing lots of comparisons of specs and reviews before finally going with the one I got..  hope you find one a bit quicker..

 

I know nothing of these or even if all my stuff would work on a Mac including my games which I download from various places

 

Plus my IT knowledge is Windows based as twas basically what we studied in my degree tho my coding knowledge is basically the same principle regardless of OS, but I 'know' Windows I don't 'know' Mac

oops Olly Spam

Got an Asus k55vd sx218v at Christmas 

 

Highly recommended if you can find one (mine came from comet but there's one on ebay). 8mb ram,

 750gb hard drive and 2 gb dedicated graphics @£480.

 

Didn't come with a back up disc for the windows 7 ( didn't like the look of 8  ) so you've gotta do a back yourself.

I like the sound of that one Donkey. .not the price tho, tis over my budget plus I have to buy on credit as well so have to work out what I can afford each month.. which atm is zero..

 

Need to replace my nearly 10 yr old desktop at some point too.. and no way I want that Win 8. .looks dreadful and have already read a lot about problems of switching from Phone type mode to normal windows Mode and it not copying info over from one mode to another. .looks like a right pain..

Excellent spam though, I've been nodding along with your posts as I read The point you made about what you want out of it is good - I don't play games etc so don't care about the graphics card, I'd rather have more storage for all my pics + a good amount of RAM

I agree with supes, the MacBooks are more expensive but my giddy aunt they're worth every single penny! I wouldn't ever go back to windows now If you could afford it, I'd highly recommend one

that's what I've got too Olly - 3 years old in april and survived the glass of wine i gave it last week...... so far.

Phew.. .good to know. .tho I'll pass on the glass of wine test 

 

Saz

 

I'm a gamer so things like ipads hold no interest to me at all..  and I don't need to carry info for work around etc cos I don't go anywhere anyway nor work either..

 

and I like my keyboard separate from my screen too 

Olly, I'd recommend HP to peeps if they were after a Windows laptop  I quite like HP and Toshiba, and my colleague swears by Dell Avoid Sony like the plague though

 

As for Apple.... I have a (old) Macbook now and I do like it, still runs well etc. When I got it, it wasn't significantly more than similar Windows models (I get Education Store discount) but they have gone up quite a lot and I'm not sure I could justify the price of a replacement when this one gives up the ghost. I would actually consider Windows again

I just looked on the website and they're a lot more than I remember

oh, but apparently iPads are educational, cos there is discount on them

Kaffy I'm pleased to hear that your laptop has survived it's wine shower

The one I'm using  now is a Toshiba - it does the job but.... it could be better.

 

I would stay away from Acer - I've had two from them and both developed faults within the first year.  The one I had before my Toshiba developed a fault after 2 days  it ended up needing to be fixed under manufacturers and extended warranty 8 times in all   I didn't find the Acer help centre very helpful at all 

 

If I had the money I would go for a Macbook but I don't so 

 

anyhoo - Olly's advice is good 

I know loads of people swear by HPs...   tis why there have been 4 in the Ditty household..    none of them lasted more than 18 months...  and those that lasted that long it was only with the aid of things like fan cooling laptop trays, or USB wifi adapter thingys (cos the internal one went caput)

 

what finally did it for me was that there was a known fault on one of our models...    it was known that there had been shoddy work done on thousands of circuit boards (meaning bits would just come off) and yet HP refused to do a product recall or repair them.

 

Asus K55VD Core i5 Windows 7 Laptop K55VD 1 MONTH OLD-11MTH WARRANTY (ASUS UK)

Very Nice Donkey but mine is Purple

 

and now is £70 cheaper too from when I got it in August 

 

Olly 

 

Mine could be £160 cheaper    

 

Not really Soozy, a few little differences that took me less than a day to get used to. I have an HP work lappy and I switch from using one  to the other without thinking, bit like driving different cars, just do it it on 'auto-pilot.'   I grrr at my work HP a lot and I grrr at my work blackberry too, cos they're both so inferior to my personal apple stuff imo and they seem to frequently have one problem or another. Whilst Apple stuff is more expensive, I don't know too many people who would chose anything else if they can afford it. 

Thanks Supes .............I'm working p the prices and getting Mr Woo acclimatised. He's hoping to spend about £4 19s 11d

 

If anyone can be bothered - I'm thinking of this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4003...78?item=400359856078

 

To be fair I'm really a technological dim wit so would appreciate your opinion on what is good/bad about it. I've thought about what I really, really want and the one thing I'm certain about is a really strong, robust keyboard. Some of the keys came off this one almost at the off and the lettering wore out ridiculously quickly - I type with a mixture of stickers and guesswork - hence my spelling mistakes 

 

Thanks everyone 

that looks ok Soozy, dual core but pretty slow at 1.8 ghz, but plenty of RAM and not too bad on storage..

 

on the negative side it has Win 8

 

  I personally prefer to buy electronics form a store on the street rather than from Ebay so you have somewhere to take it back to if it goes wrong.. so tis worth hunting to see if the street peeps have similar as well 

 

Cheers Olly - I probably will go on the high street. I would like to see it/feel it first. I want something a bit solid/substantial the one I have at the mo was dissapointingly flimsy from the outset ( I bought it online).

 

If I could get a wind up model with a little key that would suit my 'old fashionedness even better  Awwwwwwwwww - you son't see many wind up toys with little keys anymore do you?

yeah I have the not being able to 'feel' a product first problem due to having the not being able to go to high st shops or more than half a mile up the road from where I live and even then only once in a blue moon, problem

Awww Olly - I've read your posts re this before. I can't imagine but it must be difficult/awful for you at times. Are you getting any help with your problem?

Leveno are well repected up and coming brand

I was warned off HP by a local store

I researched Toshiba - and generally the cheap ones are the best value. More expensive ones can't compete with rivals.

Oh and my first was Compaq = rubbish

not really Soozy, it is a symptom of my Anxiety/panic stuff  for which I have gone thru every possible thing out there over the yrs and not found much that works or helps just made me worse if anything.. 

 

and being alone it's hard to get over it as I don't have people to go out with regularly to get used to the going out thing again and helping me reduce the anxiety. . and that was how I got over it when it happened a few times in the past. . this time there was no family or partner around to help so it all got worse and worse the longer it went on..  also the anxiety stuff seems to have got a lot worse as I got older. . maybe once the dreaded menopause passes it'll get easier to cope again ..by which time I will be scared to even look at people never mind socialise with them as am so used to not being around people/crowds

 

it's my 'normal' now as well so any thought of change just sets the anxiety off to turbo charged level. . you never know one day it may just go as quickly as it came. . one can wish I suppose.. tho that wish sent my anxiety metre up just thinking about it..  

 

Good luck with your lappy hunt