Laptops

[chris_uk_83]

I'm not sure if this should be in the PC buyer's guide thread or not, if so please move it.

I'm going to be looking to get a laptop around September time and I was wondering if anyone's got any tips for me before I start my research. I already know quite a bit about building desktops, but I've never ventured into the laptop market.

It's mainly for work, but I'd quite like to be able to put things like Total War on it for when I get sick of work

I'm not after everyone doing my research for me, just anything you can tell me off the top of your heads, maybe good offers you might have seen. That sort of thing.

Thanks in advance.

[Publius Clodius Pulcher]

I just got a Fujitsu T4220 Tablet laptop and I'm Loving it. Useful for writing and it runs RTW pretty well.

[Incinerate_IV]

The best bang for the buck is one of Dell's Inspiron like of notebooks, especially the 15 inch and 17 inch models. Just make sure to select the 8600GT graphics card if you want to play games on it. Last time I checked, a pretty nicely configured Inspiron 1520 with a Geforce 8600GT cost a little over $1200, pretty good deal for a notebook.

[chris_uk_83]

Damnit, I can buy a desktop for half that (nearly). I really don't want to have to spend money on a laptop now, but unfortunately I need one for my new job and it's not provided.

I think budget laptops might be the way to go, I was hoping for £200 - 300 for an all singing all dancing 17" tablet. Haha, no such luck!

Maybe I can find somewhere that will sell me a laptop with no OS. Who needs an OS anyway?

[chris_uk_83]

Right, I've done a little bit of research now regarding laptop processors and I have a feeling the sites I've looked on are a little outdated.

I'm being told that the Intel Centrino is by far and away the best processor to get for a laptop. However, I have a feeling that the Core 2 Duo has now outdated it. Can anyone give my laptop processor advice? I have the feeling I'm going to have to sacrifice the gaming abilities of my new laptop becasue I don't have £700 to spend on something that my desktop PC can already do.

Also, do they make laptop specific graphics cards? I don't recognise any of the ones I see on the Dell site (used for research purposes).

[Publius Clodius Pulcher]

1. A Core 2 Duo is the best processor available for laptops, this is true.However, laptop Core 2's are often called Centrino.

2. Those cards are buisness level cards designed for business apps, not game playing. They'll work for games but not or well as 8800's or anything.

[sdjenkyn]

My laptop runs a Core 2 duo not a Centrino. There is a difference. At Chris.... Try a manufacturers website like Dell or Hp and then check also if they have refurbished or cosmetically damaged machines, you could save a ton of cash on pretty nice machine. Example: I'm using a Dell Precision Workstation, has a 2gig Core2Duo , 2 gigs DDR 2 800 , 512MB Nvidia Quadro fx2500 , 17" wxvga , built in wireless , 80 gig sata , litescribe DVD burner.....price under 2000.oo US. Now granted its an upscale machine but I saved about 2000.oo US buying it refurbished.

[Publius Clodius Pulcher]

My laptop runs a Core 2 duo not a Centrino. There is a difference.

Not always, the new Santa Rosa platform Core 2 Duos are marketed as "Centrino Pro".

Sorry I was brief earlier, was in a rush. Let's examine your situaton in-depth.

You say you don't have 700 Euros to spend for gaming which your desktop already does. According to currency exchange, that's apx $950 U.S. (The currency I work in.) $900 is going to be a minimum for running any kinds of games on your laptop.

Your best bet for anything cheaper is trying to use coupons or student discounts for stuff like Dells and HPs.

Dell= The lowest Dell would go on their site, no discounts would be 799. With coupons or discounts you can probably fight it down to 600 or so. This could run RTW, mediocerly. The key is to look for the updated Intel graphics chip X3100. This will run RTW, but don't expect miracles.

HP= Cheaper, but inferior. They like to use AMD processers, which should be avoided. Most of these aren't Santa Rosa, so they probably won't run or barely run RTW.

Overall, if it's important to be able to use more than Word on your laptop, and money is a heavy object, I'd side with an Inspiron Dell laptop, using the lowest Santa Rosa chip possible, with an X3100 Intel chip in it.

Here's a U.S. link

And here's some U.S Dell coupon links

Also, the 2nd site linked, "NoteBook Review.com" is a very useful tool to determine your laptop.

[chris_uk_83]

Thanks guys. On reflection I think I'll just have to go with a standard work laptop that can't game it's not like I'll actually have time while I'm at school (teaching) to game anyway!

Thanks for the heads up on the discounts though. I'm going to definitely have a look at student discounts.

[sdjenkyn]

http://www.dell.com/content/products...=22&l=en&s=dfh try this link it should be Dells outlet / refurbished section for inspirons.

[chris_uk_83]

You don't have a UK version of that link do you?

[Freddie]

Just go to the Dell Uk site and look at their Inspiron notebooks.

[chris_uk_83]

Damn expensive UK: I just made the same laptop on Dell US as I did on Dell UK, and it came out £100 cheaper on Dell US. The US site won't ship to the UK either. Crap