Laptop help

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Submerged

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United Kingdom
UK
Hello all,

I am in the market for a new laptop as my current (5 yrs old) laptop is showing its age and can only be used in one place due to the screen cable being very dodgy. So it is now no longer portable.

However, the problem I find with the current crop of laptops is that the consumer ones aren't particularly durable. The laptop I have, is a business laptop and for its day, it was rock-solid reliable and just did everything I required from it. So I would like to have something that was more business orientated, rather than a consumer laptop that is very flashy but isn't going to really last that long.

However, price is a big issue. It cannot be any more than 400 quid. This budget may be negotiable if it is needed to be (best processor or useful features of the laptop).

I am not expecting to play any games on it, but if I do, it would be in the range of Defense Grid (tower defence games) or Transport Tycoon stuff. It has to play some HD files as that is becoming the norm.

I was intrugied with AMD A-series processors as that has an integrated GPU unit inside it that does play HD content rather well, as I have been lead to believe. And the processor is quite good for average Office productivity and normal usage. However, is there better combinations out there?

I hope to see some interesting choices :)
 
Oh yes. Asus is good. I've used a $300 refurbished laptop of there's and it's pretty solid. It had the plastic reinforcement where you expect it and it is now being used by my cousin. Her mother loves it. 2.1GHz dual core Pentium, 3GB of RAM, and a 320GB HDD. Though you can find better for 400 pounds. Such as this one or have it in blue. It has a i5 dual core with hyperthreading, 3GB of ram, and a 320GB HDD. You can see what kind of gaming the GPU can do here to give you a good idea.

I've looked at some A4 laptops and they are not in your price range. AMD does have the new E-300 and E-450 cpu's out but that's not comparable to a an i5 cpu. I'd only recommend it if you want the outstanding battery life for the office work. It's the same thing like the i5's gaming graphics it can do some but not much.
 
Submerged
Would like to know what made you love it in the first place. Is it the style? Or the performance of the laptop itself?
Click to expand...

13" so it is a good small size for me
Weighs only 1.66Kg/3.6lb so it is light
Dual core i7 CPU so I do get very good performance
nVidia 520M/Intel 3000HD Video cards
Very good battery life
Bluetoooth 3.0
USB 3.0
2" thick
Good keyboard with good buttons(not like what Toshiba have)
ASUS(so it has not going break down like HP, Acer or any other brand)
Looks

tMv4gakfemZSFQFS_500.jpg

It doesn't have a DVD drive which helps keep it's weight down and it's power use down.
 
It will probably get beaten down here but I've got a Dell and I love mine. It was a grad present for going to university with and it's going on 3 years and still works fantastic. Battery life is good and it's still very quick. I game with it casually at this point and it runs most things fine without getting too hot.
On the more practical side with Dell, you can pay per month with them and you choose a base model and pay for what you want. I'm not too familiar with the laptop scene though as it's the only one I've had and I've never actually looked for one before.
 
bergauk
http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/

Anything from Lenovo is ridiculously solid. Thinkpads especially.
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I'd beg to differ partly. The Thinkpads, yes. They are absolute beasts and solid as a block of diamond. Ideapads on the other hand, aren't that great in terms of build quality. My friend has one, and its build quality is abysmal. The Lenovo logo is coming off and the plastic feels like my brother's Toshiba, which feels worse than Acer plastic. (He has a Y450 that he bought for $800)
 
My Ideapad Y530 is still going strong as the day I bought it. Which was back in 2008 by the way.

My Mother's Ideapad is fine as well.

I'm sorry but you'll need more than someone buying a single laptop that has a logo coming off and "cheap feeling plastic" as a reason for knocking off an entire lineup of computers.

Guess what. My computer has a solid sheet of metal surrounding the keyboard. Is that cheap?

I've owned 2, and used numerous other IBM/Lenovo machines in my lifetime. They're the first company that comes into my mind when it comes to good build quality.
 
bergauk
My Ideapad Y530 is still going strong as the day I bought it. Which was back in 2008 by the way.

My Mother's Ideapad is fine as well.

I'm sorry but you'll need more than someone buying a single laptop that has a logo coming off and "cheap feeling plastic" as a reason for knocking off an entire lineup of computers.

Guess what. My computer has a solid sheet of metal surrounding the keyboard. Is that cheap?

I've owned 2, and used numerous other IBM/Lenovo machines in my lifetime. They're the first company that comes into my mind when it comes to good build quality.
Click to expand...

That's because your laptop is higher in the range of the laptops they sell. Remember, his budget is only 400 quid. That's in the Pentium Dual Core range.
 
If you want a high performance laptop for very little.

Go Acer, but you get what you pay for.

Cheap Acers are just as crap as the Acer Predator(over priced High Performance Gaming Machine)
 
NissanSkylineN1
That's because your laptop is higher in the range of the laptops they sell. Remember, his budget is only 400 quid. That's in the Pentium Dual Core range.
Click to expand...

..Wat? My laptop cost me exactly 699$ USD. That's Right above his range. Even then, he could save up a little extra for something like it..

Please learn to do some research before you start spouting out ********. It might make you look intelligent.

Bottomline: BOTH of Lenovo's lineups shouldn't be called poorly built if you only have a single example of one breaking.

Oh and, look at this. http://www.lenovospareparts.com/

That's right, a site dedicated to all of their parts. From them. Name another company that does that.
 
Mac mini or MacBook Air 2?
Maybe around 400 with a low memory...
Apple has the best and fastests computers
You can still use windows on it with Parallels. (google it) and you can
port apps with Crossover (google it)
 
Bergauk, Yet you recommend a computer that is two years old and is 50 euros over his budget. The i5 Asus I recommended is new, faster, and cheaper. It's easy to tell which would help him give a good idea of what's on he market today which that are not from 2 years ago.
 
In my opinion, Apple's software works well with the hardware. That is what makes it feels fast and smooth.

However, for me, Apple's software isn't user friendly for me, as it caters to the people who does not want to tinker with the underlying system itself. I cannot fathom the single mouse click either.

The Macbook Air does look quite desirable, I will give it that. I do like outside choices, but in this case, the Apple systems just presents me with too many problems.

I did say that the budget would be ideally no more than 400 quid, but could be negotiated for a higher price, if the features were killer and would definitely create a better all round experience. I do not mind getting a lower RAM'd laptop as I am more than happy to slap on extra RAM when the time calls for it. However, processor would be pretty important... as you can't really change that. Neither the graphics, either.
 
nick09
Bergauk, Yet you recommend a computer that is two years old and is 50 euros over his budget. The i5 Asus I recommended is new, faster, and cheaper. It's easy to tell which would help him give a good idea of what's on he market today which that are not from 2 years ago.
Click to expand...

I didn't recommend anything. Read what I typed up. Seriously. READ. You know how to do that. Right?

I recommended Lenovo as a whole. Not My laptop.



All you recommend are computers with substandard, offbrand parts that no one has ever heard of. It's a wonder why anyone takes you seriously. My God.. You're an idiot, and you refuse to admit it.


Before you post again in response to ANYTHING I SAY. Read it. Read it again, let it sink in, that I know more than you. And then read what I've wrote again. THEN. ONLY THEN. Respond with something that wont make you look like a fool. I'm tired of seeing you skim over my posts as if I'm not worth giving your full attention to. I give you my full attention when I read your posts. Can you not do the same?



Edit: How about something like this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230095

or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101252

or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101263
 
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You still don't understand he wants an idea of what is out in the market right now for under 400 euros. He could spend a little more if the features are that great but you never gave him an example of a current Lenovo laptop in his price range. You just said that Lenovo is a great brand and that's it. Only "Anything from Lenovo is ridiculously solid. Thinkpads especially.". I'd hardly think that would help him and you never left any specific examples when you posted your first post here.

Edit: I see you posted examples from the US market. Most likely those would not exist in his market. It's easy as going to the UK google and looking up some laptops in his currency.
 
bergauk
I didn't recommend anything. Read what I typed up. Seriously. READ. You know how to do that. Right?

I recommended Lenovo as a whole. Not My laptop.



All you recommend are computers with substandard, offbrand parts that no one has ever heard of. It's a wonder why anyone takes you seriously. My God.. You're an idiot, and you refuse to admit it.


Before you post again in response to ANYTHING I SAY. Read it. Read it again, let it sink in, that I know more than you. And then read what I've wrote again. THEN. ONLY THEN. Respond with something that wont make you look like a fool. I'm tired of seeing you skim over my posts as if I'm not worth giving your full attention to. I give you my full attention when I read your posts. Can you not do the same?
[/url]
Click to expand...

After your rage in the other thread, I thought you were going to leave this section of the website.
 
And it also does not help if you raged me to my PM, Bergauk, it seems like you are not a friendly person.
 
OP, you've missed out on quite a few good deals. Dell Outlet used to have really cheap XPS L502X and L702X under and also over your budget slightly. They might come back when they got more in stock.

What size screen do you want by the way? Dell Outlet business have good deals on the Vostro 3750. If you want a portable 11.6" Sandy Bridge system there is a good deal here: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/len...ybridge-i3-318-91-free-delivery-3-tcb-1070989
 
bergauk
I've worked on them? I've worked on numerous laptop brands actually. What does this have to do with anything?
Click to expand...

Again no proof in your comment. Excuse me while I "recommend" another laptop.

Here is an Acer 5560. It has an AMD A4 cpu which is a dual core cpu with Radeon HD 6470G graphics on the cpu chip. This means you can play casual games and even Crysis. Comes with 4GB of memory and a 500GB HDD. It is slower than the i5 laptop I recommended but it has far better graphics power than the i5's integrated graphics. So it means you can play most of today's games in low graphics. Slightly over your budget but well worth it for the graphics.

I've worked on a Acer laptop and a Acer netbook before for LCD screen replacement. The brand is good for it's construction on the laptop but the netbook was lacking for the monitor frame(screen got slammed and the lcd monitor cracked as a result of no metal frame along the top of the netbook screen to prevent warping the LCD monitor). Though the laptop I've worked on was better built which was under repair for a replacement lcd screen(No cracked LCD monitor here but color lines going from the top to the bottom obstructing anything you have near the lines. The new LCD screen fixed the problems and it was good for an 2 year old Acer). From what I've seen in a Acer laptop it had better construction than a very new HP laptop where one of the hinges were using the cpu heatsink as a seat to hold the monitor bracket firmly. Though the other parts of the laptop were in good construction. I never like that since the motherboard or the cpu could be damaged from the weight of the monitor if something happened to it.
 
Acer laptops actually have pretty good build and plastic quality. My brother is using one temporarily while his Toshiba gets fixed. However, he DID have the V key come off.... but he popped it back in, so no worries.
 
speaking about acer laptops ...

im still using my 4 1/2 year old acer aspire 5920G and until now i only had to repair the display once.

i will keep my acer 5920g until it breaks down again...
 
One or two good Acers in the world does not make them good.

I do work as a techy in a store that sells PCs and we get Acers coming in a lot for hardware issues.
 

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