What laptop

[wemorgan]

We've got one of these

ACER Aspire 6930G

it's been superb so far, powerful enough for me to work on, play most games. For a laptop it sounds great and it's got a Blu-Ray DVD drive as well so it's great for watching movies.

The only downside is that it eats power - battery life is only about two hours unless you turn everything down

I couldn't see a Blu-ray player on that option...but this one has from the same company:

ACER Aspire 6920G

I never knew they were so cheap......looks like a valuable feature if she likes watching movies

 

[NewMB]

Sony's are good. I have one.....

£600 will only buy her a heavyweight (2.5-3+ kgs) unfortunately.

 

[glojo]

We've got one of these

ACER Aspire 6930G

it's been superb so far, powerful enough for me to work on, play most games. For a laptop it sounds great and it's got a Blu-Ray DVD drive as well so it's great for watching movies.

The only downside is that it eats power - battery life is only about two hours unless you turn everything down

As I stated earlier, I am a COMPLETE nurd regarding computah's and this is what was on the short list before displeasure was expressed regarding Asus

Is this better or worse than your example?

 

[Ade B]

Just checked, and my latest acquisition is an Acer Aspire 4810T, not Asus.

Good on portability and battery life (which influenced my choice)
Bad on processor speed, seems a bit glitchy which may be down to my removal of most of the shipped software and the screen is not particularly high res and is very shiny.

For all I know Asus could be amazing...

My Sony Vaio was in a different league (& price bracket)..

Ade

 

[andy_k]

very, very little to choose between them John. Laptops direct only list our model as a 'refurb' here but i'm pretty sure they are still available elsewhere.

Slightly different processors, the one you showed is a fraction quicker and uses a bit less power but in real world terms you probably wouldn't notice it. The Acer has a wider screen (true 16:9) but the Asus has a deeper one - only really an issue if she wants to watch HD movies.

the Acer probably has a better sound card but the Asus has (on paper anyway) a more powerful graphichs card (personally I prefer Nvidia graphics over ATI as they have always been better at updating drivers and ensuring backwards compatibility

The Acer has a fingerprint recognition system for security and the facility to plug in an external SATA drive but lacks a firewire port (addon cards cost about a tenner) both have 4 USB ports

Laptops are ultimately down to personal choice, if she's going to be carrying it around a lot, then both of these are quite large machines and will need a decent case.

When we bought the Acer (it cost us £599 earlier this year), there was nothing we saw in that bracket which came near in terms of features. It looks great as well, the screen display is impressive for when I take it out to show clients stuff.

If we were buying today, I'd seriously consider the Asus you linked to but I would probably still buy the Acer considering it's now reduced price
Both makes have a decent name for reliability (at this end of their ranges anyway) despite there being some badge snobbery over the Asus brand.

 

[Kinky]

Don't discount the Lenovo N500 (part number NS75SUK). Can pick them up for about £400 :bannana:

K

 

[spinaltap]

As no one else has mentioned software....

If your daughter is at school/college/university a visit to software4students.co.uk is strongly recommended.

This is a Microsoft-backed enterprise, where genuine Microsoft software can be bought for 'fell off the back of a lorry' prices.

 

[glojo]

I have been comparing all the suggestions and my son was steering me towards recommending Andy's suggestion until he found this one

What do we think?

 

[219]

I know that if you look at the Apple website , MacBooks start at £750 , however , please check out the Apple refurb store in the morning ( a few bargains are listed daily , but sell quickly ) . Also , if your daughter is a student , discounts will be available from regular priced items .

With Windows , you will have to spend extra for software to do just about anything ; a Mac comes with a pretty comprehensive package as standard including iMovie (video editing) and iPhoto(photo processing and library app) besides lots more .

Once you have a Mac , you WON'T switch back !

 

[andy_k]

Once you have a Mac , you WON'T switch back !

unless of course you want to use software that only runs on Windows

John. that HP looks like a decent machine - my only reservations are..........it's a Hewlett Packard and as such I'd have worries about quality control and customer service from Currys which is part of the Dixons group.

I think if you are happy to get it fixed elsewhere should it break down then it may well be a dcent piece of kit. If however you expect to get decent customer service from Curry's you may well end up very disappointed

 

[CAT220]

Have a look on ebuyer.co.uk

I recently bought a HP, difficult to beat the spec for the money...

Cheap Laptops | Laptop | Huge range at low prices on Ebuyer.com

 

[219]

Modern Macs can run Windows , too

 

[andy_k]

Modern Macs can run Windows , too

horses for courses

If you want to emulate a Reliant, you could take one wheel off your car, of course, it wouldn't work quite as well or anything like the manufacturers intended but it would have three wheels

If I want to run a slower and more unstable version of windows and enjoy the worst of both worlds just so I can appear 'trendy' and tell my friends I have a Mac, of course I can run some (but not all) of the programs I need for work. I could also achieve roughly the same thing using Linux and Wine but I don't because everything works properly on my PC

Macs are for geeks who want to look good, PCs are there for people who want to get the job done

 

[219]

Macs are for professional people who know that most things run better on a Mac , and don't want to be bothered with all the hassle that comes with broken windows That's why the vast majority of professional photographers , and others involved in media use Macs ; the few who don't are just cutting corners to save pennies .

I'm not talking about emulation programs like Virtual PC or Soft Windows , but modern Intel-based Macs which can run Windows better than a lot of Windows only PC's can .

 

[Shude]

Macs are for professional people who know that most things run better on a Mac , and don't want to be bothered with all the hassle that comes with broken windows That's why the vast majority of professional photographers , and others involved in media use Macs ; the few who don't are just cutting corners to save pennies .

IMHO an antiquated view based on historic Macs of old. Seeing as today the hardware is essentially the same and the software (not OS, although sometimes) is the same all you are really paying for is the name and some pretty-looking casing.

Meanwhile I'm going to recommend Lenovo/IBM Thinkpads as that's all we use at work and dispite getting an absolute hammering they very rarely have problems (HDD or battery failure etc after 3 or 4 years of 60-hours per week use). Although expensive when new, a refurbished Thinkpad (especially T-series) would make for an excellent home laptop. Definitely a step ahead of whatever the supermarkets or major chains are churning out with shiny screens and fingerprint-happy plastics.

 

[Baron_Samedi]

+1 for IBM

Might not be the trendiest looking things but they are pretty tough - how many times do you see IBM kit used by shop staff?

 

[timskemp]

Mac comes with a pretty comprehensive package as standard including iMovie (video editing) and iPhoto(photo processing and library app) besides lots more .

Once you have a Mac , you WON'T switch back !

Windows Movie Maker, Picasa, sorted.

 

[glojo]

Daughter will be definitely going for Windows\Intel based laptop and I guess she just wants the best dealpossible for her money.

I am told that Dell fetch out new offers each month, and we are about to enter into hot July. Willthey fetch out any new offers

 

[Meldrew2]

I am told that Dell fetch out new offers each month, and we are about to enter into hot July.

Will they fetch out any new offers

Do Bears defecate in areas where trees are prevalent ?


To be honest, most of Dell's offers work out the same... you either get free delivery, OR a discount, OR something else - all to about the same value.

I've had quite a few low end laptops from Dell... generally I've been impressed with the laptop, good value and decent build quality.

Not than I'm a computer expert, I just use them.

 

[Ade B]

The old PC vs Mac debate

Two of my guys run Macbook Pros, one runs a lot of windows stuff with no problems, the other just Mac stuff..

No one could put a Mac lap top next to a PC laptop and say that the PC is the nicer package. Apple are head and shoulders above everything else in packaging.

Whether that matters or not to the user is a different issue. I use PCs simply because they are cheaper and in reality do the same job. My direct experience of Apple products (ipod, iphone, itunes) is that they are excellent well thought out packages unlike some of the PCs I run which all have irritating idiosyncrancies of one sort or other..

Ran my newly acquired (courtesy of my Home Insurance) and generally excellent Vaio TT for the first time in a meeting this afternoon and discovered that the buttons on the front of the body (supposedly for ease of use) are a real pain in the **** as they trigger stuff when you prod them accidentally when you move the computer around to show people stuff. Also only having 2 USB ports is a drag when you want to plug 3 things in... Little things like that affect usability...

I wouldn't buy a laptop without seeing it the flesh first, as appearances can be deceptive..

Ade