[Help]Buying a laptop.

[Joser]

I'm about to go to a new school. Next year probably.
My mom thinks that I will need a laptop, but not sure what to get. (defenitly not a Mac)
I need help on choosing a good laptop to buy.

Please keep in mind that i'm not very wealthy, so please keep the price low too.
Where should I go to buy one?
What price range should I expect?
Anything I should know?

~Joser

 

[Jordan]

i would recommend either a dell or hp laptop =] i posted 2 from each vendor bellow if you could post what sort of applications you would be using e.g. gfx word processing.

and how much storage space you would need you could probably find cheaper ones that fit the job better.

for school etc maybe one of these from hp;

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or from dell;

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that after a quick search personally i prefer hp ^^

 

[Mr.Lucifer]

You have to say what you're going to use it for. There's no reason to get a heavy 17" if all you're going to do is type in Word, or a small 10" if you're going to play games/GFX.

 

[Mreow]

You have to say what you're going to use it for. There's no reason to get a heavy 17" if all you're going to do is type in Word, or a small 10" if you're going to play games/GFX.

I agree.

Though, find one with atleast 2 gigs of ram, and a dual core.

 

[frozenrat]

If you're on a low budget, look for a Netbook, such as the Asus EEE PC, the Asus Aspire 1, Or the HP Mininote.

All are netbooks, and at a relatively cheap price, and will be exactly what you need for school.

The Aspire 1 uses the new Intel Atom processors, at 1.6 GHz, the processor is very small and doesn't produce very much heat at all, eliminating the need for noisy fans.

The others may also use the Atom, not sure, I know the older EEE PC's dont.

 

[bobbias]

I bought a Toshiba Satellite L300D that came with a carrying case and a mouse for about $550. All the ultra-mobiles were priced around $450ish, And this wasn't the cheapest laptop I found either.

It has 2 GB of DDR2 ram, ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics, 141 GB total disk space in the default partitions, running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-60 (I think it runs at 1.6 GHz) and it's a 17" display.

I was originally looking for one of those ultra-mobiles, like the eee, but decided against it. 10" really is a small screen, and with keyboards as small as those, I'd make even more typos than I already do, adjusting from a desktop to this keyboard. Not to mention I'd really be forced to only use it for typing, as opposed to being able to do more than just type on it, like I can on this. This computer is at least fast enough to play quite a few games, as well as do what I need for typing.

Think about things for a second: Laptops are hard to upgrade, you basically have to buy a new one when you want to make a major update, and that costs a lot more than just buying a new mobo and some new hardware. If you get an ultra-mobile, you're going to NEED to buy a new one if you decide you want to switch over and primarily use a laptop.
I own both a desktop and a laptop, but I am NEVER on my desktop any more. It's a pain to move around, and takes up more space than my laptop, especially with my dual screen setup, and speakers. And it's actually somewhat worse than my actual laptop's specs.
My desktop is running an AMD Athlon64 3800+ overclocked from 2.0 GHz to 2.46 GHz, 1 GB dual channel DDR ram, an ATI RADEON x550 (used to be overclocked), 400+ GB of disk space (both my laptop and desktop also have access to a 1 TB Networked Storage Device as well.)

 

[Cruvenium]

I wouldn't recommend the OP to get a Aspire One. Sure, it's UMPC, but then, the features are limited. I would get a ASUS or Gateway PC. There's one EXTREMELY cheap Gateway, and it has SLi and a T8X00 series processor. 250GB 7.2KRPM. It's just only 1.4k USD.

 

[Ramuthra]

I wouldn't recommend the OP to get a Aspire One. Sure, it's UMPC, but then, the features are limited. I would get a ASUS or Gateway PC. There's one EXTREMELY cheap Gateway, and it has SLi and a T8X00 series processor. 250GB 7.2KRPM. It's just only 1.4k USD.

you tripping balls dude? 1400 on a limited budget,?

 

[Mr.Lucifer]

I wouldn't recommend the OP to get a Aspire One. Sure, it's UMPC, but then, the features are limited. I would get a ASUS or Gateway PC. There's one EXTREMELY cheap Gateway, and it has SLi and a T8X00 series processor. 250GB 7.2KRPM. It's just only 1.4k USD.

That would make a lot of noise, it would have to be connected to a power source all the time and wouldn't be very portable. Not very good for school use.

 

[zingmars]

ONLY 1.4k ^^^ you know i am also trying to find new PC (not a laptop... to come to think of it... i want a desktop PC!). And i live in country where max salary is ~700$ (lol ^^). i would have to spend salary for two months only to get a laptop... you are totally tripping balls...

ontopic - i would recommend Acer Extensa (really forgot the brand) - they are cheap & good... (there are small issues with drivers with some Extensa modules - for some models you need Vista to install Wireless driver, but you can simply buy USB Wireless for ~60-10 $ and use it... it's really cheap (or you can use Vista lol ^^))...

EDIT + it's very quiet and battery can hold more than 2h ^^ enough for class and recharging after it ^^

 

[Joser]

Wow guys. Thanks for all your help.
I think I'm gunna have a much easier time choosing one now!

Thanks alot!

 

[Jordan]

If you need anymore help i think the dell pc advisor tool may be some good for you. You can just click the boxes that you require you maximum price and it wil try to find asclose as it can to those detyails for that price.

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[Jeus]

Out of curiosity, why didn't you want a Mac?
I would stick to a HP definitely, or even though you said that you didn't want one, a MacBook Pro.

 

[eliteforce123]

Yeah go for a mac. Most students have macs. you could get a macbook which are very good. maybe not the best for gaming but they will do everything you need to do and more. dont go for a dell or a hp for school. it doesnt payoff in the long run or the short run. -.-

 

[lemonwonder]

Hey there mate. Sorry if it is a bit late, but heres my 2 cents.

For a laptop, you want absolute best you can possibly get...

I have the HP Dv6500 (best in NZ at time of purchase) it came bundled with Vista Ultimate, and enough specs to run Vista on full gfx, about 27 chrome browsers open, dreamweaver doing ftpp, msn, itunes and windows mail, and I am having no lag at all.

It is sleek and stylish, lightweight, and has a fingerprint reader, even though I untinstalled the finger reader software as it can get annoying but I like basics so yeh...

I would seriously recommend looking into this laptop. I would also use NOD32 antivirus, its the best out there no doubt, used norton, used everything else, nod32 is the best! Free, just doesn't cut it!

I use my lappy as a full time pc, it's better than having a big pc around, and it works heaps better.

Good Luck

 

[Halo]

I would recommend getting either a dell, hp, or MAC.. Some of you may think that MAC's aren't good but I'm on my macbook pro and it's amazing, enough memory and gig to store at least 2 10gig games.
But if you're a pro gamer I would consider many things.
First off, MACS are great for school, especially for classes. I don't understand why you're saying no to mas when you should be. My mac is great... everything runs fast. Good luck getting a dell as your laptop, it's going to crash within the next few years. May I explain why NOT to get a dell for school?
1. They don't give great protection as macs.
2. Hacking onto them will be very easy.
3. They look like crap.
4. It maybe cheap and all but, quality comes first. You see how long macs run and don't get slow compared to dell. I've had and I see em', to me they're meant for hardcore gaming.
MAC is the one you should say yes for, Microsoft even copied Apple on some parts such as the tool bar.
But if you don't want MAC, once again I go with Dell or HP. Some dells I recommend for the cheapness is look at dell.com and find out what laptop you want to buy. The things you want to look it the gigs, memory, and hard drive. Well, that's what I would look for..

Happy hunting :smile:
Halo