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Advice on buying new laptop
I am thinking about buying myself a new laptop and need some advice on which one to purchase.
I have had an Acer Ferrari 1000 for near to 4 years now. It has been doing the job but I have spent around £400 on it through the years.
I am looking for something compact and a very small screen size, but not a Notebook. I hate those things.
I would prefer miinimum 4 gb memory and disk space doesn't matter. Even 100 gb will do.
I don't use CDs so drive for that is not needed.
I require at least 2 usb slots and if possible a memory card slot, but not essential.
My budget is £500 but the cheaper the better.
Any ideas?
I have had an Acer Ferrari 1000 for near to 4 years now. It has been doing the job but I have spent around £400 on it through the years.
I am looking for something compact and a very small screen size, but not a Notebook. I hate those things.
I would prefer miinimum 4 gb memory and disk space doesn't matter. Even 100 gb will do.
I don't use CDs so drive for that is not needed.
I require at least 2 usb slots and if possible a memory card slot, but not essential.
My budget is £500 but the cheaper the better.
Any ideas?
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Comments
You mean a netbook...a notebook is a laptop.
Here is a link to some with small screens
http://www.reghardware.com/2010/10/20/group_test_11in_notebooks/
Acer with 13" screen - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176853
I had Toshiba before, 2 to be precise, rubbish imo.
Be that as it may but generally most Sony's tend to be the wrong side of £500.
Course they can, I agree, but you can still buy a Sony Vaio at £500 today.
Dell used to be great, but their tech support is now abismal. I had a Dell for 6 years nwith no probs. Bought a new one about a year ago, hard drive went a few months ago, then the ethernet port. Support was useless, and I now use a wee shop down the road to sort anything out. I won't be buying another one
Given the downwards trend in price of Dell products I get the feeling that the quality must be going down hill as well. I managed to pick up a 4 gb ram, 160 gig hard drive, 15" screen dell job for only £329 last year - which I thought was a bargain. However i've not been overly impressed with the performance. Saying that it hasn't had any major breakdowns (though I do look after it and pretty much only surf the web).
dell break down after a year or sooner if you are unlucky because they use cheap parts.
sony and samsung - err stop you are paying for the name only..
remember when buying a laptop it is key you understand what you can upgrade the machine should you ever need, if you ask the sales advisor this question they will look puzzled or will have to actually work for the sale.
Memory by which I mean (RAM) and processor are key as this will ensure your laptop runs quickly. These days at a minimum I would only buy 4gb RAM laptops and dual core processors that will keep you going for a few years and handle most things you throw it.
Graphics card - lets not go there, you dont come across as a vivid gamer
This post sums it up IMO.
Nearly all laptops now even quite expensive stuff uses the lesser Shared graphics system, rather than a proper graphics card like my one.
I've been through a lot of laptops over the years, including several Sony Viaos, and I wouldn't touch them again. Sony put such a lot of extraneous crap on them that it takes about 10 minutes to boot up from a standing start! The spec is good, and Sony were certainly leaders in producing the netbook type of small laptop, but they're seriously overpriced, and I think the build quality of Samsung machines, for example, is much higher for less money. Currently I'm using a Toshiba as my main machine, my second Toshiba, and I'm very happy with it. I also have a Samsung netbook for travelling, which I also like - Samsung have a fast boot from hibernate that's very handy.
Everyone who has one can't sing their praises enough.
They're still dear second hand though
The netbook on the other hand died after a year. The drive went. :rolleyes:
So dell laptops do last more than a year in most cases, unless you're really unlucky and get a duff one.
They don't devalue much. You really need to find a student though and get a discount through them!
But what's wrong with your current one?
Remember, ALWAYS make the recovery DVDs (usually 2), first thing, when you get any computer, before anything else!
The cheapest Toshibas have poor batteries. Doesn't matter if you use it plugged in.
NEVER get an Advent/Emachines, they may be slighlty cheaper, but literally drop to bits very quickly!
Sony seem overpriced.
Don't get an HP or Packard Bell, even if discounted. Because of the tattoo:
http://en.kioskea.net/faq/2680-packard-bell-recovery-and-master-cd#how-to-re-tattoo
Acers have the notorious "file type error" problem on system recovery (if you need that). You get locked into an endless loop! The solution is simply to run a partition manager directlyy from the optical drive, and reset the recovery partition as "bootup". "Trivial", but not if you don;t know about it!
However my favourite laptop is my IBM X61. 12 inch screen, 6 hour battery life and a pointer stick instead of those hideous touchpads. Used off Ebay, £300.