[Yasmin26]

Hi everyone

My laptop of 5 years died on me. i need to get new one, I have been looking for a new laptop the last couple of weeks. But don't know what's good or not. I would appreciate some help.

I want something with:

Good built in speakers
Light weight
Good battery life
Fast processor

[fmradiotuner1]

I like this one Toshiba Satellite Pro L870-171

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshi...oogle#maindesc

If my Dell overheats and brakes down I might sell this and go for a Toshiba as I have not had one by them.
My laptop seems to be running really hot and its not dusty as I took it apart and opened it up but it smells of burning.
It looks fast but battery might be poor.

[alanwarwic]

"My laptop seems to be running really ho"

If its that Optimus one, can you not turn off the hotter discrete GPU?
Maybe also use an underclocking utility.

[Yasmin26]

Originally Posted by fmradiotuner1

I like this one Toshiba Satellite Pro L870-171

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Toshi...oogle#maindesc

If my Dell overheats and brakes down I might sell this and go for a Toshiba as I have not had one by them.
My laptop seems to be running really hot and its not dusty as I took it apart and opened it up but it smells of burning.
It looks fast but battery might be poor.

"17.3" screen is way too big. The biggest I would accept is 15.6

what do you think of this laptop?
http://www.johnlewis.com/231740124/Product.aspx

It comes with 2 year guarantee and its i7 .

[fmradiotuner1]

It says out of stock on the site if you noticed?
And just Intel HD Graphics 4000 I would rather have Nvidia or AMD graphics.
But that would be fine for web use.

[Yasmin26]

Originally Posted by fmradiotuner1

It says out of stock on the site if you noticed?
And just Intel HD Graphics 4000 I would rather have Nvidia or AMD graphics.
But that would be fine for web use.

They have it in stock in my local JL. I dont know what that means. I want a laptop that lasts me couple of years so I leave it if its not great.

What do you think of the HP Envy Laptops? I heard they have good speakers. Thanks

[Dark 1]

I too have been looking for a circa £500, 15" laptop for the GF. And it's proving to be a bit of a struggle to find anything with a discrete GPU for that budget.

One of the few I can find is this one:

http://www.ebuyer.com/411388-acer-as...p-nx-rzjek-008

An Acer. Not the first word in quality. And I'm not sure she needs a discrete GPU anyway. I can't imagine she'd want to be playing Call of Duty any time soon. So maybe something with Intel HD 4000 would suffice, but a bit better screwed together.

Decisions decisions...

[evil c]

OK, so you say you want good speakers, lightweight, decent battery life and good processor. Then you say you want a 15.6 inch screen max. If you want good speakers this will restrict your choices, and are speakers a greater priority than a good processor. You could use headphones or separate speakers instead.

Will you want a DVD drive and Windows 8 or Windows 7? Integrated or separate graphics? How much RAM will you want? What size hard drive? Would you consider a refurb? When you say a 'fast' processor, what are you going to be using the laptop for? What is the maximum weight you want? What do you consider decent battery life, are you going to be using it on the move frequently? Do you actually want to pay close to £500 and what are your priorities from your listed choices?

For example Which? recommend the Asus S56CA. It's high up in their Best Buys regardless of price, with a 15.6 inch screen, an i3-3217U 3rd generation processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, Windows 8, integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, 3 USB ports and HDMI. It weighs 2.25kg and has a DVD drive. It's fine for general use but it won't be any good for video editing. The sound is tinny. You'll get about 4 hours from the battery, the keyboard is comfortable and the trackpad is responsive. It's got a glossy screen so you'll get reflections in the sun. It's £450 from PC World: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-s...books~17056521

[MicroSmurf]

I recently bought one of these, a Lenovo Ideapad Z580. For £500 you get a third gen i5, 8GB RAM, 1GB dedicated graphics, 1TB HDD. It's a good all-rounder that should give a few years of use.

In the month I've had it I am very happy with it, it is very well built and fast and powerful enough to do everything I need to. The speakers on it are pretty good as laptop speakers go and they have Dolby Theatre mode which helps to give them a bit more oomph, but still don't expect them to be like proper speakers. The only thing you might want to check is the weight as at 2.65kg it may be too heavy for your needs, depends on what you're after.

Battery life isn't too bad either, I've had up to about 5 hours use on it just doing normal not too heavy duty stuff like browsing, viewing video will eat it up quicker but you will still get a good 2 to 3 hours using it like this.

http://www.dabs.com/products/lenovo-...?q=z580&src=16

[paulj48]

Originally Posted by Dark 1

. And I'm not sure she needs a discrete GPU anyway. I can't imagine she'd want to be playing Call of Duty any time soon.

It may be different to a Windows laptop but my MacbookPro has a discrete GPU and I have an App running that shows when its on or not and its used for a lot more than just gaming,

[jpcme]

Originally Posted by Dark 1

I too have been looking for a circa £500, 15" laptop for the GF. And it's proving to be a bit of a struggle to find anything with a discrete GPU for that budget.

One of the few I can find is this one:

http://www.ebuyer.com/411388-acer-as...p-nx-rzjek-008

An Acer. Not the first word in quality. And I'm not sure she needs a discrete GPU anyway. I can't imagine she'd want to be playing Call of Duty any time soon. So maybe something with Intel HD 4000 would suffice, but a bit better screwed together.

Decisions decisions...

Same laptop from Argos in the sale at £400.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/5089174.htm

[louise1966]

One of my laptops is an Acer, granted a top of the range model (not within budget of OP), but the performance is first class, the speaker system is exceptionally loud, so much so that it does not need added speakers. Before buying it, I wouldn't have considered an Acer; now it is the first brand I would look at. £500 is quite an ample budget for what the OP requires, once he has decided whether to choose windows 7/8. Is the memory or hard disk more important? For me it is the memory, so I would always opt for a larger memory; hard disk space can always be added if required. Will downloading be a regular thing? Screen resolution? I would suggest trying QVC as, if it is not suitable, it can be returned for a full refund.

[Dark 1]

Originally Posted by jpcme

Same laptop from Argos in the sale at £400.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/5089174.htm

No, that's a different model. That one doesn't have the nVidia GPU.

I've already sent my recommendation to her for the Lenovo model quoted earlier. Although she says she doesn't like buying from the internet. And says she can't afford it yet anyway. Hmmm...

[flashgordon1952]

try to look for one with a hard drive you can take out and detach it from the rest of the laptop when not in use. the reason for this is that without the hard drive no one can use your laptop, and keep the hard drive in a seperate place. (its all very good putting firewalls but if the thief does not have the HDD he cannot use your laptop. . If i remember IBM (nowe russian company) made a professional laptop that did such a thing..
The company i use to clean for had all there hard drives in a safe and the lap tops on the tables..

[evil c]

Originally Posted by Dark 1

I've already sent my recommendation to her for the Lenovo model quoted earlier. Although she says she doesn't like buying from the internet. And says she can't afford it yet anyway. Hmmm...

Point taken...and thanks for your post. This is why I'm selective about answering threads, you never know when you're just wasting your time.

[jpcme]

Originally Posted by Dark 1

No, that's a different model. That one doesn't have the nVidia GPU.

I

Thanks I never spotted that, now have to decide if it is worth the extra £100

[Yasmin26]

Originally Posted by Dark 1

No, that's a different model. That one doesn't have the nVidia GPU.

I've already sent my recommendation to her for the Lenovo model quoted earlier. Although she says she doesn't like buying from the internet. And says she can't afford it yet anyway. Hmmm...

Are you talking about me in this post? as I have never had any communications with you.

[Yasmin26]

Originally Posted by evil c

OK, so you say you want good speakers, lightweight, decent battery life and good processor. Then you say you want a 15.6 inch screen max. If you want good speakers this will restrict your choices, and are speakers a greater priority than a good processor. You could use headphones or separate speakers instead.

Will you want a DVD drive and Windows 8 or Windows 7? Integrated or separate graphics? How much RAM will you want? What size hard drive? Would you consider a refurb? When you say a 'fast' processor, what are you going to be using the laptop for? What is the maximum weight you want? What do you consider decent battery life, are you going to be using it on the move frequently? Do you actually want to pay close to £500 and what are your priorities from your listed choices?

For example Which? recommend the Asus S56CA. It's high up in their Best Buys regardless of price, with a 15.6 inch screen, an i3-3217U 3rd generation processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, Windows 8, integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, 3 USB ports and HDMI. It weighs 2.25kg and has a DVD drive. It's fine for general use but it won't be any good for video editing. The sound is tinny. You'll get about 4 hours from the battery, the keyboard is comfortable and the trackpad is responsive. It's got a glossy screen so you'll get reflections in the sun. It's £450 from PC World: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/asus-s...books~17056521

Yes sorry I should have mentioned that. Well We don't have a TV in our house so we would want to watch videos and movies on it. That is why I want one with good speakers.

Also I want to accounting software's on it and Microsoft Office like Words and Excel. plus Internet browsing.

The Asus laptop looks great but the lack of good sound is a deal breaker.

[evil c]

Even laptops with decent case speakers aren't going to sound that good when you are watching movies. You really need to buy separate powered speakers or connect to a hi-fi. I have an 18.4 inch PC World refurb laptop with 5.1 speakers built in and even though it sounds OK for a laptop, only when connected to my hi-fi does a movie/music realise its true potential. Have you actually listened to any 15.6 inch laptops that sound good?

If you're determined to go down that road perhaps you could consider this laptop, which is a bargain at this price: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pav...41409-pdt.html

I've had a long search for other 15.6 inch laptops with good sound and good all-round performance under £500, but there's not much out there at all. By the way I don't think you really need an i7 or an i5 for your stated requirements .