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Need to get a new home computer after the latest in a long line of shit laptops has died on us. (Dell, Dell, Lenovo, HP)
Got so frustrated at this idea that they are disposable junk that I need to pay 600 quid every few years to replace.
I looked into desktops instead on the assumption that you would get more for your money as you don't need a screen, battery or to pay for all the components to be jammed in together. I stupidly assumed that I'd get more jiggawatts for my £600 but it doesn't appear to be the case.
The shit Currys website doesn't allow comparison of laptops with desktops but I got the distinct impression that there was little difference in spec at any price point. 1tb 256thingy 8G intel5 seems to be the option regardless of laptop/ desktop.
All the shit websites that I've searched to try to get comparisons just state *useless things like the fact that laptops are better for portability and in power cuts, but don't go into any useful analysis of speed/power/ memory or any of the really useful hidden aspects that I could deduce just from looking at the shape of the * thing.
So, am I missing something? Should I just stick another half grand on the meter and add another laptop to the collection , or is there a better option out there?
You seem angry enough at computers that something like a moderately priced Chromebook might be a better option.
PCs and laptops might share the same processor name (i5, i7 etc) but the reality is that the PC can literally chuck more power at the CPU, SSD, memory, and GPU without having to fight thermal or battery limitations. For a given price point the PC is likely to be faster.
As above, laptops are always going to be worse specced than a desktop at the same price, due to space and heat constraints.
If you have room for a desktop pc and don't need the portability, get one. You can buy a 23" 1080p monitor now for well under £100.
Also, laptop components (apart from the HDD and ram) aren't normally replaceable as they'll be soldered to the motherboard. A desktop pc can have literally every single part replaced individually.
Desktop PCs are far more upgradable.
Also mobile processors, whilst sharing the same name are cut down versions of the desktop equivalents.
Also high Street shops like curry's or pc world are seldom good value anyway.
A lot of online companies will allow you to specify your components and charge a nominal fee to build it for you.
What are you using it for? Desktops are almost always a better option unless you need the portability of a laptop.
Other than creating work for me in having to manually edit swearing out of your posts, what are you planning on doing with it?
There's a new "recommend me a computer" thread like weekly on here, it's almost always for "web, email and occasional office use" and it would be literally impossible to buy a new computer that doesn't meet those requirements.
You're right cougar.
The difference I see with our work machines is build quality. I've just bought three HP ProBook's. A colleague ordered a Toshiba something. £60 difference in cost very similar specs.
The Toshiba is plastic, bendy and already an issue with the sound card.
The ProBook's are like old MacBook Pro's - alu casing, rock solid and a pleasant typing experience.
I just don't get the obsession with laptops, or maybe it's my perception? between a good desktop and a good smart phone they are basically pointless outside a business environment.
I have a laptop but unless I'm travelling it never gets used. It's an ancient Ivybridge i5 (2 core 4 thread) with 4 gb ram and a spinney drive.
It just about works so unless it breaks I'll never bother replacing it.
I have been generally getting 8 years trouble free life out of Apple laptops. I'd never go back to 'normal' PCs.
Maybe not the answer you want to hear!
mattyfez
Member
I just don’t get the obsession with laptops, or maybe it’s my perception? between a good desktop and a good smart phone they are basically pointless outside a business environment
It just sounds like a laptop is not the best solution for your requirements.
I've got a laptop which is now 8yrs old or so. I use it several times a week, mainly for 3D CAD or preparing models for 3d printing.
I also use it for things related to my NAS drive, we used to use it for iPlayer before we had a TV with it built in, it gets used for Zwift, a bit of photo editing and if I know I'm going to be spending a lot of time on the internet I find it easier to browse on than my phone or tablet.
Since putting an SSD in it, it boots in just under 30s so is ready to go very quickly
I suppose most of that stuff could be done on a desktop, but it would probably end up upstairs and would result in me being anti-social a lot of the time.
Need to get a new home computer after the latest in a long line of shit laptops has died on us. (Dell, Dell, Lenovo, HP)
Got so frustrated at this idea that they are disposable junk that I need to pay 600 quid every few years to replace.
....
So, am I missing something? Should I just stick another half grand on the meter and add another laptop to the collection , or is there a better option out there?
Tbh £600 laptops are going to be far from shit. Manufacturers work at price points & £600 put you firmly into the decent kit level
What actually happened to your laptop? Laptop of that ilk should easily take 3 years of day to day business use, while being transported across the world, & in home use I easily see 10 years out of that spec’d unit (a cheap ssd & memory refresh will help them achieve this). Yes cheap laptops don’t last & even expensive ones do suffer from hardware failures, but by and large most modern kit does last well if not abused.
What ever you do, dont use Currys PC world. I've just ordered a Surface Pro laptop from them, they took the money and sent me a fit bit and a google home - worth about £100 vs the £800 the laptop should have been.
You cant get through on the phone at the moment - when I eventually did I organised a return - wasn't interested in waitiing ten days for a replacement (because it was ordered next day and I needed a laptop for homeschooling) and now two weeks later no refund. Apparently I'm not alone - looks like will have to persue them via the credit card people. Avoid them like the plague.
What ever you do, dont use Currys PC world.
Predictably enough, that's where we were looking as I can't think of anywhere else.
Will try the local shop on Monday if the missus hasn't bought by then.
what are you planning on doing with it?
Excel
Video editing, if I can find a sensible app to use.
Internet.
Kids want to play Doom or whatever the shootemup de jour is.
Netflix (connected to our biggish monitor)
Of which I guess only video and gaming will make any demands that require anything new.
The first dell just got old and pants.
The second one had major software failure which dell refused to fix. Then the power socket went.
The Lenovo power socket went
The HP threw BSOD the other day saying it needed to be reinstalled and/or a new hard disk. It's gone back to John Lewis.
Any suggestions of shops to use?
South Manc
The whole laptop vs desktop is simple. The clue is literally in their names.
Do you want it to be portable? Get a laptop.
Do you want to avoid the need for a desk in the room? Get a laptop.
Don't care about either of those things? Get a desktop.
Or get a laptop plus a dock and have best of both worlds. Simples.
The Toshiba is plastic, bendy and already an issue with the sound card.
The ProBook’s are like old MacBook Pro’s – alu casing, rock solid and a pleasant typing experience.
Quite. It's hard to tell things like keyboard quality, screen quality etc from an advert on the web.
I have been generally getting 8 years trouble free life out of Apple laptops. I’d never go back to ‘normal’ PCs.
Did your Apple laptop cost £600?
I've just looked on Apple's website, the cheapest Macbook currently is a grand and an i5 model is £1,300. That's for a 13" Macbook Air. You can pay £2,800 for a fully loaded Macbook Pro.
Go spend two and a half grand on a "normal" PC and see what that gets you.
(Post sent from a 12-year old Dell laptop.)
Kids want to play Doom or whatever the shootemup de jour is.
In which case you want a desktop, or a laptop and an xbox/ps4.
Any suggestions of shops to use?
South Manc
Scan.
Or get a laptop plus a dock and have best of both worlds. Simples.
Except it's not. A laptop is always a compromise of performance-per-price over a desktop.
Because this...
Kids want to play Doom or whatever the shootemup de jour is.
... essentially means the OP either needs to double his budget or forget a laptop.
Got so frustrated at this idea that they are disposable junk that I need to pay 600 quid every few years to replace.
Dunno why you think this, mine last ages.
It sounds as if you are having software problems, this might be related to what you end up doing with them. Junkware supplied on laptops is frequently an issue, or used to be in the old days - but a £600 job should not be full of crap.
Microsoft machines don't come with embedded junkware, just a few games that you can uninstall if you want. They cost more though. Search online for reviews of 'business' laptops, they should be no nonsense and dependable.
However desktops are hands down miles better if you don't need to move it about.
You can pay £2,800 for a fully loaded Macbook Pro.
The 64gb ram model I’m buying soon is £3500 and that’s nowhere near “fully loaded”!
You can pay similar money for a PC laptop like the high end HP’s
I'll be honest, I didn't spend a vast amount of time looking for a definitive figure in order to score Internet points. But that's mad, I've paid less for servers.
I've never seen a £3,500 off-the-shelf PC ever outside of things like specialist workstations. Gaming rigs aside you'd have to try pretty hard to break four figures on a consumer-grade PC.
@cougar I assume you've gone on the Mac Pro configurator? It's a giggle.
I must get the specs of the "gaming" pc work bought 6 months ago.
Rumours are that it was over 10k...
Alienware, used for CFD and some odd ball atomic solvent propensity software.
The Lenovo power socket went
Do you kids sit with the computer actually on their laps while it's plugged in? Sounds like they're supporting some of the weight on the power connector - every time they move or touch the computer they'll be mechanically loading it and failure is inevitable.
Got Lenovo clunky ads for work. Laptop sits on desk and I’ve been through two due to power socket failures, with the third one on its way. Lenovo are junk.
Did your Apple laptop cost £600?
I’ve just looked on Apple’s website, the cheapest Macbook currently is a grand and an i5 model is £1,300. That’s for a 13″ Macbook Air. You can pay £2,800 for a fully loaded Macbook Pro.
C'Mon, that's a daft argument. I'm sure you know enough about computers to know that it's spurious. Yes, you can spend loads on a high-end MacBook Pro, but the people that do that know what they want / need and it's a different market. The majority of sales for Apple's laptops are in the £900 - £1300 range I'm sure. Yes, that's a lot more expensive than the cheapest laptops you can buy. But that's not the point, and willingly obfuscating that is not helpful.
Like others, I've had good lifespan from Mac laptops. The last one I had lasted 8 years and I recently upgraded with the newer/slimmer/lighter/faster model. Bear in mind, the old one was still working fine, getting OS updates, and I sold it for a few hundred quid, too.
I'm sure there are PC laptops made to a similar standard, for a similar price, that people will can keep for years. People don't seem to want to buy them though, preferring to focus on the specification/££ formula, and I bet the second hand values are worse.
I'm not a Mac evangelist. Yes, the cost of entry is high. I suspect there is a 'buy well, buy once' mantra at play.
andykirk
I have been generally getting 8 years trouble free life out of Apple laptops. I’d never go back to ‘normal’ PCs.
Maybe not the answer you want to hear!
The problem with that advice is that you can pay £1K+ for an Apple laptop and still get a dud.
For example, on just the ones in my immediate family - white macbook case falling apart, GPU problems on Macbook Pro (checkerboard screen), keyboard problems on macbook pro, cables frayed on just about all of them. Still got a Macbook Pro from the 2012 vintage going strong though.
Superficial
C’Mon, that’s a daft argument
It's not a daft argument when the comment you quoted was in reference to someone saying that their 8yr old Apple was still working OK & they'd never go back to a 'pc' laptop....
I think the inference was that you can't reasonably compare a £600 laptop, to one that cost more than likely over £1k.
As mentioned above by several people (including me) it is possible to not spend 'silly money' on a laptop & get good life out of it, so perhaps there are some external factors to the OPs bad experience with them.
As I said above my Acer 17" laptop was £550, around 8 years ago. It gets used around 3 times a week at least. I use it for internet browsing, a bit of photo editing, Zwift, 3-D CAD (Fusion360), 3-D printer slicing software (Cura) etc. It used to get used for iplayer etc. before we got a TV with it built in (hence one of the reasons why I got a 17" screen).
I put a Crucial SSD in it last year & it now boots in <30 seconds, so still life in the old dog yet....
Any suggestions of shops to use?
South Manc
I bought a HP via Argos and picked it up in the instore shop (I used the one in Sainsburys in Denton).
Paid ~£400 and i'm impressed. I used to plug in a keyboard as my old laptop keys were awful but i like typing on this HP. The screen is good. I'm a happy customer.
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2202222?clickSR=slp:term:15.6%20hp%20laptop:3:70:1
C’Mon, that’s a daft argument. I’m sure you know enough about computers to know that it’s spurious. Yes, you can spend loads on a high-end MacBook Pro, but the people that do that know what they want / need and it’s a different market. The majority of sales for Apple’s laptops are in the £900 – £1300 range I’m sure.
Wow, what utter tosh. Most ppl will not spend £500 on a windows laptop & consider that Mega expensive, but not to worry you only have to spend £900 to get a cheap MacBook that’ll last.. & you wonder why your taunted as fanboi’s?
£900 windows laptop’s are the realm of high end users or ultra light weight toys for managers, they not the latest life style accessory.
Yes, that’s a lot more expensive than the cheapest laptops you can buy. But that’s not the point,
Au contraire, it's exactly the point because you're not comparing like for like. People go "my Mac is waaaaaay better than any PC I've ever had" and whilst this is almost certainly true it conveniently bleeps over the fact that their Macbook was £1,500 and their last laptop was a £300 supermarket special from the middle of Lidl. It's like arguing that after buying a Lexus you'd never got back to a Yugo.
I’ve had good lifespan from Mac laptops. The last one I had lasted 8 years
Whereas two consecutive PC laptops costing half the price and lasting four years each is seemingly such a terrible deal. Obvs.
I suspect there is a ‘buy well, buy once’ mantra at play.
Of course there is. My main (Windows) laptop will be 12 years old in a few months.
After 30 seconds googling I can get a Lenovo laptop for £260:
Whereas entry-level Macbook Pro money nets you something like this:
Can you see how these two things are not quite the same?
white macbook case falling apart
@retro83 Mine did this and turns out there was a recall to fix them. My 2009 white unibody macbook is still running fine, if it goes not sure if I would replace it with another Macbook though as it now seldom gets used.