New laptop buying advice needed.

New laptop buying advice needed. We need a reliable family laptop for my son who will be starting secondary school in September. Our old PC is about to die! Hard drive getting very noisy. 80GB drive is partitioned so the memory is tiny. I also want to put Vagcom diagnostic software on it. So any deals out there, not bothered about brand just performance and reliability.

Thanks in advance.

Budget?

Thinking between 300 to 400, may push a bit more if needed.

Look at this:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Sony_VAIO_E15_Core_i3_Laptop_in_Black__SVE1513H1EB/version.asp

or this:

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Samsung_3_Series_Core_i3_Laptop_NP3530EC-A0CDX/version.asp

Seem like good spec for the money.

Plenty of other options from Laptops Direct also. I’ve used them before and always had excellent service from them.

Cheers

Danny B

OK I’m a bit out of touch right now, but overall: Avoid E-Series AMD APUS [CPUS with integrated graphics accelerators] and Intel Celeron Chips.

i3/i5 or A-Series Chips are better.

8GB of RAM can’t hurt.

Look at screen quality, and matte screens are still a bit better for reducing glare. Look also at screen resolution – 1366*768 is a bit tight for anything more than web browsing.

Touchscreen is likely a pointless selling tool, Win 8 can be modded to work more like Win 7.

Bigger hard discs are also faster, SSD’s are faster still but unlikely at this price unless they’re too tiny.

Spanner in the works: If you want a web-only machine – look at a Samsung Chromebook and a second hand desktop. For £500ish you could get 2 machines, one faster and one with web use and simplicity.

I just got a 15″ HP Chromebook from PC World for £230, it’s great if you can live with web only apps. Perfect for my needs.

OK I’m a bit out of touch right now, but overall: Avoid E-Series AMD APUS [CPUS with integrated graphics accelerators] and Intel Celeron Chips.

expect to get an integrated GPU at this price!

i3/i5 or A-Series Chips are better.

so Are i7s!

8GB of RAM can’t hurt.

It can’t but it’s unlikely you’ll have a CPU that can actually make use of more than about 6Gb (absolute max) in a £350 lappy

Bigger hard discs are also faster, SSD’s are faster still but unlikely at this price unless they’re too tiny.

If you’re talking about short stroking then yes. Otherwise, all laptops are likely to have a 5,000rpm drive. Again, HDD speed isn’t likely to be much of a bottleneck in this system.

I’d spend my money on this.

Acer Aspire 5742-384G32MNK

I’d also question if you really need a laptop over a PC. Think of things like screen estate for your son doing his homework etc. I currently have a tiny (Samsung NC110) netbook and a much more powerful desktop. I’ve had big / powerful laptops in the past but even they couldn’t come close to matching the productivity of a good desktop.

Thanks some good advice there. Need something portable so I can use diagnostic software in car.

expect to get an integrated GPU at this price!

-yeah, but better get an A-Series not an E-Series if it’s an AMD APU. If he can have an i7 for £400 then it’s a good deal [or stolen].

It can’t but it’s unlikely you’ll have a CPU that can actually make use of more than about 6Gb (absolute max) in a £350 lappy

Explain yourself man! You cannot have too much RAM Also – what about a £400+ one?

If you’re talking about short stroking then yes. Otherwise, all laptops are likely to have a 5,000rpm drive. Again, HDD speed isn’t likely to be much of a bottleneck in this system.

Seeing as the drives are all the same physical size, the more they hold, the denser that data is stored on the disc – so per rotation more data passes the head leading to faster sequential transfer rates. Seek times are more of an issue, but like with RAM more never hurts. More RAM also caches the drives contents, so reducing HDD lag.

Drive speed IS the bottleneck in these systems, that’s why SSD’s exist, why a Samsung Chromebook feels fast and also why more RAM is so damn important.

That Acer you linked to looks good. If the OP would rather trade a little general purpose speed for a little better games ability, then get an AMD-chipped one with a new A4 or A6 CPU [budget willing]

The defence rests [mostly ‘cos it’s too hot to do anything else]

you can get i7 from about £500, thats where my money would go. sure you might get an i3 laptop thats got a bigger drive or ram and shiny bits but getting a faster cpu should make it more useable longer.
lenovo HP and dell all do decent laptops

Is a SSD a flash type hard drive as opposed to a rotating disc drive. What price do they start at? I’ve heard they are very efficient.

It is a flash drive, but a cheap SSD is £70+ on it’s own. They have a limited life and should not be bought secondhand.

I tend to keep things for a while, what is the lifespan of a SSD or does it depend on useage?

If you like things that last I would take a look at Thinkpads. My daughter manages to destroy your average Packard /Asus laptop ever 18 months or so. Hinges, keyboard, mousepad fails. So did the wife till she got a thinkpad. Shes one that must be nearly 7 years old and still looks like new. It’s been retired simply because it’s obsolete.

That is one solid build. Will check prices and availability. Thanks great vid.

My wife was given a Thinkpad for work. You anchor the Hindenburg with it.

Yo -just got back from the pool hall.

SSD lifespan depends on usage, the lifespan is fairly long, but varies. AFAIK Intel ones last longest because they have a spare chip to use if another bit goes faulty. With the best will in the world I struggle to see where you’re going with this – you can upgrade your old laptop, probably, but I don’t think that’s the way to go.

HP/Lenovo +1 Also tend to come with mousenipples which I like.

Night night – GfS