New Laptop

[mcshane in the 79th]

I am looking to purchase a new laptop in the next month or so. I am not great with knowing what the hardware spec means and what machine would be suit me, therefore I am looking to the great minds of NSC to help with some advice.

The main uses will be for Itunes and having a large number of mp3's stored on the hard disk, to be able to quickly load and process/edit photo's on it using Photoshop Elements, and of course play the new football manager when it's released and use its 3D match engine ). I would like a big screen as well so at least 17" I guess.

I see most laptops are now advertised as having a free Windows 7 upgrade with them, does anyone know if this is that going to be a disaster like Vista??

Budget = I would struggle to afford more than £700.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I've had someone recommend Sony, someone else Dell and someone else swears by Toshiba. I just want the most reliable!

Many thanks in advance

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Dunno about that. But some of the GAYERS on here will be able to recommend a nice manbag to keep it in.

 

[Mellotron]

Check out this website - www.novatech.co.uk

Sorted me out a lovely new lappy, and absolutely fantastic customer service. PC World they are NOT.

 

[clapham_gull]

Good company doing "returns" and specialising in Toshiba

Laptop Computers | Refurbished Laptops, Cheap Laptops, Buy Cheap Refurbished Dell PCs Online | Dell Optiplex, Toshiba, HP

Bought a brand new Toshiba, over £100 less than I could have got anywhere else

 

[saslowi]

Check out this website - www.novatech.co.uk

Sorted me out a lovely new lappy, and absolutely fantastic customer service. PC World they are NOT.

I can recommend Novatech.
Bought one of their laptops this year for my wife and she's happy with it. Got to be a first!!

 

[bhaexpress]

Anything you like except a Sony. I would go with Dell or HP. Windows 7 is a lot better than Vista but if you buy a PC with Vista loaded you should be okay. However some of your legacy software may not work with it. there's a check you can download from Microsoft Corporation which lets you know if your current machine's soft and hardware is not compatible with either Vista or 7.

 

[Beach Hut]

Dell is the dogs bollox of laptops

 

[CheeseRolls]

Dell is the dogs bollox of laptops

Really ? I reckon Asus are making all the running in laptops. Everything from the tiny eee's up to blazing fast gaming machines. Something for everyone and generally keen pricing.

 

[Rookie]

Just got meself a new Dell my 3rd one, go on the website and spend the most you can basically

 

[Northstander]

I have a Dell Studio 15, awesome and no complaints!

 

[Hereford Gull]

Don't buy a Sony - batteries are crap on performance

 

[gullshark]

< Obligatory 'buy a macbook' comment here >

 

[Kick Ass Minton]

MacBook Pro is the way to go !

 

[Kick Ass Minton]

< Obligatory 'buy a macbook' comment here >

Just beat me to it....

But for what the first post'er requested a Mac is the better choice - Itunes runs soo much better on a Mac and photo / video editing is very intuitive - Not sure Footy Manager is available though on Mac - might need to run boot camp

Price will be a struggle though - they aint alf expensive mum !

 

[albionalex]

Really ? I reckon Asus are making all the running in laptops. Everything from the tiny eee's up to blazing fast gaming machines. Something for everyone and generally keen pricing.

My sister likes her Asus and it runs smoothly.

 

[bathseagull]

I bought a Lenovo from Laptops Direct on t'internet. lenovo is basically IBM's Thinkpad and this one, the N500 was named best buy under £400 in What Laptop magazine earlier this year.

It's quality. I use for the same sort of stuff - tunes, photos, internet etc. and it's ideal. Fast, good battery, solid build, looks decent...

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Thanks for all the choices, going to take me a while to settle on what I want. Like the look of the Toshiba Satellite L550-113 for £700. I think it's a good spec and has a large HD screen. Will have a look at Asus and Lenovo now though

 

[willyfantastic]

Just beat me to it....

But for what the first post'er requested a Mac is the better choice - Itunes runs soo much better on a Mac and photo / video editing is very intuitive - Not sure Footy Manager is available though on Mac - might need to run boot camp

Price will be a struggle though - they aint alf expensive mum !

Football Manager runs on Mac, has done since at least 2007, only diff is you cant load it on more than 1 pc without disc (new feature for pcs brought in for 2009) and last time i checked (the 2008 version) you couldnt play a network game with users who have the pc game.

arent macs more expensive than £700?
would go for Asus or Dell personally, just dont buy them from pcworld

 

[king Wombat]

Got a Dell - Don't like it

battery life is shit
Keyboard has not lasted well
Power chord is now not always charging the battery, I got another power chord and it is slowly starting to do that.

Howevery they are cheap.


From Work I have also had a Fuji, a couple of IBMs/Lenovo's and a hewlett packard.
IBM has won hands down.

 

[gullshark]

Football Manager runs on Mac, has done since at least 2007, only diff is you cant load it on more than 1 pc without disc (new feature for pcs brought in for 2009) and last time i checked (the 2008 version) you couldnt play a network game with users who have the pc game.

arent macs more expensive than £700?
would go for Asus or Dell personally, just dont buy them from pcworld

Bog standard MacBook is £750.