New laptop advice

[sten_super]

Need some advice from the NSC sages. I am looking to get a new home PC and also could do with a laptop for work, and was wondering about the best/cheapest way to go about it.

I need:
Something for home - which means Office365 compatible and the ability to play a few games via Steam. Nothing too cutting edge, say Football Manager and Skyrim, although that in itself would mean a dedicated graphics card rather than integrated chipset. Little 'un on the way which means much less time for gaming so can't see that I'll particularly need anything too future-proofed.
Something for work - laptop able to run Office365.

All of which I'm trying to achieve on the smallest possible budget. £750 is probably absolute limit (and that's going to talk some serious persuading effort!), cheaper would be better.

My question is, is it worth trying to get a laptop with dedicated graphics card within that budget and kill two birds with one stone, or would I be better off getting a cheapie laptop and using whatever's left to either replace or upgrade the existing desktop? The current desktop is about 7 years old, and was a very good gaming machine when I bought it (c£2k) so could be upgraded if required, although it is noisy as hell (due to the proliferation of fans) and difficult to move around or clean and I'd prefer to replace it if I can.

For example, yesterday I saw one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/620997-acer-aspire-v7-581pg-ultrabook-nx-m9wek-007
reconditioned available from laptops direct for £550, but unfortunately now it's gone.

Alternatively, http://www.ebuyer.com/579678-asus-x552cl-laptop-x552cl-sx047h seems to tick most of my boxes, for under £500.

I don't need a CD/DVD drive and am ambivalent about the idea of touchscreens (have a Nexus 7 tablet so not likely to use it much for tablet-type purposes other than the standard Windows 8 interface I suppose). Also hard-drive space is not a major concern as I have a couple of powered external HDDs that I use at home with the existing machine. I know bugger all about laptops (haven't owned one for 10 years) so any advice on makers to go for or avoid gratefully received.

Thanks.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Need some advice from the NSC sages. I am looking to get a new home PC and also could do with a laptop for work, and was wondering about the best/cheapest way to go about it.

I need:
Something for home - which means Office365 compatible and the ability to play a few games via Steam. Nothing too cutting edge, say Football Manager and Skyrim, although that in itself would mean a dedicated graphics card rather than integrated chipset. Little 'un on the way which means much less time for gaming so can't see that I'll particularly need anything too future-proofed.
Something for work - laptop able to run Office365.

All of which I'm trying to achieve on the smallest possible budget. £750 is probably absolute limit (and that's going to talk some serious persuading effort!), cheaper would be better.

My question is, is it worth trying to get a laptop with dedicated graphics card within that budget and kill two birds with one stone, or would I be better off getting a cheapie laptop and using whatever's left to either replace or upgrade the existing desktop? The current desktop is about 7 years old, and was a very good gaming machine when I bought it (c£2k) so could be upgraded if required, although it is noisy as hell (due to the proliferation of fans) and difficult to move around or clean and I'd prefer to replace it if I can.

For example, yesterday I saw one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/620997-acer-aspire-v7-581pg-ultrabook-nx-m9wek-007
reconditioned available from laptops direct for £550, but unfortunately now it's gone.

Alternatively, http://www.ebuyer.com/579678-asus-x552cl-laptop-x552cl-sx047h seems to tick most of my boxes, for under £500.

I don't need a CD/DVD drive and am ambivalent about the idea of touchscreens (have a Nexus 7 tablet so not likely to use it much for tablet-type purposes other than the standard Windows 8 interface I suppose). Also hard-drive space is not a major concern as I have a couple of powered external HDDs that I use at home with the existing machine. I know bugger all about laptops (haven't owned one for 10 years) so any advice on makers to go for or avoid gratefully received.

Thanks.

For £750 you could buy a laptop with a dedicated graphics card and a new monitor keyboard and mouse, would that cover everything ?
As of the patches yesterday, Windows 8 is less reliant on touch screens, by default and Windows 8.2 should see the full return of the start button. Microsoft post-Balmer suddenly seems a little more consumer friendly.

 

[sten_super]

For £750 you could buy a laptop with a dedicated graphics card and a new monitor keyboard and mouse, would that cover everything ?
As of the patches yesterday, Windows 8 is less reliant on touch screens, by default and Windows 8.2 should see the full return of the start button. Microsoft post-Balmer suddenly seems a little more consumer friendly.

Thanks for the help. Yes - and to be honest the monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse I have at the moment is decent enough, so I'd probably be okay just with the laptop and upgrading the other bits and pieces as required. Any advice on what my priorities should be when looking at a laptop to meet my requirements - e.g. make versus processor (including Intel vs AMD) versus RAM (is 4GB enough or should I be looking for more?)? What kind of graphics card should I be looking to get for my money - is the basic Nvidia GT710M or GT720M going to be sufficient for my needs? Any particularly good websites for buying laptops (I've only looked so far at ebuyer and laptopsdirect)? As you can probably tell I don't know a huge amount, all advice gratefully received...

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

PC Specialist do some great bits of kit. You could get a decent laptop that can be used for gaming and everything else for about £600. If you can use the monitor you've already got as a second screen you can save some money and not go for such a big screen on the laptop if you don't need one for work.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Thanks for the help. Yes - and to be honest the monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse I have at the moment is decent enough, so I'd probably be okay just with the laptop and upgrading the other bits and pieces as required. Any advice on what my priorities should be when looking at a laptop to meet my requirements - e.g. make versus processor (including Intel vs AMD) versus RAM (is 4GB enough or should I be looking for more?)? What kind of graphics card should I be looking to get for my money - is the basic Nvidia GT710M or GT720M going to be sufficient for my needs? Any particularly good websites for buying laptops (I've only looked so far at ebuyer and laptopsdirect)? As you can probably tell I don't know a huge amount, all advice gratefully received...

Whilst a bit of a know it all, I am not a gamer, so I can't really help you much further. Unless you see stuff about FPS (Frames per second) requirements for a specific game, you will probably be fine particularly if you have a dedicated graphics card.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Rather than start a new thread....

I'm looking for a laptop for:

Working on the train to work
working from home via VPN (needs to be portable to be able to find a quiet part of the house!)
Normal browsing
It needs to have a decent battery life and be reasonably light.
I need not be any specific operating system - as all I need is a browser (not chrome) to logon to work.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Rather than start a new thread....

I'm looking for a laptop for:

Working on the train to work
working from home via VPN (needs to be portable to be able to find a quiet part of the house!)
Normal browsing
It needs to have a decent battery life and be reasonably light.
I need not be any specific operating system - as all I need is a browser (not chrome) to logon to work.

I was going to recommend a Chromebook, but you scuppered that with the last piece. Do you need to be able to install a SIM for working on the train ? If you have an Android phone with a decent data package, you can simply set this up as a WiFi hotspot (tethering and portable hotspot). What are the software requirements for your work VPN, is there a client or broswer plugin required for example ? Do you have a budget figure in mind ?

 

[Papa Lazarou]

I was going to recommend a Chromebook, but you scuppered that with the last piece. Do you need to be able to install a SIM for working on the train ? If you have an Android phone with a decent data package, you can simply set this up as a WiFi hotspot (tethering and portable hotspot). What are the software requirements for your work VPN, is there a client or broswer plugin required for example ? Do you have a budget figure in mind ?

The requirements for the VPN connection is pretty much any browser bar Chrome, it requires citrix and rapport installed as well. I need a couple of USB ports just for work (USB card reader to login and a headset).

I have a decent data package on my xperia z1 (6gb on 4g), so yes I will probably use that, as i'm not going to get any better connectivity with a seperate dongly type device.

Budget... hmm. I'd not want to go above £750 - although my Ltd Co will be buying it for me to use.

 

[CheeseRolls]

The requirements for the VPN connection is pretty much any browser bar Chrome, it requires citrix and rapport installed as well. I need a couple of USB ports just for work (USB card reader to login and a headset).

I have a decent data package on my xperia z1 (6gb on 4g), so yes I will probably use that, as i'm not going to get any better connectivity with a seperate dongly type device.

Budget... hmm. I'd not want to go above £750 - although my Ltd Co will be buying it for me to use.

This should be well within your budget.

http://www.ebuyer.com/542793-samsun...TVZpiDZX2Er4oKHDwdB_sI8Tavk9Yf26HNhoC_Nvw_wcB
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/laptop/3511368/samsung-ativ-book-9-lite-review/

13 inch laptops are good for long battery life. Anything bigger and you will end up playing screen butt with the person opposite you on the train.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

This should be well within your budget.

http://www.ebuyer.com/542793-samsun...TVZpiDZX2Er4oKHDwdB_sI8Tavk9Yf26HNhoC_Nvw_wcB
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/laptop/3511368/samsung-ativ-book-9-lite-review/



13 inch laptops are good for long battery life. Anything bigger and you will end up playing screen butt with the person opposite you on the train.

Will 2 USB sockets be sufficient?

 

[CheeseRolls]

Will 2 USB sockets be sufficient?

You can always buy a USB hub just in case. There are plenty of 4 ports available at less than a tenner and it doesn't sound like you have any devices that will struggle sharing a port.

 

[Superphil]

I was going to recommend a Chromebook, but you scuppered that with the last piece. Do you need to be able to install a SIM for working on the train ? If you have an Android phone with a decent data package, you can simply set this up as a WiFi hotspot (tethering and portable hotspot).

Can do the same with an iPhone can't you?

 

[CheeseRolls]

Can do the same with an iPhone can't you?

Yes you can. There were though a number of packages that prohibited tethering. I am not sure if this is still the case though.