which lappy shud i get?

[willyfantastic]

hey guys, currently looking at these 2 laptops to get:

DELL Inspiron N5010 at cheap prices | PC World

SONY Vaio VPCF11J0E/H at cheap prices | PC World

please ignore the pcworld website, i only used it to search for things i wanted, so might buy from somewhere else.

Which of these 2 are the better, or is there another lappy that is better?
price not a huge issue as im selling desktop to get it, mainly looking at processor speed (intel i5 or better) ram, to an extent gfx (but not too big a deal, as mostly i only play FM), blu-ray player and hd screen.

any suggestions are welcome.

thanks

 

[Colossal Squid]

 

[Djmiles]

Well the Sony Vaio has a slightly better processor by the looks of it, 2GB more RAM, and a full HD screen which the Dell lacks. On the flip side its hard drive is half the size, but 320GB is plenty to be honest.

Depends whether you want a very good laptop or just a good one, and whether you want to pay £300 for it!

 

[Colossal Squid]

In all seriousness though, comparing the two machines you've referenced there the VAIO is clearly the winner.

The bigger screen really does make a big difference and the VAIO also has more RAM.

At the end of the day the Dell only wins on hard disk space but given that you can expand this at your leisure with external USB hard drives it really is irrelevant.

The VAIO is a much nicer machine if you don't mind paying that little bit extra

 

[willyfantastic]

ill be buying a WD mybook thingy for storage so hard drive space isnt an issue. i have been tempted to get the new mac lappys but they dont have the things im looking for in a laptop (plus a bad experience with my old powerbook) but they just look so damn swish!

yeh thanks for the info, i was kinda thinking the sony was better but just wanted to make sure due to the difference in price for a relatively similar spec'd laptop

 

[bhaexpress]

Sonys have a very bad reputation. Look at Toshiba, HP and Acer before you do anything.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Sony laptops are awful, just an FYI.

 

[ShandyH]

I use PC laptops at work which are pretty decent (IBM's) but recently bought a MacBook Pro after being very disappointed with the build quality of an HP. I will never look back. They are much better made and the interface for a home user is much better. I would definitely try one out and see what you think.....

 

[bhaexpress]

I use PC laptops at work which are pretty decent (IBM's) but recently bought a MacBook Pro after being very disappointed with the build quality of an HP. I will never look back. They are much better made and the interface for a home user is much better. I would definitely try one out and see what you think.....

Don't know which HP you're talking about but in my professional experience they are the best built of all laptops. Macs cost more and are not fully compatible with PC based laptops so new versions of things like MS Office would be required.

 

[churley1]

Seriously, if you have the money, get a macbook.

I bought a macbook pro about a month ago with a three year protection plan all for £900 (with student discount admittedly). A month down the line and I absolutely love it. It's extremely quick, very sleek, 10 hour battery life and because it doesn't use Windows, a lot less viruses threaten the computer.

Obviously it's a lot of money, I bought a Sony Vaio for £700 about three years ago and it was in a terrible state after two years. I know people who have had mac's for three years and they are still lightning quick.

If you know a student and have the money, a macbook is about £725 and completely worth it.

 

[churley1]

Don't know which HP you're talking about but in my professional experience they are the best built of all laptops. Macs cost more and are not fully compatible with PC based laptops so new versions of things like MS Office would be required.

I haven't explored every programme, but iWork is fine for importing documents off Microsoft Office whenever I have needed to.

Obviously if you're talking about other programmes as well, I am unsure of whether they are compatible. So far though I haven't had a problem with downloading documents. You can buy MS Office for macs now anyway.

 

[ShandyH]

My dad worked in IT with HP's in very hot countries and said they were indestructible about 25-30 years ago compared to virtually all the others. I maybe had my expectations too high. So I got an HP Pavilion DV2 and it's not a patch on my MacBook Pro. The only reason now to get a PC laptop is if you work with numbers. They are falling well behind.

 

[bhaexpress]

My dad worked in IT with HP's in very hot countries and said they were indestructible about 25-30 years ago compared to virtually all the others. I maybe had my expectations too high. So I got an HP Pavilion DV2 and it's not a patch on my MacBook Pro. The only reason now to get a PC laptop is if you work with numbers. They are falling well behind.

I have a second hand DV2000 which is excellent. This one uses Windows 7 Enterprise and is full spec. There's no way I'd swap this for any Mac. I'd also be wary of Macs now that Apple have fallen out with Adobe, seeing as how many web sites use Flash I think that will cause problems soon. Apple seem to be trying to live in their own word which will be detrimental in the long run.

 

[ShandyH]

I have a second hand DV2000 which is excellent. This one uses Windows 7 Enterprise and is full spec. There's no way I'd swap this for any Mac. I'd also be wary of Macs now that Apple have fallen out with Adobe, seeing as how many web sites use Flash I think that will cause problems soon. Apple seem to be trying to live in their own word which will be detrimental in the long run.

All I'd say is that my Mac is much faster in pretty much every area compred to the HP and I really like the interface (once you get used to it). Also it never overheats and shuts down without notice. Maybe I had a dodgy HP but, even over a top level IBM, the Mac wins hands down if you don't need to use Excel all the time. Just my opinion but well worth considering.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Vaio have a shocking reputation and the two I have had the misfortune to use were both poor.

Wouldn't touch Dell anything with Kerry Katona's.

Defo look carefully at HP and Toshiba (had a superb laptop from them a few years ago) and consider Acer if on a budget - rock solid value.

 

[willyfantastic]

thanks guys. unfortunately im not looking at macs atm cos they dont offer what im looking for (as far as i know) otherwise id jump on it like a rash (as tbh i love their design and most of my family use em)

could anybody recommend a decent laptop thats at least intel i5/blu-ray player/hd screen/at least 4gb ram/half decent gfx card (that isnt onboard) if sony and dell are so bad?

 

[Husty]

thanks guys. unfortunately im not looking at macs atm cos they dont offer what im looking for (as far as i know) otherwise id jump on it like a rash (as tbh i love their design and most of my family use em)

could anybody recommend a decent laptop thats at least intel i5/blu-ray player/hd screen/at least 4gb ram/half decent gfx card (that isnt onboard) if sony and dell are so bad?

Asus N61JV-JX081V, Multimedia Performance, N61JV-JX081V- Discount Laptops Asus Sale Laptop Uk Best Buy Notebook Computer deal

That seems to fit everything you want.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Toshiba make decent notebooks. Check out this bad boy:

Qosmio X500 Laptop | Laptops for Home - Toshiba

Bit steep though

This one's a bit more reasonably priced

Satellite P500 Laptop | Laptops for Home - Toshiba

Beefy

 

[dougdeep]

I've recently bought a Dell laptop and a Dell desktop. They are both behaving very well. I love the way you can add or subtract items on their website to end with a personal PC.

 

[clippedgull]

People may have had issues with Sony and Dell machines and of course they wouldn't recommend them.

Personally, I have never had issues with those companies over the years of both owning desktops and laptops.

If someone was asking me, I would say, get a copy of 'What Laptop' work out your budget and look at their reviews, then choose from their selection.

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