Page 1 of New Laptop - advice needed

I`m looking at getting a new laptop and was after a bit of advise speccing it. It will mainly be used as a second pc for the kids to mess about on (play age of empires 2), get wifi access to the internet and for the missus to do some of her prep work (Word, internet and excell). What sort of spec do I need? I`ve got the main pc for backing stuff up, don`t need it for playing games (XBox 360 does that) and have no interest in video editing. I don`t really have a budget in mind but don`t want to buy something I`m not going to fully utilise. Any tips?

Whats your budget?

Riggs, this laptop may be useful to you, looks a bit of a bargain especially when using Google Checkout. I would probably recommend at least an extra 512mb of memory unless you install XP on it, doesnt have any Office software with it though. Have just noticed it comes with a free laptop bag too.

Hope this helps

This item was edited on Friday, 4th May 2007, 09:59

Hi @dy thanks for the reply. I`ve probably got a copy of Office lying around that I can use. I wasn`t too bothered about Vista as I`m running XP at the mo. Can you just remind me what is the diff between RAM and Cache memory?

To Kebabhead - budget is a little vague but I could probably go up to 500quid.

Even though you want it for a second pc, would buy the best you could afford, find you will use it alot more, I would still stick with the toshiba brand, not bad laptops. You can get a pretty good spec for £500 for your budget. Should be alot of deals around this weekend as its a bank holiday. My advice is sep graphics if you can afford it, 7200rpm hard drive, 512mb minium memory. Processor not that important if just doing docs, wireless, and the odd basic game.
A WISE MAN ONCE SAID

Riggs

Have a musey at these

Would recommend that you choose a laptop with a 15.4inch widescreen

Ram is the kind of memory with which you can physically upgrade a PC whereas cache memory is non-upgradeable and is used as priority memory when the CPU is processing....or something.

HTH

Thanks for the help guys. Any brands I should steer clear of?

Quote:
Thanks for the help guys. Any brands I should steer clear of?

Most people say

Compaq
Packard Bell - Mind you I`ve had mine for 3 years and had no problems with it
Hewlett Packard
Acer - Poor customer care

Dell would always be the first place I would look. They have a wide range of well designed and well built laptops, generally offer good VFM and have pretty good after sales care. They frequently have special offers and some of these can be absolute bargains.

Rolls Royce end of the market is Lenovo (formerly IBM).

If I had money to burn and wanted a very small latop then Sony or Samsung.

Acer do produce some good laptops that are keenly priced, but, as has already been noted, their after-sales service has a poor reputation. I have an Acer and it has served well for two years of intensive use, but the CMOS clock failed within the first few weeks and Acer quoted ten days for repair, so I just sync time over the `net! If you can get on-site warranty then OK, but return to base would be bad news.

I personally would avoid Toshiba as I have known too many people who have problems with them. Ten years ago Tosh ruled the laptop world, I think they lost the crown some years back though.

HP/Compaq produce some nice laptops and some are well priced, my ex has one she bought at Staples and I must say that it is a very nice unit. You also have the comfort of knowing that HP support will always be there.

I would avoid any of the lesser brands such as Medion etc. as the service can be dire.

Try to go Dell. You should also consider warranty cover, you wouldn`t wnat to pay for repairs in 18 months time.