Tekforums
Chat => Entertainment & Technology => Topic started by: zpyder on May 24, 2011, 15:02:39 PM
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Seeing as I've spent most of my money on camera gear, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on decent places to get cheap laptops. I'm not after a replacement for my desktop, but I could do with something portable that has a bit more punch to it than my netbook (A mini 311, my most hated computer ever) as I'm spending most of my time round Kathryns, she has no space for my desktop but I need to be able to do some work (so office applications etc).
Any suggestions?
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Really that unhappy with the 311? Mine has been going strong for the last 15+ months but slowly dying after all the traveling and abuse.
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http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/
Nige will vouch/comment about them :P
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Really that unhappy with the 311? Mine has been going strong for the last 15+ months but slowly dying after all the traveling and abuse.
To be brutally honest I was totally surprised by how utterly rubbish my 311 was. I could only imagine/hope that I somehow got a dud. From the get-go it was slower than I'd expected for the spec, even after adding extra RAM. Combined with shoddy build quality (the areas where the screen meets the black surround lift off easily, and the screen constantly flickers - I should have gotten it repaired under warranty tbh). I went for a netbook after my last laptop was a widescreen monster, thinking it would be great and portable, only to rapidly realise just how pants its capabilities were. It was never able to play videos without considerable stuttering too.
Not to lay in to the 311 much of course, I accept it was hugely successful/popular, but my experience of it has put me off ever considering another Compaq/netbook again :(
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http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/
Nige will vouch/comment about them :P
Some great bargains and excellent service, have had a Toshiba from them on the cashback deal for a couple of months now and its been faultless. Delivery was prompt too.
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I admit build quality left a lot to be desired. I have to continually 'pop' my screen back together and both my trackpack and keys are worn / failing but spec wise its always ran well (Running Windows 7 on it now and its fine, even running a full media centre & 1080p content). Sounds like you might of had something wrong? Meh whats done is done I suppose.
Does appear to be some good deals on the website Bacon has posted. I don't know whats good these days though, most of the smaller laptops are enbracing the new Sandy Bridge chips and the netbook market seems to be holding back while seeing what the tablets are doing.
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Yeah, looks promising. I'll have to find some specs/prices I like and then see what a comparable dell machine would cost. My mum's on the market for one too so it's a handy link, thanks guys!
As to the Mini, I'm guessing something to do with the GPU was at fault, would cause both the screen flickr and could be why it sucked at anything graphically intensive.
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I'm kinda hoping this netbook fad dies pretty soon.
Tablets are much more ideal for this.
Get the best Processor you can, as it's a PITA to upgrade. Some laptops won't allow you to at all.
Memory/HDD is a quick easy upgrade.
Graphics will all suck.
My choices.
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/HP_620_1029900.html
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_B560_1034393.html
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My choices.
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/HP_620_1029900.html
I was looking at that very same one earlier :D
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You'd want a smidge more ram in it, and not installing bullguard.
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Pentium Dual Core, Windows 7 and you can always upgrade the memory :P, should pick something up for £300
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Be quick (http://www.tekforums.net/bargains-and-freebies/hp620-15%27-t4500-pentium-dual-core-3gb-250gb-win-7-64-free-case-259-99!/) Zpyder!
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I've found a Bacon beater, get in!
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-vostro-3550-i5-2410m-2-3ghz-4gb-500gb-hdd-radeon-hd-6630m-1gb-w7-pro-316-80/945979 (http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-vostro-3550-i5-2410m-2-3ghz-4gb-500gb-hdd-radeon-hd-6630m-1gb-w7-pro-316-80/945979)
Ahh never mind, it expired as quick as it came in :(
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I had to go into work or otherwise i would have posted it. The original one i posted is still on offer, just a shame Zpyder didn't bother reading this thread yesterday after he posted in Computing & Internet :P
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:P
I read it, just need to think about it...the other option is to move the computer to Kathryns place...
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:P
I read it, just need to think about it...the other option is to move the computer to Kathryns place...
:O
get a laptop!
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:P
I read it, just need to think about it...the other option is to move the computer to Kathryns place...
Just make sure you don't upset the new missus by moving all your stuff in too fast. :P
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She's the one that suggested it!
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Well then, get in!
(Phrase of the week it seems)
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I've started to look at the laptops around the £400-450 mark now ><, with 4gb ram and 500gb hdd's, as I'll be doing photo stuff on them. Are the new intel i3 and i5's any good, and worth the £30-50 premium over a dual core?
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Loads better than dual core, the i3 is supposed to be quicker than the core2duo's..
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I've started to look at the laptops around the £400-450 mark now ><, with 4gb ram and 500gb hdd's, as I'll be doing photo stuff on them. Are the new intel i3 and i5's any good, and worth the £30-50 premium over a dual core?
You dont really have to worry about drive size you should be backing up to a caddy regardless so might as well buy one of those :P
And yes i3/i5 ones are much better
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20% off All Dixons Refurbished laptops at the moment here (http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/refurbished-laptops/117_1101_10102_xx_BA00002920-BV00196049-BA00002918-BV00196045/xx-criteria.html)
Discount is taken off the price shown when you get right through the checkout process.
12 months warranty. Additional 3% quidco and free delivery.
Examples:
HP G62-b50SA 15.6" Refurbished (http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/hp-g62-b50sa-15-6-refurbished-laptop-red-08527209-pdt.html) £279.99
(http://brain.pan.e-merchant.com/9/0/08527209/l_08527209_001.jpg)
Processor Intel® Core™ i3-350M Processor
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
RAM 4GB DDR3 RAM
Graphics card Integrated Intel® HD Graphics
ACER Aspire 5742 Refurbished (http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-5742-refurbished-laptop-08527243-pdt.html) £343.99
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-460M Processor
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
RAM 4GB installed DDR3 RAM
Graphics card Intel HD graphics
TOSHIBA Satellite A660-11M Refurbished 16" Laptop - Black (http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-a660-11m-refurbished-16-laptop-black-06219141-pdt.html) £471.99
(http://brain.pan.e-merchant.com/1/4/06219141/l_06219141_001.jpg)
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
RAM 4GB installed DDR3 RAM
Graphics card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M
Also some refurbished Dell XPS (http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=7&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh&dgc=AF&cid=5212&lid=122756&acd=48167c6a562f63884f698b5a8f15ef2c) on offer at the moment if you're spending closer to £500
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That toshiba looks good as I was looking at http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-5742-core-i5-laptop-with-4gb-memory-black-08702299-pdt.html before.
As to the caddy thing, yeah I will be using a portable drive, but I find it's helpful to work off of the HDD and then transfer the images after as it tends to be much slower working off USB. Given the size of the RAW files, JPG's, and requirements of the software, bigger is better :)
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Take a look at the HotUKDeals Dell thread:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/xps-l502x-laptops-with-sandy-bridge-i5-i7-starting-395-delivered-dell-outlet/947015
People seem to be getting some good deals ~£500 for XPS i7s
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I think 500 would be too much, 471 is already pushing it, I don't want to replace my desktop really, argh
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I think 500 would be too much, 471 is already pushing it, I don't want to replace my desktop really, argh
What was wrong with the one i posted from Ebay for £259.99? Even if you only keep it for a year you will get £150-200 back for it from someone.
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Ended up going for this:
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-a660-1fm-16-refurbished-laptop-black-08527275-pdt.html
Gotta love how the spec (and price) kept creeping up. Final decision was based on the fact that I figured I might as well replace my desktop afterall for not much more, rather than get something that I'll get frustrated with. That and the time it takes my desktop to process some of the images is silly...
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That's better spec'd than my desktop :o I hope it works out nice for you.
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Same, The thought process went from something cheap and cheerful to "Oh, I could get an i3 for £20 more" and then reading about the benefit of i5 over i3 chips...and then I thought I might as well get a quad core i7. If photoshop utilises all 4 cores it should make some raw processing and photo stitching tasks a breeze...
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SSD that when you get some spare cash to afford a size you can work with, it will go like a missile.