Quote from: zpyder on May 26, 2011, 19:11:09 PM


I read it, just need to think about it...the other option is to move the computer to Kathryns place...

:O
get a laptop!

Quote from: zpyder on May 26, 2011, 19:11:09 PM


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.

She's the one that suggested it!

Well then, get in!

(Phrase of the week it seems)

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?

Loads better than dual core, the i3 is supposed to be quicker than the core2duo's..

Quote from: zpyder on May 27, 2011, 19:58:43 PM
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

And yes i3/i5 ones are much better

20% off All Dixons Refurbished laptops at the moment here

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 £279.99



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 £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  £471.99



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 on offer at the moment if you're spending closer to £500

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

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

I think 500 would be too much, 471 is already pushing it, I don't want to replace my desktop really, argh

Quote from: zpyder on May 28, 2011, 13:56:17 PM
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.

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...

That's better spec'd than my desktop I hope it works out nice for you.

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...