Buying a laptop

[Quinlad]

Hello,

I have a few questions about buying a laptop.

What are the key specs I should be looking out for? What is more important for speed - RAM or the processing speed? How important is a well-know brand?

And what about Dell computers? Do they give you more value for money?

Thanks.

[baylisst111]

Depends what you want to do with it. General rule of thumb is to get 2GB RAM for Vista, 1GB for XP. But if you could tell us what you'd be using it for then I could send you a handful of links with what I think would be ideal. Obviously it's always a good idea to have a look at the laptop in person before buying.

And as people may know from another answer I gave... I do not like PC World in the slightest. PC World baaaad

[Ethel]

Think about how you will be using the laptop.

If you are going to be carrying it around a lot, you don't want a heavy 17" screen.
If it is to be a desktop replacement then size isn't an issue.

If you are going to use it for surfing the web, downloading music, word processing then a �300 laptop will do the job very well.

If you are a hard core gamer or do a lot of video editing you will need a more powerful one.

[Lil O'lady]

Also, look out for the software you get with it - Dell online may give you what looks like an excellent price but when you look at the spec, it hasn't got Office, which is expensive to buy.

[Quinlad]

I'm a writer so I use the laptop all day for office-type stuff.

I also spend way too much time on youtube and BBC iplayer and skype. I never ever use it for gaming.

I use it a lot for music and would need 120GB storage at least.

I sometimes carry it around so weight and battery life would be issues, but not major ones.

What is important for me are speed of flitting between applications, loading web pages, start up.

So I don't use it for anything complicated but because I'm on it all day, reliability and speed are what I'm really looking for.

[Ethel]

Web page speed, youtube and Skype is dependent on your ISP speed, not your pc.

I run those applications very well on my four year old laptop, so really you don't need a fancy top of the range one.

You will probably have Vista, so go for 2gb RAM, 250gb hard drive, 15" widescreen (portable but not too small).

It is rare to get Office with a laptop, but if you need it, OpenOffice is free and compatible with Office.

Spend a bit of time at PCWorld looking and touching the laptops. Then come home and do your price research.

Don't forget Tesco has some good deals - but I can see nothing wrong with the cheap, 3gb Acer PCWorld is currently selling.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_pag e.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1810432799.1215079173@@ @@&BV_EngineID=ccckadeeididhdjcflgceggdhhmdfhk .0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=87 3891&category_oid=-35054

[Ethel]

This one is still 3gb but has a bigger hard drive:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_pag e.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1810432799.1215079173@@ @@&BV_EngineID=ccckadeeididhdjcflgceggdhhmdfhk .0&page=Product&sku=353589

[Quinlad]

Sensational advice. Just what I was after, thanks.

I was looking to spend around �350 but I'll see if I can shop round for the Aspire 5520, if I like the look of it in store.

(The built-in webcam is also a bonus).

Another quick question: what is a duo processor and how much of a benefit is it?

[vehelpfulguy]

>Another quick question: what is a duo processor and how much of a benefit is it?

Dou processors are where you have two "cpus" inside the one chip. The "work" is shared between these two "cpus" making them faster.

Most of the faster processors (from Intel and AMD) are Duo nowadays (although Quad processors are also becoming more common, but expensive).

You should go for a duo. Generally it is felt the Intel Core 2 Duo are the best at the moment.

[Oneeyedvic]

Have a browse around the computers here: http://www.hotukdeals.com/computers/deals/hot

Should be able to get a great bargain

[fleckyboy]

i personally wouldnt buy a vista unless like mine is has 4GB Ram, as most of my programs do not run on the standard 2GB. If your into gaming you need one with a good graphics and sound card, and fast processor. (alienware/mesh) if your using it for files and general day to day work stuff then i would recommend any of the acer aspire notebooks or toshiba satalite. but dont go to pc world its is awful and ur get a bad deal. try looking on net at www.laptopsdirect, ive never had a problem with them and they are at good prices.

[fleckyboy]

here take a look, acer aspire and other acers on offer.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/asp/searchSite. asp?mode=2&keywords=acer+aspire&submit=