Good value Laptop advice...

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Danny

Legendary Member
Location
York
If your daughter is just wanting to use MS Office and browse the internet, I wouldn't start worrying too much about graphics cards or processor specifications. These only really become an issue if she wants to play high end games, or do a lot of photo or video editing.

It is worth getting as much memory as you can afford - 1 gb at least and 2gb if possible.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
True, thesedays I think we're talking at least 2 gigs though. It's that cheap (and even cheaper to upgrade).
 
OP
OP
Fab Foodie

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
Dannyg said:
If your daughter is just wanting to use MS Office and browse the internet, I wouldn't start worrying too much about graphics cards or processor specifications. These only really become an issue if she wants to play high end games, or do a lot of photo or video editing.

It is worth getting as much memory as you can afford - 1 gb at least and 2gb if possible.

She'll be doing a lot of Photo/Graphics stuff, so I'll go as powerful as I can get!
 
If you can't afford a Mac, at least make sure your daughter has some decent applications to work with. Paintshop Pro is a bit of a misnomer (should be Paintshop Am, or even Paintshop Kiddy).

Start her off with proper, professional tools. Assuming she's a student, you can get an excellent educational price on Adobe Creative Suite, which will give her the latest versions of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and a bunch of other stuff that gets used by the majority of professionals the world over.

It doesn't really matter whether she learns these on a Mac or a PC (the Mac will arrive anyway if she starts working in the industry). Start her off the right way and she'll thank you in the long run.

f
 
That first one you spotted wasn't bad and Toshiba will flog you a warranty anytime in the first 12 months so you can spread the cost, check their website. Cost seems to vary with the model you buy so worth enquiring first. I think Acer, Lenovo, HP do the same kind of deal. The Acers often get good reviews but personally I found the cheaper one's to be a bit 'bendy'.

Make a check list, this is a starter for 10

Most important?
-Graphics card and screen capable of 1280x800 minimum, 24bit colour
(if she's doing photography/video she'll need this)
-Min 1Gb memory - Important for Photoshoppy stuff
-80Gb upwards hard disk (AtA 150 5400rpm) disk speed becomes important for video capture
-DVD/CD writer
- Wireless networking card
- extendible warranty
Nice to have
-firewire (video capture - more important for heavy video editing)
-Bluetooth card
-Card reader
-webcamera (keep in touch with her parents:smile:)
Accessories
Case
mouse
memory stick
external hard drive for backups (really look at that Mozy link I posted)


Note the processor isn't on the list there. This is because most processors will do all of that stuff including Celerons. Where it becomes more important is if she goes down the video capture route or for gaming. Dual core is better but you know what; I think the other stuff is more important. That one's up for debate.

Just to give some perspective. I was an early adopter of video capture using Hi8 cameras. My processor: 500Mhz Pentium III - much more important was the graphics card, memory and hard disk. Slower processor just means it'll take longer to do things, not that it can't do 'em.
 

Canrider

Guru
Does it have to a be a laptop? I mean, does she need to be able to take it on the road? Serious question..
 
What about this - hits all the buttons and Lenovo are OK. they aren't lookers but they are solid bits of kit, well supported and you can get an extended warranty (see website - number to ring). Lenovo spec is here. Other models here

Intel GMA X3100 Graphics card - what does Marinyork think of them? I think my HP has that card. I would say it's OK based on photo processing and DVD replays I've watched.

And it's got a built in webcam :biggrin:
 
It's really a bad time to buy. I'm actually about to order a £350 laptop and take vista off it in favour of XP. What would be a slow machine ofr vista will fly running XP and all the software I need runs on XP. My very old apple mac which I bought second hand has finally dies and I really didn't want to be buying a computer at this time.

Will she be getting the software she needs from her school/college or will she have to buy or, ahem, *acquire* her own copy? You need to look at the minimum and recommended specs of the software to see how powerful a machine you need. On the plus side graphics software should work on a low powered machine but it's a pain waiting for the smallest thing to render. There's the issue of some software packages having trouble with vista also.

You may have already said this and I've missed it but will she be carrying it around with her or leaving it at home? If it's not moving could she consider a mac mini (cheap and she might qualify for education discount from the academic store on the apple website) and a cheap flat monitor? It'll have more grunt than a cheap laptop running vista and a cheap laptop won't have the best display in the world either. Just be prepared to pay the "apple tax" for any OS updates, peripherals etc. My old mac was running OS 10.3 and safari would not update as the minimum requirement was OS 10.4, available from many outlets for around £90. I justed installed firefox instead. Repairs outside of the warranty can be expensive too.
 
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Fab Foodie

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
Hi Guys

Think I'm gonna go for this:
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/notebooks_good?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Inspiron 1501

Offer ends at Midnight...
I've got MS Office Student and Paint shop Pro. I think although portability is not really a major concern, she will want to take it about occasionally.

We also have a pretty hefty home computer for games etc, so that's not a major issue.
Will also go for the warranty as advised!

Should I go for it...3 hours to decide...I hate this stufffffff
 
It ticks all the key boxes - Did you see the bit about the wait time due to demand: 2 weeks, should be OK for Xmas though.

I like the Dell on site warranty. One of the few companies to do it.
 
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