Posted October 23, 2009 Originally, I was planning on buying a new laptop for University for my birthday in March. However, with the release of Windows 7, my slowing dying desktop, and my quickly-filling External Hard Drive telling me to get some more storage space, I've decided to get it for Christmas instead. That is, unless theres any new components or price cuts due in the next 3 months that I should know about. So basically, I need to know everything. Best websites? I've immediately gravitated towards Dell but only because I know and trust the brand. Best Laptop graphics cards? Ideally I'd be able to run most new games on decent settings, at least at first, though I know laptops aren't exactly designed around gaming. Anything else I should be made aware of? Specific wireless specifications, battery types, brands to avoid? I know a reasonable amount tech-wise but I don't really keep up to date with it. Usually only when I need a new machine I catch up with everything like this before hand, buy it, then don't bother for a few years until I need a new one :p Not sure on a budget yet - but basically it's for Uni primarily, but also if I could get some gaming done on it that would be awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 I hear nothing but bad, bad, bad about dell laptops. (sorry my input is nothing really besides that) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 It all depends on your budget. If you can afford it then your best bet is an Alienware or an XPS laptop. But they are muchos expensive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 I hear nothing but bad, bad, bad about dell laptops. And yet they're still miles more reliable than Acer laptops. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 I hear nothing but bad, bad, bad about dell laptops. (sorry my input is nothing really besides that) Yeah, don't get a Dell. I had to send 2 laptops back that had the same problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 Toshiba has excellent build quality, and Gateways are decent. I've seen an MSI laptop before (MSI makes motherboards and GPUs) it seemed average build quality but the price was excellent for the hardware in it. In choosing graphics, just make sure they aren't intergrated and you'll likely be able to play most games, but you won't be playing them higher than medium or low unless they're pretty old. Better graphics disproportionately raises the price of a laptop. Also, take into account size and portability and battery life. A 17" screen is mighty nice, but it makes it harder to be lugging around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 I saw some well spec'd laptop deals from argos, will check and post when I get home. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 It all depends on your budget. If you can afford it then your best bet is an Alienware or an XPS laptop. But they are muchos expensive. Unfortunately it will be less than that. I think my sisters when she got a uni laptop was about £400, and the parents baulked a little at that. I'm contributing some to get the spec that I want, but I'm not sure how high I will get to take it. Call it £700 for now, could well be less than that though. As for Dell; what are the problems people are mentioning? My sister's is a Dell and I think it's been pretty reliable so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 Are Dell known for being unreliable? I thought/think the opposite. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 Dell are Dell, which automatically put some people off to them. I haven't exactly heard bad things about quality, but I don't exactly like them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 My XPS 1530 laptop would sometimes switch itself back after going to sleep, hibernation and even after shutting down. I tried google'd the problem but none of the solutions worked for me so I phoned Dell's support number after failing to get a response from the Dell forums. The guy who helped me didn't know what the problem was and did everything I had tried before. Eventually I decide to send it back, but it took Dell over a month until they actually picked it up despite saying it would be 1- 2 weeks and they went to the wrong address. A little while later I tried Dell again and ordered a better spec one, but that had the exact same problem. Plus there support centre is based in India so you can barely understand them, the person I spoke too to arrange my refund wouldn't listen to me and the phone line kept cutting out every 5 seconds meaning I missed bits of the conversation. When they told me my reference number I had less than 5 of the digits. The laptop was pretty nice though, too bad it just didn't work. So overall, a bad experience from Dell for me. I got a Sony Vaio and it works great, no problems. They are bit more expensive though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 Suppose I'll ask the question. How portable / stationary do you want this to be? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 I have a Dell laptop and so does my Dad. Both have been very reliable (Inspiron 6000) and have a good quality screen. Both about 3-4 years old now. As Ike says though the support is awful. The line is always much too quiet and the accents extreme - they clearly don't do the talking to American/English training courses. Also the parts are VERY expensive: Battery: 120 quid Ac adaptor: 60 quid I also had to replace the keyboard. Now Dell don't actually sell this (or keys which was all I needed) and so you have to go to a spares authorised dealer. 90 quid! So in short I doubt I will get another...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 (edited) After going through a few machines I've learnt my lesson with laptops. DO NOT FOCUS ON PRICE/PERFORMANCE AS THE PRIMARY FACTOR. On desktops it works, on laptops you wind up with a well performing machine with terrible build quality that will fall apart within 6 months of hard use. Acer were the prime example of this a few years ago, their Travelmate chassis was stupidly cheap and had common faults like panels falling off or the chassis snapping at the hinges due to a lack of any support. They sold on the strength of their specs, which were outstanding for the price. I bought one, and in the space of a year it was in repair 3 times for the same fault, totalling 6 months of repair time! I'm not saying avoid Acer though, their Ferrari laptops have always had a good reputation and their Timeline machines are building a similar rep. I'm saying avoid machines that are all about the price/performance. There's so much more to buying a laptop than that. Build quality, size, weight and battery life are equally as important considerations and all of them bump up the price. Personally I'm thinking about the Acer Ferrari One. A little worried about it because of the last Acer machine I had, but reviews warned me build quality was a little shoddy with that machine and I just (foolishly) ignored them. The Ferrari One on the other hand apparently feels very sturdy. Probably not what you're after though, it's more of a Netbook on steroids than a main PC. I'd be looking at machines in the £600-£800 bracket if it was me, this is where portable machines hit reasonable performance and "Desktop Replacement" machines actually live up to their name. Edited October 23, 2009 by McPhee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 After going through a few machines I've learnt my lesson with laptops. DO NOT FOCUS ON PRICE/PERFORMANCE AS THE PRIMARY FACTOR. On desktops it works, on laptops you wind up with a well performing machine with terrible build quality that will fall apart within 6 months of hard use. Acer were the prime example of this a few years ago, their Travelmate chassis was stupidly cheap and had common faults like panels falling off or the chassis snapping at the hinges due to a lack of any support. They sold on the strength of their specs, which were outstanding for the price. I bought one, and in the space of a year it was in repair 3 times for the same fault, totalling 6 months of repair time! I'm not saying avoid Acer though, their Ferrari laptops have always had a good reputation and their Timeline machines are building a similar rep. I'm saying avoid machines that are all about the price/performance. There's so much more to buying a laptop than that. Build quality, size, weight and battery life are equally as important considerations and all of them bump up the price. They took 2 months to repair a hinge? I hope you got some compensation back for that, no way would I have stood for it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 And yet they're still miles more reliable than Acer laptops. Oh I'm not debating which is the worst/best, I'm just mentioning that I've never heard anything about them thats been good. Dells are incredibly expensive, specially the desktops for what they are. I was quite shocked when looking for a desktop last year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 They took 2 months to repair a hinge? I hope you got some compensation back for that, no way would I have stood for it. I didn't know enough about Retail Law at the time to know I could sue them over the whole incident to be honest, if I'd known then I would have. The repairs took so long because the place that repairs the laptops is in Ireland somewhere and it stocks no spare parts. All parts are ordered from Acer in Taiwan(?) on a case-by-case basis. When the idiot tech who's supposed to be repairing the machine can't order the right parts the first time around it leads to a long turnover time. They aim to diagnose within 5 working days, parts take another week to arrive, then they repair within the next 5 working days and aim to have the machine back to you in under three weeks. Leaving the diagnosis til the last day, ordering the wrong parts and then attempting to repair it on the last possible day sadly doubles the turnaround time. I was disgusted at the time, but I ended up just replacing the machine and forgetting about it in the end. I had way more important stuff to worry about at the time, it was near exam time, my Student Loan ran out and I was living off £40 a week with the last term's rent still to pay. I might look in to whether or not I can follow it up now, I've still got the Acer, though I stripped it for parts about 6 months ago so it might take some rebuilding. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 Just some general advice. Usually PC components and I assume Laptops as well are pretty expensive before and around Christmas, so you probably want to get it a bit after that date. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2009 You guys are all scaring me off of Dell now. Where else do I buy, and what brands are there to consider? Suppose I'll ask the question. How portable / stationary do you want this to be? Well, it's for Uni stuff really, so I'll need to be able to take it back and forth. But so long as I can bung it in a backpack it doesn't really matter too much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 24, 2009 You guys are all scaring me off of Dell now. Where else do I buy, and what brands are there to consider? Lenovo have pretty good Laptops, although I got mine with a faulty graphicscard and a terrible harddrive. I recently got one for my dad and it works fine and also a few of my friends have Lenovo Laptops and they haven't had any problems so far. But generally they are quite expensive and not really meant for gaming, so they usually don't have amazing graphics cards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 24, 2009 (edited) I have a dell laptop (which I spent around £800 on) and its fantastic. Couldn't have bought a better one. More than 1 and a half years later its still working well - obviously with a bit of wear and tear. I've borked the headphone socket from hitting the headphone connection one too many times, but that was my own fault! Dell desktops have a really bad rep, but people assume they follow on to the laptop side. Laptops are a completely different thing! And i'd buy a dell laptop every time. (plus they come in really rad colours like sunshine yellow <3) regarding portability, 17 inches are heavy (good for a desktop replacement more than anything) 15 inches are a nice middle man in which you can still get decent spec for, and anything smaller than 12 suffers on the spec side. oh and Toshiba do decent laptops too. Edited October 24, 2009 by Raining_again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 24, 2009 I recommend Toshiba as I know their customer support is pretty good. Took all of 20 minutes to diagnose that my RAM had died and all of a week(give or take a few days) for the Laptop to ship out get fixed and be back. The build quality is also pretty nice, and they have a tough sleek finish that doesn't scratch easy (well mine does). If you do go Toshiba I would recommend changing out the RAM as the Samsung sticks they put in Died twice on me, and my OCZ have been great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 25, 2009 So by "recommend Toshiba" you mean "avoid Toshiba or Samsung"? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 25, 2009 So by "recommend Toshiba" you mean "avoid Toshiba or Samsung"? I don't understand how you came to that conclusion. They have excellent customer service and great build quality, the only problem I've had stems from the sticks of Samsung RAM. I don't know if it's a common problem, and I may have contributed by not always allowing proper airflow like a desk does. Otherwise I've been nothing but happy with Toshiba and my Laptop. Other problems stem from accidents (cats knocking it down and breaking the screen) or Windows Vista which isn't an issue anymore with Win7 being shipped. Even some of their cheaper models have desktop audio quality with the Harmon/Kardon speakers. Most laptops are pretty bad in that regard. It's also got one of the best touchpads I've used before. The wireless is good enough to connect to a router in another house through a basement. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 25, 2009 I don't exactly want to buy a laptop and immediately have to fork out for replacement RAM, put it that way. So you saying you'd had repeated problems with it, and the solution was to replace it, put me off a bit :p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
