reccommend a new laptop
Hi i have a very old laptop thats in need of a bin!
can anyone recommend a powerful laptop that has a decent processor and good memory.
im currently looking at the alienware and dell xps range.
also my processor on my current laptop is a pentium 4 3.2ghz, whats the equivalent of that now that duo and quad core have been introduced?
and if no one can help, if you could point me in the direction of a good computer forum that would be great.
thanks vey much
thehoss:if no one can help, if you could point me in the direction of a good computer forum that would be great
Try http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ I've always found it an excellent guide to PC's and their components, and based my home-built PC on their recomendations. Likewise http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/
Good luck.
Ive a dell xps 1530 and love it! 4gb ram 320gb hdd decent video card for a laptop and a great price.
Agreed on sites like Tom's Hardware, which is very useful, as is PCPro. The answer depends on what you're going to use it for - if it's primarily a music or imaging laptop, then I'd agree that you should get a Macbook (not Pro). If it's primarily a business laptop then I'd go Windows (interoperability of Office for Mac is an issue) - Acer, Asus, Sony and Dell all make excellent products (mine's a Vaio) which can be spec'd to your requirements. I had issues with an HP (mine broke after three days, which was when I got the Vaio), but that doesn't necessarily make them bad (though there was somebody else at the John Lewis Service Desk with a broken one at the same time as me).
As for processor speed, impossible to say definitively without knowing which applications you use, since some are designed to take advantage of more cores, some are not. But buy the very fastest processor you can possibly afford, since it'll be obsolete by Thursday. Tom's Hardware has a good benchmarking section here.
Looked at PC Pro, checked the scores and went for an Acer Travelmate 5720 with decent dual core Intel processor, 2GB of RAM, big hard drive and a mag alloy case. Not good for gaming (which I don't do anyway) but a cracking worse horse and 4.5 out of 5 stars on PC Pro. I hate Macs.
Work... Dell Latitude D630 or D830 (I still use XP Pro SP3) with 3 year onsite, next business day support & the option to keep your old HD if they have to replace it. Tough as old boots. At home I use the D630 with an Acer 22" (1680x1050) screen and Logitech VX Nano wireless mouse and standard Dell keyboard.
Leisure and/or music source... MacBook/Macbook Pro. (So long as it has the optical mini-jack). Just be wary of the melting 'Magsafe' power cords! These machines get very grubby looking very quickly (about 20 minutes should do it), attract dust like a b@@ch, and have issues with badly fitting casework so have the box opened at the store to check before you take it away.
If a laptop is not absolutely essential (ie you just want it for neatness/space/lack of clutter rather than work/travel) then get a 20" iMac.
I find it difficult to either love or hate what is, after all, just a computer.
JohnDuncan:I find it difficult to either love or hate what is, after all, just a computer.
Absolutely. We have three in the house. A five year-old Dell PC upstairs (still reasonable performance as it was very high spec when we bought it) that I have loaded with 4GB RAM, replaced the screen with a Samsung 20" 1680x1050 widescreen, and given a new wireless keyboard & mouse and Creative T20 speakers.
Elsewhere around the house there are also an iMac 20" (last white version from last year) that does all my photography stuff and the Dell D630 lap-top based system that I use mostly (also my work from home system).
We have them all hooked up to 10mbps cable broadband via an Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n wireless network.
I neither love nor hate any of them. They all have their good and bad points and - like John - I cannot understand the Mac vs PC debates. They are a necessary consumer durable like a refrigerator or a telephone and not something to get upset about.
Airport Express is, however, another matter, obviously 
JohnDuncan:Airport Express is, however, another matter, obviously
Not completely. If I had just wanted it for the iMac it would (did) only take a minute or two to set up perfectly.
It was trying to get it to talk to the Airport Utility on a different box that did not work.
Sadly, for historical reasons, the iMac is not the most convenient box (in our house) to host music on or connect to the hifi (in a different room from the hifi) and if it were then I would have got a DacMagic or Beresford hardwired (optical) to it and not an AE.
Anyway that is history.
spearmint rhino in slough.............or did i misunderstand the question 
JohnDuncan:[snip] ..... buy the very fastest processor you can possibly afford, since it'll be obsolete by Thursday.
Not sure I agree with this. You'll pay way over the odds for the fastest of anything computer related. Unless you're gonna be doing heavyweight tasks like movie/picture editing or gaming go for something more modest. But clearly don't go for yesterday's technology either!
My relatively high spec PC is only really used for browsing the web, hosting my media player/library and that's about it. I don't really need raw processing power. What I do need (cos I'm running Vista) is plenty of RAM and lots of HDD space (for my media).
PJPro:
JohnDuncan:[snip] ..... buy the very fastest processor you can possibly afford, since it'll be obsolete by Thursday.
Not sure I agree with this. You'll pay way over the odds for the fastest of anything computer related. Unless you're gonna be doing heavyweight tasks like movie/picture editing or gaming go for something more modest. But clearly don't go for yesterday's technology either!
My relatively high spec PC is only really used for browsing the web, hosting my media player/library and that's about it. I don't really need raw processing power. What I do need (cos I'm running Vista) is plenty of RAM and lots of HDD space (for my media).
Agreed on the whole, but it does depend on applications used, and my point is really that new software kind of assumes you have a certain level of processor, and next year's Office (eg) will run like a dog on last year's processor. There are limits, obviously - eg an extra 50 quid for a 3gig processor instead of a 2.5gig one in a Dell desktop is kind of what I had in mind............
Don't forget you get 4% cashback if you buy from Dell through Quidco and 2% from Laptops Direct etc:
http://www.quidco.com/?search=laptops
I have a Macbook which is just under 3 years old and I have to say it's a superb machine. I use it for music, photographs and surfing the net and it's more than adequate even now it's 3 years out of date.
Having said that I understand that they can be a bit pricy and if I'd gone for a PC I'd have bought a Dell or one of the other big brands (HP or Sony).
I'm looking for one for my Nephew at the moment and am erring on the side of Dell or HP purely on price.
As for the specification you ideally want an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with at least 2gb of RAM and a relatively large Hard drive although the size doesn't really matter as you can always opt for an external one if you need more space.
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A Mac.