Help choosing/buying a new laptop.

Any help will be greatly appreciated - I'm in the UK.
I've asked several friends and had different responses and I'm just really indecisive and thought I'd ask on ATS.
I'll mainly be using for just general internet, skype, a little bit of photography, the odd game but nothing super high end or intensive, music, streaming etc etc.

I'd like a decent screen, processor and a fair bit of RAM.

So I've been trying to decide on a laptop to buy and I think I may have found one that seems to be the price and spec I want.

www.laptopsdirect.co.uk...

Would you say this is a decent laptop and will it meet all my requirements and needs? Are there any better for a similar price?


The other one I looked at I liked was this

www.scan.co.uk...

But people warned my off it because ASUS is a budget make and wouldn't be as good. Also some of the reviews I read on amazon etc reported a buzzing noise and other issues with the ASUS so it's put me off.

My budget is around £400 ish.

Cheers guys.

a reply to: blupblup

buying an off lease laptop on Ebay is a good way to go. You get them really cheap, and can upgrade the ram cheap. Run it into the ground and repeat in a couple years. that way you are semi current and doing it for much less then the other guys. (plus you have more money left over for important things, like beer.)

a reply to: network dude


So like a preowned or refurbished laptop?
Yeah I was looking on ebay a while back at some Dell's.

It's an option I suppose.

a reply to: blupblup

Depending on your tech savvyness, a refurb may or may not be a way to go. No warranty would be bad way to fly imo.

I'd buy according to your needs. Audio, Video editing, Game playing etc.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: blupblup

Depending on your tech savvyness, a refurb may or may not be a way to go. No warranty would be bad way to fly imo.

I'd buy according to your needs. Audio, Video editing, Game playing etc.

Well I'm pretty set on the one linked in my OP, was more asking for advice on it's price/spec ration etc.
What do you think?

I'm a Nvidia/ATI video guy. Sorry old school gamer.


Not saying that should influence you in any way. Just that I'm not a fan of Intel Graphics. Sure they work great out of the box to view images and play movies but when you want to put the pedal to the metal a name brand one usually does the trick, just keep up on the latest drivers.

Having said that, it seems like a nice little puter.

a reply to: SLAYER69

OK cool, cheers mate.

a reply to: blupblup

Toshiba is having a sale. I've used many laptops and Toshiba has some of the best hardware / software. The aren't OMG amazing but they'll do the job for a while. Shy away from HP, they suck.

us.toshiba.com... ... $499, if you're willing to pay it.

us.toshiba.com... ...$399

neither of them have great screens though.

Acer

www.newegg.com... ...$499 (SALE), AMAZING laptop for the price and reviews are good. It has a 2.2Ghz i5, a dedicated 2gb video card, 8gb of ram, 1TB of HDD and windows 10 preinstalled.

a reply to: Antipathy17


See HP used to suck, 5 or so years ago and I had no interest in buying one... but apparently they've really turned it around and are making pretty robust machines these days and took on board all of the criticism and feedback.

They score very high in most polls and are certainly not what they once were.






But then it's all opinions.

I have people tell me to stay away from Dell, Acer, HP, ASUS and Lenovo.
There really wont be any brands left if I listened to all of these people

I actually wanted a Dell and may still get one... but I think the HP model I linked in my OP seems pretty good too.
Was just asking for opinions so cheers for adding your mate.
I did look at a Toshiba last year, summer I think (I've been researching and planning on buying a Laptop for quite a while now LOL) and they seemed decent enough.

I was going to buy a laptop this weekend... but I'm so indecisive I think I may wait until next weekend, a little more research is needed I think.

a reply to: blupblup

The first link is basically the minimum configuration I would consider purchasing at this point. I wouldn't buy any Core i3 or get less than 8 GB of RAM.

If you're wondering about how processors stack up against one another, PassMark has a really popular CPU chart with practically any processor you'll encounter scored and ranked. It's pretty useful. Consider the following (processor - score):

Intel Core i5-5200U @ 2.20GHz - 3522
Intel Core i5-6200U @ 2.30GHz - 3898
Intel Core i5-6300HQ @ 2.30GHz - 5793

Notice the i5-6300HQ outperforms the i5-6300U by about a third (and uses more juice and gets hotter).

This is more of a personal preference, but I'm not buying anything new without an SSD or at least a SSHD (hybrid mechanical HHD + integrated NAND cache). Obviously something like a 256 GB SSD comes at a premium over a 1 TB 5400 RPM SATA drive, but WELL worth it in terms of boot and loading times.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: blupblup

The first link is basically the minimum configuration I would consider purchasing at this point. I wouldn't buy any Core i3 or get less than 8 GB of RAM.

Yeah I totally agree...has to be i5 really and at least 8GB.
I'm not going OTT on the laptop as I don't do anything that requires a high end machine really, so I think that spec is fine for my needs.

This is more of a personal preference, but I'm not buying anything new without an SSD or at least a SSHD (hybrid mechanical HHD + integrated NAND cache). Obviously something like a 256 GB SSD comes at a premium over a 1 TB 5400 RPM SATA drive, but WELL worth it in terms of boot and loading times.

My mate said exactly the same... I HAVE to get an SSD fitted or buy one with one already fitted.
But in my price range all I could find was an Acer and it only had 4GB of RAM.

Hmmm I'll keep looking

Thanks for your help mate.

a reply to: blupblup

Lenovo... built in China malware waiting to suck up your info. Dell and HP, too much of their own software in them. Acer... some decent stuff. I still like my Toshibas. I have 3, all still work great, never a repair needed. Various OS's.

a reply to: blupblup

Acer Aspire E5-573G

i5-4210U 1.7GHz with boost to 2.7GHz
Dedicated Nvidia 920M 2GB
4 GB RAM

This would be perfect for you and is in your price range. The dedicated GPU makes it all the more worthwhile. I have an Acer Aspire V with a dedicated Nvidia 840M. It's great for everything you mentioned and can even do some medium end gaming. You can always upgrade the RAM, though it's a little bit of work on Acer laptops.

My Acer V has the same processor as the one I linked to but has 8 GB of RAM. I upgraded the HDD to an SSD as well.

But I can say that my Acer is a year old now and is still going strong.

originally posted by: EternalSolace
a reply to: blupblup

Acer Aspire E5-573G

i5-4210U 1.7GHz with boost to 2.7GHz
Dedicated Nvidia 920M 2GB
4 GB RAM

This would be perfect for you and is in your price range. The dedicated GPU makes it all the more worthwhile. I have an Acer Aspire V with a dedicated Nvidia 840M. It's great for everything you mentioned and can even do some medium end gaming. You can always upgrade the RAM, though it's a little bit of work on Acer laptops.

My Acer V has the same processor as the one I linked to but has 8 GB of RAM. I upgraded the HDD to an SSD as well.

But I can say that my Acer is a year old now and is still going strong.

I like the dedicated graphics for sure but yeah, RAM is a little light.
I could upgrade but that's money and hassle.
I'll have a little look, cheers.

originally posted by: jaxnmarko
a reply to: blupblup

Lenovo... built in China malware waiting to suck up your info. Dell and HP, too much of their own software in them. Acer... some decent stuff. I still like my Toshibas. I have 3, all still work great, never a repair needed. Various OS's.

I can remove bloatware etc, I don't mind that.
I will look at Acer and Toshiba and see how they stack up, spec and price wise, against the HP I'm considering.

Cheers mate

a reply to: blupblup

I have the same one listed above on Newegg with 8 gigs of ram.

www.newegg.com...

here it is again. I really think this laptop is ideal. Even if you get the 4gb on and spend 50-70 on ram.

a reply to: blupblup

Hiya

Shop online by all means but also get your ass to somewhere like PC World or a large Tesco. This is because a lot of laptops are now built from cheap, flimsy plastic and have glossy, reflective screens. They're crap to use and feel cheap and nasty. Even the buttons can feel flat and 'clackety' when they should be responsive and have sprung resistance.

You'd be gutted if one of those was delivered to the door. By checking out the build quality of one in a store you can go online and get the better price.

PS got any recs for a new animated show? Rick & Morty and One Punch Man have been played and I'm looking around for something new.

a reply to: Kandinsky


Yeah true mate, been meaning to go to PC World but I know they have quite a limited stock in the store, they don't have the one I was looking at... so Hmmmm.
That's the thing in the UK, there aren't a huge amount of places to go look at technology these days, it's mostly all online.


As for Animated stuff...

Well some older shows like

Venture Bros
The Boondocks ( I love this but not similar to R&M at all)
Archer
Frisky Dingo
Metalocalypse
Regular Show

Or some of the newer one's like

Bojack Horseman (I watched like 3 eps and wasn't impressed massively but I've heard it gets a lot more dark, emotional and just better so I'll give it another go)
Gravity Falls
Bravest warriors


There's probably lots more but I can't think lol

a reply to: blupblup

I know this isn't much to offer by way of advice, but I'll toss this out to you just as a simple food-for-thought thing when considering your purchase:

For some reason laptops have a tendency towards shiny glossy monitor screens... avoid them like the plague and make sure you get one with an anti-glare/anti-reflection type of finish on it.

When you're using a laptop, you tend to have the monitor tipped in an upwards position because, well, your using it on your lap more times than not and looking down at it instead of straight on like a desktop pc monitor. The light reflection will drive your eyes bonkers (not to mention obscuring your screen display) and you'll find yourself having to tilt your monitor downwards just to get rid of the constant glare.


Just my silly little two pence worth.

a reply to: CranialSponge


Yeah definitely and it really is an issue.
I looked and the HP I'm (almost certainly) going to buy has a matte screen so it's all good.

Thanks

originally posted by: blupblup
a reply to: CranialSponge


Yeah definitely and it really is an issue.
I looked and the HP I'm (almost certainly) going to buy has a matte screen so it's all good.

Thanks

Go with the one I linked because it's the single best option i've seen here or through my research. Plus it will give me a slight sensation of accomplishment