Laptop Shopping Advice.

[Pidge]

Hi there folks. I'm in the early stages of looking for a new laptop and could do with some more input and advice on my progress so far. I'm nowhere near as clued up as I used to be so have been trying to judge by online research and advice. Sorry if this kind of thread irritates you.

 

Basically I'm looking for a mid-range machine which has some gaming capacity. Before you say anything, yes, I need a portable system. So it will be a laptop. It needs to represent some kind of value for money however. I can't be replacing the machine in three years at these prices. I'm not a crazy gamer but I'm looking at pretty high benchmark games like GTA4 as the measure which will mean it can keep me happy playing mid-to-high benchmark games for a decent amount of time.

 

Anyway, I've found a couple of models which seem to fit the bill.

 

The Acer Aspire 8735G

 

Play.com (UK) : Acer Aspire 8735G - 664G50MN / Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz / 4GB / 500GB / DVD-SM / 18.4" / Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit / Laptop / Notebook (LX.PHE02.005) : Computing - Free Delivery

 

Which also has a slightly cheaper option.

 

Play.com (UK) : Acer Aspire 8735G - 664G50MN / Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz / 4GB / 500GB / DVD-RW / 18.4" / Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit / Laptop / Notebook (LX.PHF02.087) : Computing - Free Delivery

 

Do you think the differences in the model (1080p, bluetooth, integrated modem etc, DVD-SM) really justify the extra £100? Especially since the model doesn't have an integrated blue-rayand I have few uses for HD on my laptop. I have wireless internet so the integrated modem is a bit pointless. Bluetooth is handy, but a luxury and the DVD drive is also pretty pointless as if I edit anything nowadays it won't be done on my laptop so have little use for a writer beyond basic data writing and back-ups.

 

and here's a model where the price difference probably is justified.

 

Sony Vaio VPCEC1S1E

 

Sony VAIO VPCEC1S1E 17.3 inch Notebook - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

 

much more expensive but it does have the integrated blue-ray, a superior processor and graphics card. It is pushing my limit in terms of price though (if it hasn't pushed and broken that limit).

 

What are people's opinions on the Vaio range? and which would you go for?

[Allan]

I've had 3 laptops over the years, and they've all been Vaios, I now also have a Vaio desktop machine, as well as a Vaio laptop.

 

The one thing I will say about the Vaio machines that I've owned is that the disk drives seem to give up the ghost after a few years, all 3 of the laptops I own(ed) have suffered some sort of drive malfunction over time.

 

Apart from the drive issues, which may just be my bad luck, every Vaio I've had has been top notch.

 

Defo worth looking around for reviews before committing to a machine.

[R Kid]

I've had 3 laptops over the years, and they've all been Vaios, I now also have a Vaio desktop machine, as well as a Vaio laptop.

 

The one thing I will say about the Vaio machines that I've owned is that the disk drives seem to give up the ghost after a few years, all 3 of the laptops I own(ed) have suffered some sort of drive malfunction over time.

 

Apart from the drive issues, which may just be my bad luck, every Vaio I've had has been top notch.

 

Defo worth looking around for reviews before committing to a machine.

 

And to add to this a drive is a simple thing to replace, anyone can do it.

[Pidge]

It might be simple but a replacement blue-ray drive will not be cheap. Thanks for the input so far.

 

I've done a bit of research as far as reviews go, the Vaio is very highly rated by expertreviews and the components for both are quite well rated by notebookchecker. Nothing on cnet for either though.

 

Notebookcheck: Sony Vaio VPCEC1S1E/BJ

[Captain]

He's talking about the disk drive (as in hard disk), not the BD drive.

 

Whatever you end up with, I strongly recommend getting a SSD instead of conventional hard disk. It does wonders for the performance of the machine.

[R Kid]

He's talking about the disk drive (as in hard disk), not the BD drive.

 

Whatever you end up with, I strongly recommend getting a SSD instead of conventional hard disk. It does wonders for the performance of the machine.

 

Yeah but they also cost a small fortune, and what are the sizes like on them?

 

If you look here a 500GB drive costs £1000, and that would be the minimum you would need as a 60GB solid state drive still costs £125, and buy time you have your OS installed that wont last 5 minutes.

 

For a £1000 you could buy a 2 top of the range 1TB hard drives and still have money left over for a holiday.

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

Forget all ones mentioned.

 

Keep your eye on this daily and you'll bag a bargain:

 

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&lob=INSP&s=dfh

 

Grade 1 Scratch and Dent machines are all brand new funnily enough with none scratch or dents, just customer returns.

 

You can get a Dell 1558 Studio for £500.

 

EDIT: Just seen you want a bigger screen.

 

They have Dell 1749 Studios too with BD drives.

 

I paid £700 with my Studio 1747 with the following spec:

 

Opted for a Dell Studio 1747. Got the following spec for £700 delivered:

 

Studio 1747

Engiish Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

System Price : £580.93

Operating System

English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)

Memory 4096MB (2x204 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel

Hard Disk Drive 500GB Serial ATA (7200RPM)

Video Graphics 1 GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650

Media Bay Optical Drive Blu-Ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM)

DriveNoteBook Screen 17.3in Full High Definition (1920X1080) LED with TrueLife

Black ChainlinkMISC

Camera Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera

Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard

Primary 9-cell 85W/HR LI-IONBase

Studio 1747Processor

Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)

Edited June 26, 2010 by 1892-LFCWasBorn

[Captain]

Yeah but they also cost a small fortune, and what are the sizes like on them?

 

If you look here a 500GB drive costs £1000, and that would be the minimum you would need as a 60GB solid state drive still costs £125, and buy time you have your OS installed that wont last 5 minutes.

 

Speak for yourself. I'm sitting on a 60GB SSD on this laptop, and I've got plenty of space left.

 

The question the OP needs to ask himself is of course if he really needs a 500GB drive. If he does, he'll have to live with a slower laptop.

[R Kid]

Just noticed but John Lewis are having a sale on with some products 50% off.

[R Kid]

Speak for yourself. I'm sitting on a 60GB SSD on this laptop, and I've got plenty of space left.

 

The question the OP needs to ask himself is of course if he really needs a 500GB drive. If he does, he'll have to live with a slower laptop.

 

yeah i noticed that there was notebooks with ssd's in them. Of course with a notebook then you wouldn't need a large amount of space but if he doesn't have a PC to back up to or he will be needing lots of HDD space then he may come unstuck.

[Navman]

I have got the i7 version of that Sony laptop

I dont like the HD actually and the mouse pad is not great

 

But performance wise it is excellent - battery life not great

 

Look for voucher discounts for the currys website - I managed to buy it for 10% off

[Pidge]

will look into it. Do you have the product code for the i7 model?