Advice on buying a Laptop

[Psychosis]

Advice on buying a Laptop

It's my birthday soon. Having a large family means that I will be getting a decent amount of money coming my way. I'm after a laptop in the £300-£400 range, as that is what I will realistically be able to afford. This laptop will mainly be used for gaming, online and offline. Games such as Fallout III, Batman: Arkham Asylum, maybe even a bit of Left 4 Dead. I've found a laptop on PC World that has been refurbished, and it looks to me like 'The One'. I have Googled reviews and info on this laptop but I'm not getting much. I need some second opinions.

This is the link to the laptop: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/823750

Please tell me what you think. Is it a decent machine? Is it capable of gaming? Nothing hardcore like Crysis, mind. Feedback will be very much appreciated as I am not much of a tech-geek myself.

 

[Man]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

i dont really trust Acers for gaming. those are more like business laptops. i would go with a dell. ive seen some for for 500 USD with the same specs as that. plus, dells are more game capable i think

 

[Psychosis]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

I have a lot of faith in Acer laptops. My mother's ex-partner was an admin and co-manager of a computer company where I live. He used to sneakily steal laptops from work and bring them home to try them out. He was into gaming too. I remember he brought home an Acer laptop once and was playing games on it all night.

 

[Psychosis]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

My concerns are as follows:
It's not worth half that price... not in the states anyway. New perhaps.
ATI chipset, X1250, omitted from listed specs (which should put most people off). For those games you'll want something a little more powerful, like X1600. The biggest difference is the shaders, 1600 is 3.0 for vertex/pixel shaders, 1250 is just 2.0. That and the 1250 was built for Intel notebooks and that laptop is an AMD, drivers might act weird but it shouldn't be too much of an issue. The processor is a little weak too, but this and the chipset bit won't be a big deal if you don't mind playing on lower graphic settings.

At the risk of coming across both ignorant and stupid, could you possibly put all that into terms I'd understand completely? I mean, I do 'get' what you're saying, I just want to make sure. I'm seriously not good at tech-speak.

 

[sassy]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

As far as brands go, I would pick a toshiba over almost anything else. I have a gateway that sucks, but we have a toshiba that has never given us any problems and it's way faster. I have played on a few dells and an hp laptop and I still prefer the toshiba. I'm not much for tech speak, but look for something that gives you the most power and speed for the money you have and don't settle for something just because it's cheap like I did.

 

[Angel]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

Honestly? Put the money towards getting something far better - something more powerful and preferably not Acer. I don't like Acers. There's a reason they are always on offer in computer shops or given away free with mobile phone contracts...

You could always have a go at building your own custom PC for gaming - it's not that hard. I haven't put one together in a loooong time but I can't imagine it's suddenly gotten so much more complicated than it was before. Might cost you a bit, but it'd be worth it.

Whatever you decide to do, shop around and don't pay attention to anything the salesmen say. They know about as much about computers as my son does about quantum physics.

 

[Noctus]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

What Angel suggested. If you get one built for you, you have a canvas. If you ever want to change anything inside it, you can do that. If you buy a laptop like Acer, it will use a Chipset Family which means if you don't like part of it, too bad, you're stuck with it.

 

[Psychosis]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

Thanks for all the advice so far. I think I'll probably keep searching until I find something a bit better. And thank you John for translating (dumbing down) all that stuff for me, it makes sense now.

EDIT: I've decided not to commit to that Acer laptop. I'll keep searching and try to find something more worth the money. Although I may need guidance, I don't really know my elbow from my knee when it comes to decent computers. DS has told me that it's definitely worth getting a laptop custom-built, but wouldn't that be expensive?

EDIT II: Just emailed a nearby computer company who do custom-built computers to see if they can help me.

 

[Angel]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

It doesn't have to be a laptop - unless you need it to be for the convenience of mobility. A custom PC may possibly be a slightly cheaper option, depending on what you want to do with it. If you do get a laptop, be aware of battery life as after a while they can last about 5 minutes before they require charging and don't always warn you when they are about to cut out all of a sudden.

Steve's laptop, when he bought it a couple of years ago, was pretty top stuff - now the battery manages about 3-5 minutes on full charge before it dies and needs plugging in, so be careful. If you can go for it, go for a desktop.

 

[Noctus]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

Desktops have problems of their own though, mine totally died because of a power cut and I got the BSoD. If a power cut happens on a Laptop, it will just go to the battery for a while giving you time to shut it off.

 

[Psychosis]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

I've started thinking about a dekstop computer now. It seems to be a cheaper and easier option, although the element of mobility (which is the main thing for me) isn't there. What sort of desktop computer would I be after for medium-quality gaming?

 

[Psychosis]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

You just pointed at every car in the world and asked "which one is affordable but has good mileage?"

Yeah, you're probably right. I'm better off getting a 360 and a cheap netbook for what I'm after.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

as far as brands go, i'll just say the 3 that haven't failed me.
Toshiba Satellite, HP, and Sony Vaio.

Dell deserves an honerable mention, the Dell inspirons especially as they are all afordable and good for what you pay. but much like the 360 i get the feeling they are made to break right after the warranty expires.

 

[Tiamatria]

Re: Advice on buying a Laptop

In short, if you're one of those crazy pricks who jacks the gameplay settings as high as they go on your Alienware desktop that you got for Christmas, this laptop is not for you.

This.

I wish I could afford a $3000 Alienware desktop... if I could, I wouldn't be jacking it up as high as it goes, but I'd still be doing the 10,000 watermelon drop on the Adoring Fan. Probably with my graphics settings jacked all the way up, on an Alienware I'd still probably get about 4x the framerate that guy got. Lol.