New Laptop

[Shirosaki]

New Laptop

My current one has just completely died and I'm looking for a new one. I want it to be suitable for good quality gaming but mostly fast and handy for general use.

I need it to be cheapish too since I'm becoming a student and I can't be in too much debt before I start since I'll be buying on hire purchase

I'll be buying from PC World so if anyone in-the-know could have a look for me I'd greatly appreciate it ^_^

 

[D3m190d]

Re: New Laptop

Uhh, lol. I'm in the exact same situation. >_> Even the closest computer store is called Pc-wereld, which is PC-world in english. =| Soo, I can't give advice, because I need it mysel,f too. xD Anyway, my best friend is a little into computers and could at least tell me ''NO COMPAQ''. And stressed on that point, a little more...
Oh, right. Mine doesn't have to game, but I'm still becoming a student.

 

[Angel]

Re: New Laptop

PC World! The Horror!

To be fair, PC World won't offer you a good gaming laptop for a decent price. However, depending on your budget, you can get one for as "cheap" as 580 quid for bottom of the range. They do sell Alienware laptops but seeing as Alienware are now owned by Dell, they're not as good as they ought to be.

If you can forgo the majority of gaming, a Macbook would be better value for money. You can get some games for it, not many, but performance would be improved.

 

[Shirosaki]

Re: New Laptop

Uhh, lol. I'm in the exact same situation. >_> Even the closest computer store is called Pc-wereld, which is PC-world in english. =| Soo, I can't give advice, because I need it mysel,f too. xD Anyway, my best friend is a little into computers and could at least tell me ''NO COMPAQ''. And stressed on that point, a little more...
Oh, right. Mine doesn't have to game, but I'm still becoming a student.

Good luck with your search ^_^

PC World! The Horror!

To be fair, PC World won't offer you a good gaming laptop for a decent price. However, depending on your budget, you can get one for as "cheap" as 580 quid for bottom of the range. They do sell Alienware laptops but seeing as Alienware are now owned by Dell, they're not as good as they ought to be.

If you can forgo the majority of gaming, a Macbook would be better value for money. You can get some games for it, not many, but performance would be improved.

I'm looking for one from about £350 to £600 maximum and I've seen a few but I'm not sure what specs I should be looking for. All I've noticed so far is that I like the look of ones with 5GB RAM etc better than other's of its price with less, but that must mean that they are better in other ways.. right?

 

[Angel]

Re: New Laptop

Is there any reason why it has to be PC World?

 

[Shirosaki]

Re: New Laptop

Is there any reason why it has to be PC World?

My mum is a control freak and likes to control whatever I buy; she thinks that PC World is the only legit "computer shop" in the world

 

[Angel]

Re: New Laptop

Oh dear, oh dear! Can you not convince her that they are rip-off merchants in polyester suits with half an IT qualification between them? :lol:

Well, if you're stuck with that dreadful place then you might as well make the most of it. But I think you really might have to go without the decent gaming setup - most laptops will have the bare necessities to install a game but it would take something fairly substantial to run something that isn't over 5 years old. The closer you can get to your 600 quid limit, the better - if it's cheap, you'll be getting what you pay for; crap. My laptop cost about a grand and it can't run anything more than the Sims Double Deluxe and Age of Mythology :lol:

Get your mum on here - we'll talk some sense into her

 

[Shirosaki]

Re: New Laptop

I think I'll drop the gaming side of things considering my low budget since I have an Xbox 360 gathering dust upstairs.

Do you know anywhere better where I can buy more decent stuff on hire purchase? I could try and convince my mum that "my cousin bought from there, it's cool I swear" or something :lol:

Thanks for all this help by the way.

 

[Steve]

Re: New Laptop

I'd recommend purchasing directly through dell.co.uk rather than buying a laptop from PC World. Dell will also allow you to pay using monthly instalments (although they ask for a criminally high percentage if you don't buy outright).

 

[Angel]

Re: New Laptop

If you can avoid hire purchase, then do so - the interest rates alone are disgusting and unless you read the small print carefully you could wind up forking out almost twice the amount, if not more, than the original price tag.

There are a lot of good online companies out there - Amazon is a great option and they have incredibly customer service to back you up if things were to go wrong. We buy almost everything from Amazon, including a lot of Steve's custom PC parts, and seeing as his job revolves around computers, they are definitely worth looking into. Also, Steve doesn't like spending unless he really has to - Amazon fit both budget and safety. You cannot get ripped off by them and they won't suddenly run off with your mum's money :lol:

 

[Noctus]

Re: New Laptop

My current one has just completely died and I'm looking for a new one. I want it to be suitable for good quality gaming but mostly fast and handy for general use.

My friend has this laptop and it's perfectly capable of running games. Seen it run Portal really well in decent spec.

Really though, you'll never get a good gaming laptop unless you fork out thousands. If that's what you're after a good gaming computer, get a desktop.

 

[Shirosaki]

Re: New Laptop

I've sort of cut it down to 1 of 2. Could I ask for your opinion(s) on them Angel?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-5734z-06539263-pdt.html

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/dell-inspiron-1546-black-04927895-pdt.html

 

[Angel]

Re: New Laptop

Forget the Dell, straight off. I have a Dell Inspiron 1721 and the battery life is next to nothing after a while - which means you have to lug around the power brick (which also gets REALLY hot) so you may as well not have a portable computer at all. Also the keys are really ropey - I managed to completely knock off the comma key on Steve's Inspiron with the minimum of force. They are quite wobbly and the touchpad is so incredibly sensitive you'll spend half your time undoing actions you had no intention of carrying out in the first place.

The Dell is marginally better for gaming but not worth the extra money it commands - also, Dell laptops get stupidly hot at the sides; they're pretty susceptible to getting dusty and overheat quite frequently.

If I were to go for anything, it would be the Advent - the specs are very similar to the other laptops but the price is the better one. If not that one, then the Acer. To be blunt, all of them are crap but if your hands are tied then I'd personally go for Advent, then Acer and finally Dell if there really is no other option.

 

[asatre]

Re: New Laptop

if you DO get a mac, know this:
you could get a PC with more power for less cash.
but mac's look pretty.
also, dont worry about gaming on a mac.
you can have bootcamp: gaming on one side, school stuff on the other. thats what i do.
all my gaming's on my PC division, n my school stuff is on my Mac side. NICE.

 

[Sean]

Re: New Laptop

You are lucky. The only computer I have is a Dell from 2003 or something...

 

[GrimWhim]

Re: New Laptop

Uhh, lol. I'm in the exact same situation. >_> Even the closest computer store is called Pc-wereld, which is PC-world in english. =| Soo, I can't give advice, because I need it mysel,f too. xD Anyway, my best friend is a little into computers and could at least tell me ''NO COMPAQ''. And stressed on that point, a little more...
Oh, right. Mine doesn't have to game, but I'm still becoming a student.

If I'm correct, my computer is actually a Compaq and I've had it for a little over five years now. Had a few problems but they were mostly self-induced.

However, I can safely say that this is not a gaming PC and I'm doubtful that any of them are.

---

For brand name computers that are geared towards gaming, you want to try Alienware. Laptops run around $1000, right? Somewhere up there, unless you get a cheap crummy one but that would be counterproductive seeing as how you want one that can game and a cheap one would do the opposite.

Hm... PC World, huh? Can't say I'm envious of you. Is there positively no way you could order one online? Because I doubt you'll find anything cheap and good in a local store.

 

[Shirosaki]

Re: New Laptop

Thanks for all your help guys, especially Angel ^_^

I think I'm going to settle on this.

Any thoughts?

 

[Angel]

Re: New Laptop

Out of your choices, they are all adequate and as a student, it's all you'll really need. The Acer is not really all that different to the Advent aside from the price and with any luck PC World will chuck in some free aftercare.

 

[Noctus]

Re: New Laptop

Advent are rubbish. I had an Advent laptop for a while and it just fell apart due to to cheap build. But they are good value, and they sell well if you ever want to sell it on.

 

[Shirosaki]

Re: New Laptop

Advent are rubbish. I had an Advent laptop for a while and it just fell apart due to to cheap build. But they are good value, and they sell well if you ever want to sell it on.

That is exactly what happened to mine, the back has fallen off and the screen is hanging at it's hinge

The laptop I wanted has become unavailable for some annoying reason, so I'm getting this (hopefully) instead.

I have a couple of questions though, is an "integrated" graphics card good enough to play games to a fair quality?

Are AMD Turion processors any good compared to Intel processors?

Are ATI graphics cards any good?