Author Topic: New laptop advice  (Read 168832 times)

Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #640 on: December 7, 2015, 12:20:58 pm »
Sure this has been asked before.....

Dell XPS 13 vs MacBook Air?

Which is better

eeeh - that's like BMW vs Mercedes Benz  ;D

Depends on:

1. Your context (surrounded by Macs or Windows)
2. Your level of experience with either
3. Your budget

As an operating system agnostic  :-X either one will do the job (although I must say that the Mac's tend to have a very high build quality - on the other hand, the Dell's have an excellent warranty system).

Good luck with the decision.

PS: Might be able to help a bit more if you stated what you wanted to use it for / in which context you'll be using it

Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #641 on: December 7, 2015, 12:22:01 pm »
Stick Ubuntu on it.

The Mint variant is even easier to use  ;)

Offline Cusamano

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #642 on: December 7, 2015, 12:53:55 pm »
eeeh - that's like BMW vs Mercedes Benz  ;D

Depends on:

1. Your context (surrounded by Macs or Windows)
2. Your level of experience with either
3. Your budget

As an operating system agnostic  :-X either one will do the job (although I must say that the Mac's tend to have a very high build quality - on the other hand, the Dell's have an excellent warranty system).

Good luck with the decision.

PS: Might be able to help a bit more if you stated what you wanted to use it for / in which context you'll be using it

Ok thanks,.

OS wise im not too bothered either way. Ive used both and im comfortable with both.

I'll be using it mainly for web browsing, downloading music films and streaming via plex.
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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #643 on: December 7, 2015, 01:13:35 pm »
The Mint variant is even easier to use  ;)

Never used Mint, but Ubuntu couldn't be simpler could it? Dead straightforward - runs straight after install, amazing for experienced users amazing for new users.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy

I'd imagine that pretty much all Linux installations are excellent. Great O/S.
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Offline Andy @ Allerton!

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #644 on: December 7, 2015, 01:15:48 pm »
Sure this has been asked before.....

Dell XPS 13 vs MacBook Air?

Which is better

A Windows Box will do everything a Mac can do - usually for far less and usually has far more power.

The Apple costs more, will be slower, build quality is excellent, but you pay for that - like a Skoda or a VW.

The new Skodas are built using VW parts, but with a VW you pay for the name.

I'd go for the PC myself because I don't like flushing money down the bog.
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Offline Cusamano

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #645 on: December 7, 2015, 01:35:38 pm »
A Windows Box will do everything a Mac can do - usually for far less and usually has far more power.

The Apple costs more, will be slower, build quality is excellent, but you pay for that - like a Skoda or a VW.

The new Skodas are built using VW parts, but with a VW you pay for the name.

I'd go for the PC myself because I don't like flushing money down the bog.

haha Fair point

The more people I speak to the more I edge towards the XPS
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Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #646 on: December 7, 2015, 01:41:46 pm »

Never used Mint, but Ubuntu couldn't be simpler could it? Dead straightforward - runs straight after install, amazing for experienced users amazing for new users.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy

I'd imagine that pretty much all Linux installations are excellent. Great O/S.

:D

Nice thing with mint is that it includes third party sound, video, network, etc drivers as part of the distro.

There are some Linux installations that can challenge the new user ;D

Offline Claire.

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #647 on: December 7, 2015, 01:54:37 pm »
A Windows Box will do everything a Mac can do - usually for far less and usually has far more power.

The Apple costs more, will be slower, build quality is excellent, but you pay for that - like a Skoda or a VW.

The new Skodas are built using VW parts, but with a VW you pay for the name.

I'd go for the PC myself because I don't like flushing money down the bog.

considering they're the same price, would you not rather have the VW?

Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #648 on: December 7, 2015, 02:00:51 pm »

haha Fair point

The more people I speak to the more I edge towards the XPS

Ha ha, you'll be very happy with either, the Mac will probably hold its resale value for longer (if that is important), and I personally think that the power connector (magnetic) on the Mac is absolutely boss (for prevention of those 'oops, there goes the Lappy cos someone tripped over the power cord' moments  - also, the trackpad is without peer.  if you need the accessibility features (sight impaired etc) the Mac is peerless.

With the PC, be sure to get a decent anti-virus (I'm partial to Eset Nod32). Also, install something like Adblocker for Firefox (you'd have to do that on the Mac as well - macs aren't immune to adware unfortunately).

Check the port situation as well - I can't remember offhand, but I think the Dell comes with more USB ports, etc, and if you need to chain your Lappy to a desk, the Dell comes with a built in connector for a Kensigton lock (the Mac doesn't)

Macs and their peripherals are $$$$

:D

Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #649 on: December 7, 2015, 02:04:01 pm »

considering they're the same price, would you not rather have the VW?
:D

Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #650 on: December 7, 2015, 02:05:37 pm »

haha Fair point

The more people I speak to the more I edge towards the XPS
oh yes, if you can, feel the heft of each, it might be the deciding factor

Offline Andy @ Allerton!

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #651 on: December 7, 2015, 03:49:36 pm »
considering they're the same price, would you not rather have the VW?

No because the Mac isn't capable of doing the things I use a PC for.

For Linux-y stuff, I use one of my various Linux boxes.
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Offline JongWK

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #652 on: December 8, 2015, 04:04:45 pm »
haha Fair point

The more people I speak to the more I edge towards the XPS

Make sure it's the 2016 model with 6th gen Intel chips (it's available now, but they are still selling the 2015 version alongside).
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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #653 on: December 8, 2015, 05:05:53 pm »
I've just picked up a 64GB Raspberry Pi - looks quite nice and running Raspbian (A Debian Linux O/S)

Less than £50 with a HDMI cable, a case and a Power leader plus a Network cable.
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Offline CornerFlag

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #654 on: December 8, 2015, 05:21:15 pm »
Okay so in the new year I'm looking at finally upgrading my little Acer mean machine to something with a lot more punch.  I have to do coding and other graphical work on it (plus FM2016 :D ) but it doesn't need to be top-of-the-range at all, so I'm guessing an i5 processor or equivalent would be the level I'd want, though I won't be bothering with overclocking it. 8GB of memory would be ideal but 6GB would be fine too as I can take the 4GB module out of this and plonk it into the next one with any luck.  Size of the hard drive isn't amazingly important but ideally I'd love to get an SSD in it or an SSHD.  Under £400 would be brilliant but I could possibly squeeze out another £100 if necessary.  I've seen a couple of reconditioned ones on laptopsdirect but the 3 month warranty kinda worries me.  Graphics are nearly all integrated at that level aren't they?  USB 3.0 preferred with 1 HDMI...

Looked at these:
http://www.tesco.com/direct/dell-inspiron-156-15-5558-laptop-intel-core-i3-6gb1tb/108-0720.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=108-0720  £350

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/lenovo_b50-80_intel_core_i5-5200u_8gb_500gb_15.6_windows_7-8.1_professiona_80ew00hruk/version.asp £400

Any help's appreciated!
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Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #655 on: December 10, 2015, 08:52:22 am »
Okay so in the new year I'm looking at finally upgrading my little Acer mean machine to something with a lot more punch.  I have to do coding and other graphical work on it (plus FM2016 :D ) but it doesn't need to be top-of-the-range at all, so I'm guessing an i5 processor or equivalent would be the level I'd want, though I won't be bothering with overclocking it. 8GB of memory would be ideal but 6GB would be fine too as I can take the 4GB module out of this and plonk it into the next one with any luck.  Size of the hard drive isn't amazingly important but ideally I'd love to get an SSD in it or an SSHD.  Under £400 would be brilliant but I could possibly squeeze out another £100 if necessary.  I've seen a couple of reconditioned ones on laptopsdirect but the 3 month warranty kinda worries me.  Graphics are nearly all integrated at that level aren't they?  USB 3.0 preferred with 1 HDMI...

Looked at these:
http://www.tesco.com/direct/dell-inspiron-156-15-5558-laptop-intel-core-i3-6gb1tb/108-0720.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=108-0720  £350

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/lenovo_b50-80_intel_core_i5-5200u_8gb_500gb_15.6_windows_7-8.1_professiona_80ew00hruk/version.asp £400

Any help's appreciated!

I'd go for the Lenovo
8 gigs vs 6
i5 vs i3

I reckon that will come in handy given that you're coding (and compiling) on the machine.

Offline Graeme

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #656 on: December 10, 2015, 10:03:10 am »
I'd go for the Lenovo
8 gigs vs 6
i5 vs i3

Dell vs. Lenovo

I've purchased hundreds of desktops and laptops of both brands for the local authority I work for over the last 2/3 years, pretty much the only 2 brands we've bought. The Dell kit wins hands down over Lenovo. The Lenovo kit we've found are of poor physical build quality, loaded with bloatware (You need the i5 and 2GB extra of RAM to handle that on it's own!), full of quirky faults that have required numerous patches and BIOS updates from Lenovo to resolve. The Dell kit just works, lasts and performs. Our techs never hear back from the users.

Offline Rush 82

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #657 on: December 10, 2015, 07:29:27 pm »

Dell vs. Lenovo

I've purchased hundreds of desktops and laptops of both brands for the local authority I work for over the last 2/3 years, pretty much the only 2 brands we've bought. The Dell kit wins hands down over Lenovo. The Lenovo kit we've found are of poor physical build quality, loaded with bloatware (You need the i5 and 2GB extra of RAM to handle that on it's own!), full of quirky faults that have required numerous patches and BIOS updates from Lenovo to resolve. The Dell kit just works, lasts and performs. Our techs never hear back from the users.
thats fair comment.

I've never had issues with any of my Dells - to be fair, neither with the Lenovos I've had (I uninstall all the bloat ware as a matter of course)

Offline MBL?

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #658 on: December 10, 2015, 08:08:44 pm »
Do laptops go down in price come Jan?

I'm looking for one now. Priorities are screen res/quality (ideally 15.6) and battery longevity. Any suggestion for a budget of up to £450?

Offline Andy @ Allerton!

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #659 on: December 10, 2015, 09:38:04 pm »
Dell vs. Lenovo

I've purchased hundreds of desktops and laptops of both brands for the local authority I work for over the last 2/3 years, pretty much the only 2 brands we've bought. The Dell kit wins hands down over Lenovo. The Lenovo kit we've found are of poor physical build quality, loaded with bloatware (You need the i5 and 2GB extra of RAM to handle that on it's own!), full of quirky faults that have required numerous patches and BIOS updates from Lenovo to resolve. The Dell kit just works, lasts and performs. Our techs never hear back from the users.



Dell Boy

;)
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Offline MBL?

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #660 on: December 12, 2015, 11:47:20 pm »

Offline Cusamano

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #661 on: December 13, 2015, 10:25:13 am »
Ha ha, you'll be very happy with either, the Mac will probably hold its resale value for longer (if that is important), and I personally think that the power connector (magnetic) on the Mac is absolutely boss (for prevention of those 'oops, there goes the Lappy cos someone tripped over the power cord' moments  - also, the trackpad is without peer.  if you need the accessibility features (sight impaired etc) the Mac is peerless.

With the PC, be sure to get a decent anti-virus (I'm partial to Eset Nod32). Also, install something like Adblocker for Firefox (you'd have to do that on the Mac as well - macs aren't immune to adware unfortunately).

Check the port situation as well - I can't remember offhand, but I think the Dell comes with more USB ports, etc, and if you need to chain your Lappy to a desk, the Dell comes with a built in connector for a Kensigton lock (the Mac doesn't)

Macs and their peripherals are $$$$

:D

Cheers for that mate.

Very helpful!
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Offline Bunter

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #662 on: December 14, 2015, 08:04:27 pm »
Anyone give me some advice on getting a relatively quick laptop with a fairly decent graphics card for around £500/600?

Now I've got an Acer laptop I bought around 3 years ago for about the same money, an i3 2.5ghz, 6Gb of Ram and a decent integrated GeForce graphics card, yet the processors on the market now in the comparison performance table barely seem better than the one I have, namely all the mid range ones seem to have the i5-5200U processor which seems a bit average. Anything out there with more poke for similiar money?

Offline OneTouchFooty

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #663 on: December 16, 2015, 05:36:02 pm »
Anyone recommend one the best custom laptop builders?

PC Specialist, Chillblast, Cyberpower etc.??

Offline carling

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #664 on: December 24, 2015, 10:18:34 pm »
Yeah not a laptop but is this a decent price at £299?

http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-h50-desktop-pc-amd-a10-8gb-ram-1tb-black/p2293386

Offline Red Raw

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #665 on: January 1, 2016, 09:23:13 pm »
Yeah not a laptop but is this a decent price at £299?

http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-h50-desktop-pc-amd-a10-8gb-ram-1tb-black/p2293386
It depends on what you want it for really, as far as I can see it is a sensible low/mid end PC.

The AMD FM2+ quad core processor is a couple of years old but decent (retails at about £100) and has an inbuilt graphics which will handle most things - demanding games may require an additional graphics card or lower settings.  8GB RAM an 1TB HDD is standard these days and is plenty for the majority of users.

The problem with pre-built systems is where the corners are cut.  This is all the things that most users won't notice - the power supply unit, motherboard, RAM manufacturer etc.  In all cases these will almost certainly be the cheapest items available.  This may not be a problem for some but you will find that if you are looking to upgrade any of the components a couple of years down the line your options are likely to be extremely limited - the motherboard will not allow overclocking or will have few expansion slots, the PSU won't be man enough to support additional HDDs or graphics cards and the RAM will be a value brand that is difficult to add to without ripping it all out and starting again.

One of the best things about a desktop system is the ability to add to it and do upgrades - one of my PCs is 8 years old and is still going like a train.  I think there is still plenty of potential in the FM2+ AMD platform but  the motherboard/PSU in this system almost certainly will gives you little or no headroom.

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #666 on: January 16, 2016, 05:11:42 pm »
I'm looking to buy a machine of some sort to use to surf, stream movies/shows and such, no heavy use. My budget is a bit, or very tight, around £200. I know that doesn't get you very much, which is why I'm considering buying a Chromebook or a tablet. Can I get a good laptop at such a small price?

My tablet experience isn't very good, since the one I had got old and slow pretty fast. It's some years ago so maybe a lot has happened since?

Anyone with Chromebook experience? Should be powerful enough for my userneeds?

So, I guess the question is:

Really cheap laptop, a reasonably priced Chromebook/tablet?

Please help.

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Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #667 on: January 22, 2016, 04:46:13 pm »
Any help guys...

Saw this on ebay and I need a new laptop but I've heard HP aren't all that.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291600460566?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Seems to have decent spec for what I'm after but anyone know of a similar machine, similar price but perhaps better make?

Thanks
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Offline Red Raw

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #668 on: January 24, 2016, 01:25:03 pm »
Any help guys...

Saw this on ebay and I need a new laptop but I've heard HP aren't all that.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291600460566?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Seems to have decent spec for what I'm after but anyone know of a similar machine, similar price but perhaps better make?

Thanks

I am not some kind of HP fanboy or anything (although it might seem like it from this thread) but in my experience (mostly at work) the general build quality of HP machines is absolutely fine, and generally better than the budget offerings from Lenovo or Acer.  The support on the HP website is also good and drivers etc are generally easy to find, even on pretty old kit.

The ebay/tesco laptop is a refurb which I generally wouldn't touch at that money - you can almost certainly get newer and better for less.

For instance if you wanted an AMD processor (good bang for buck but lower top end performance than Intel) see
this HP Probook 455 G3 Laptop at Ebuyer for £329.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/723849-hp-probook-455-g3-laptop-p5t06ea-abu

It has a smaller HDD (1 TB as opposed to 2TB) and less RAM (8GB vs 12 GB) but it has a newer, better version of the A10 processor (May 2012 with 2.0-2.8GHz turbo vs Jun 2015 with 1.8-3.2GHz turbo, gives 40% improvement in benchmark tests) and slightly better graphics.  The Probooks are classed as 'business' laptops and tend to be a bit more robust with improved build quality and better batteries.

Three aren't many Intel i5 options this far below £400 but in the interests of balance there is an Asus X555LA at £349.98 at http://www.ebuyer.com/732362-asus-x555la-laptop-silver-x555la-xx1230h.   This is a recent i3 processor with very low power requirements (15W) and probably sits inbetween the other two in terms of processor and graphics performance.  I bought an Asus for my lad and like it very much.

Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #669 on: January 24, 2016, 02:44:50 pm »
Thanks very much for your reply mate, It's just a few people have told me to steer clear of HP and Dell.
I was initially going to get a Dell but apparently they're slow and bulky etc etc... although to me they look pretty decent, spec wise anyway.

My budget is £500 or less really. I'll mostly be using for internet, skype.. a little bit of photography but nothing too intensive and the odd game but again, not anything super graphics reliant.
Screen has to be great and I usually have lots of stuff open... LOTS of stuff,  so RAM is fairly important too.
And yeah... I'd prefer the latest chips and models really but I know that comes at a price, would I be better of with Intel do you think, rather than AMD... I have no preference whatsoever.

I'll look in detail and the one's you linked.

Cheers mate.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2016, 02:52:40 pm by johnsmithlfc »
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Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #670 on: January 24, 2016, 04:49:40 pm »
Keep an eye out on Hot UK Deals John. There's a good laptop deal posted almost daily on there, and every week you'll see at least 1 blinding offer. The comments sections are normally fairly helpful on computer stuff too - you'll soon know whether it's a decent deal or not.

OK cheers mate, will have a look.
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Offline Red Raw

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #671 on: January 25, 2016, 01:24:39 am »
Thanks very much for your reply mate, It's just a few people have told me to steer clear of HP and Dell . . .
Of course - if you speak to enough people you will find someone to slag off every manufacturer - my neighbour (IT guy) used to swear by Dell, my brother had the worst customer experience ever with Dell and won't touch them with a bargepole.   :)
My budget is £500 or less really. I'll mostly be using for internet, skype.. a little bit of photography but nothing too intensive and the odd game but again, not anything super graphics reliant.
Screen has to be great and I usually have lots of stuff open... LOTS of stuff,  so RAM is fairly important too . . .
If you can stretch to £500 there is loads of choice.

If you run lots of stuff at the same time (I certainly do) you should probably put all your money into getting the best processor you can and that almost certainly means looking at an i5.  As far as RAM goes 8TB would keep everyone bar a photoshop pro working with raw files happy so no need to pay for any more.  Screen resolution is pretty much the same on all machines at this price point but if you shop around you will find matte (fewer reflections and bettter for work) and glossy options (pain in the ass in daylight but richer blacks and colours for watching movies in subdued light).  You can always by a bigger IPS monitor to hook up to it later.  I would not shell out for a massive HDD either, 500GB to 1TB should be tons, and if you need more you should probably be looking as a NAS/external storage - too risky trusting all your data to a laptop.

A decent processor is what will make the machine feel snappy and responsive - the recent generation i5 processors (5th gen at this price) will have competent graphics performance and should play plenty of older games at reasonable quality.  The cheaper i5 chips have two physical cores but with hyperthreading operate as quad cores - they are clocked slightly higher and tend to wipe the floor with AMD in most of the benchmarks.  AMD recover some ground on heavily threaded applications like rendering and video encoding but the gains are often marginal.  I used AMD chips in my desktops all the time because they offered a great balance between price and performance.  Sadly AMD have lost so much ground to Intel over the last few years that some folk think they may even pull out of the enthusiast market altogether.  My next build will almost certainly be based on an i5.

Anyway couple of i5 machines to consider:
Hewlett Packard HP 350 Core i5-5200U 2.2-2.7GHz 8GB 500GB 15.6" £379.97
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hewlett-packard-hp-350-core-i5-5200u-2.2ghz-8gb-500gb-15.6-dvd-sm-win-7-pr-k9j04ea/version.asp

Asus X555LA Laptop, Core i5 5200U 2.2-2.7GHz, Full HD 1080p, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD £399.98
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-asus-x555la-laptop-core-i5-5200u-27-ghz-full-hd-1080p-8gb-ram-1tb-hdd-dvdrw-ac-wifi-plus-bt-40-w

If you have £100 left in your budget maybe look at swapping out the HDD for an SSD, you can pick up 240GB for under £50 now:
Crucial BX200 240GB
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/240gb-crucial-bx200-25-ssd-sata-iii-6gb-s-sm2256-micron-16nm-tlc-nand-540mb-s-read-490mb-s-write-78k

Alternatively some external storage:
Samsung M3 Slimline 2TB Portable Hard Drive
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-samsung-m3-slimline-25-portable-usb-30-20-25-hard-drive-carbon-black-bus-powered

Or a  NAS!
Synology DS216SE Dual/2 Bay NAS
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/2-bay-synology-ds216se-desktop-nas-enclosure-800mhz-marvell-armada-cpu-256mb-ddr3-ram-gbe-2x-usb2-up
(you would need to add at least one HDD to this).

Best of luck!

Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #672 on: January 25, 2016, 09:53:23 am »
Awesome mate, thanks very much for taking the time to give me a detailed answer and help me.
Are the laptops you linked running the 5th gen i5 processor you mentioned?
Also I have about 4 External Hard Drives lol, the only reason I was looking at that HP with the huge memory and RAM was the price really. I'd like a minimum of 320gb though although 500gb would be best I guess.
I'll have a look through them all when I get home.

Cheers mate.

 8)


Eta: The Asus looks decent.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2016, 10:00:53 am by johnsmithlfc »
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Offline Red Raw

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #673 on: January 25, 2016, 01:54:47 pm »
You're welcome.   :)

Version numbering in hardware is a bit bewildering sometimes but those i5 models are both 5th generation - you can tell by the first number (i5-5200U).  The 5th gen (known as 'Broadwell') was an Intel 'tick' - moving to a smaller 14nm die size (from 22nm).  The 6th gen ('Skylake') is a 'tock' - same die size but with improvements in the microarchitecture. Skylake supports the latest version of 'Thunderbolt' - a connector which allows transfer speeds of up to  40Gbps (4 times what USB3 can do).  There is also support for DDR4 RAM, wireless charging and wireless peripherals!
 
There are 6th gen chips about now but the ones in the £500-£600 bracket laptops seem to have 4GB RAM or rather small 128GB SSDs e.g.

HP ProBook 450 G3 Intel Core i5-6200U 4GB 500GB
http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-probook-450-g3-intel-core-i5-6200u-4gb-500gb-15-6--windows-7-professional-64-bit-p4p54et-abu-BR5F.html?refs=512200000&src=3

It is easy add RAM - just a simple cover on the back of most laptops but it is usually recommended to add RAM in matched pairs so 8GB (2 x 4GB) of DDR3 is an extra £35-£45.  It is quite easy to sell the old ram on ebay.

Although there will be performance improvements in Skylake, all the add-ons are a bit 'early adopter' for my taste and I would be happy going with a 5th gen processor for a laptop that you want to get at least four years service from.  I am currently anticipating replacement of a 4-5 year old machine which has  started showing early signs of failure and these are the sorts of machines I am looking at currently.

Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #674 on: January 25, 2016, 03:45:46 pm »
Thanks very much mate. Yeah 5th gen would be fine to be honest.
I think either of those you linked in the other post, HP or Asus, would be fine, both fairly current and decent spec for the price.
I'm currently using an early 2009 Packard bell with Vista lol.
Literally anything will be better than this.

I really appreciate your help mate, thanks.
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively - Bob Marley

Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #675 on: February 4, 2016, 03:19:51 pm »
Quick question Red Raw, I'm getting the laptop this weekend but just wondered if there was a massive difference between these two?
I decided on the HP as the ASUS had some poor reviews, even thought the ASUS had the better spec and better HDD.


So these two HP models, are they the same or is there a difference?

Cheers

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hewlett-packard-hp-350-core-i5-5200u-2.2ghz-8gb-500gb-15.6-dvd-sm-win-7-pr-k9j04ea/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hp-350-g2-core-i5-5200u-8gb-500gb-dvdsm-15.6-inch-windows-7-pro-windows-8-k9j03ea-8gb/version.asp


One is the G2 but that's the only real difference I can see.

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively - Bob Marley

Offline XabiAlonsosBeard

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #676 on: February 5, 2016, 01:38:57 pm »
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-ab291sa-15-6-laptop-red-10138072-pdt.html

Can anybody give me an opinion on this?  I'm going from a MacBook but it's an older model which has seen better days.

I'm looking for something for basic usage, watching films,  music, Internet browsing and, it's main use, to play Football Manager 2016.

Will this meet those needs to a decent standard/speed?

Justice for the 96.

Loves a missed penalty!

Offline Red Raw

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #677 on: February 5, 2016, 09:09:32 pm »
Quick question Red Raw, I'm getting the laptop this weekend but just wondered if there was a massive difference between these two?
I decided on the HP as the ASUS had some poor reviews, even thought the ASUS had the better spec and better HDD.


So these two HP models, are they the same or is there a difference?

Cheers

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hewlett-packard-hp-350-core-i5-5200u-2.2ghz-8gb-500gb-15.6-dvd-sm-win-7-pr-k9j04ea/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/hp-350-g2-core-i5-5200u-8gb-500gb-dvdsm-15.6-inch-windows-7-pro-windows-8-k9j03ea-8gb/version.asp


One is the G2 but that's the only real difference I can see.
Hello mate - sorry I was a bit tied up earlier.

It looks to me like they are basically the same laptop - unfortunately it looks like your first link has sold out so I can't see the detailed specification, but searching on the model number (K9J03EA) I can see that on other sites it has been sold with 4GB of RAM, so if there was a 4GB/8GB option that might explain the slight difference in the model number.

The other one does have a near identical model number (K9J04EA) and all the important bits (processor/gpu, HDD, RAM etc) are the same and just what you said you were looking for.

It could also be that the model is offered with other different options (e.g. choice of Windows 7 Pro/ Windows 8.1) which is probably neither here nor there for most (although personally I prefer W7 Pro over 8.1).  The missing G2 moniker could be a mistake on the website - searching on that model number you will see the same machine with the G2 label on other sites.

Best of luck - after your old Vista machine it should feel like rocket!

Offline YoungKopite

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #678 on: February 5, 2016, 09:10:16 pm »
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-ab291sa-15-6-laptop-red-10138072-pdt.html

Can anybody give me an opinion on this?  I'm going from a MacBook but it's an older model which has seen better days.

I'm looking for something for basic usage, watching films,  music, Internet browsing and, it's main use, to play Football Manager 2016.

Will this meet those needs to a decent standard/speed?

That should be fine for all the things you have listed mate :). Enjoy!

Offline johnsmithlfc

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Re: New laptop advice
« Reply #679 on: February 5, 2016, 10:32:24 pm »
Hello mate - sorry I was a bit tied up earlier.

It looks to me like they are basically the same laptop - unfortunately it looks like your first link has sold out so I can't see the detailed specification, but searching on the model number (K9J03EA) I can see that on other sites it has been sold with 4GB of RAM, so if there was a 4GB/8GB option that might explain the slight difference in the model number.

The other one does have a near identical model number (K9J04EA) and all the important bits (processor/gpu, HDD, RAM etc) are the same and just what you said you were looking for.

It could also be that the model is offered with other different options (e.g. choice of Windows 7 Pro/ Windows 8.1) which is probably neither here nor there for most (although personally I prefer W7 Pro over 8.1).  The missing G2 moniker could be a mistake on the website - searching on that model number you will see the same machine with the G2 label on other sites.

Best of luck - after your old Vista machine it should feel like rocket!


Cheers mate, I thought they were probably the same.
They both have upgrades to Windows 10 anyway, although I'm sure I'll have to do it.
I shall get it ordered.

 8)
The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively - Bob Marley