Key Post: I'm looking for a reliable new laptop

B

barrycondon

Guest
Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations for new laptops ?
Budget between €1300 and €1900


Reliability is the main requirement.

Thanks in Advance,
Barry
 
laptops

You really have alot of options. The first thing to do is decide what sort of spec you want for the machine and then compare manufacturers for the best deal.

www.dell.ie
 
Mac laptop

For the price range you quoted Barry I think the iBook is great value. I have mine over 18 months now and never had a problem. Many admiring comments too from PC users - it's light (relatively) if you carry it around a bit. Mac's come out on top of most reliability surveys I have seen.
Would also recommend a USB flashdrive (eg pen-drive) to facilitate transferring data between the iBook and PC's as doesn't have a floppy drive.
 
Dell vs. Apple

iBook does look impressive. Is a 12.1-inch display not a bit too small though? The Dell equivalent is 15".
Also the iBook has only a CD-Rom while the Dell has a CD-RW Drive. The Dell offers 256Mb versus only 128MB for the iBook.
Not sure how to compare the different processors but 1.6GHz (only a Celeron but okay as long as not hugely into graphics) compared to only 700MHZ?

Seems that the Dell offers way more without any portability issues (and has a floppy drive). Saying all that the iBook looks better if cosmetic appearance is important!

my vote : the Dell

PS I am not a Dell employee or shareholder
 
Mac vs. PC

I'm no computer expert but apparently one cannot compare the Mac and PC proceesor speeds (MHz). If one wants DVD/CD RW it is still in budget at €1693 :) and even if 14" is important it's just over budget at €1935 :p.
Likewise I have no vested interest (apart from being originally from Cork :rupert where Apple have a plant!).
If like myself you're a bit of a novice make sure you have a friend who's a Mac whiz for advice otherwise it might safer stick with a PC/Dell.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC

I recently moved to a laptop for home use (still have the desktop PC). I plumped for a Toshiba as there was a deal on at the time in PC World (€600 off). I spent a lot of time doing homework though. I'd advise anyone to do the same. See what's out there. Go to www.zdnet.com and look at the reviews for the various manufacturers' offerings. Try to go for a higher end machine that will ensure longevity of life time. The only draw back with laptop machines is that they aren't very upgradable. Memory seems to be all you can do at the moment. However, I would imagine that as time wears on, they will become more and more so.

Another thing to consider buying is a separate keyboard and mouse and, maybe down the road, a monitor. Some laptops come with a docking station capability which allows them to connect to a sort of hub to which you connect keyboard, mouse and monitor. Rather than unplugging everything when you're going on the road, the laptop just snaps out. When you return, snap it back in and you're ready to go.

It's also worth while looking at various tests that magazines run from time to time. Have a look at www.pcpro.co.uk. They regularly run 'labs' tests where they pick a particular component or peripheral and test against multiple manufacturers.
 
Re: Mac vs. PC

I have a compaq 1750 for the last 3 years. No longer state of the art, a mere 400Mhz, the beauty of it is its ruggedness. Its built like a brick, and almost as heavy, but it has stood up to the most severe abuse i've dished out to it. It has travelled throughout Ireland thrown (literally, sometimes!) in the boot of the car, in, on or under, briefcase, suitcase and miscellaneous junk. Never once has it let me down or failed to boot up. Colleagues with newer, lighter, sleeker machines, including the newer compaqs, have had far more reliability issues.

They don't make 'em like that any more.
 
.

Not sure how to compare the different processors but 1.6GHz (only a Celeron but okay as long as not hugely into graphics) compared to only 700MHZ?
Click to expand...

The Mac uses a different chip set than PCs. You simply can't compare clock cycles like this. PCs have 'bottle necks' inherant in their design. Mac chip set is more efficient (at least it was a few years ago)

It's horses for courses. What are you going to use the machine for? - games? - graphic design? - light wordprocessing?
 
Re: .

Yes - MHz comparisons are often meaningless not only for PC's versus Macs but even for PCs versus PCs in some cases (e.g. Intel versus AMD processors or similar speed processors from the same manufacturer in PCs with significantly different architectures, caches, buses etc.).
 
Re: Mac vs. PC

I plumped for a Toshiba as there was a deal on at the time in PC World (€600 off).
Click to expand...

Well going on the Toshiba that I bought almost 3 years ago and from my experiance of same PCWorld should have been giving the dam thing away or better still paying u for taking it away. The bloody thing was broken down so many times it was unreal.
 
reliable

Given that 'Reliability is the main requirement.' you should look to Dell but Latitude rather than Inspiron as you can get a 3 year warranty rather than 1 year.

www.euro.dell.com/countri...ebooks.htm

Also, it might be worth holding off for a few weeks as I think Dell are to launch a new Laptop series shortly with a new Intel chip designed specifically for Laptops.
 
Re: reliable

Also, it might be worth holding off for a few weeks as I think Dell are to launch a new Laptop series shortly with a new Intel chip designed specifically for Laptops.

Q. When is the best time to buy a pc?
A. Six months after you have bought it :)
 
Re: reliable

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the advice.
IN the meantime, I got a toshiba for €1616 incl VAT

I was leaning toward the dell but the it was too pricey.
Looks and goes great so far !

14.1 inch monitor
20gb hard drive
256 sdram
1.4 or 1.6 ghz chip ??
cd/dvd player
runs on windows xp
sound card etc etc

Kind Regards,
Barry
 
Re: reliable

Hi Barry,
Enjoy it! I've got a 20GB HD as well which I find a little pokey. I've got a CD-RW/DVD drive so I can burn stuff onto CDRW if things get a little cramped. I might also consider buying a second battery. It's great to be able for the kids to watch a movie on long car journeys!

I'm also starting to investigate the possibilities of hooking it up to the IrishWAN wireless network (or just establish my own wireless network at home) so I don't have to hook up a phoneline when I want to connect to the Internet.
 
Please let us know how you get on

I am also interested in some sort of wireless access for my laptop at home, but don't know much about it.

Will you post what you find out? Thanks in advance.

Bubbles
 
Re: Please let us know how you get on

I don't want to take over the discussion here with this topic but a good starting point is IrishWAN. From there you can talk to people around the country who have established wireless networks. Some (most) provide Internet access for a nominal fee (maybe about €30). This is probably the best you're going to get until broadband is established. I don't know why the likes of Eircom & EsatBT aren't using this technology to provide some sort of always on Internet access. But, again, that's another topic ...

Anyway, the nice folks over at IrishWAN will get you kitted out and everything.

I was going to get involved but with flat-rate Internet access around the corner, I'll probably just set something up at home (paying extra attention to security issues). If you want more info about that sort of project, PM me.
 
Re: Please let us know how you get on

You can read more about IrishWAN [broken link removed]. A more "traditional" wireless networking setup would involve a WiFi 802.11 PC card in your laptop talking to an Access Point which connects to your main internet link (ISDN, ADSL, cable etc.). There's loads of information on the web about this stuff if you want to look for yourself.
 
Re: Please let us know how you get on

ClubMan,
Don't suppose you've ever come across an 'access point' for PSTN lines or are these a thing of the past? I'd like a nice and tidy solution but it looks like I'll need to employ a cheap PC with a wireless device + a modem upon which I'd need to set up Internet connection sharing.

Thanks for any tips you might have.
 
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