Back on the laptop tip here. Am considering a few options, par example:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158888

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158353

(Noted what nntt said about Toshiba)

Naturally I still have questions and confusion:

2gig ram minimum, more wouldn't hurt. 160 gb HDD is probably enough. Maybe it is worth me getting something cheaper with lower specs and adding ram?

Processor, I don't know what's better out of Intel / AMD, are they roughly comparable?

Graphics, this confuses me too, in the above examples the HP has a small GFX card, whilst the Toshiba has intergrated GFX with more memory assignable. Which is better?

Also, Vista, I've never heard anything good about this, although I've used it at a friend's house and it seems a bit inferior to XP in useability but not badly so. What problems are there with software and shizzle??

Etc etc.

Ta :) 

Looking at tech 5 months after I bought stuff makes me sad :(

The Toshiba is almost identical to mine. From experience, it's a nice machine, runs all my apps without slow down and lets me edit stupidly over-sized PSDs without any lag. Does suffer as a gaming machine (altho not sure if you want a laptop you can game on). While it runs recent games fairly well (runs source engine stuff fine, been playing Demigod a lot on it recently without a hitch), it'll struggle with top end stuff (and sometimes flat out refuse to run (see DoW2)) as well as the occaisional old game that doesn't support it's API properly.


The HP model is easily better spec'd. Likewise, don't know how the Intel vs AMD chips stack up, but certainly for mobile gaming and ting it'll do better, not sure what HP's build quality is like, I imagine it's not terrible (and you're unlikely to take your laptop to a field for several days or have it sat on top of vibrating things ;) but mebe someone else has experience with them.


As for Vista, dunno about the HP, but the Toshibas come with an XP Pro disc since while they are contractually obliged to install Vista, they are well aware it's shite... 

Note, a lot of my points there relate to the different graphic chips more than anything. The Intel GMA just isn't a gaming chip (altho the 4500X does at least manage to cope most of the time, the older versions tended to fall over sideways a lot more). 

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_6920G_Gemstone_Blue_Laptop_LX.APQ0X.657/version.asp?PID=

Horrid brand, nice price + features :) 

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_6530G_Laptop_LX.AUS0X.213/version.asp?PID= 

NNTT, that's the bizzle I'm on about.

Not bothered about gaming that much. Editing large PSDs n shizzle, yeah. Reliablity and stuff very important too.

Interesting point about Toshiba supplying XP, that could be handy. But I don't know how bad Vista actually is...

Ricky: Too expensive. �400 max, and I've got to include an optical mouse with that too. 

Those are hawt.

Spenny tho (not for what you get I'll admit, but for 'a laptop' as it were) 

I would go for a standard sized laptop if you can afford one because then you could by a better GPU at a later date if you so wished.

TBH the GMA 4500HD chipset isnt too bad. I got one to play Quake Live but on high settings it was 10-20 fps and on low settings it was a stuttery 30-40.

Heh - reminds me of my freind recently, ended up spending �600 on a new PC box. He came to me saying "what can you find me for �400" I said to him it was false economy because he might as well pay an extra �200 (�600 is still pretty cheap for a gaming PC) and he would have something which was a lot more futureproof and he would get a lot more use out of.

But yeah - your basically stumped. I would recommend Intel centrino/Core 2 Duo processors. And your not going to get anything much better than a Intel GMA chipset for that money, but they are OK for internet and old games. To a degree.

Don't you think that getting a blu-ray and full gaming capabilities for an extra �150 is worth it? 

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/FO_-_Asus_F6V-3P087C_Laptop_-_GRADE_B_-_Minor_Cosmetic_Damage_42672-1%5CF6V-3/version.asp?PID=

Heres a good site for checking out your mobile chipsets with benchmarking: (I have found the benchmarks for the GPU in the afforementioned link)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3470.9594.0.html 

Don't you think that getting a blu-ray and full gaming capabilities for an extra �190 is worth it?

No. It's not intended for gaming (I'll update my home one for that) and I have no interest in blu ray, I don't know what it is.

I'd rather spend, say �400 getting a decent laptop, and �400 at some point updating my PC to run modern games well, rather than �600 on a laptop that will do games "okay" but still not be good enough for modern games.

The Asus looks quite nice, I was attracted to smaller laptops but now I'm not so sure. I could be tempted if there was a good value 14.4" though.

What about Asus / Acer as brands, though?? 

Really, very nice.

They sell Acers in Aldi! Not so good TBH, although im sure they do a fine job really ;) Probably weigh more.

no interest in blu ray, I don't know what it is.

Blu Ray is HD movies. 4 or 9 times as many pixels on the screen as your average DVD, if you have a HD TV that is. You can reant a Blu Ray from Blockbusters and watch it on your TV using your laptop as a player. You need a special drive to read the disc though. PS3s have them in. You would connect your laptop to your HDTV using a HDMI cable (HDMI to HDMI) which also carries high quality sound :)


I can totally understand what your saying about playing games at home and needing "work" type laptop. The GMA 4500HD is a hell of a lot better than the GMA3100, but dont be fooled by the size of the intergrated memory, it has no bearing on the speed of the thing.

I would go for a good Intel processor. And a HDD with atleast 5400rpm. And RAM at atleast 667mhz.

As for which processor - well you want a "Core 2 Duo/Centrino" - Not to be mixed up with "Dual Cores". The Dual Cores kinda suck, although they are better than single cores.

Heres a thread which shows the full heirarchy of processors (keep scrolling after you hit the first part because they are in about four blocks down the thread) 

Well the new ATI 4770 is a hell of a piece of kit and costs only �80 at most!

Just though I'd mention it, they only launched this week.... 

Shambler, if �400 is a hard limit and there's simply no way you can go any more expensive (borrow cash from a mate, etc) then fair enough, but an extra �50-�100 can go a really long way.

I started out looking for a �400 laptop last summer, but ended up getting a �540 one. Incredibly glad I did, this will last me a while.

Coincidentally, I got a similar, previous version of the laptop Ricky recommended before.

I bought mine off Amazon and got a great deal, so I had a look if I could find a bargain on the 6930g there. Low and behold, here it is for �499
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-AS6530G-Blu-Ray-DVD-SuperMulti/dp/B001W0ZWE6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241182859&sr=1-1
Saving of �70 there.

Alternatively, with no Bluray, and a cheap graphics card, there's this for �448:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aspire-16-inch-Laptop-Premium-GeForce/dp/B001G7PI2Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241183624&sr=1-2

I can vouch for the short delivery times and the general quality of the laptops, no complaints. 

lo and behold 

since this is the hardware thread, recently picked up a Logitech G9 mouse after lusting after one for a while. Holy balls this is one high-quality piece of kit. 

I want the laptop for the same sort of stuff I'm currently using my desktop for, except for gaming. My desktop is basically a 2003 PC, just with an updated GFX card and 2gb of ram. I am pretty sure the sort of laptops I'm looking at will not only be adequate but excessive for my needs. I'd rather spend a few quid less than a few quid more.

(And put the few quid towards updating this old clunker (which is still very satisfactory for everything except the Crysis demo)). 

I want one :) 

fair enough. If you aren't using it for gaming and don't want a big screen then that's money wasted I guess. Had another look around and found another Acer for you, coming in at �391. T5800 Processor, 3 GB ram.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-15-6-inch-Laptop-Intel/dp/B001G7PI26/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241196696&sr=1-1

Also, you said you were looking for an optical mouse too, heard this is good on a budget but haven't used one myself:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-OEM-RX1000-Laser-Mouse/dp/B000GQMJ8E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241197519&sr=1-2

Hope that helps.


Ricky
Yeah I know man. Ridiculous how quick components drop in value and your existing kit becomes worthless! That laptop would play current games well, for �448. Crazy talk... 

Yeh, Shambler already proved I've lost 50� in the last 4 months for a start :( 

i see they finally brought back the forward/back side buttons on their mice, instead of just a back button alone.

i might finally buy a new mouse instead of always going back to mx500/518 mice, although i still think the mx500/518 was the best mouse design ever for comfort and utility. 

I'm still using my 510. Lovely blue turtle shell effect too... 

Is fine so far, there's some problems with compatability, but to be honest alot of the crap I'm having problems with was due to change anyway.

Also, I'm looking for a thumbtrack mouse - any suggestions? 

By thumb track I mean those that you don't move - they have a trackball, but a thumb operated one. They're pretty rare it seems, logitech had a few models.

I forked out 50 quid for my last one a few years ago. They're wierd to get used to but the precision and speed is worth it, as well as being able to operate with minimal movement being a bonus.