laptops

[benmurrihy]

I have preliminary approval to purchase a laptop for Uni, but the range is quite daunting. I have in mind the basics of what I want - something midrangish, mainly for easy stuff but capable of being used for watching stuff

Comments

[theducks]

That's why you should buy your computer from a company that has three options for laptops - white ($1449) black ($2049) and silver ($2599)

[frenchiephish]

Heh, when I saw 1 comment on this post, you know, that's exactly the comment I expected to see and from the person I expected to see it from.

[dannipenguin]

The company who requires you to take your laptop back to the shop on a yearly basis, and then will often do a substandard job of repairing it anyway. The company who knows full well that they can treat you like this because you're enough of moron to keep buying machines off them regardless of just how useless they are.

[wintal]

There is a vast quantity of laptops on the market. I remember when I was looking at Sony ones finding stupidly similar laptops available. The bad news for you is that going into the store will probably result in getting dodgy advice :P

You need to work out what specs you want:
- price range
- screen size and resolution
- weight
- minimum CPU speed (if there is one)
- does it need integrated dvd drive
- will it be used for gaming
- amount of memory
- anything 'special' it needs to have

If you actually go work all this out, you'll probably find the possible models shrink a lot.

[dannipenguin]

This is good advice, figure out what you want to use it for, then figure out some ranges of what's acceptable. Unfortunately it can't be fast, light, have unlimited battery life, a 2 million pixel screen and cost tuppance all at once. You're going to have to choose features in order of priority.

Stores like Harvey Norman et al. will screw you for price. You will often have better luck at a computer retailer. Things like extra RAM can often be purchased cheaper after-market, but find out how much room for expansion there is.

If I was going to recommend a brand, I'd say Toshiba. They're solidly built and reliable, but unfortunately a little bit more pricey and arguably 6-months behind the very latest technology. I would avoid brands like Benq. Apple seem to be on the rampage towards ruining their relationship with every one of the customers who isn't a moron.

[ext_4351]

Andrew recently scored an ex-demo laptop for surprisingly little money ($600?) ... it was an absolute base model but to some extent. You might want to ask him about that.

My sister also recently purchased a laptop. An Asus something-or-other, chunky 3kg widescreen with ridiculously high specs (I think 2GHz Core2/1GB/120GB) for around $1500.

If you're not _too_ fussy about a particular model, you can often get decent value at places like Officeworks, Harvey Norman, etc (and also local computer shops like Austins, PLE, etc) by something that's on special and has roughly the kind of specs you want.

A lot of what you pay for with more expensive laptops is lower weight and longer battery life. Unfortunately, manufacturers are often cagey about precisely how heavy they are and how long they last. e.g. my laptop was expensive because it weighs 1.5kg and has "5 hour" (ahahaha in fantasy land) battery life.

[mkj]

I'd say you'd be mad to buy a laptop without actually seeing and touching it. Physical form actually matters a lot more than with desktop PCs. You can't really change a keyboard/trackpad/pointer thing etc, nor make it lighter.

[dannipenguin]

I bought my last one sight-unseen, was excellently happy.

[ext_39666]

Madness I say!

(Guess you'd already had Toshibas so yeah, fair enough)

[mexicanjewlizrd]

IM(not so)HO, there are two laptops to get:
* Apple
* Dell
that's about the be-all and end-all of laptops for me. Sure, IBM/Lenovo used to be (are?) good, blah blah, but really? Those are two to go for. Covers all your bases.

I <3 my Dell Inspiron 8600 (as does Drayke)