Recommend me a laptop

Red Pavan

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Looking to buy a new laptop after having a Dell one for only 8 months, that's how bad it is. For the past month, it just crashes and the blue screen of death appears at least 3 times a day. I have given up trying to fix it and wanting a new one asap.

So, any recommendations on something under £500 would be nice. Looking for anything better than Intel Graphics and atleast 4GB Ram and i5 core processor.

P.S - My current laptop is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-I5-243...WC06/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1336664459&sr=8-3

Don't buy it, ever!
 

Snow

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I concur with Weaste. Format that bastard. Might just be a driver issue. Maybe it's a whole bunch of stuff and it might very well get fixed with a good ol' formatting job.

I have a Dell that's on it's third year now but it's a high end model so it's brilliant.

So basically do what Weaste said. If it doesn't work and/or you are determined to do otherwise follow Cina's advice.
 

Brwned

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Cina said:
Dell's are very troublesome unless you get their higher end models.

Anyway, £500 might be a bit of a push for those specs, generally having a GFX card in a laptop can pump up the price a bit. Samsung or Acer are probably your best bet. Stay clear of Sony, they're overpriced.

Something like this maybe
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/11939060/art/samsung/series-3-np300e5a-15-6-la.html
Click to expand...
Anyone know if that pixmania's a reliable online retailer? Just came across this last week and saw a few people saying they had issues with them. Also, not to hijack the thread but does anyone know why it's so cheap?
 

Skywarden

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I've bought a Nikon camera from Pixmania for my girlfriend a couple of years ago. I you want, you can translate this:

http://www.prisjakt.nu/butiksinfo.php?f=374

and get a general feel for what they are all about. They were utterly shit back then and I haven't bought anything from them since. They have made progress as far as costumer service goes but they seem to be very inconsistent.
 

Cina

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Brwned said:
Anyone know if that pixmania's a reliable online retailer? Just came across this last week and saw a few people saying they had issues with them. Also, not to hijack the thread but does anyone know why it's so cheap?
Click to expand...
50/50. Their customer service is awful if you have problems, but that's why they're so cheap. I ordered off them twice, the first time I ordered a TV, never got it, it was sent to the wrong address twice, I couldn't ring them, sent them numerous emails. By this stage the money for it was already out of my account. FINALLY got through after getting my bank to get the money back for me, and they confirmed it. Took about a month. The next time I bought off them I got my delivery in 2 days.
 

Randall Flagg

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Brwned said:
Anyone know if that pixmania's a reliable online retailer? Just came across this last week and saw a few people saying they had issues with them. Also, not to hijack the thread but does anyone know why it's so cheap?
Click to expand...
I need to use them in work from time to time. Really good prices and delivery times. But after sale like most online shops is terrible.

They are cheap because they buy in bulk from all around the world
 

Neo_Mufc

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Brwned said:
Anyone know if that pixmania's a reliable online retailer? Just came across this last week and saw a few people saying they had issues with them. Also, not to hijack the thread but does anyone know why it's so cheap?
Click to expand...
The hotdeals forum aren't fond of pixmania. I'm not entirely sure but they're based in France I think? A lot of people have had problems with their customer services.
 

Red Pavan

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Snow said:
I concur with Weaste. Format that bastard. Might just be a driver issue. Maybe it's a whole bunch of stuff and it might very well get fixed with a good ol' formatting job.

I have a Dell that's on it's third year now but it's a high end model so it's brilliant.

So basically do what Weaste said. If it doesn't work and/or you are determined to do otherwise follow Cina's advice.
Click to expand...
I will give that a go tomorrow night and if it does fix itself, then i would have no other choice than to keep it .
 

Lastwolf

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Neo_Mufc said:
The hotdeals forum aren't fond of pixmania. I'm not entirely sure but they're based in France I think? A lot of people have had problems with their customer services.
Click to expand...
They are most popular in France but it's part of the Dixons group, wankers to deal with, least from a reseller point of view (circa 3 years ago).

Nothing wrong with Dell machines, even the cheaper models are pretty decent, I've had very few problems with any that weren't user caused, like others have mentioned reformat and cut down on the porn, should be fine.
 

Cina

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Well they would be if you bought the Dell a few years ago no?

Lenovo are good business laptops but they're really chunky and awkward for home use.
 

Rood

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I'm looking for a new laptop as well

for me portability is the most important factor but Id still want a screen of at least 12" - it is primarily for work and I dont play games or anything so if anyone sees any good deals about then let me know!

Have to disagree with the OP though as my current one is a Dell (XPS M1330) and it has been great with virtually no issues - it is now pretty old though so high time for an upgrade.
 

Revan

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Cina said:
Samsung, Asus or HP are the way to go.
Click to expand...
In last 2 years ACER is making good laptops too. About HP, I dunno but I don't like them at all and many people I know had problems with them.

I don't prefer Lenovo for home use too. Also I think that many models had problems with overheating but probably not the new ones.
 

Stick

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Red Pavan said:
Looking to buy a new laptop after having a Dell one for only 8 months, that's how bad it is. For the past month, it just crashes and the blue screen of death appears at least 3 times a day. I have given up trying to fix it and wanting a new one asap.

So, any recommendations on something under £500 would be nice. Looking for anything better than Intel Graphics and atleast 4GB Ram and i5 core processor.

P.S - My current laptop is http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-I5-243...WC06/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1336664459&sr=8-3

Don't buy it, ever!
Click to expand...
As ridiculous as this sounds there is a sequence to installing Dell drivers. If you dont follow it then it will mess everything up. I also cant remember what the sequence is.........fail
 

Cina

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It has a pretty nifty little gfx card so he can run games on it pretty well, and games need RAM and HD space!
 

Will Absolute

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Red Pavan said:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B008HD8DKQ/?tag=free4busines-21


I bought a Lenovo two weeks ago. A different Ideapad model. Same processor as yours, 6GB ram, 500GB hard disc, 17.3 inch screen, nvidia GT630 graphics card (the actual card is not specified on yours). The screen is 1600x900.

I've checked it on Can You Run It? with half a dozen modern games and it can run all of them comfortably on recommended settings with room to spare. The graphics card is pretty decent. It may well be the one on your machine.

I use it basically as a desktop replacement so mobility is not a consideration. I've been very impressed so far. Attractive design - far from clunky. Nice keyboard. In ordinary operation runs cool to the point of cold. Some useful Lenovo softward supplied - special button which loads a backup when the computer is powered down - veriface technology which enables you to use your face as your password!

A big improvement on my previous Dell. To sum up: no problems and very pleased.
Click to expand...
 

Red Pavan

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Will Absolute said:
Red Pavan said:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B008HD8DKQ/?tag=free4busines-21


I bought a Lenovo two weeks ago. A different Ideapad model. Same processor as yours, 6GB ram, 500GB hard disc, 17.3 inch screen, nvidia GT630 graphics card (the actual card is not specified on yours). The screen is 1600x900.

I've checked it on Can You Run It? with half a dozen modern games and it can run all of them comfortably on recommended settings with room to spare. The graphics card is pretty decent. It may well be the one on your machine.

I use it basically as a desktop replacement so mobility is not a consideration. I've been very impressed so far. Attractive design - far from clunky. Nice keyboard. In ordinary operation runs cool to the point of cold. Some useful Lenovo softward supplied - special button which loads a backup when the computer is powered down - veriface technology which enables you to use your face as your password!

A big improvement on my previous Dell. To sum up: no problems and very pleased.
Click to expand...
Which Ideapad model?
Click to expand...
 

dmode

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I've got a Lenovo from work... it's very good and robust... I can now tripple boot:

WinXP (doing music @ home :p )
Win7 (work when i need windows stuffs)
Ubuntu (mostly work)

It's amazing!
 

eric le roi

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WeasteDevil said:
Format it.
Click to expand...
Yep. Shell out £40 for a copy of Windows 7 and install from that disk, not the one that comes with the Dell. That's full of useless crap that you don't need like free Norton trials, MS Home Office and other 'features' that just fill your disk with crap and makes boot up time ridiculous and that you can't seem to ever properly uninstall.

You'll need the other disk that came with it for drivers, but only install the bare minimum i.e. ethernet, graphics, and sound.

I'd actually like to know if there are any manufacturers out there that sell laptops without Windows preinstalled - anybody know?

Red Pavan said:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/o/ASIN/B008HD8DKQ/?tag=free4busines-21

After 3 months of trying to fix my Dell laptop.. Thinking of buying this one, looks amazing for that price with great specs.
Click to expand...
IBM Thinkpads used to be the best laptops on the market. Solid build, great keyboard and ultra-reliable. I've got one that's 6 years old (IBM Thinkpad T42 - Lubuntu installed on it now) and it's great for general internet usage.

Since Lenovo took over the manufacture of them, the quality has dropped somewhat, but still pretty good, and that's a good price.

The top-end Dells are really good, but again, you'd want to do a clean OS install.
 

JohnLocke

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I'm looking a laptop now.

Need it for browsing, downloading and maybe playing some games; FM and some of these Steam games everyone is harping on about.

Budget of about £500 or so.
 

Cina

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try pcspecialist.co.uk , they're great, can basically customize the laptop whatever which way you want to, and they're quite cheap too.
 

Cina

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Oh, as a tip, get it without any OS, you'll save £80. There are plenty of ways to "acquire" Windows 7 :)

EDIT: Something like below (works out as £530)
Chassis & Display
Genesis IV: 15.6" Matte HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-3210M (2.50GHz) 3MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 635M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V+200 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (535MB/R, 460MB/W)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery
Genesis Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE

Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM

Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Click to expand...
 

Cina

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Yeah as long as they're not really intensive ones like Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Farcry 3 etc. Even then they'll still run, just on low settings.

FM will work up full and most of the older, cheap steam games the lads were on about would be perfectly fine too.
 

Cina

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Also, you don't need the SSD, so you can just substitute it for a normal HD if you want to save money, and get more space, but in my opinion they're worth it, especially on laptops. The difference in the speed the OS boots, applications start, games load etc is substantial sometimes.
 

JohnLocke

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Really just FM and some of those games mentioned in the steam thread.

I would be playing things like battlefield and Crysis 2 on the PS3.

But I don't want to get a laptop that will be slow as fook in a year or two.
 

Cina

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Nah if you get that you'll be kept going for quite a few years. That's the new generation i5, and RAM requirements aren't increasing like they used to. Plus the SSD will boost speed too. Graphics cards inevitably do not stand the test of time on laptops as much as desktop computers, mainly cause they're less powerful and you can't really replace them, but if your gaming mainly revolves around FM and non intensive games you'll be fine.
 
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