February 14, 200818 yr Hey All I think I've got a hard drive problem with my desktop PC - keep getting a clicking noise and then the Blue Screen Of Death - it's happened three times this month already...so I think my hard drive has some sort of mechanical fault. I'm backing up my data onto an external maxtor drive every day...but as I've got tons of work on for the next three months and also about to move house, I was thinking of buying a laptop to use as a backup, but also because it's portable and so I could carry on working during the move etc without having to set up the desktop/monitor/keyboard etc. I have no idea when it comes to laptops - so many brands/makes to choose from. Any suggestions/recommendations much appreciated. E
February 14, 200818 yr I have no experience with laptops, but have a lot of extremely techy friends and they seem to buy two brands. IBM - I think defo if you want something cheap and older (i.e. from EBay) IBM's tend to be solid. Dell - Two very geeky* friends just bought new dell laptops and are very happy with them. I've never been a fan of dell (or anything pre-built ) but they seem to have a lot of offers on at the moment (and even one model which still comes with XP ) In the past lack of memory has always stopped me from buying a laptop, but these days they seem to come with plenty. - Eris *Please note in Eris world "Geeky" is a (great) compliment!
February 14, 200818 yr Author I'd want to avoid dell as my desktop is a dell and I wish I'd never got it...I find dell really annoying.
February 14, 200818 yr Dell tend to use sub-standard qaulity parts in there products, especially for the price they ask. Whilst the specs might sound impressive, the actual performance will be much less than you expect. Personally, I would look at an HP laptop - they are aimed at "business use" so tend to be well-built, well-specced, and with good specs for the price...
February 14, 200818 yr Yeah, I would tend to avoid Dell which was why I was surprised at my two friends!!! I have had a friend have a lot of trouble with HP as well though!
February 14, 200818 yr try shopping around at Dabs.com - they tend to have a selection ranging from uber-cheap to ridiculously well-specced, so see what takes your fancy..
February 14, 200818 yr http://alienware.co.uk/main.aspx Alienware! They're mainly targetted at gamers, but that means they'll have stacks of hard disk space, and ram coming out of their ears. They're also really sexy, and if you're shallow like me, then your laptop will need to *look* the part too. I have an alienware laptop, and I love it. I would definitely recommend them. (Oh, and ignore the fact that they're owned by Dell. )
February 14, 200818 yr alienware is a bit too expensive is it not... way over priced compared to what you could build yourself
February 14, 200818 yr True, they are not the most low-priced laptops out there, but I got my lovely laptop with 140GB hard disk space, 2GB RAM, and loads of other stuff which I can't list because I can't remember it off the top of my head, all for under £500.
February 14, 200818 yr Author OMG - they're pricey! My budget is around £500. Personally I'm not that bothered what it looks like - it's whether it does the job that matters.
February 14, 200818 yr Ahh... well in that case, you should make a list of what you'll need. How much hard disk space will you need? How much RAM will you need? Will you need a CD / DVD re-writer? Any preferences on screen size? Etc. etc.
February 14, 200818 yr I Love my dell xps m1530, works great after completely wiping the hd and putting xp on.
February 14, 200818 yr Author when searching dabs for an XP laptop - i got three. One over £1000 so that's a no-no, one was a used one, also a no-no and the third was an Acer and to be honest, not really keen on Acer machines.
February 15, 200818 yr Have a quick look at SavaStore. I use them for all my component needs, and have several friends who have bought Laptops off of there, and are very happy with them.
February 15, 200818 yr My girlfriend has an HP laptop and its really good. My parents recently bought a £300 laptop from Fujitsu Siemens and are happy with it, its a bit slow for my liking, but its cheap but seems to work fine for them as they just use word/email and wireless internet.
February 16, 200818 yr http://alienware.co.uk/main.aspx Alienware! They're mainly targetted at gamers, but that means they'll have stacks of hard disk space, and ram coming out of their ears. They're also really sexy, and if you're shallow like me, then your laptop will need to *look* the part too. I have an alienware laptop, and I love it. I would definitely recommend them. (Oh, and ignore the fact that they're owned by Dell. ) Alienware=dell now. been bought for a year or two now. I Highly Suggest HP,Apple,IBM,OR,Acer
February 18, 200818 yr I've always liked HP laptops but never owned one. *Sigh* Even though we seem to have already ixnayed Dell, I would like to add that every Dell laptop I've ever seen (not many ) has had cooling issues. The fans are/were on the bottom of the machine, not the sides, so you get major slowdowns and annoyances if you try to do anything too taxing. They also get really HOT, which is never good (not 'cause you'd be dumb enough to sit it on your lap, but because you don't fancy melting your laptop's innards). This includes my own laptop, which is currently on life support, a.k.a. a laptop cooling pad.
February 18, 200818 yr Author Well, I hardly ever watch TV, so advertising hardly ever gets the chance to influence me, but was watching a documentary the other night and there were a lot of adverts for a toshiba laptop - so going to check them out. My OH also informed me that he's still registered with 'Which' and so I could use his login details and have a look at their research/comparisons guides...bound to come up with a winner soon. I've got a meeting tomorrow and could really make use of a laptop for that...going to have to make do with pen and paper and a few illustrations.
February 18, 200818 yr i've got a macbook pro and it is one of the best gadgets ever but again... bit too expensive maybe
February 18, 200818 yr An IT mate of mine at work seems to think Toshiba are good solid workhorses, if that's any use. Sony Viaos are interesting but I suspect overpriced. I also like "Asus" and "Acer".
February 18, 200818 yr Do you have an XP license which you could *reuse* ?? The birth of Vista is the biggest pain in the backside ever. Is this any help (I didn't look too hard) http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/xp-laptops/page.asp EDIT: ah no it won't be all over £500... sorry EDIT2: how about this? http://www.toyecomputers.com/products.asp?...mp;webcollage=1
February 22, 200818 yr Author ok which is better? - Intel Pentium Dual Core processor - Intel Core 2 Duo processor it's terms like this that totally bamboozle me.
February 25, 200818 yr I've decided to get this Lenovo one:Lenovo N200 Looks like it has nice specs for the money, let us know how you get on with it!
February 26, 200818 yr Author well it's arrived all shiny and new...not particularly happy with it as I think there is something wrong with the track pad mouse button - I thought at first it was highly sensitive and so change the setting for it to slow down the double click and still it acting weird. I sometimes just have to rollover a button or tab and it gets activated or clicked - sometimes my finger isn't even on the button...surely that's not normal? I have accidentally shut down the laptop three times today just by clicking on the start and it just doing it itself. It's also full of software I just don't need and will never use! And took forever to set up the wireless connection! I have terrible PMT today and so it's probably not the best day to get a new laptop and try and set it up. I'm pee'd off as I wanted to install my software onto it and start using it for work, but I'm holding off in case I need to send it back because of the faulty track pad button. nothing ever goes smoothly does it....ho hum...or is that just my hormones talking....grrrr.
February 26, 200818 yr Agreed.. does seem a bit dodgy but then it could just be the trackpad some are extremely sensitive and yes EVERY pc you buy from a shop comes full of **** programs you would never ever use.. best solution would be to peform a clean install of windows really.. but depends if you have the time really... EDIT - Come on.. i only said the other word for poo ha ha
February 26, 200818 yr *Hugs* Eskymo . If it makes you feel any better, I was using a friends mac today, and I managed to close firefox soooo many times by double clicking somewhere? Things kept disappearing and it was very frustrating! But I think it was just cos I'm not used to using those bloody things! Give me a mouse or a graphics tablet any day! - Eris
February 26, 200818 yr Author nope it's definitely not my figures doing too much happy tapping...windows close and stuff happens without me being anywhere near the touch pad - faulty and so I'm going to have to phone up tomorrow and get a replacement...damn and I've just spent the whole day removing all the ****e software I don't need!
February 26, 200818 yr Author Agreed.. does seem a bit dodgy but then it could just be the trackpad some are extremely sensitive and yes EVERY pc you buy from a shop comes full of **** programs you would never ever use.. best solution would be to peform a clean install of windows really.. but depends if you have the time really... EDIT - Come on.. i only said the other word for poo ha ha It didn't come with any software discs - so no way to do a clean install of windows...I think it's a bit odd not to come with Cds of the software and operating system.
February 26, 200818 yr What OS is the laptop? If it is XP Pro I can mail you an install disc (assuming you have the license key stuck to the laptop)
February 26, 200818 yr Author it's Ok - I'm going to speak to Dabs int he morning as I want to send it back beacuse of the trigger happy track pad problem. I will speak to them about the lack of software/os discs.
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