Help choose a make of Laptop

Hey!

I would like buy my partner a Laptop as a replacement for the old computer as have died.

Nowadays laptops are fitted with wireless lan but also 100 mbits LAN. We use LAN with cable.
The price I have only wrote this so you can gets an idea of the cost in Dollar but you shall not choose the cheapest. I´m interested of the best processor. Perhaps they all is old. I have choose them from tree different affairs as for ex. MediaMarkt .

I have been away from all what computers I called so I can’t say who alternative is best. The laptop will be used for Internet and Office mostly and an extern screen will be possible to use and also a mouse. I think there is some outage on the back of them.

Alternative 1 Packard Bell

AMD Turion II Dual Core M500 (2,2GHz)
Memory: 4GB
Hard disc: 500GB
Graphic card:ATI Radeon HD4570 512MB
15,6" WXGA LED Glare (1366x768)
DVD-burner with supports for Dual-Layer
HDMI, WLAN-n, 5i1 card reader, Web camera
4 x USB, 6-cells battery
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bits)

Costs: 5.990 SEK (Roughly $731,27)

Alternative 2 Packard Bell

Processor: Intel Core™ 2 Duo P 6600, 2.2 GHz
Memory: 4GB
Hard disc: 500GB
Graphic card: 17,3” nVidia GeForce 240, 1GB
DVD-burner
Wireless networks card
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bits)

Costs: 6,666 SEK (Roughly $813,80)

Alternative 3 Compaq CQ61-407E0

Processor: Intel Pentium™ T4300 2,1 GHz
Memory: 4GB
Hard disc: 500GB
Graphic card: 17,3” nVidia GeForce 6103M 512 MB, 1GB
HDMI, Bluetooth, Lightscribe, web camera and mikrophone
Multicard reader, Wireless networks card
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bits)

Costs: 5,555 SEK (Roughly $678,17)

Alternative 4 Havlett Packard

Processor: Intel Core i3 330M 2.13GHz
Memory: 4GB DDR3 (2x2048MB) max. 8GB
Hard disc: 250GB S-ATA (7200rpm)
Graphic card: Intel GMA HD upp till 1696MB
DVD-burner with supports for Dual-layer
15.6" LED BrightView (1366x768)
HDMI, VGA, WLAN-n, LAN, 3xUSB,
5i1-card reader, web camera
Vikt: 2.5 kg
6-cells batteri
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bitars

Costs: 5.969 SEK (Roughly $728,71)

Alternative 5 ASUS

Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 M320 2.1GHz
Memory: 4GB DDR2 800MHz
Hard disc: 320GB S-ATA (5400rpm)
Grafhic card: ATI Radeon HD4570 512MB
Screen: 17.3" HD+ (1600x900)
Other: DVD-burner with support for Dual-layer, WLAN-n, HDMI, LAN, 4xUSB, VGA,
3i1-kortläsare, 1.3MP webbkamera, 6-cells batteri.

Costs: 6.990 SEK (Roughly $853,35)

Thank you in advanse!
Lagu:icon_rolleyes:

For internet and office use only you don't need the biggest and strongest machine out there. Actually, if you don't intend to play demanding video games, or do distributed computing, the cheapest one of those on the list is just fine and will serve you well for many years.

There is one other thing you have to think about too... is the notebook to stay mostly at home, or do you intend to carry it with you anywhere you go, more than once a week? If you want to carry it with you, go for one of the not so heavy models, your back and shoulders will appreciate it. There is no info on the weight of them, but I'm sure you can see that on the websites.
If the notebook is to stay at home, then I would say to choose one with a big screen, such as Alternatives 2, 3 and 5 that have 17.3" screens. (Alternative 5 is AMD :icon_wink:)

Alternative 4 seems to be the one with the most recent hardware, intel Core i3 and DDR3 memory should run really good. Also the hard drive at 7200 RPMs is a great deal, usually all notebook hard drives only run at 5400 RPMs. You notice the speed difference on a laptop with a 7200 RPMs hard disk. But on the bad side it's the smallest of hard drives on all alternatives (bad if you need space) and the integrated graphics aren't that great, which is bad for games. (But more than enough for internet and office use)


So, in conclusion, I can tell you that I think Alternative 4 is the best hardware combination, but you may choose one of the others depending on if you want a big screen or if you plan on taking it along with you everywhere.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoGen

For internet and office use only you don't need the biggest and strongest machine out there. Actually, if you don't intend to play demanding video games, or do distributed computing, the cheapest one of those on the list is just fine and will serve you well for many years.

There is one other thing you have to think about too... is the notebook to stay mostly at home, or do you intend to carry it with you anywhere you go, more than once a week? If you want to carry it with you, go for one of the not so heavy models, your back and shoulders will appreciate it. There is no info on the weight of them, but I'm sure you can see that on the websites.
If the notebook is to stay at home, then I would say to choose one with a big screen, such as Alternatives 2, 3 and 5 that have 17.3" screens. (Alternative 5 is AMD :icon_wink:)

Alternative 4 seems to be the one with the most recent hardware, intel Core i3 and DDR3 memory should run really good. Also the hard drive at 7200 RPMs is a great deal, usually all notebook hard drives only run at 5400 RPMs. You notice the speed difference on a laptop with a 7200 RPMs hard disk. But on the bad side it's the smallest of hard drives on all alternatives (bad if you need space) and the integrated graphics aren't that great, which is bad for games. (But more than enough for internet and office use)


So, in conclusion, I can tell you that I think Alternative 4 is the best hardware combination, but you may choose one of the others depending on if you want a big screen or if you plan on taking it along with you everywhere.

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Thanks Neogen!

I forgot it would be good se a film and to store photon. I think 200 GB HDD should be enough and we dont think of play games. 7,200 RPm had I not discovered.

Lars-Gunnar:)

Hi Lagu welcome back my friend.
If you are using the laptop at home with an external monitor plugged in most of the time then a 13 or 15 inch model is fine. If you intend to use it away from your home desk select a light weight machine as NeoGen said, the big heavy 17 inch models are tiresome to lug around (my wife has one). Smaller than 13 inch models like the Alienware M11X are expensive and the screen is too small, in my opinion (my son has one). I have a 15 inch Hewlet Packard and it is a reasonable compromise, good screen (non glossy as i hate the shiny ones that show all reflections and fingerprints) and is not too heavy to carry when "on the road".

I would buy a Core I3 or I5 model as these are more modern processors. Try to get at least 4GB RAM (DDR3 with the newer CPUs) and Windows 7 Pro (but Home edition is OK). If you want to watch movies do you mean you also need a Blueray disc drive? Or will you download the movie to your laptop? If the latter case you need a larger capacity HDD to have lots of movies stored.

Many modern laptops come with Wireless-N Wifi connection and also Gigabit LAN connection.

If you have a discrete GPU this will use more power and create more heat and also reduce battery life between re-charging (unless you leave it plugged in to the wall socket). Do plenty of internet research as some models have heat issues - they run so hot that the laptop has problems early in its life. An example of this was my son's Dell XPS M1330; the Nvidia GPU in that model got so hot that the motherboard and GPU had to be replaced under warranty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaughan

Hi Lagu welcome back my friend.
If you are using the laptop at home with an external monitor plugged in most of the time then a 13 or 15 inch model is fine. If you intend to use it away from your home desk select a light weight machine as NeoGen said, the big heavy 17 inch models are tiresome to lug around (my wife has one). Smaller than 13 inch models like the Alienware M11X are expensive and the screen is too small, in my opinion (my son has one). I have a 15 inch Hewlet Packard and it is a reasonable compromise, good screen (non glossy as i hate the shiny ones that show all reflections and fingerprints) and is not too heavy to carry when "on the road".

I would buy a Core I3 or I5 model as these are more modern processors. Try to get at least 4GB RAM (DDR3 with the newer CPUs) and Windows 7 Pro (but Home edition is OK). If you want to watch movies do you mean you also need a Blueray disc drive? Or will you download the movie to your laptop? If the latter case you need a larger capacity HDD to have lots of movies stored.

Many modern laptops come with Wireless-N Wifi connection and also Gigabit LAN connection.

If you have a discrete GPU this will use more power and create more heat and also reduce battery life between re-charging (unless you leave it plugged in to the wall socket). Do plenty of internet research as some models have heat issues - they run so hot that the laptop has problems early in its life. An example of this was my son's Dell XPS M1330; the Nvidia GPU in that model got so hot that the motherboard and GPU had to be replaced under warranty.

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Thank you Vaughan. It feels good be back and I will try that more often. The first I was thinking about was I wanted to ask AMDusers forum because there is great experience of different types of Laptops and what as is most recent concerning processors, graphic cards and so on. We have no experience of such computer

To talk about films I mean You Tube and other similar ones. But of course I will have DVD to install programs. Do you say some laptops will run to hot without crunching, only to check Internet and Outlook and play cards? Yes, 13 to 15 or at least 15” screen is best.

1. Mostly use at home.
2. Constant connected to wall socket.
3. Sometimes take it with us when we travel to my sister.
4. Yes, I still have my 17” Hyundai screen as I think connect to the laptop.
5. Also an external keyboard and mouse would be used.

Can the laptop be temporary connected to an HP Laserjet 1020?
Can a digital camera be connected for unloading of photos?

Is there any disadvantage chose AMD rather than Intel. My experience of my AMD:s is they are very stable. Perhaps AMD´s processor is old.

Yes, I will search after Laptops with hot problems.

Lagu:icon_wink:

Points 1 - 5 are all OK.
HP Laserjet 1020 is OK provided you have two things:
1. Printer driver for the Operating System you chose
2. USB cable from Laptop to Printer. Some older printers use an old connection = parrallel or Lpt1 and modern computers don't have this legacy port.

Digital camera will connect via USB and is OK.

The laptop overheating issue was caused by playing CPU & GPU intensive games. Also it was used in bed sometimes so it accumulated lots of dust fibres that blocked the cooling. I believe laptop manfactuers should use a dust filter or make it easy for the user to clean the fans/cooling area.

I'm happy with my HP laptops with the AMD Turion dual cores. I think my next one will be another 17" screen AMD cpu with AMD/ATI GPU. I thinkIntel is a bit ahead with the laptop CPU's, but I'm not ready to go down that road. Mine are on laptop desks with a laptop cooler underneath to help keep them cool while crunching. I think my favorite laptop mod was a 30gb SSD to add Ubuntu 10.4 for crunching and the ability to dual boot back to windows if needed. I haven't been back to windows in months on the laptop. I have just a few windows machines for the Windows tasks and games. I've even had some luck getting a few of my older games working with wine on the laptop. The Ubuntu 10.4 Performance seems well worth the switch according to the stats in boincview.

I think the last stats is best as the cache memory is what is consider the most.

I will have to second you on Linux, I started using Kubuntu about a year ago and have not look back. I had a small problem with the new version of Boinc for linux but had it fix and working.
I drop or lost got rid of all my desktops. To expernsive to upkeep. I got me an old Neo 725 Empriva which only uses Windows but with a new Bios and a few chamges here and there is running great with Mandriva. Just bought 2 E-Machines which now belong to Acer and are great, put one to work 2 days now and the other I'm playing with it. May put it to work in a couple of weeks once I finish playing with her and find the right linux system and configuration for it.

Also Found a great bargain here in Philippines a 500GB usb HD for the equivalent of $25 Western Digital. got me 2 one for movies one for whatever.

But I'm a Born Again Linux man.

Out there is it a lot of different desktops and all having LCD screens. Any disadvantage with LCD? I have an 17” TFT LCD monitor as seem OK but is and a newer 19” LG Flatron Wide as seem a little sensitive to the taps of finger on the screen. And sensitive WET screen cleaner does not seem to be good. Soap and water seems better.

I have watched many laptops in different department stores and all laptop screens seems be so clear and bright or how I now will describe it. The picture is clearer than my monitor’s home. And all have Windows 7. Is it a good OS? A few older use XP.

I have found a few processors as had Intel Core i5 used in their desktops.

Is i5 a never processor than i3?

Lagu:)

LCD monitors have been evolving really well over the years, and nowadays they have very good image quality and contrast ratio. They're also getting thinner and lighter, but I don't know if they're getting any better in terms of energy consumption.

About the Intel processors, I don't know much about it but I believe that i3, i5 and i7 are all from the same generation of processors, and they all belong to the most recent line of processors. The differences may be on the number of cores, size of cache, and things like that. If I had to guess I would say, i3 is the cheapest/lower performance, i5 is the middle price/middle performance, and i7 is the higher priced/higher performance.

About Windows 7, I haven't really tested it myself yet but everyone around me says it's quite good. It has a few new user interface things you have to get used to, and a few new features, but it should be easy to work with. Advertisements that I have seen say that it can stream video wireless from the computer to any TV... I know that's not true because TVs don't have wireless network connection built in yet that I know, so even if Windows 7 can do that, you still need a wireless receiver plugged in on the TV, and that probably isn't cheap. Anyway, all that is just to say that it should be a very good operating system, but don't think it will do miracles. lol