So university is starting very shortly....probably left this a bit late but i need to get it done. I'm looking for a laptop that can do the standard email, word processing easy stuff but also play HD video and possibly a bit of minecraft as well. I've been out of the tech loop for a while so thought this would be the best way to get some help. Only real spec in mind is above 13", preferably 15.6", hard drive of at least 320gb and that it looks sleek. I've been looking at Asus' ones but just wanted to check if there were any other good deals out. Thanks in advance!
What's your budget? Also will you be taking it around campus with you or will it be staying in your room?
oh dear thats some vital information i missed. sorry about that. Around £450 to 500 price wise, and i honestly dont know. I'm doing economics if thats any indicator, but ill probably be taking notes on paper in lectures.
Buy a cheap one, an i3 model. Take out the hard drive and put that in an external USB enclosure, formatted of course. Buy a small SDD, 60GB is fine and put that in the laptop. 1. Install Windows 2. Install manufacturer mobo drivers (There is a site that I got all the keyboard functions for my ASUS from, makes it so it works the way the manufacturer intended.) 3. Install Microsoft Office and other bare necessities, like Chrome/Firefox Enjoy a cheap laptop that is more durable, responsive, and longer living than all the expensive models.
I was definitely thinking of that, would make it very fast like you said. I put together a tower PC a few months back with an M4 in it. Are they still one of the top price/speed wise? And what portable i3's are good? Are sandy bridge's cheap?
If your interested in light gaming than AMD may be the better option as they're ahead on integrated graphic and proccessor speed hardly matters nowadays.
Sandy Bridge has expanded recently in the mobile market. You now have the traditional option of the i3-2310m at 2.1GHZ which is a really solid performer. You can also go with the B940 or the ultra low voltage i3-2357m. I had a chance to play with some of the B940 processors recently and they are definitely not sluggish around the Windows environment as you might see with an Atom, E-350 single, or Celeron processor. I also just purchased a laptop with the low voltage i3-2357 and even though it only operates at 1.4ghz, it is plenty sufficient for what I refer to as 'mobile use'. I was looking initially for an i5-2410m but realized that I would need a higher resolution than available in my price range to do any production work that would warrant the need for turbo boosting or the extra power. So outside of gaming, which I was also not interested in, I didn't see much of a reason for a faster processor. From what I can tell, the M4 is still the best option in the 100-200 price range and you can get 128GB for about $190 here. I would be very interested in others opinions on this matter. Personally I saved about $300 going with the i3 instead of the i5 and I will be spending about $240 upgrading my HDD to SSD and also my 4GB to 8GB. After that, I think I will have a dream machine. People have commented I look silly with an 11.6" computer though (approx. the distance between my thump and pinky).
Right i've made a decision! Asus P52F-SO050X 64GB Crucial M4 Tsunami Enclosure Looks good, only problem is the M4 isnt in stock atm. Hopefully will get it in tomorrow and order in the morning. Any other suggestions on the enclosure front? I just looked at the most popular ones and that seemed the smallest and cheapest.
You grabbed a first generation i3 instead of the second generation (sandy bridge) model. A 2nd gen i3 can best a first gen i5 in terms of performance. Also the 2nd gen models are much more power efficient. Here in the US there is hardly a price difference between laptops with the 1st and 2nd gen CPUs either, probably because the average consumer doesn't realize there is a difference. I'm sure the notebook you chose would perform admirably but you can probably get better bang/buck.
Ah right, none of the Asus laptops on scan.co.uk seem to have the new i3's. Does anyone know where they are available in the UK?
Have a quick look at their student deals section too, there is a cheap wireless mouse and 320GB external HDD (I know you will buy and enclosure but the price is so good it's worth a look)
Thanks I do not know where you people buy stuff in Europe. That is a great buy right there comparing it to what the OP had just posted. That is the almost the exact same laptop we have for sale in all our physical stores right now for dirt cheap. The only difference is ours has an i5-2410m and is $450 USD. Other laptops I would suggest (considering the price seems to be similar over there to what it is here)... would be the: Lenovo Edge 420 (not the t420 or e420s they are over budget) Lenovo Edge 520 (if you prefer the 15.6" screen size) I only suggest these two laptops because they have amazing keyboards and great build quality. Also if you are not into the somewhat shiny colored plastic of most of today's computers, they have that classic, old-school, black finish. Personally, I like the understated look. Also the Dell Vostro series is pretty nice, mainly due to the aluminum used in the enclosure, and over here at least, Dell is selling them for $499 with free overnight shipping. That's with an i3-2310m, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD. I don't know if you can get the same deal over there though. . .
AMDs APU offerings are also good to look at, having a much beefier GPU capability. An i3 with a dedicated GPU will kill battery life much faster than just the APU.
Another great idea. I actually am getting an additional $100 off of my recent purchase due to being a student, it never hurts to look for those discounts.
I'm going to take my logitech g5 from home anyway, and that external is a steal at that price but ill just have a hard drive lying around if i do that! Thanks for the help.
