advice for first laptop

[TRICKPLAYER]

Help, I want a laptop, mainly for holidays, or watching dvd's and tv via usb adapter, I am tempted by an acer, see link, it has a sis graphics chip, which I have always been wary of, would this be up to the task?

the model is : Acer Aspire 5002LM AMD Turion 64 ML30 1.6GHz/1MB 512MB 60GB DVD-Dual 15" LAN XPH

Mfr #: LX.A5105.057


http://www.acer.co.uk/acereuro/page9.do?dau34.oid=9752&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=17&ctx1=UK&crc=648674330

[TechZ]

With laptops its mostly opinions your going to be hearing, as not everyone has the same experience.

If youre looking for quality, I doubt anyone will argue as to Toshiba and IBM being the leaders.

As for a good balance of quality and price, I'd say HP/Sager/Averatec are in that category.

If you are a mobile user, i.e. someone who moves around a bit and needs a good battery life, the Intel PentiumM (aka Centrino) and AMD Turion64 are good choices.

Since you mentioned watching TV and Movies, look for a notebook with a widescreen aspect ratio (e.g. 15.4" screen, 16:9)

Unless you plan on gaming, an integrated video card would do you just fine, but it wont stand a chance with any of the newer games, and plenty of models offer dedicated video.

[DaveW]

Bought an HP ZD8060US (http://compreviews.about.com/od/deskreplace/gr/HPzd8060us.htm) a few months ago for this myself. ;) Prices have dropped considerably since then. Just understand this is considered a "desktop" replacement with a 3.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4, is right at 10lbs with a 17" screen, Dual TV Tuners, 100GB HD, and the battery will last an hour or so. I am also dual booting WinXP and Linux Fedora Core 4 on it and have bumped RAM up to 1.2GB.
This thing smokes but its like running a big block V-8 on the dragstrip. :thumbs: Not bad for a 2K+ laptop.

[NooNoo]

I have an Acer... but I wouldn't use the sis graphics, I got a nice centrino with the Radeon 9000 chip... Centrino is good for battery life.

[confus-ed]

Help, I want a laptop, mainly for holidays, or watching dvd's and tv via usb adapter..

If it's got a dvd in it, then its up to that job :thumbs: , as you don't need anything particularly fancy in graphics terms for what you are asking for. (I'd still be wary of anything though that uses 'shared memory' as a part of an onboard chipset)

Btw your link won't resolve for me ;).

[Platypus]

Well I just took the plunge and found good value on a Compaq M2217AP (http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.php?item_id=3390)

Haven't had time to do anything with it yet except up the memory to 512M & charge the battery.

They had been selling just under AU$1100 plus $100 cashback, Harvey Norman stores put them out at $944 last week, then the cashback pays for the memory upgrade.

[confus-ed]

btw for connecting to free digital tv services in the uk, these are very neat :-
http://www.freecom.com/objects/00005925.jpg DVB-T USB Stick (http://www.freecom.com/ecProduct_detail.asp?ID=2234&nr=25451&prodn=DVB%2DT+USB+Stick)

Just bought me one :thumbs: .. about £60 direct from them I think, but a bit cheaper other places if you look ;)

[NooNoo]

Now that is very nifty!

But the attenna don't look up to much... does it accept a feed from an external aerial? How about hooking up a vcr in line with it?

[confus-ed]

But the attenna don't look up to much... does it accept a feed from an external aerial? ..

They are surprisingly good !(bought mine based on somebody else's recommendation & I was equally sceptical ;) - it really depends on how good the digital signal is round & about, I've got mine working most places, that have digital coverage, even some that supposedly don't! - a bit of balancing in an appropriate place helps with this & so I carry a 3m usb extender cable too to give me more flexibility where I place it) .. the 'round connectors' visable in the picture are for coax cables (so any TV ariel ought to 'just fit'), but its only capable of dealing with digitised signals, so forget about connecting up your vcr, that's analogue ..

[3fingersalute]

btw for connecting to free digital tv services in the uk, these are very neat :-
http://www.freecom.com/objects/00005925.jpg DVB-T USB Stick (http://www.freecom.com/ecProduct_detail.asp?ID=2234&nr=25451&prodn=DVB%2DT+USB+Stick)

Just bought me one :thumbs: .. about £60 direct from them I think, but a bit cheaper other places if you look ;)
We don't have much around here in the way of free tv feeds, but that looks cool!

[NooNoo]

Might get one for my lappy... but I have a 40 foot mast here to pull in freeview stuff and then its choppy... so maybe one of those things that go on the wish list :)

[Paco L 250]

With laptops its mostly opinions your going to be hearing, as not everyone has the same experience.

If youre looking for quality, I doubt anyone will argue as to Toshiba and IBM being the leaders.

As for a good balance of quality and price, I'd say HP/Sager/Averatec are in that category.

If you are a mobile user, i.e. someone who moves around a bit and needs a good battery life, the Intel PentiumM (aka Centrino) and AMD Turion64 are good choices.

Since you mentioned watching TV and Movies, look for a notebook with a widescreen aspect ratio (e.g. 15.4" screen, 16:9)

Unless you plan on gaming, an integrated video card would do you just fine, but it wont stand a chance with any of the newer games, and plenty of models offer dedicated video.

I agree with everything you said here, except the HP bit. I've had bad experiences with HP laptops (e.g. my friend's laptop hard drive just died as I was using the thing about 4 months ago...man did that scare the crap out of me). HP and Compaq just don't "jive" with me and I've pretty much steered clear of anything HP unless it's a printer, scanner, or multi-function device (and to a small degree their cameras); they just seem to use the crappiest hardware possible in their computers. They have gotten better as of late though.

I would suggest Dell for the random awesome deals they throw out there and for the fact that in my experience, their higher-end screens for their laptops are really freakin' nice. Dells are literally you get what you pay for; the low-end models are cheap and they work great for a while, but then I go back to my HP/Compaq example; they use some of the crappiest hardware options available (esp. their desktops).

I had an Inspiron 8200 for about 3.5 years (I just sold it to my friend and I actually threw in a DVD+/-R/W writer in there about 5 months before I sold it) and I left the sucker on all the time without any major issues (downloading "stuff" :rolleyes: ). I just recently picked up their Inspiron XPS Gen 2 off of eBay and besides the fact that it's a beast, it's really nice. I also picked up an Inspiron 6000 for my uncle also and that is also very nice and it may fit the bill for what you want to do.

Personally, I'd go for a Dell, Toshiba, IBM (pricey but really slick), or Sager (in that order). What's your price range? That might help us narrow stuff down quite a bit.

[Mags]

I wish I'd read this thread before ordering a new el cheapo laptop as a standby ... it's got SiSM760GX Graphics and is a Acer Aspire 3003LC, too late, committed to buy it now!

But have been Googling, til blue in the face, but didn't look here !

[TechZ]

We use Acers at the university, and so far none of them have had any hardware related issues. Theyre not bad laptops..

Take care of it and it should serve you well :)

[amyb]

I got a Dell 9300, and it's a nice replacement for my desktop, make sure to get a docking station(and lots of memory--I have a GB of memory).

[TechZ]

I got a Dell 9300, and it's a nice replacement for my desktop, make sure to get a docking station(and lots of memory--I have a GB of memory).
I just saw one in the papers and its quite nice to look at, also its got a nice 17" screen.

I myself have been looking for a replacement for my current laptop, its still going to be widescreen, but this time with a bit more graphics capability :)

[darkhorse]

Just bought me one :thumbs: .. about £60 direct from them I think, but a bit cheaper other places if you look ;)

60 quid! :eek2: ebuyer have one for just under 47 quid at the moment - is this (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?product_uid=94486&_LOC=UK) the same one?

[confus-ed]

.. is this (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?product_uid=94486&_LOC=UK) the same one?

Yup looks to be - £47 sounds better than buying direct, mine was £20 though :p (ex display ! :)) , list price for a single item purchase at my local wholsaler is £47.04 inc vat. & then 'whatever' delivery charge too..

[Duke of Rezin]

Hey amyb, have you seen any real difference with 1 gig? I just upgraded the mem in my laptop from pc2700 to 3200 and definitely have noticed a difference but I still only have 512 megs. If so, I might put anoter 512 on Christmas wishlist. I never see that I'm using the full 512 yet and (?why?) any MS Office app seems to be the most memory hungry by far (much more so than UT2204, and takes forever to load these days).

[amyb]

Yes, I have noticed a difference. Especially when working with graphics, surfing the net and looking at email. :cool:

[Duke of Rezin]

Great, now I know what to ask for.

[NooNoo]

Great, now I know what to ask for.
money!