Advice wanted for new laptop spec.

[Mark Hancock]

My laptop is on it's way out so I need to replace it soon. I keep getting messages about hard drive failure I know I want to get a decent size RAM in the next one but have no idea about all the processors about now. Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers
Mark

 

[paultnl]

Without knowing your budget and specific requirements it is hard to give advice. This may be worth a look http://www.ebuyer.com/288575-fujitsu-li ... 531mp436gb

 

[Mark Hancock]

Without knowing your budget and specific requirements it is hard to give advice. This may be worth a look http://www.ebuyer.com/288575-fujitsu-li ... 531mp436gb

Thanks for the link.

At the moment I after some advice about the type of processor to look for. Many years ago when I got my first brand new PC there were only a few processors about and I was adviced to go for a Pentium rather than the other ones. Nowadays there seem so many. I'm after a good quality fast processor, large capacity hard drive, 4GB+ RAM preferrably 8GB, fast dvd writer and a few other things most laptops all seem to have. I'll worry about budget when I understand what's out there.

Cheers
Mark

 

[paultnl]

In reality there is not much difference between mainstream machines nowadays. Unless you have some specific high end requirements (lots of video editing or rendering for example) pretty much anything with the spec you have will be fine. Best to look at value and aftersales service as your guides.

 

[Blister]

Mark

For what its worth :lol:

And to rock the puter boat

This is my preference

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/s ... acbook_pro

:mrgreen:

and you can say goodbye to all the PC problems :lol:

PS

did I say I LOVE my Mac :wink:

 

[Mark Hancock]

Mark

For what its worth :lol:

And to rock the puter boat

This is my preference

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/s ... acbook_pro

:mrgreen:

and you can say goodbye to all the PC problems :lol:

PS

did I say I LOVE my Mac :wink:

Hi Allen

Being a humble pro woodturner I think that's where budget becomes a consideration :lol:

 

[loz]

Buy something small and cheap - but install Ubuntu, no need worry about performance then !

 

[gus3049]

Mark

For what its worth :lol:

And to rock the puter boat

This is my preference

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/s ... acbook_pro

:mrgreen:

and you can say goodbye to all the PC problems :lol:

PS

did I say I LOVE my Mac :wink:

Hi Allen

Being a humble pro woodturner I think that's where budget becomes a consideration :lol:

Better a second hand `Mac. I have never bought a new one. The cult of Mac (yes I'm a fully paid up member - but poor) means a new one as soon as the latest arrives so there are plenty out there at good prices. I have a G5 tower which you can get for a few hundred now and laptops, even Intel ones are reasonably well priced.

Worth a look. If you get an Intel Mac you can, if you should insist on such strange behaviour, run Windoze too.

 

[cambournepete]

Processors: current advice seems to be to avoid AMD for laptops as Intel is better power consumption and performance wise.

Intel have 3 processor families - core i3, i5, i7, the bigger the number the more powerful.
If you want high spec to do photo and video editing then go for a core i7 with 8GB RAM.

You'll need Windows 7, unless you're prepared to get bogged down in the Linux world.
If you have old program's that aren't Windows 7 compatible then get the professional version as that will run windows XP as a virtual machine (PC within a PC).

 

[OLD]

this mag may helphttp://www.pcpro.co.uk/latest-issue

 

[Mark Hancock]

Thank you all for the information. I really appreciate it. The mac option I hadn't really considered because of the price but I'll look at that again.

Pete
Thank you. You've solved my confusion over the different processors and the Windows 7 Pro information is useful to know as I have a number of old programs I'd like to keep using.

Cheers
Mark

 

[mickthetree]

My laptop is on it's way out so I need to replace it soon. I keep getting messages about hard drive failure

Hope you've got all of your data backed up!! Lost some myself recently. Eventually recovered it but it was a right PITA.

 

[Dibs-h]

My laptop is on it's way out so I need to replace it soon. I keep getting messages about hard drive failure

Hope you've got all of your data backed up!! Lost some myself recently. Eventually recovered it but it was a right PITA.

Cobblers - reminded me I need to send someone an email about that sort of stuff.

 

[Mark Hancock]

My laptop is on it's way out so I need to replace it soon. I keep getting messages about hard drive failure

Hope you've got all of your data backed up!! Lost some myself recently. Eventually recovered it but it was a right PITA.

Thanks for the warning. Did it the other day and keeping it up to date!

 

[RogerS]

My laptop is on it's way out so I need to replace it soon. I keep getting messages about hard drive failure

Hope you've got all of your data backed up!! Lost some myself recently. Eventually recovered it but it was a right PITA.

Thanks for the warning. Did it the other day and keeping it up to date!

Just make sure that you can recover the data from your backup!

 

[Mark Hancock]

Just make sure that you can recover the data from your backup!

Got it all covered I think.......online backup through Norton plus separate hard drive storage unit.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

A word of warning. PC prices are going to go up soon if the haven't already. Hard drives already have and will continue to go up fast. The reason is the flooding in Thailand. Something like 90% of the motors used in hard disk drives come from 1 company that has been badly affected by flooding. Also Seagate & Western Digital have very large factory's that have either been flooded or sut down due to parts shortages.

 

[RogerS]

Browsing that link to the magazine that Old gave, I read the article on Apple's latest OS - Lion. I'd sort of let this one pass me by as I have quite a few legacy programs that won't run on Lion and I saw no real incentive to upgrade..even at the remarkably low price of £21. However, after reading this article, I was frankly gobsmacked at one feature, namely what happens when your Mac OS goes pear-shaped and you need to reload the software. I found it mind boggling and urge anyone vaguely interested in how simple they have made it for your Mac to fix itself! It's all on Page 2 of this link.

 

[Blister]

Cant remember if I said
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I LOVE my Mac :lol:

 

[Mark Hancock]

Processors: current advice seems to be to avoid AMD for laptops as Intel is better power consumption and performance wise.

Intel have 3 processor families - core i3, i5, i7, the bigger the number the more powerful.
If you want high spec to do photo and video editing then go for a core i7 with 8GB RAM.

You'll need Windows 7, unless you're prepared to get bogged down in the Linux world.
If you have old program's that aren't Windows 7 compatible then get the professional version as that will run windows XP as a virtual machine (PC within a PC).

Hi Pete

I ended up with Windows 7 Home Premium, core i5, 8GB RAM and found it runs all my old programs with no trouble...at the moment that is
Mark