Sub-£350 powerful laptops discussion

Millionaire

fairyspirit wrote: »

What about this one?

Compaq Presario CQ60-430SA refurbished.
(.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compaq-presario-cq60-430sa-refurbished-laptop-03614235-pdt.html)

AMD Athlon™ X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-65 - 2.1 GHz - 2000 MHz HT - 1 MB L2 cache, 3GB Ram, 250GB harddrive.

Does that tick all the boxes do you think please?

Its comes with Windows Vista, I would want to have Windows 7 on it.

fairyspirit

(.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compaq-presario-cq61-320sa-refurbished-laptop-03914983-pdt.html)

This has Windows 7 on it, Dual Core, 3GB Ram, 250GB harddrive. £339.99

If someone would mind just confiming this is a good buy, I will order it tonight. Thanks very much! I compared the specs to the one I was recommended by Millionaire and I think this one seems slightly better?

And sorry for posting so much, just nervous about spending so much money on a product I don't know much about!

Also am I getting a good deal in terms of it being a refurb? I can't find many brand new to compare! It's on for £379 elsewhere.

So if someone could just reassure me it's okay, I'll go for it, and stop annoying you all! Thanks again.

markl66

Millionaire wrote: »

Going to have to totally disagree on this.

The Dual Core processor is a much better investment for £10-£20 more.

Ram is easily and cheaply upgradable at a later date if needed and integrated graphics on most machines are just fine, unless you want dedicated gaming.

The SI-42 is a crap processor, It's ranked 563 in passmark benchmarks, when for £10 -20 more you could get a Celeron Dual Core with a CPU benchmark of 2.5+ times more than the SI-42.

For a short while I had a new Toshiba running a SI-42 that I was setting up for someone and it was dog slow, a chore to use and it was glad it wasn't mine.

I know what I'd put my money on.

Ok, but I have been building computers for years and worked as an Embeded Software Engineer Consultant. From experience, I have seen Dual Core AMD 64 running much slower than a Celeron PC just because not enough RAM. The single biggest speed increase for the average PC is to increase RAM, as Windows will spend most of its time swapping to hard disk. Next best upgrade is faster hard disk or graphics card, Intel GFX is no good even for multimedia. The system bottleneck is hardly ever CPU, try monitoring CPU usage to discover this fact. My single core celeron runs at 20% decoding MPEG movie. For the best speed increase, try Linux, it will make the oldest hardware run applications faster (e.g. Firefox) than the top end Windows machines. Unless you are designing for programmable gate arrays, meaty CPUs are wasted on most people. My single core Celeron latop running Linux runs faster than my dual core iMac, fact. Heres another tip - Facebook running slow? - try Google Chrome or Opera browsers that have much faster Javascript engines.

supermonkey

portchieboy wrote: »

Hi

With a £50 cash back, so just sub £400, how does this sound for a first home laptop, just for internet, simple gaming, photos (TV interface?) etc.....and taking abroad on holiday.

Product Description HP Compaq 610 - Core 2 Duo T5870 2 GHz - 15.6" TFT Dimensions (WxDxH) 37.2 cm x 25.4 cm x 3.2 cm Weight 2.5 kg Processor Intel Core 2 Duo T5870 / 2 GHz ( Dual-Core ) Hard Drive 320 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 7200 rpm Networking Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE
802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, Bluetooth 2.1
EDR Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz ) RAM 3 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM ( 1 x 1
GB + 1 x 2 GB ) Graphics Controller Intel GMA X3100 Audio Output Sound card Localisation English / United Kingdom Recommended Use Small business, corporate business Cache Memory 2 MB - L2 Cache Optical Storage DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - integrated with
LightScribe Technology Display 15.6" TFT 1366 x 768 ( WXGA ) - BrightView Telecom Fax / modem - MDC - 56 Kbps Input Device Keyboard, touchpad Battery Lithium Ion Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Built-in Devices Speaker, wireless LAN aerial, Bluetooth aerial System Type Notebook Card Reader Yes Wireless NIC Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Run Time (Up To) 5 hour(s) Notebook Camera Integrated - 2 Megapixel Microsoft Office Ready Includes a preinstalled image of select 2007
Microsoft Office suites. Purchase a Medialess
License Kit (MLK) to activate the software. Memory Allocation Technology Dynamic Video Memory Technology 4.0 Environmental Standards EPA Energy Star

My only concern is the graphics at a quick glance.

markl66 wrote: »

I can recommend the Toshiba L450D as my daughter has one. It has a good value processor, enough RAM and a good graphics chipset for games. At £329 (Dixons) it is a bargain. You dont need a dual core, the RAM and graphics chipset are the most important components, if you are running Linux, most any old hardware will go like lightning compared to Windowz. Dont know about Linux compatibility, but it should run Ubuntu fine, download the live-CD and try it first. You may need a WiFi USB stick if the onboard one doesn't work with the Linux drivers, I recommend the EDIMAX. I use Ubuntu 9.10 and Edimax on a Dell Inspiron 1525 and it works fine.

I guess there is nothing wrong with single core, but as someone else pointed out, RAM etc are easily upgradable. If budget allows go Dual Core.

It's also about value for money. Even when buying a budget laptop, you want to get something that will last as long as possible - single core is outdated spec now and simply wont last as long.

I would suggest 3Gb Ram as a minimum amount - should be more than sufficient. Of course it is entirely possible to get higher for this budget

Millionaire

markl66 wrote: »

From experience, I have seen Dual Core AMD 64 running much slower than a Celeron PC just because not enough RAM. The single biggest speed increase for the average PC is to increase RAM, as Windows will spend most of its time swapping to hard disk.

This would only be relevant if the Laptops had insufficient RAM, the ones recommended don't.

markl66 wrote: »

The system bottleneck is hardly ever CPU, try monitoring CPU usage to discover this fact. My single core celeron runs at 20% decoding MPEG movie.

I monitor CPU all the time, I have a monitor on my Desktop, I half decent processor comes into it's own when multitasking e.g :- Anti-virus running in background, Itunes playing etc etc. Maybe you should monitor yours when it's actually doing some multitasking with various things going on.

I have a older Laptop running XP which is currently disused and you know what the bottleneck on it was? It was the Processor. How do I know? Because I monitored the CPU usage maxing out at 100% for long periods with a bit of multitasking.(and no, I don't want Linux)

So you trying to discredit the importance of a half decent processor is nonsense.

markl66 wrote: »

For the best speed increase, try Linux, it will make the oldest hardware run applications faster (e.g. Firefox) than the top end Windows machines.

Is the poster wanting recommendations, interested in Linux? No.

markl66 wrote: »

Unless you are designing for programmable gate arrays, meaty CPUs are wasted on most people. My single core Celeron latop running Linux runs faster than my dual core iMac, fact.

A Celeron Dual Core, a Meaty Processor:rotfl:, and Linux again....we are looking at running Windows, not Linux...

markl66 wrote: »

Heres another tip - Facebook running slow? - try Google Chrome or Opera browsers that have much faster Javascript engines.

I don't need any tips, Thanks;)

Like I said going to have to disagree with you on the importance of having a half decent processor. From my experience the people that complain about the sluggishness of their machines the most have the crap-est processors.

Thats my final thoughts on the matter.

Now it's up to the poster to decide which advice he wants to go with, and purchase accordingly.

bargainsearcher

Hi, was wondering if anyone could tell me whether the Dell 1545 laptop was any good. Will mainly be used for internet, photos etc, but not gaming. I was looking at the £349 one.
Tried to post link but not allowed for some reason.
It has dual core T3100 processer, 320 gb, and 3 mb memory. Any good?

Zanzibar

This is one of the better specs at the moment:

http://uk.insight.com/content/homepage/deals (click on the Toshiba)


Its about £395 after cash back and £415 with the extra memory - the key thing is that it has XP Pro and Windows 7 Pro - which has a fair number of features over the home edition.

Millionaire

bargainsearcher wrote: »

Hi, was wondering if anyone could tell me whether the Dell 1545 laptop was any good. Will mainly be used for internet, photos etc, but not gaming. I was looking at the £349 one.
Tried to post link but not allowed for some reason.
It has dual core T3100 processer, 320 gb, and 3 mb memory. Any good?

The Dell does not have a Webcam if required at all, otherwise Spec is good.

Only issue is the 4 cell battery. If your going to run it off battery it won't last that long, maybe 1hr 1/2.

Unfortunately, Dell are currently wanting £60:eek: for a 6 cell battery upgrade (it used to be only £5)

If your going to run it off mains, then I suppose the battery is a non issue.

fairyspirit

Would someone mind just confirming whether this is an okay buy or not please? I have no one else I can ask.

(.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compaq-presario-cq61-320sa-refurbished-laptop-03914983-pdt.html)

This has Windows 7 on it, Dual Core, 3GB Ram, 250GB harddrive. £339.99

poppy10_2

Zanzibar wrote: »

This is one of the better specs at the moment:

http://uk.insight.com/content/homepage/deals (click on the Toshiba)


Its about £395 after cash back and £415 with the extra memory - the key thing is that it has XP Pro and Windows 7 Pro - which has a fair number of features over the home edition.

Looks a bit rubbish, that. The T5870 processor is ancient, it only has a 160GB hard drive (smaller than a lot of netbooks), and 1gig RAM is a joke these days. You can get far better for £395.

You'd be hard pushed to find an average home user who would utilize the features of Win7 Pro over the standard Home Premium, which are mainly related to group policies and business networking