Buying a new laptop, buy now or after christmas?

10past6

Some members may well find this beneficial

MattLFC

They should all be okayish, except the cheapest one (only 512MB of RAM), but to be honest, in Vista you need all the power you can get, so if you can stretch to it, a Turion X2 or Core2Duo paired with 2GB would be worth the extra over any Celeron or Sempron.

2GB of RAM is a must for Vista; of course its not essential the laptop has it on, as its only £20 for 2GB DDRII SoDIMM's nowadays, but it is preferential. If it came between saving say £25 by getting a Celeron/Sempron with 2GB RAM and paying the extra £25.00 for a Core2Duo/Turion X2, I would pay the extra £25.00 no matter what my needs where, they wont use any extra electric/battery, but will give FAR better and smoother performance. In fact the Core2Duo for instance uses less power than the Celeron M when on battery, due to the fact it has Intel Enhance Speedstep on it, which means it shuts off parts of the CPU and slows the CPU down to save power (even after this is will still outperform a Celeron M) whereas the Celeron M does not do this.

My new laptop has a fan button, which slows the CPU down to battery speeds (a Core2Duo slows down to 1Ghz), and I use it all the time when I am on power, unless I am doing anything which requires the power, to save a little bit on electric, in true moneysaving style!!

10past6

OK, I'm almost sorted, I'm undecided between this or this

Everyone who's helped me, I'm very grateful :T :T

MattLFC

Thats a tough one!!

Compaq is certainly the better brand, they are essentially HP value systems and very well built, whereas EI Systems is a Spanish manufacturer that I believe DSGi own which raises a few questions with regards quality, although the Advent (also a DSGi owned brand) I have is not shabby at all build quality wise.

I think I would go for the Celeron Dual Core tbh, it will offer more performance as it had two cores, and is basically a Core2Duo (its based on the Merom core) but with half the L2 cache (1MB as opposed to 2MB), a slightly slower FSB (533Mhz compared to 667Mhz/800Mhz), no Speedstep (not so good if using battery a lot) and a lack of VT (wont affect 99% of users).

All in all, it will be fine for what you are planning, although the screen is 13.3" so not so big as you requested. Id add another 1GB of RAM to it (a 2GB bar is less than £20 right now, 1GB is around £12.00) for Vista to ensure maximum performance and no slowdowns.

MattLFC

Oh wait, the Celeron Dual Core only has 512KB of L2 cache; I have not been able to establish if this is per core, but as it is based on the Merom core, id guess it would be in total. Which is not so good. But at that price, it should still be excellent, and meet your requirements... just.

10past6

MattLFC wrote: »

I think I would go for the Celeron Dual Core tbh

So that would be the cheaper one at £239.00?

MattLFC wrote: »

All in all, it will be fine for what you are planning, although the screen is 13.3" so not so big as you requested

Would that make much of a difference, at least it's a great deal bigger than a netbook at 8.9 / 10.

MattLFC wrote: »

Id add another 1GB of RAM to it (a 2GB bar is less than £20 right now, 1GB is around £12.00)

Does the machine have 2 slots to add the additional ram?

MattLFC

Yes, the cheaper one is a better spec performance wise. Im not all up with Semprons atm, however I can't really see a single core Sempron outperforming a Dual Core Celeron based on the fabulous Core2Duo processor, even if it is a cut down version.

I would'nt say 13.3 is a bad thing, I prefer using my 12" screen to my girlfriends 15.4", they both have the same resolution (1280x800) which means mine has more defenition and is pin sharp as the pixels are cramed into a tighter space and are therefore closer together. So I doubt it will make much, if any, difference. If you are unsure, go into a store and have a look, compare the 13" laptops to the 14 and 15" laptops.

With regards the RAM, I would not be able to tell you to be honest; the only way to find out is to buy it lol. However, with a 2GB bar being so low priced atm, you may end up paying an extra few quid, but end up with 2.5GB if it is 2x 512MB bars standard. Having said that though, 1.5GB would be a major advantage over 1GB so you may not even choose to go for 2GB if you have 2x 512MB bars in it.

MattLFC

Btw, apologies if I am being too technical at times and confusing you somewhat, my mind tends to run away with me and having just looked back over some of my previous posts I may have been guilty of this lol.

10past6

Humm, duplicate post!!

10past6

OK, you've be so helpful, I'm eternally grateful to you, I'm off to buy the one at £239.00 :j :j

Others have helped me in deciding what to buy, but your posts / advice have put the icing on the cake :A

Much appreciated :T :T