Full HD Laptop advice.

Avoriaz

Hi, I’m looking to replace my 5 year old Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop.

My main priority is that it must be capable of playing full HD videos (.ts .mpg .mp4 etc) My Dell struggles with some of these.

I want a large 16 to 18 inch screen with 1920 x 1080 native resolution (my Dell is 1920 x 1200) but I might consider a lower resolution if that won’t make any real difference. I suspect it will because of the short viewing distance of a few feet at most.

A blue ray drive would be nice but isn’t essential although they probably come as standard on full HD laptops.

Sound isn’t important as I use an outboard Creative USB audio processor with headphones.

I want 3 or 4 gb memory and a minimum 250 gb but preferably larger disk.

It will also be used for internet, word processing and photograph viewing. I don’t want or need any gaming capability.

I am considering an Acer Aspire 8930 (list price £900 but available cheaper) I have also seen a few nice but much pricier Sony laptops. I have only just started looking so I don’t know what else is available. About £900 would be my absolute maximum and preferably a lot less.

I would consider refurbished or second hand.

I would welcome any advice, recommendations or suggestions etc.

Thanks

Locknut

Hi I have just upgraded my laptop, I did get a Sony Viao but had a few problems with it so sent that back and got an MSI on reccomendation from a friend in IT and i have to say the build quality is second to none.

this is the one I have http://uk.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1417&maincat_no=135&cat2_no=271
this is more a gaming laptop but have a look at the rest of the site then do a google shop for the best price.

HTH

david39

QVC are selling an Acer large-screen lap top that fits your requirements as their Today's Special Value item (Saturday 18th) at £699 plus £35 p&p.
4mb RAM - 360gig harddrive - blu-ray - web cam - seems to have the lot.

aliasojo

The QVC one is the 8930 as in the OP. If you go down this route, don't forget 5% Quidco.

Marty_J

Is there really much of a benefit to having HD on a laptop-sized screen?

weegie.geek

I have a 720p screen on my 15.4" laptop.

My old phone's screen was 3.6", and 640*480.

Do some rough maths, and you're looking at 2700* 2050 on a 15.4" screen with the density of that phone.

Suddenly 17" 1080p doesn't seem so excessive.

Bear in mind that you're usually sitting two feet from your laptop screen. While a 17" TV across the room wth 1080p might be pointless, if you're so close to it you will see the benefit of it being 1080p, imo.

I like to lie in bed watching films on my laptop. 1080p would be nice but I'm happy with 720p. I can see why someone would want 1080p though.

Marty_J

I have an iMac with a 17" screen that can do 720p. It looks OK if you have your nose pressed up against the screen; there's not much difference once you sit back a bit. I'm not really convinced 1080p would be noticeably any better. Even on a 30" screen it's debatable whether there would be much of a visible improvement over 720p.

weegie.geek

I disagree with that. I can clearly see the difference between 720p and 480p on my 15.4" screen.

I have a 22" screen that does 1680*1050 and watching 1080p stuff on it, albeit downsampled, is noticeably better than 720p stuff that's upsampled.

Some people genuinely think there's no difference between DVD and Bluray, but the problem isn't with the screens not being big enough or bluray not being a big enough improvement, the problem is with that person's eyesight.

Marty_J

I must admit to having particularly poor eyesight.

I'm not saying there's no difference between SD and HD material on a smaller screen. It's just it's not so amazing that I would go out of my way to seek it out.

For me, it would be a nice bonus rather than a requirement.

I'm not the one buying a new laptop though.

Avoriaz

Marty_J wrote: »

Is there really much of a benefit to having HD on a laptop-sized screen?

Very much so in my opinion.

My current laptop has a 1920 x 1200 screen and will play some HD material.

HD videos look considerably better on it than SD videos.

As weegie.geek wrote above, a laptop is normally viewed from close up.

My laptop screen appears to be twice the size at about 2 feet than does my 36 inch TV which is about 12 feet away.

Pitchshifter

This is good value at £628:
http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_8920G_Gemstone_Blue_LX.AS60X.071/version.asp?PID=
Nice 18" full HD screen and Bluray, with a Radeon HD 3650 - 512 MB it's perfect for films and some lite gaming.
Oh, it also has 5.1 surround speakers!

But this is my preference as it's more powerful for gaming with a lower res and smaller screen, 1680*1050 is nearly full HD though.
More pricey at £1436 for the bluray (and thats without an OS!):

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=nb&c=gaming&r=X70