Best laptop for around £800-£1000

Marty_J

ISIOTB wrote: »

I don't want an Apple because I'm not used to it

Are you used to Windows 7?

and I need to fileshare easily between another laptop I have (slow cheap one)

I have my Mac networked with my PC. It's very simple.

This laptop will be my main business laptop, so reliability and speed is key.

Apple are among the most reliable computer manufacturers there are, and they also are consistently rated as having the best customer support. They've been the top computer manufacturer in the American Consumer Satisfaction Index for the past 5 years now.

You're wanting a premium laptop, but you're excluding the market leader in premium laptops.

I want a 17" screen ideally so I can retain reasonable portability when I work away from home.

Well there's the rub; you aren't going to find a 17-inch Apple laptop for £1,000. Though, laptops don't generally come much bigger than that, so it's a strange choice of size if portability is a factor.

Whatever you choose, getting a smaller one and using an external display at your desktop might be a good idea.

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

You can't do that really, unless the OP is a student.

That's why I said "if you can avail of Apple's student discount".

John_Gray

ISIOTB wrote: »

Can somebody tell me what the best I can expect for around £800-£1000 please? Any specific recommendations?

Nobody has yet asked why you think you need to spend that much money! You can get a mid-range laptop for £400-£600, which should do most common things very well. What about software (e.g. Office) and a printer?

I'd get one which has a 'free' upgrade to the correct level of Windows 7 ( probably the Professional edition) some time after October 22nd, which means you need Windows Business installed on the laptop at present.

Look for a Core 2 Duo with at least 2 GHz, 3 GB of memory, hard disk at least 160 GB (depends on how much data you have). Check how reflective the screen is - I've seen some which drive me mad with the reflections.

macman

John_Gray wrote: »

Nobody has yet asked why you think you need to spend that much money! You can get a mid-range laptop for £400-£600, which should do most common things very well. What about software (e.g. Office) and a printer?

I'd get one which has a 'free' upgrade to the correct level of Windows 7 ( probably the Professional edition) some time after October 22nd, which means you need Windows Business installed on the laptop at present.

Look for a Core 2 Duo with at least 2 GHz, 3 GB of memory, hard disk at least 160 GB (depends on how much data you have). Check how reflective the screen is - I've seen some which drive me mad with the reflections.

I think the most important issue for the OP is screen size, as Marty highlighted. He seems to consider 17 in is portable; unless you are Mr Incredible, I would beg to differ! I would not want to lug a 17 in laptop around on a regular basis.
Once that has been decided, progress can be made.

Scrilla

ISIOTB wrote: »

Some clarification - this is for a small business. I'm looking for the laptop to be as quick as possible and able to multitask easily.

I don't want an Apple because I'm not used to it and I need to fileshare easily between another laptop I have (slow cheap one)

This laptop will be my main business laptop, so reliability and speed is key.

I want a 17" screen ideally so I can retain reasonable portability when I work away from home.

Is there anything else you want the computer to do, non business stuff perhaps? When you say for small business, I assume you are talking about using fairly basic and non processor intensive stuff, which instantly lowers your price bracket. A 17" screen isn't exactly a must have for business unless you see clients for graphics proofs as an example. If portability is an issue i.e. you work away from home often, a 17" laptop is not as portable as you think - you're looking at 15.4" as an absolute max if you want a good compromise between desktop use and portability. Go down to 13" if you are mostly on the move. Oh, this is coming from someone who owns laptops of 12", 15.4" and 17" sizes and works 50-50 on the move so I do understand how 'portable' each one is.

I would suggest the price range you are looking at is closer to £700-£800 for your needs (still making the assumption you need it to be quick). Unless you use your laptop for other uses (home entertainment, games, home video editing etc) or there are specific pieces of software you use, you really don't need anything more expensive.

As a Mac user, I would go against buying a Mac as others have suggested even though you can easily install and run windows (at full speed) on the mac. Reason being is small business means Microsoft software in general (I'm making an assumption about your usage again). MS Office and other MS software on Mac is pants/non-existent (OpenOffice is not much better before anyone else says something) and I imagine you would not want to spend time learning other similar software to use - time is precious running small business and all. Go PC. Go Dell, sub £800 price range, using davidmt83's suggestions above. Unless of course there's more to your needs than you have revealed.

Bowling_4_Gold

Marty_J wrote: »

Are you used to Windows 7?

I assume the OP isn't, but seeing as Windows 7 comes from the same 'family' as all other Windows OS's, I think the OP will find it more familiar than mac OS X Polar Bear or whatever the latest one is...

That's why I said "if you can avail of Apple's student discount"

Well, it seemed to me you were implying the OP should ask a student friend of their's to buy the mac for them, or obtain the discount some other dodgy way, and previous posts of yours also agree with this suggestion....

macman

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

I assume the OP isn't, but seeing as Windows 7 comes from the same 'family' as all other Windows OS's, I think the OP will find it more familiar than mac OS X Polar Bear or whatever the latest one is...


Well, it seemed to me you were implying the OP should ask a student friend of their's to buy the mac for them, or obtain the discount some other dodgy way, and previous posts of yours also agree with this suggestion....

So you think Windows 7 is going to be just like Vista? Oh dear...

What is dodgy about using an acquaintance to get an Apple student discount? It's perfectly legit. Obviously pretending to be a student when you are not is fraudulent.

Bowling_4_Gold

macman wrote: »

So you think Windows 7 is going to be just like Vista? Oh dear...

Where did you get that from? I thought I made myself clear - A user switching from Microsoft Windows Vista will feel more familiar in a Microsoft Windows 7 environment, instead of being plunged into a different company's UI, which is totally different to what they have previously used.

Its just common sense that a new OS (Windows 7) from the same company as the user's original OS (Windows Vista) is going to be more backward-compatible, in terms of transferring content and networking, than a new OS (mac OS X whatever) from a different company than the user's original OS (Windows Vista).

On a more personal perspective, I knew right from the beginning that Windows 7 was adopting some of OS X's features, but I also knew a lot of existing features from OSs like Vista would be carried through, so you are wrong in suggesting I think Windows 7 will be exactly like Vista...

What is dodgy about using an acquaintance to get an Apple student discount? It's perfectly legit. Obviously pretending to be a student when you are not is fraudulent

Oh wow... So you think if I went to a distant relation/acquaintance who was a student and used their student card to get a few hundred pounds discount, everything would be hunky dory? Well, you're wrong. It's a bit like me randomly going up to my Sister, who works at Waitrose and I don't see often, and asking her to buy me a new camera from John Lewis, just because she gets a discount. That is a sackable offence, so I don't see why using a student to get you a discount isn't as serious (obviously they can't be sacked from being a student).

The discount is meant to soften the blow of spending £900+ on a new laptop (which Apple know will be used usefully in education (taking notes, writing essays etc)) for a STUDENT, and it is not open to abuse from people who think they can cheat the system and save some of their own cash.

Marty_J

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

I assume the OP isn't, but seeing as Windows 7 comes from the same 'family' as all other Windows OS's, I think the OP will find it more familiar than mac OS X Polar Bear or whatever the latest one is...

Perhaps, but Windows 7 does have some major interface changes, not least its horrible new taskbar/Mac OS X dock.

My point was that we all have to get used to new things eventually.

Well, it seemed to me you were implying the OP should ask a student friend of their's to buy the mac for them, or obtain the discount some other dodgy way, and previous posts of yours also agree with this suggestion....

I didn't know if the OP was a student or not. But if they want to ask a student to buy something for them, that's up to them.

Can a student who buys something on a student discount sell it? Can they give it away? Isn't it their property?

It's a bit like me randomly going up to my Sister, who works at Waitrose and I don't see often, and asking her to buy me a new camera from John Lewis, just because she gets a discount.

My mother works for Tescos, and she gets a discount there.

She gets a discount on all the groceries, and she doesn't eat them all herself.

If I knew someone who worked in a store where I wanted something, I wouldn't have any qualms about asking them to get me a staff discount. My wife knows a car salesman, and guess what? He gets us really good deals on cars.

Leopard

Bowling_4_Gold wrote: »

I assume the OP isn't, but seeing as Windows 7 comes from the same 'family' as all other Windows OS's, I think the OP will find it more familiar than mac OS X Polar Bear or whatever the latest one is...


Well, it seemed to me you were implying the OP should ask a student friend of their's to buy the mac for them, or obtain the discount some other dodgy way, and previous posts of yours also agree with this suggestion....

It is perfectly legitimate for a provable student to buy an Apple Mac with the Educational Discount and subsequently decide to continue to afflict themself, instead, with a nasty contraption that only runs LongWait/Viagra.

They may, for example, have a masochistic streak and enjoy being constantly under attack from viruses.

They might, for example, find themself ill at ease among a community that can spell, punctuate and construct a sentence in English.

Such a person is then fully entitled to sell their newly acquired Apple Mac to a more intelligent relative - or to anybody else of their choice who appreciates quality.

Apple recognises this and adopts a philosophical attitude towards it rather than be petty and try to apply rules that it has no way of enforcing - even if they were legal (which they wouldn't be).

Your logic and mentality, even when you aren't "assuming" things without any justification, is very - how should one put it? - Microsoft in its approach.

Your very thinking is muddled. The tactic that you claim is "not open to abuse" is totally open to abuse: so much so that you are complaining about it.

Bowling_4_Gold

Marty_J wrote: »

If I knew someone who worked in a store where I wanted something, I wouldn't have any qualms about asking them to get me a staff discount.

I really am surprised at this. I have always been totally against this kind of thing. I mean, a staff discount is exactly that - a discount for staff, not for their friends and relatives. The member of staff has worked for numerous hours for the company, so has almost 'earnt' the discount. I really am surprised that people would do this. Waitrose seem to have the right idea then, sacking those who abuse the bonus.