Help me choose an 17 or 18 inch HD laptop.

Avoriaz

I'm buying a new laptop to replace my 6 year old Dell Inspiron which has failed terminally.

My ageing eyes find a larger screen far more comfortable to use. My Dell was 15.4 inch 1920 x 1200 native, normally used at 1280 x 800 setting. I am currently using a borrowed laptop with a 14 inch screen and both my wife and I find it a strain to use for long periods.

I an not a gamer but I do want to be able to watch high bit rate HD videos. Audio is not important as I use an outboard Creative USB soundcard with high quality headphones.

Other than that I don't do any particularly demanding work, WP, Excel, picture viewing, chess and backgammon, net browsing etc.

I want a large 17 or 18 inch screen with 1920 x 1080 (or 1920 x 1200) screen. That severely limits my options as most are 1920 x 768 or 900. I know that they can show HD too but I really do want a native 1080 screen.

It must be capable of playing HD videos, mpg, mp4, ts etc at full HD resolution.

My budget is up to about £800.

I am interested in one of these 2 Acers.

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_8935G-864G50Bn_LX.PDA0X.001/version.asp

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_8735G_Laptop_LX.PHE02.005/version.asp?PID=

The Acer 8935g appears to be a lot of laptop for the money but is the ATI graphics card up to the job? It only has 512 mb memory.

I don't know if that is important to me or if that only affects gaming.

The Acer 8735g has an Nvidia card of unspecified memory.

I would welcome informed comments on the above two laptops and also recomendations of possible alternative options from other high quality laptop manufacturers.

I have considered second hand but there is little on Ebay that interests me. Most are Vista based machines and I want to avoid Vista.

I don't need a blue ray player.

Thanks

01001011

Why a laptop rather than a desktop? If you need some mobility, you may also consider using a smaller laptop (even a netbook with ION graphic and HDMI will satisfy your computational need) and connect it to a large screen while at home.

Lil306

I've checked those two links, and focussing on watching videos alone I'd go for the ATi based laptop as opposed to the Nvidia

The ATi card is a good model, supports up to DX11. However it has 512mb of DEDICATED memory as opposed to maximum of 1GB shared system memory to the Nvidia card. The ATi card also supports HD Quality and I believe it's a recommended card for midrange / high end cards on graphics workstations so it's fairly beefy

Whilst the shared / dedicated memory isn't that much of an issue with 4GB Ram, it's normally recommended to have about 4GB with Windows 7 and Vista because they're memory hogs pure and simple. If you have a card like the Nvidia you will be sacrificing performance for graphics. It's also worth a mention that the ATi has lower power consumption so longer battery life on the move.

I have three PC's with ATi cards in em and they're great

Avoriaz

01001011 wrote: »

Why a laptop rather than a desktop? If you need some mobility, you may also consider using a smaller laptop (even a netbook with ION graphic and HDMI will satisfy your computational need) and connect it to a large screen while at home.

I prefer a laptop as I can use it from the comfort of my sofa and then store it under the sofa when not in use.

I neither have nor want a desk and desktop computer.

My Dell laptop never left the house in 6 years. I have no need for mobile computing.

But thanks for your suggestions anyway.

Avoriaz

Lil306 wrote: »

I've checked those two links, and focussing on watching videos alone I'd go for the ATi based laptop as opposed to the Nvidia

The ATi card is a good model, supports up to DX11. However it has 512mb of DEDICATED memory as opposed to maximum of 1GB shared system memory to the Nvidia card. The ATi card also supports HD Quality and I believe it's a recommended card for midrange / high end cards on graphics workstations so it's fairly beefy.......t

Thanks for that.

I am tempted by the 8935G with ATI graphics as it seems to have a lot more for not much more money. If the graphics are as good as or better than the 8735G then I think it is worth the extra money.

Is there much significant difference between the 8935G's P8600 / 2.4 GHz and the 8735G's T6600 / 2.2 GHz processors?

This is the Intel comparison.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=37255,35568,

Lil306

Avoriaz wrote: »

Thanks for that.

I am tempted by the 8935G with ATI graphics as it seems to have a lot more for not much more money. If the graphics are as good as or better than the 8735G then I think it is worth the extra money.

Is there much significant difference between the 8935G's P8600 / 2.4 GHz and the 8735G's T6600 / 2.2 GHz processors?

This is the Intel comparison.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=37255,35568,

Both graphics cards themselves are good. However, dedicated memory will always sway a decision when the specs are pretty much the same because there will be less load on the CPU / System memory as it's being handled by it's own dedicated controller. Meaning you suffer less of a performance hit and less waiting time

There is not that much difference between the CPUs, as a normal consumer you wouldn't notice it as the waiting times would be fractional. They'd only show up running heavy loads like burn-ins and stress tests....

Both machines are good, I've always been an Nvidia Fan, but ATi is just as good and sometimes better.

elvch01

I have an Acer 8930G and am very happy with it. Its a big beastie, but I don't move it around too much

Avoriaz

I have decided to go with the 8935 as I have found it for £650 here, a lot cheaper than Acer Direct at £779, unless I am missing something.

http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_8935G_625128.html

Can anyone spot a flaw in that price or company?

It comes with Vista Home Premium. Is it worth paying £39 for a Windows 7 upgrade?

What more will 7 give me over Vista?

When I do a full reinstall of Windows, will that upgrade always require me to first install Vista and then upgrade or is it the full installation that just requires proof of a Vista license? I prefer a clean install to an upgrade. I hope I am making myself clear.

Thanks

Lil306

That's a hell of a price difference, but they're an Acer reseller. So they're passing the savings onto you (is the laptop recon'd or brand new) ?

Anyway, personally I prefer Windows 7. Vista was released far too early and had loads of missing drivers. Windows 7 is also a lot more kind to memory resources and a lot more responsive. Vista soaks it up

You may need to push this question to the company if they are offering to upgrade the operating system. What I suspect it will be is actually a FULL clean install. For example, at £650, the laptop might be £580 and they're paying £70 for the Windows Vista O/S, by paying £39 they're basically getting the extra costs to purchase a retail copy of Windows 7 for you.

I'd really ask them the question direct to avoid confusion, that's what I suspect they're doing however. Vista is their cheapest package, and they're providing an optional upgrade.

EDIT - Directly from their site (so they're basically a reseller passing on savings)

1) Your products are cheaper than anywhere else! Are your products brand new?
Unless otherwise indicated, the products we sell are all brand new, and are shipped out in factory sealed boxes. All brand new products come with a minimum 12 month manufacturer’s warranty. We do also sell some ‘open box’ products which are usually customer returned products where the security seal on the box has been opened, but the laptop has been unused. If you would like to purchase an open box product you have seen on the website, please contact our sales team on 0121 260 0040 for more information regarding the exact nature of the open box.


2) Why are we so cheap?
We work closely with Acer directly to cut out the middlemen in order to push down our prices.


3) How do I know I am getting the best deal?
We are constantly checking our competitors websites on a daily basis to offer the best prices deals we can, we also aim to give you the best quality customer service. We will inform you of how your order is progressing by text and email alerts.

Avoriaz

Wow, quick response thanks.

As far as I can see it is new sealed stock. I will call them in the morning and discuss but that price looks a steal.

Thanks for all your help.

Lil306

No price. The items are brand new by the looks of it, since they're direct resellers they basically get them at hugely reduced prices as they buy in bulk. They're probably making £100+ profit for every laptop they sell so they can afford to buy 100's at a time.

Definately a steal, I saved that site in my favourites. I might check it out later