What laptop specs do I need?

Kamran

Hey all, hope you're doing well.

I bought my last laptop 4 years ago and at the time it would have been considered good quality at around £1,000. Today, I'm looking to get a new one and hand down this trusty one to a family member. However, since 2006, things have changed with regard to specs, could someone be kind enough to let me know what sort of spec I should be looking for? I am a 25year old guy and I'd consider myself a fairly heavy internet and laptop user. I might dabble occasionally in video or photo editting, but otherwise I am just looking for a slick, fast and "future-proof" laptop (I realise this doesn't really exist). What sort of spec should I be on the lookout for? Any actual recommendations?

Processor: I went into MicroAnvika today and was advised that the "Intel Core i3, i5, i7" processors were currently the recommended best processors around - i3 being an entry level, i5 being the mid-range and the i7 being the top level. Is this indeed the case?

OS: I'm happy to give Windows7 a try, I was fortunate enough to miss out Vista and have heard good things about Windows 7..

Screen: I'm used to a 17" and would like this ideally but I realise I might compromise the other specifications so I guess I'd be happy to get a 15.6" as a minimum. Furthermore, I'd ideally like it to be full HD, but the regular HD (720, I believe?) will do just fine will it not?

RAM: I have no idea what's recommended these days!

HDD: 320GB and up would do me fine I think, the more the better.

Optical Drive: I initially thought that a blu-ray reader/writer was a thing for the future, but considering I have a PS3 which plays blurays already and how portable external hard drives have become, I'm not so sure it would be essential for me. Do you guys agree? If so, then hopefully that should slash the cost a bit. I'd be happy to stick with a DVD+/-RW.

Graphics: A dedicated graphics card would be ideal.

Additional: I hope most laptops come with HDMI out nowadays? and a fairly good quality webcam+mic built in?

If someone would be kind enough to point me in the right direction with regard to these specifications and maybe even recommend some models that would fit the description it would be much appreciated! Thanks!

ps, I generally trust the guys in Micro Anvika, I've bought from them before and they're generally pretty clued up - he recommended Acer and Sony as two very reputable brands nowadays, specifically the following models:

Acer Aspire 5740M
http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5740_Laptop_LX.PM902.124/version.asp

Sony Vaoi EC1M1E
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-e-series/vpcec1m1e-wi

Sony Vaoi VPCF11s1E
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-f-series/vpcf11s1e-b

Thanks all! :T

Hammyman

No such thing as future proof. FWIW, I'm making a living selling 5yr old laptops that get used doing exactly what you do. My advice would be to upgrade RAM, memory and keep it but then again, its not new and shiny :D:D

OK...

Any of the Intel ones will do fine.
RAM - they all come with plenty
HDD - see above.
Optical Drive - only get Bluray if you actually intend watching blu-ray discs on it. There is a heavy price premium for having it
Graphics - unless you're into 3D shootem up type games, built in will be fine, even for HD playback.

Acer have dubious build quality for long term. There are tons and tons and tons of them on the second hand market and each model seems to have its own issues. Sony are overpriced and I'd rather have an aluminium unibody Macbook Pro for that price and shove Windows on it if I couldn't get on with Mac OS X.

Kamran

I'd have no problems keeping it, except that my parents need a computer for basic web surfing so I figured I'd just hand mine down to them and get a new "shiny" one, as you put it.

My question re the processors is - MUST i have an i5 or i7? or will an i3 do fine? In what circumstances might you notice the difference between an i3 and an i5?

CashStrappedTeen89

I3 - Low power consumption, for basic stuff this'll do fine tbh, as hammyman said nothing future proof, there's always something new coming out next week.
I also have to put forward that build quality in ALLLLLL machines have nose dived, i currently have a DELL which seems to be ok but its very finger print attractive .

I'd recommend looking for something with -
I3
300GB+ HDD
RAM 3gb is usually the norm
Nvidia or simular Graphics, sometimes onboards better if you oly dabble in editing.
Optical again unless you use it or its included in the price outright just get a normal DVD/CD one

I tend to stick with Intel but AMD ect are becoming better and better.

Esqui

I would agree with the above. i3 processor, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD.

Mostly, you'll find that as the i3 has an integrated GPU, it's not commonly paired with a dedicated chip. If the dedicated chip is essential, you'd normally be looking at an i5

CashStrappedTeen89

Esqui wrote: »

I would agree with the above. i3 processor, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD.

Mostly, you'll find that as the i3 has an integrated GPU, it's not commonly paired with a dedicated chip. If the dedicated chip is essential, you'd normally be looking at an i5

I've learned something new, didnt know the i3 has integrated GPU.
Even the basics escape me sometimes :rotfl:

Hammyman

CashStrappedTeen89 wrote: »

I've learned something new, didnt know the i3 has integrated GPU.
Even the basics escape me sometimes :rotfl:

Don't worry about it. Its nigh on impossible to keep on top of all the developments nowadays.

Sasahara

Regarding screen size you may well find the 17" laptops are cheaper than the 15-16" ones

As other have said i3 processor, 3GB RAM, Win7 Home Premium is a good base point.

Something to look into, but be warned this will take quite a bit off effort, as searching for this feature is very hard.

If you can get a laptop with 2 "working" HDD bays you could install a Solid State Hard Drive and run you OS & Programs from that.

This would transfom the laptop into desktop level of performance of equivlent CPU/Graphics, since it's the HDD that tends to be the laptops bottleneck.

I recently upgraded a work mates Aspire 6930g from vista to win7 with a Kingston 64GB SSD (SNV425-S2/64GB) (Decent budget SSD) £100 and it has transformed it, windows boot under 15-20 sec, most programs 3sec - instant load. It's faster at normal non cpu intensive work than my works i7 920.

If you don't need much storage you could look into SSD as the only drive, but if you have lots of files large SSD are very expensive.

gonzo127

just wondering am i being massivly dumb but i cant see a maximum price you are willing to spend

Kamran

gonzo127 wrote: »

just wondering am i being massivly dumb but i cant see a maximum price you are willing to spend

I don't actually have a maximum price - so long as it's fair price for the product I'm purchasing!

With regard to the processor - thanks for your input guys, i3 seems to be the clear opinion, but what PRACTICAL advantage would a dedicated graphics card give over an integrated one? ie, under what circumstance would I prefer a dedicated over integrated (let's assume I won't be using the laptop to play the latest games and that video editting would be a light hobby at the very most).

I agree, I have no need for a bluray player since the playstation has one built in, I'd be happy to give that a miss and save some cash (hopefully) in the process. :rotfl: