Please offer your advise: which laptop / netbook should I choose?

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

Hi folks!

I've recently discovered this board, and I've been scouring the computer threads with interest. My 4.5 year old laptop is soon to give up the ghost, and I was really hoping that someone wouldn't mind volunteering some recommendations to me with the criteria that I'm looking for?

I'm studying at uni, and as I'm having to commute a fair distance each day (and I'm a feeble girl!) I really need a machine that is lightweight and portable (so something under 2kg). I'm also looking for something that has a good battery life (6 hours, preferably more).

I'll be using it to type up work & will need to be able to use Excel and Powerpoint on it. I'll also be using it a lot for internet browsing, light editing of photos, and watching online films & things on iPlayer, so I'd like the screen to be over 10" (as side scrolling all the time would become irritating), and have a nice bright clear display.

There's also one thing I'd really LOVE it to be able to do: play Team Fortress . This is the only game that I play, and it's not that new, so I don't need something crazily powerful or anything.

My very top of my budget is £400, but hopefuly I can get some change out of this!

What do you think of this:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Laptops/Laptops/Asus+UL30A+13.3%22+Ultra+Thin+Notebook+-+Silver+?productId=41501&rqcType=q#rqc

and this:
http://www.aceroutlet.com/PRD_PRoductDetail.aspx?ProdID=4343&CID=0&Product=Aspire-Timeline-3810TZ---4GB---250GB---Win-7-Prem---13.3---Webcam

Also, the Compaq Presario C300 looked interesting if anyone knows what laptop I'm talking about, and it was on HUKD fairly recently for only £240 - but I can't find it now.

All suggestions welcomed! :A

jaydeeuk1

Both of those laptops will give great battery life and should handle team fortress ok.
I have an acer ferrari one which is a bit more powerful than those two, but trade off is only a 4hr battery life. Also has a better graphics chipset with the radeon 3200, which is no powerhouse itsself.

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

Whoops! I meant Team Fortress 2, but maybe it's the same graphical requirements for both anyway.

Thanks so much for your reply, I'll have a look now for the Acer Ferrari, I think I remember seeing it on HUKD a while back and people were raving over it. Out of the 2 laptops I linked to, which one do you think is better? The Timeline has an extra GB of RAM, but not sure which one would perform better graphically.

Thanks! x

closed

What's wrong with the one you have?

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

closed wrote: »

What's wrong with the one you have?

The one I've got now needs a new power jack fitted, it's bent out of position so the lappy only gets power if I hold the cable at very strategic angles! It also needs a new battery - this one no longer holds charge. Granted these are issues that could be sorted out with a few ££, but it's also 4 and a half years OOD so I think the money spent on fixing it / updating the operating system etc would be better spent on getting something new & problem free.

Plus as I said above, the main caveat I face now living away from uni is that my current laptop is a behemoth and simply weighs too much and takes up too much room for me to be able to carry it to/from uni with the rest of my stuff, I really want something portable.

Aaaand, this old beast can't handle TF2 :rotfl: