Seeking laptop better or equivalent?

Shiroi

Hi, I'm thinking about getting a new laptop.

I currently have an Asus X51RL, specs;
Processor - Intel Pentium Dual Core T5450 1.66 GHz Dual-Core
RAM - 2 GB (installed) 2 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM
Hard Drive - 120 GB
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Screen - 15.4 in TFT active matrix 1280 x 800
Optical Drive - DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM
Graphics - ATI Radeon Xpress 1100
Bluetooth - No

I'm a student so something which can handle being on for periods of time, office equipment, and gaming.

I've looked through some shops and the specs v Value for money confuses me completely and whether they would be hardy (which is the problem with the ASUS despite it being a quality laptop, because it's carried back and forth, and used in lectures a lot)?

I've been told to get Dual Core again too, does it make any difference?

Obviously I want to get as much as I can for my money.

busenbust

What's your min/max budget ??

Shiroi

Hi,
About £400 for the maximum I think. I think that's around what I spent for the ASUS

busenbust

Shiroi wrote: »

Hi,
About £400 for the maximum I think. I think that's around what I spent for the ASUS

okay, will post tomorrow -- have to watch the apprentice! :rotfl::rotfl:

closed

If the laptop isn't hardy, get a better bag instead?

Hammyman

Why are you wanting to get a new one? The one you have is perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with it and for £400, you may actually end up with one thats SLOWER than what you currently have. Even if it was faster, you'd not notice any difference when word processing, doing spreadsheets, internet etc and wouldn't notice a massive improvement doing photo editing etc (large stuff, not something A4 sized) - certainly not £400 worth.

You're right to worry about them being sturdy. Due to the value of the £ tanking, £400 nowadays gets you a low rent laptop that'll be lucky to see the year out whereas when you bought your Asus, the value of the £ was strong so £400 bought you a very good spec laptop that was well built. You'd need to be spending £500+ to get an equivalent build quality. I've seen loads of low rent ones in the last couple of years with knackered hinges and power sockets, not to mention dry solder joints on the mainboards. And I've made a tidy sum selling recent model keyboard keys - Samsungs in particular.

Personally, I'd get yourself onto Ebay and buy a good Thinkpad T61s. They're bombproof and new were well over £1k. They feature such nice tricks as drain holes in the keyboard so if you spill beer on them, it merely drains through the drain holes onto whatever is underneath the laptop. They also tend to have 3G modems built in as well. I've sold them second hand for under £350 still with >12 months balance of a 3yr next day onsite parts and labour warranty.

TomB_88

I bought an Acer Laptop from Argos for £399, 3Gb RAM Memory, 250 Gb Hard Drive, windows 7 premium. Good Deal and a three year warranty so you get your moneys worth.

Seems to work fine for long periods, great for gaming and comes with Windows Office 2010,i've just finished uni and i wish i had the cash to buy it at the time !!

aaronm_2

How about getting one Thinkpad.

Shiroi

If the laptop isn't hardy, get a better bag instead?
----

Got a great bag. Was wondering if I could get anything better, or equiv. than the ASUS to boot. My mum's currently looking for cheap laptop so it would have been handy to give her the ASUS and find a better one for myself, as all she does is small games, sudokus etc for when she's away in her caravan.

Think the Thinkpad might be OTT especially if it's going 1000+ (and I'm not a big drinker ) but I'll take a look on ebay nonetheless and see, and Argos. There was me thinking £400 for a laptop was okay Thanks all!