Advice on a New Laptop

closed

Go and have a look in the shops, pc world sell them I think

sb12

17" screen was very big, larger than I'd anticipated and didn't have the appeal of the neater 15". No excess materials on show.

Just looking around on various sites to see if there's better value deal around before I go ahead with the Dell....:(

AngelsMadv

A very valuable point has been raised here. I play online poker for a second income and have a beat of a machine with two 24" screens. I got this for less than you're thinking of spending on a laptop.

Do you really need the portability or are you buying into the hype?

sb12

Sadly I do need the portability on this one. Already have a desktop but prefer the convenience of working from several locations. This is why I'm a bit hesitant on committing to a laptop. I'm forever trying to find a better deal and never actually get anywhere fast.

TakeThis

Futureproof? How will you do that? If the thing breaks down after three years, you'll throw it in the bin.

Spend half as much on what you need and save the other half to upgrade in three years time. The new lap in three years time will likely outperform the DELL anyway.

Weird_Nev

I havea Dell XPS and It's been going strong for 6 months now. Very happy with it.

The lower spec graphics card on the smaller monitor won't be a problem - check resolutions. Laptops tend to not need the graphics horsepower of a desktop, because desktops may be running a 1900x1600 monitor, but a laptop will generally be limited to it's lower resolution inbuilt screen.

HOWEVER - the XPS's have HDMI out, so you can plug it into your big telly for games/iplayer/films/whatever. If you think you will do this a lot then it's worth having a better GFX card. To be honest, it's worth having the best Gfx card you can afford in a laptop, as it's that and the CPU that will dictate when the laptop becomes obsolete.

Erme

If you want video editing get a mac...

Great graphics programs available quite cheaply for a mac also comes with Imovie etc...

DH will love you for it...get a second hand intel one off ebay for about £500 (good guess - doesn't matter if it has 10.5/tiger so long as it's intel for longevity)

E

ridethelightning

I wouldnt worry about a smaller hard drive. Portable external hard drives are cheap and convenient for swapping data between computers and can be used to back up any important data on the laptop.

sb12

Found an Inspiron system for a cheaper price. Can't see any difference between the two.

Is there a significant difference in the two systems? Dell's online support just quoted "Inspiron is mid-range, XPS is for performance gaming..."

Wasn't really convinced by the information/advice he gave.

lattegirl

Just a comment on Dell, I brought three new computers from Dell, a desktop and two laptops for my children just over two years ago. On one of the laptops the screen has broken, the liquid is 'bleeding' inside it, no damage has been done to it, it just went while in use. Dell are not interested at all and want £170 to repair it. I have an ancient Hewlett Packard that I use and it is 12 years old - that screen is fine, so much for Dell.