Choosing a new laptop.

bossymoo

Hi

Just after some thoughts on the best spec for my usage. I'm after a new laptop. I mostly use a tablet for browsing the web, but need a laptop for syncing the tablet my satnav, and my phone. I will want things like iTunes and it needs to be compatible with my WD Elements external drive where all my precious photos are stored. Oh and Skype. I'm not keen on using Skype on my tablet

I don't do gaming or video streaming. So would a budget (<£300) one be suitable?

My old one is a toshiba satellite, been happy enough with it but it's very old, the battery is useless, the touch pad is crazy and it doesn't stay connected to my wireless network for more than a few minutes (unless I sit in the garage with it ).

Any thoughts on memory / capacity?

Thanks in advance.

closed

are your precious photo's backed up elsewhere?

a sub 300 will do all the above, provided it has a big enough hard disk for your itunes, and you are happy with the camera quality if you want it for skype.

£300-400 opens up a lot more possibilities.

bossymoo

Thanks yes I have them on DVDs too.

There is a compaq one reduced from £379 to £299 that I've seen on the pcworld website. It's 6mb/750mb. It's an amd processor (e series?) which I think is budget stylee? But I guess that won't matter for my needs?

Much appreciate your swift reply! Thanks!

closed

processor is low end.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+E1-1200+APU

compare it to what you've got.

i3's are not much more

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=price+ascending&a00035=Intel+Core+i3&price=0+TO+400&cat=10&page=1

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i3-2350M+%40+2.30GHz

http://www.dabs.com/products/lenovo-b580-core-i3-2328-4gb-500gb-dvd-writer-15-6--widescreen-1366x768-windows-8-64-bit-8C47.html?src=2

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/products/keywords/core+i3/cat/laptops/ex/clerance,dummy,tradepack,dummy-warranty

or lower end intels

http://direct.asda.com/Dell-Inspiron-15-3520-Laptop---15.6ins---Celeron-B820-Processor---500GB-HDD/000550823,default,pd.html

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+B820+%40+1.70GHz


a lot of the xmas deals are drying up. a lot of i5's were available for <£350 a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-15-6-inch-Laptop-Silver/dp/B009QZCYU4/ref=sr_1_11?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1357430751&sr=1-11

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-3210M+%40+2.50GHz

alternatively, you may be able to fix up your existing laptop cheaply

bossymoo

Really helpful links on the processors, much appreciated!