Laptop help please!

diamond123

I'm looking for a new laptop and was wondering if I could get a bit of help. I'm having trouble making a decision as there's so may different ones and I want to get the best deal I can.
At the moment I will be mainly using it for university work research/writing so I need to be able to multi-task without it slowing down too much. Also watching a lot of films and general internet browsing.
I have a budget of £400-£450 and want a 3rd gen i5 processor, at least 6gb ram, hdmi port, usb 3, decent battery life. I'd love a 1080p screen but can't afford it. I also don't want HP as my last one had a lot of issues.

I'm considering these two at the moment and was wondering if anyone could advise me on which would be better? Or if anyone can suggest anything else?

dabs.com/products/lenovo-g580-core-i5-3210m-6gb-ram-500gb-hdd-dvdrw-15-6--windows-8---bronze-8DBT.html?refs=481350000&src=3

ebuyer.com/414143-samsung-350v5c-laptop-np350v5c-a07uk

Thanks in advance!

misiek404

None of them will slow down during your office work/movie watching etc. Those times all long gone
They're both pretty much equal and both are good choices. I'd suggest the G580 - it's very well made, incredibly quiet, has very comfortable keyboard and large touchpad, 2 fast usb 3.0 ports and one key recovery system (in case things go wrong)/
Samsung has good anti-glare layer on the screen - makes it very comfortable to use in bright conditions

diamond123

Yeah I thought as much, I only mentioned that because my old laptop is only two years old and (when it was still working...) it would slow down and freeze if I had too much open, making it useless for researching.

Good to know they're good choices! Definitely swaying towards the lenovo. Although the matte screen on the samsung does sound appealing, I hate seeing my reflection in the screen during dark scenes in films!

Thanks for your help

closed

what is wrong with the 2 year old laptop?

gjchester

diamond123 wrote: »

Yeah I thought as much, I only mentioned that because my old laptop is only two years old and (when it was still working...) it would slow down and freeze if I had too much open, making it useless for researching.

Before you spend anything think about backing your data up and then factory restoring the laptop. A two year old laptop should not be slowing down on the research / writing tasks you say.

securityguy

diamond123 wrote: »

Yeah I thought as much, I only mentioned that because my old laptop is only two years old and (when it was still working...) it would slow down and freeze if I had too much open, making it useless for researching.

Are you sure it doesn't just need a bit more RAM slinging in it? Fifty quid, ten minutes, done? Alternatively, replace the disk with an solid state disk for a hundred quid?

Processors haven't got meaningfully quicker over the past two years unless you're doing something really headbanging. Neither have disks (other than SSDs, which aren't standard in most laptops). If you've got a two year old laptop and a few hundred quid, the chances are that more RAM and an SSD will give you a better end result than a new, low-end laptop.

jbainbridge

I quite like the current Dell Inspiron 15 - i5 / 6GB RAM / 1TB disk / £399

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/inspiron-15-deals-codes-coupons/

diamond123

My 2 year old laptop (HP G62) broke a couple of months ago. One day it just didn't turn on any more, the LEDs light up and the fan comes on for a few seconds and then cuts out but the screen etc doesn't come on at all. I contacted a couple of repair shops, one said they couldn't help me and another said it was the on-board power chip and quoted me £125 to replace it. I decided it wasn't worth it.
Thank you for the advise though! I do like the thought of upgrading my old laptop, if only it hadn't broken.



I like the look of the Dell, thanks for the suggestion The only thing it's missing as far as I can tell is the usb 3.0, but I'd sacrifice that if it has better build quality than the other two? I've heard mixed reviews about Dell.

gjchester

diamond123 wrote: »

I do like the thought of upgrading my old laptop, if only it hadn't broken.

Missed the broken bit... Sounds like a graphics chip fault, I've seen other HPs with that issue.

You can try removing the battery and holding the power button down for 30 seconds, that supposedly does a hard reset, not quite sure why it would reset the graphics card but can in some cases fix it.

I'd suggest you go in to PC world and play, the laptops may be a bit more but if you do a lot of typing then a lousy keyboard that flexes in use or doesn't give much travel on the keys can make a lot of difference, USB 3 is nice to have if you plan on getting USB3 hardware, but not a deal breaker for most people.