Help choosing a new laptop please

Glad

My old Packard Bell laptop has died and I need a new one
I've briefly considered a MacBook air but more or less decided now on a laptop
These are the two I'm considering but I would appreciate some advice on them
I use the laptop every day, mainly for Internet browsing, I also need it for research and writing assignments, and I'm doing research on my family tree so often have a lot of pages open

Sony Fit Touchscreen

Dell Inspiron 15z the i5 version

Thanks to anyone who can advise, I'm not at all techie

closed

died, dead, or windows/touchpad not working - if the latter, check the touchpad hasn't been disabled by keypress/button and if it's not that, rescue your data with a boot cd http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/Paragon-Rescue-Kit-Express.shtml , and factory restore/reinstall windows

any machine £300 up can do anything you want, so if you want a new one, just try them in a shop and find one you like the feel of, if you aren't likely to be stroking the screen, you could save money by buying a non touchscreen.

Glad

Hi

It won't usually turn on, the light comes on but a black screen, if I leave it to overheat, then turn off and back on again lots of times, eventually it works, touchpad not working so using a mouse, then after half an hour the keyboard stops working so have to go through the whole turning on again it's 4 yrs old and had some heavy use as my daughter had it before me, I've backed everything up on an external drive but thought there was nothing I could do but replace it

closed

hold down the power button for 10 seconds, and check the touchpad isn't disabled.

Glad

closed wrote: »

hold down the power button for 10 seconds, and check the touchpad isn't disabled.

that just turns the laptop off

I'm fairly sure I haven't disabled the touchpad as on very odd occasions it will work again

closed

It's supposed to turn it off, it's to ensure the machine is not in a hung/powersaved state

Firm pressure all over the keyboard sometimes works, the touchpad cable could be loose, which you could check by removing keyboard.

Glad

I've tried the above and the main problem is it won't turn on unless i try multiple times, and sometimes not even then, touchpad still not working and keyboard can randomly stop anytime, I just think it's time for a new one, thanks for the help, I don't think it would have run as well or as long as it has without your amazing sticky thread on here

closed wrote: »

any machine £300 up can do anything you want, so if you want a new one, just try them in a shop and find one you like the feel of, if you aren't likely to be stroking the screen, you could save money by buying a non touchscreen.

I tried the touchscreen in a shop with Windows 8 and liked it, the 2 laptops linked in the first post also seem to have the spec I need (according to more techie minded daughter) last time I bought a laptop I just picked one up in Tesco as I needed it then and there but this time would like to know I'm going for a decent one and a good deal

Glad

has anyone got an opinion on the 2 laptops in post #1
or even any other good deals

Esqui

I can tell you about the Sony, having set up numerous ones recently. This is just my opinion, your mileage may vary


Good stuff:
It's nice and solidly built, as you'd expect from a name like Sony
Really good keyboard, which is lovely for typing on
Sony's repair service is damn quick. I've booked Sonys in on Monday, had them collected Tuesday and back, fixed by Friday.


Bad stuff:
Although it feels solid, it also also quite plastic-y. I have seen much cheaper laptops with a nicer finish. (I don't like the design of it much!)
The touchpad is fairly awful, you'd want a separate mouse
The touchscreen didn't seem as responsive to me as others (HP and Acer seemed better to me!)
Compared to some others, it's quite bulky


The best out of the ones I've played with recently is, surprisingly, the HP Touchsmart 14. Slightly smaller screen, although it's not a huge problem. The keyboard is really nice, the touchscreen is really responsive and it's a nice size: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-touchsmart-14-n055sa-14-touchscreen-laptop-21729449-pdt.html


Although, if you can hold on a few weeks, you might find something nice in the sales! As people have said, you would be fine with a £300/£350 laptop, particularly if you forego the touchscreen. I know, I know, but I use Windows 8 on a non-touchscreen laptop and people have commented on how quickly I use it, so it's not unusable without.

Glad

Thanks Esqui
problems with my old one are getting worse so I'm looking to get another one soon, I really wouldn't want a mouse as well so the sony touchpad would put me off, and I'd like the option of a touchscreen

my daughter (who is more techie than me) says I need at least 2 GHz? can anyone explain what '1.6 GHz, 2.6 GHz with Turboboost' means

Esqui

It means that the cores run at 1.6GHz max for most of the time, but if needed, the processor can turn down the other cores to allow one to run much faster. I doubt you'd need the turbo boost much of the time - web browsing and document writing isn't particularly taxing on the processor