>>>>> I Need Laptop Advice!

booforty · 02-26-2009, 05:31 AM

Hi all

Please can anyone recommend the best and most powerful laptop I can get for £600.

I'm thinking along the lines of:

HP G70-213EM
Intel Core 2 Duo P7450
(2GHz, 3MB Cache)
4GB RAM
320GB HD
17" Screen
GeForce 9200M 256MB graphics card
£629.99

I'm looking for a 17" screen entertainment laptop with a good graphics card that can run PC games, play DVD's, view/edit photos etc...

Would welcome people's thoughts and views on the best buy for the money

Thanks!

booforty · 02-26-2009, 05:36 PM

Where are all the techno geeks to give some advice?

dxb335d · 02-26-2009, 05:57 PM

Laptops generally speaking are no good for decent games bud,

doctorbob · 02-26-2009, 06:04 PM

Avoid PCworld.

I'd wander up & down Tottenham Ct Rd and haggle.

misterS3 · 03-04-2009, 06:45 PM

check out ebuyer - a good starting point.

SiKkBaSs · 03-04-2009, 07:15 PM

www.meshcomputers.com

In particular this one:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...=2&APPS=234442

My sister has it and it is awesome. Can't go wrong, has a good graphics card and is blu ray compatible.

Reliable and good value for money

booforty · 03-05-2009, 06:22 AM

Thanks for the tips guys

Carrera RSR · 03-05-2009, 07:43 AM

If I were buying again I'd buy a MacBook from the refurb Apple store. My dad did and you couldn't tell it wasn't new! Full support and warranty as if it were new and £600 saving on a MacBook Pro.

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/hom...ac?mco=MTE2ODI

However Macs are not meeting your criteria in performance and price. But they are nice.

sheps · 03-05-2009, 08:04 AM

I got me one of these just before Christmas.

Full specs here

It's probably a bit on the wimpy side of what you're looking for, but for using on the plane to watch movies, listen to music at home look at photos when on holiday etc, it's ideal for me (plus, being a sony it integrates prefectly with TV's and PS3 etc, not to mention a standard Sony mem card slot handy for data transfer from PSP/cameras etc)

Ignore the price too, you can get it from ebuyer or dabs for much closer to your £600 target.

SiKkBaSs · 03-05-2009, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrerarsr

If I were buying again I'd buy a MacBook

Lol @ being able to play games on a Mac. Nice to look at though.

Never been an Apple fan

Carrera RSR · 03-05-2009, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightweight

Lol @ being able to play games on a Mac. Nice to look at though.

Don't play games on computers nor consoles. My days of staying up all night completing Gran Turismo 1 and 2 on the PS are long gone

SiKkBaSs · 03-05-2009, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrerarsr

Don't play games on computers nor consoles. My days of staying up all night completing Gran Turismo 1 and 2 on the PS are long gone

Lol. Currently waiting on Gran Turismo 5 to come out on PS3...

RCUK · 03-05-2009, 11:02 AM

just bought a dell mini 9 this afternoon (trackday fund gone after impulse buy) ended up paying £155 for it!

SixDegrees · 03-05-2009, 02:27 PM

Depends on price..... but I have been looking into this and if you have the £££ you can get some real beasts of laptops these days, ie

http://www.rockdirect.com/

or

http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.c...eries/1056665/

Ok, a tad more than £625, but there are certainly some Laotops that can handle gaming. Why bother with a tower/esktop when you can have all this power in a Laptop, albeit not that portable a laptop!

booforty · 03-05-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SixDegrees

Depends on price..... but I have been looking into this and if you have the £££ you can get some real beasts of laptops these days, ie

http://www.rockdirect.com/

or

http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.c...eries/1056665/

Ok, a tad more than £625, but there are certainly some Laotops that can handle gaming. Why bother with a tower/esktop when you can have all this power in a Laptop, albeit not that portable a laptop!

Jeez those prices!!

SiKkBaSs · 03-05-2009, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booforty

Jeez those prices!!

Don't worry, you could always sell the M...

- Paul - · 03-06-2009, 06:53 AM

http://www.bitterwallet.com/5-hot-la...cbook-air/8608

jwbmw · 03-06-2009, 01:33 PM

Sent you a PM with a higher spec machine for an extra £100

SixDegrees · 03-06-2009, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booforty

Jeez those prices!!

Indeed, but check the spec. Gaming is def on with those machines. Think you could custom build one for less

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

I need a new PC but think a high spec laptop will do the trick. I got about £1k budget so not sure which way to go.

DaveC · 03-07-2009, 03:19 AM

Gaming is the problem, if you hadn't said "that can run PC games" there are lots of fast laptops out there that will handle most anything ... except modern games, to do that you need a laptop with a decent graphics card which pushes you into a different market.

If you're looking for high performance gaming laptops then I'd say stay away from small companies - these things tend to have lots of very hot bits in them and can end up being very unreliable if not properly designed and good support is important in case the over complex lump fries itself.

Alienware (cheaper) and Dell XPS (expensive) are pretty well made and tend to last. On my lap right now is a Dell XPS M1730 which was the fastest you could buy when I originally got it (Core Duo 2.6Ghz, Dual NVidia 8800s in SLI, Raid 0, blah, blah, blah). Its the second XPS I've had, the first is coming up 5 years old and still going strong. Stupidly expensive though, think this one came around £2.3k - but I don't pay for em so reliability (and low noise!) are the key criteria.

If I were in the market for a reasonable price one myself I'd probably go for an Alienware http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_p...l_default.aspx

The 15.4" screen with the lower 1440x900 res screen would probably be my choice - it'd be smaller, lighter, the resolution is fine on that size screen and as its running a lower resolution than most 17" laptops (1920*1200) the graphics card is having to do less work to drive it in whatever game you fancy ... in other words you get more effective graphics power at lower resolutions which means you'll be able to keep using the machine to play new releases for a bit longer without resorting to replacing it or turning all the graphics fancy effects off.

EDIT: If you end up buying a gaming laptop watch out for noise... some of them can be very noisy while some of them like mine are nice and peaceful. Well worth trying to find reviews that mention noise - last thing you want is getting told off for having something that sounds like a helicopter gunship lifting off in the living room while your other half is trying to watch some innane soap opera.

Speedtrap · 03-07-2009, 11:34 AM

Bigger hard disk do not make a laptop more powerful

Its aways recommended to store your data on an external drive due to laptops frequently crashing due to extensive use.

Also for goodness sake do not get a MAC! User experience great, but compatibility sucks with any other software you are going to install later (expecially games, etc)

If you really want a powerful laptop, £600 will not get you jack

4MB RAM is a waste as a 32bit machine will not be able to use (address) all the memory - maximum is 3GB.

Reommendations:
1. Get a Intel Duo Core
2. Get 3GM RAM
3. Get an 120 GB HD max
4. Check to see whether the video adaptor has 512MB of RAM
5. Brand do not so much these days as its mainly made in China.

My 2p worth and hop this helps:

Jerome

Quote:

Originally Posted by booforty

Hi all

Please can anyone recommend the best and most powerful laptop I can get for £600.

I'm thinking along the lines of:

HP G70-213EM
Intel Core 2 Duo P7450
(2GHz, 3MB Cache)
4GB RAM
320GB HD
17" Screen
GeForce 9200M 256MB graphics card
£629.99

I'm looking for a 17" screen entertainment laptop with a good graphics card that can run PC games, play DVD's, view/edit photos etc...

Would welcome people's thoughts and views on the best buy for the money

Thanks!

booforty · 03-08-2009, 04:28 PM

Thanks Dave and Jerome

02-26-2009, 05:31 AM	#1
booforty Major General 337 Rep 8,811 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [0.00]	>>>>> I Need Laptop Advice! Hi all Please can anyone recommend the best and most powerful laptop I can get for £600. I'm thinking along the lines of: HP G70-213EM Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 (2GHz, 3MB Cache) 4GB RAM 320GB HD 17" Screen GeForce 9200M 256MB graphics card £629.99 I'm looking for a 17" screen entertainment laptop with a good graphics card that can run PC games, play DVD's, view/edit photos etc... Would welcome people's thoughts and views on the best buy for the money Thanks!
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02-26-2009, 05:36 PM	#2
booforty Major General 337 Rep 8,811 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [0.00]	Where are all the techno geeks to give some advice?
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02-26-2009, 05:57 PM	#3
dxb335d The Tarmac Terrorist 948 Rep 29,345 Posts Drives: 997.2 GT3 Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: ''Fandango Towers'' iTrader: (3) Garage List 2010 Porsche 997.2 GT3 [9.50] 2003 BMW E46 M3 [6.00] 2007 BMW E92 335D [5.50]	Laptops generally speaking are no good for decent games bud, __________________ 997.2 GT3
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02-26-2009, 06:04 PM	#4
doctorbob New Member 0 Rep 15 Posts Drives: e93 330d MS auto Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The alps of southern Lincolnshire iTrader: (0)	Avoid PCworld. I'd wander up & down Tottenham Ct Rd and haggle.
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03-04-2009, 06:45 PM	#5
misterS3 Lieutenant Colonel 70 Rep 1,733 Posts Drives: X70 on the way Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Glasgow iTrader: (0)	check out ebuyer - a good starting point.
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03-04-2009, 07:15 PM	#6
SiKkBaSs GTR'in it 169 Rep 4,434 Posts Drives: Nissan GTR Black Edition Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Kensington, London iTrader: (2) Garage List 2006 325i [0.00]	www.meshcomputers.com In particular this one: http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...=2&APPS=234442 My sister has it and it is awesome. Can't go wrong, has a good graphics card and is blu ray compatible. Reliable and good value for money
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03-05-2009, 06:22 AM	#7
booforty Major General 337 Rep 8,811 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [0.00]	Thanks for the tips guys
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03-05-2009, 07:43 AM	#8
Carrera RSR Colonel 75 Rep 2,937 Posts Drives: BMW Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Location: Location: iTrader: (1)	If I were buying again I'd buy a MacBook from the refurb Apple store. My dad did and you couldn't tell it wasn't new! Full support and warranty as if it were new and £600 saving on a MacBook Pro. http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/hom...ac?mco=MTE2ODI However Macs are not meeting your criteria in performance and price. But they are nice.
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03-05-2009, 08:04 AM	#9
sheps Colonel 73 Rep 2,396 Posts Drives: C63 AMG Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Cambs, UK iTrader: (2)	I got me one of these just before Christmas. Full specs here It's probably a bit on the wimpy side of what you're looking for, but for using on the plane to watch movies, listen to music at home look at photos when on holiday etc, it's ideal for me (plus, being a sony it integrates prefectly with TV's and PS3 etc, not to mention a standard Sony mem card slot handy for data transfer from PSP/cameras etc) Ignore the price too, you can get it from ebuyer or dabs for much closer to your £600 target. __________________ Gone but not forgotten: 325i M Sport (E92), Black Sapphire, Coral Red Dakota, 19" 225's, Seat Heating, 6FL and de-badge Replaced by 6.2 litres of AMG powered C class.
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03-05-2009, 11:02 AM	#13
RCUK Lieutenant Colonel 100 Rep 1,672 Posts Drives: 911 Turbo Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Orpington, Kent iTrader: (4)	just bought a dell mini 9 this afternoon (trackday fund gone after impulse buy) ended up paying £155 for it! __________________ Been there, done that, driven the 'Ring
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03-05-2009, 02:27 PM	#14
SixDegrees Lieutenant 12 Rep 445 Posts Drives: M135i Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Scotland iTrader: (0) Garage List 2011 Abarth 500 [0.00]	Depends on price..... but I have been looking into this and if you have the £££ you can get some real beasts of laptops these days, ie http://www.rockdirect.com/ or http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.c...eries/1056665/ Ok, a tad more than £625, but there are certainly some Laotops that can handle gaming. Why bother with a tower/esktop when you can have all this power in a Laptop, albeit not that portable a laptop! __________________ 2014 [14] M135i, 3dr, MG, Auto, SP, CP, HS, HK and FBP Recent Past..... 2011 [61] Abarth 500, Funk White, Leather, H&R 2007 [57] 320d M-Sport Touring Pre 2007 - GT TDI 4MO, Mk4 R32, A3 TQ, A3T, Cupra R and on and on and on.....
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03-06-2009, 06:53 AM	#17
- Paul - Major General 689 Rep 7,308 Posts Drives: see above. Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Yorkshire, UK iTrader: (5) Garage List 2005 320D SE [10.00] 2005 645 [9.00]	http://www.bitterwallet.com/5-hot-la...cbook-air/8608 __________________ My Photos
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03-06-2009, 01:33 PM	#18
jwbmw Major 33 Rep 1,386 Posts Drives: Jaguar XF S Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: West Midlands iTrader: (0) Garage List 2000 Z3 3.0i [0.00] 2007 E92 335D SE (2 ... [0.00]	Sent you a PM with a higher spec machine for an extra £100 __________________ Going out with a BAN now that the forum has become Chav Ville. Fair well the early adopters. Jaguar XF 3.0D S Gone: E92 335d
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03-07-2009, 03:19 AM	#20
DaveC Captain 14 Rep 645 Posts Drives: 330 Touring Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	Gaming is the problem, if you hadn't said "that can run PC games" there are lots of fast laptops out there that will handle most anything ... except modern games, to do that you need a laptop with a decent graphics card which pushes you into a different market. If you're looking for high performance gaming laptops then I'd say stay away from small companies - these things tend to have lots of very hot bits in them and can end up being very unreliable if not properly designed and good support is important in case the over complex lump fries itself. Alienware (cheaper) and Dell XPS (expensive) are pretty well made and tend to last. On my lap right now is a Dell XPS M1730 which was the fastest you could buy when I originally got it (Core Duo 2.6Ghz, Dual NVidia 8800s in SLI, Raid 0, blah, blah, blah). Its the second XPS I've had, the first is coming up 5 years old and still going strong. Stupidly expensive though, think this one came around £2.3k - but I don't pay for em so reliability (and low noise!) are the key criteria. If I were in the market for a reasonable price one myself I'd probably go for an Alienware http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_p...l_default.aspx The 15.4" screen with the lower 1440x900 res screen would probably be my choice - it'd be smaller, lighter, the resolution is fine on that size screen and as its running a lower resolution than most 17" laptops (1920*1200) the graphics card is having to do less work to drive it in whatever game you fancy ... in other words you get more effective graphics power at lower resolutions which means you'll be able to keep using the machine to play new releases for a bit longer without resorting to replacing it or turning all the graphics fancy effects off. EDIT: If you end up buying a gaming laptop watch out for noise... some of them can be very noisy while some of them like mine are nice and peaceful. Well worth trying to find reviews that mention noise - last thing you want is getting told off for having something that sounds like a helicopter gunship lifting off in the living room while your other half is trying to watch some innane soap opera.
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03-08-2009, 04:28 PM	#22
booforty Major General 337 Rep 8,811 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London, UK iTrader: (0) Garage List 2008 E92 M3 [0.00]	Thanks Dave and Jerome
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