need a laptop

[big-all]

traveled back from scotland today after a family meet to spread my dads ashes beside my mums
any way brothers son had one off these i was impressed he used it on the 5hr train journey back and it was easy to use [for him ]lol
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-X12 ... 880.0.html

now i never do anything other than play off line games like freecell ect
i dont use any programs like words or simmilar i only really answer/ask on forums look at ebay and general surfing and occasional u tube i dont download films or games but do watch i player ect but only an hour a week on average so any suggestions around £350 will be great
dont use dingle dangles or wongles don't have a digital camera but may get one

thanks

[Inky Pete]

I've had one of these which I use for work and when travelling for the past 18 months or so.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-p ... 150-JP07UK

Slightly smaller than the Lenovo (10" screen instead of 11.5"), but it's about £100 cheaper.

Battery life is really, really good.

[root]

The Lenovo's are meant to be really good, although i did have a samsung that was pretty nice but i dont think the spec is as good as the lenovo's.

[dave.m]

What size screen are you fancying 10", 11", !5" or even larger?

We have a Dell Inspiron 1545 and a N5040 and both are fine.

Scroll down this list or bargains:
http://www.offeroftheday.co.uk/
There are usually about six or seven new big name laptops and notepads on offer from the big name companies such as PC world, Tesco, Argos at very good prices.

dave

[big-all]

thanks for your help so far chaps
any stores /websites manufacturers/models to avoid

[BillyGoat]

a 12" screen or thereabouts is a good size for travel. Netbook size will give you a good balance between battery life and usuability.

If you find you get into your pictures, digital cameras and things that need a bit more room - you can always get a big screen that lives at home and just plug in when you need it. Always handy for extended web browsing, picture sorting, etc. In fact, if you have an LCD or Plasma TV you could use that for a couple of quids worth of cable.

Lenovo is a good choice of laptop, lots of business folk plump for these - usually quite tough.

Go to a shop and see some of the consumer offerings and get your hands on them. Some will turn you off as they feel/look super cheap. I'm not a fan of the super low power processors too - sure you get battery life, but at a big performance hit.

I'd have the one you linked too (love the SIM card slot too.....super handy IF you decide you want it later).

BG

[root]

avoid any models they sell on littlewoods or any other catalog shop

[big-all]

thanks chaps
how much slower would it be on battery saving machines bg

would never use the traditional catalouge to shop root

[BillyGoat]

Not unusable, but some of the netbooks (9 or 10" usually) tend to opt for the Atom Processors. They do the job, but the one you have is an i3 - a processor that is much more capable for day to day use and multimedia applications (it's the portable little brother of Scruffs big spanking machine).

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy them, I'm just suggesting if it's going to be your primary machine then you want to get somthing that you don't out grow straight away. I've had netbooks in the past and it's great for a train or plane or whatever, but I'd never consider it to be my only machine.

Go into a shop with them on display. Try some basic things, or ask them to show you:

- Watching a youtube video (full screen and on HD setting - see how they both cope).
- Open your games, like minesweeper or solitaire and watch the cards deal (the most basic of games)
- be aware of the version of Windows supplied - some of the cheaper netbooks have Windows Basic (some features locked down from home premium and doesn't have the media center stuff - if you ever need it)
- Netbooks tend to be limited to 2GB of ram. The lenovo can be upgraded (I think I saw that) to 4GB which gives you scope to grow / cheaply improve performance as your needs/time goes by
- do you like the LOOK of it? It means a lot to some people

I want people to buy things that will do what they want and what they don't know they want to do yet - I'm sure you are no exception to that! Just don't 'save' money on a cheap thing, as laptops/netbooks don't tend to have the upgrade path a desktop provides - ie you are stuck with it!

BG

[big-all]

i doubt it will be used very much its more as a backup if the computer packs up or maybe i want to go on line in the garden and enjoy the sun

[big-all]

is this one any good ??
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/dell-insp ... ~~10577325

[Megaross]

I'll say this, avoid the dell outlet like the plague they're totally useless and definitely avoid acer.
I've owned this acer for just over a year and in that time I've had to replace the keyboard twice (due to wear and tear, the switches were coming out of the back!), the power jack several times until I relocated it and mounted it properly, the wireless card went, batterys knackered and the trackpads on it's way out. Aside from that it gets hot as holy hell. Acers really are not built to last very long, aside from that the warranty coverage is crap.
I'd replace it if I wasn't constantly skint, granted i'm a heavy user but i've had 2 acers (not through choice) and both have been of the same poor quality

That dell looks fine for a bit of light usage like you've described, dells tend to be much better quality than they used to be, if you go into store don't buy any of the extra crap they offer you, you really don't need it.

[BillyGoat]

Good point about extra stuff.

Antivirus is free (Microsoft Security Essentials to name but one), most computers come with office 2010 start trial now (Word and Excel) or you can get free versions of Open Office if you like it (blurgh). The rest of it is choice....

BG

[jmcp]

Have you considered something like an IPAD as I think they would be pretty good for occasional surfing etc.. also very portable. Amazon are coming out with something similar pretty soon called the Kindle Fire and I may just get one of those myself. My son works away and even when he is home, he spends a lot of time on trains and he finds that this IPAD2 is perfect for the train journeys, airports and whilst abroad, he uses his laptop for more serious work at home.


Cheers, John

[big-all]

are i pads those things slightly bigger than a phone ??
i prefer what i am used to as in mouse and screen
i will buy nothing they offer