New laptop advice please.

[DrR]

I've got a £450 voucher to spend at currys, in need of a new laptop.

Has to be up to £450, and not a penny more, and from Currys.

Been looking at these
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...sa-15-6-laptop-black-silver-21862441-pdt.html
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...-l50d-b-146-15-6-laptop-red-10011285-pdt.html
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...l50-b-1nx-15-6-laptop-white-10011279-pdt.html

Am I better off getting an I5 over the AMD?
Is Windows 8 really a load of tosh to?

 

[jesus]

Windows 8 is alright once you get used to it. I guess it depends on what you use the laptop for though.

I hardly use the start 'menu' but when I do my favourite 'apps' are all in one place. You can drag and drop and rearrange as you please.

They all have a similar spec to my Dell which I got for a lot cheaper, but since you have the vouchers they look a good buy.

 

[Sargara]

Id really recommend adding another £30 to the budget out of your own money and getting:
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...-aspire-e1-572g-15-6-laptop-22070765-pdt.html

Has both an I5 and a decent dedicated graphics card so you could actually use it for more than just web browsing? Otherwise the HP Pavilion from your pick of 3 would get my vote.

 

[DrR]

Id really recommend adding another £30 to the budget out of your own money and getting:
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...-aspire-e1-572g-15-6-laptop-22070765-pdt.html

Has both an I5 and a decent dedicated graphics card so you could actually use it for more than just web browsing? Otherwise the HP Pavilion from your pick of 3 would get my vote.

The acer has
"AMD® Radeon™ HD 8670M (1 GB DDR3)"
but the cheaper HP has
"AMD Radeon HD 8610G / 8670M Dual GPU (2 GB DDR3)"

Confused how the acers is better?

 

[GiT]

HP is AMD.
Sod that - Intel FTW.

Also - Xmas coming up - await the big deals mate.

 

[Sargara]

Ignore the 1GB, 2GB VRAM, its a marketing trick on low end GPU's like this.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8670M.87211.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8610G.93719.0.html

The 8610G is about 25 GPU's below in terms of performance, its based on the 8000 series whereas the 8670 is on the 8600M series.

[edit] Oh right I see what you mean now, the HP reckons it has dual GPU? Didn't spot that.

 

[DrR]

Why the AMD hate? Genuine questions i'm a computer newb.

 

[GiT]

I used to love them. They were clockable to hell and were a load cheaper. But they were so unreliable - Moved onto Intel and NEVER had 1 issue, ever.

Now - I will only ever have Intel.

 

[DrR]

So the acer, with less memory, less battery time, less USB 3 ports is the one to go for?

 

[GiT]

Await the Pre-Xmas sales if you can. Some stonking offers will pop up.

 

[DrR]

Literally need to decide now, so acer is best?

 

[GiT]

I'll have another snoop - how much can you add to it? Absolute grand total?

 

[DrR]

Ok i've found out i can add money to it, so say up to £600, but has to be currys!

Appreciate the help.

 

[GiT]

OK, £600 is gonna get you a corker. 2 mins.

 

[GiT]

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...50-b-12q-15-6-laptop-silver-10011272-pdt.html

Or go i7 for £50 more...

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...ldv-xo552h-15-6-laptop-grey-10011058-pdt.html

 

[DrR]

Not a massive fan of Asus, scream cheap to me, i7 really worth it?
i'll probably install windows 7 on whichever one I get to.

 

[DrR]

That Toshiba is a thing of beauty!

 

[GiT]

If you are going W7... Go for the i5 Tosh and also buy a SSD to lob in it. Dream machine.

 

[DrR]

Arg actually, no DVD drive!!!

 

[GiT]

So? What do you need installing from DVD/CD?

 

[DrR]

Nothing a USB one can't do on the odd occasion lol. As long as I can boot from a USB cd drive for installing windows 7?

 

[GiT]

Aye - wouldn't of thought that would be an issue.

 

[DrR]

Awesome, I've got it ordered

 

[cava83]

For a novice user, AMD vs Intel = no difference.

i5 vs i7 [intel] = no real difference (unless CPU intensive work)

Concentrate more on SSD if possible, good screen and warranty.

You will be fine with most.

Avoid Celeron processor though.

Not much point in me saying all this as you have bought one

 

[DrR]

Cheers, have I bought a good one though lol?

Only be paying £425 for it to. Winner!

 

[GiT]

Which did you go for squire?

 

[DrR]

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istItemId=qqpxmxaq&istBid=t

 

[GiT]

Got it for £425? Ultra bargain. SSD and BOOOOOOOOOOOM! Superfast unit.

 

[DrR]

Yeah, got £450 worth of vouchers for £275. Think I'll keep an eye out for an SSD.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Not a massive fan of Asus, scream cheap to me, i7 really worth it?
i'll probably install windows 7 on whichever one I get to.

Really? I was always told ASUS were good, and Acer was the cheap crap to avoid. I mean the Zenbook is meant to be one of the best ultrabooks around, the fact that's it's often compared to the MacBook speaks volumes!

Windows 8 is called such because it takes 8 minutes to learn how to use it... any longer than that and you have issues.

 

[cava83]

I always found Asus to be ok.
When I joined my old firm, most of the desktops were Acer and laptops, horrendous customer support. But that doesn't mean they are all bad.

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

Asus are an excellent brand.

 

[Addicted]

ASUS > Acer any day of the week, even bank holidays.

They make some of the best motherboards around today, granted that means nothing in terms of laptops, but their whole range of PC components is awesome, so I doubt they'd ruin their rep by making crap laptops.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Only thing I have of theirs is my monitor, and actually I did have a problem (stand was wonky) but they sorted it easily enough and the quality is brilliant. So much better than my old Samsung...