Laptop Recommendations

lloyd

Computer people, is this any good, or will it be rubbish? I know nothing about computer/laptops. I'll be using it for storing music and photo's, internet and I'm starting a CIPD (HR) qualification so for homework and lectures which will be online.

http://www.very.co.uk/hp-pavilion-15-intelreg-coretrade-i3-processor-6gb-ram-1tb-hard-drive-wi-fi-bgn-bt-156-inch-laptop-with-optional-microsoft-office-personal-365-purple/1436928270.prd

I need to get it off this Very account as I can get it interest free for 3 months...Is this the one you'd get or would you get something else (I don't want to spend over £400).

Cheers

Axe_meister

Personally I would not touch an HP laptop, so far all three home laptops we have had have died due to overheating and two work laptops suffered the same fate.

Not had any issues with Lenovo, from what I have heard Asus aren't that bad.

In terms of spec, make sure you get 8GB of RAM and preferably and SSD disk (even if it is smaller). Modern Operating systems actually make use of all available ram (caching) and have found upgrade from 4GB to 8GB improved performance massively even on a relatively idle machine, don't ignore Laptops with AMD processors, A6/A8/A10 processors have more than plenty performance and as they are cheaper you can up the RAM size.

AMD processors are a little slower for single threaded apps, but at the same price point as a dual core intel i5 you get more cores (dual cores do tend to get used to the max these days)

strumjoughlamps

and yet I have had probs with nearly every Asus and none with the many HP's I have had/used/recommended to friends..

laptop I got my Son for xmas is similar spec to the link @lloyd except my lads is 8gb ram and is the business class twin chassis more rugged HP.. those intergrated Intel graphics chips have come on in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years.. obviously won't run the latest games but I have put Battlefield 3 on and its runs beautifully nice and smooth even with a packed online multiplayer match.

lloyd

Cheers for the comments, I'm not a gamer in any way (except championship manager-which I've refused to play for a few years as it consumes my very being!)

I think I'm going to go for this with the 8MB of ram:

http://www.very.co.uk/lenovo-g50-45-amd-a8-processor-8gb-ram-1tb-hard-drive-156-inch-laptop-with-optional-microsoft-office-365-personal-black/1458174644.prd

mike_l

I have a HP laptop.

It is shit.

Within the first year it needed a new motherboard.

Regular startup/shut down not working right.

I'm not really a techy type, but if anyone tried to sell me another HP they'd be getting bitch-slapped into a bloody pulp.

digitalscream

Lenovo are a good choice - generally rock-solid build quality. I wouldn't have any problem with that G50, except for two things:

1 - The AMD A8 processor really isn't that good. If you can find one with an Intel i3 or i5, it'd be vastly better.

2 - I'm a real stickler for screen resolution. 1366x768 just isn't enough on a 15.6" screen - it's the vertical pixel count that's the problem. Full 1920x1080 would be more expensive, but much more usable.

Axe_meister

The A8 6410 is only about 12% slower for single threaded tasks which most people won't notice at all, but with 4 cores rather than just two when compared to the equivalent i5 4200U (dual core). In my experience the i5 will start to slow down once CPU utilization hits 80% whereas the AMD unit hangs on for a little bit longer before it starts to choke.

Also the integrated GPU in an A8 is far superior to the GPU in the i5.

When you compare prices the A8 comes out as the clear winner

Lenovo Flex 2D with A8 6410 comes with 8GB memory and a 1TB hard disk

Lenovo flex 15 with i5 4200U comes with only 4GB and 500GB disk.

BTW not an AMD fanboy, my home PC is an intel i7, but at the budget end I'd rather go for bang per buck as most CPUs are absolutely good enough for the majority of everyday tasks.

Danny1969

There aren't many people who actually build laptops, your HP's, Dell's etc are built by huge OEM's like Compal, Quanta etc to different budgets and standards. Some are great some are terrible so saying HP laptops are bad is pointless. You need to be model specific, like HP DV6 is terrible HP Probook 450 is great for example 

Lenovo are a good choice but can be pricey for spares, I wouldn't go for any AMD laptop, I have written off more AMD based laptops in 15 years of repairing them than Intel based ones by a very large margin

TheMarlin

The following brands are decent:

Apple, Toshiba, Lenovo, and Dell.  Very reliable.

Very unreliable:

Sony, Acer, Asus - avoid.  They almost always break, power supply and adaptor connectors being particularly poor.

I have a Toshiba U840w (widesceen).  Cool laptop.  Fast, reliable, problem free.

Next laptop will likely be a Mac book.

M.

lloyd

Cheers for the input guys, I think I will go for the one I've linked to-I appreciate your suggestions and reasons etc, but it's only gonna get used sparingly (I haven't had a computer in over a year) and I need to keep the costs down and get it off that site....If I had the free cash, I'd get a Mac Book....Next time perhaps-but I'd prefer an new guitar TBH

I've re-read some of the things people have written a few times and am still none the wiser!

I have wis'd you all!

stickyfiddle

In terms of reliability, you never hear of broken toshibas and lenovos. I've just been in a meeting of 20+ people and all but 3 had one of those, because big businesses don't like wasting time and money on broken IT.

FX_Munkee

TBH for what you've specified you need to do with it either of those laptops will be fine.
Although I tend to prefer Intel i3/5/7 based laptops, I think they're probably the best "all rounder" chipsets at the moment (which is what my Laptop tends to do).
PS my Sony laptop is still going strong after 6 years but my Toshiba is flaky (bad cooling fan on CPU)

TheMarlin

Go for I5 at the least.  I3 is too slow.

Also bear in mind that new I3's are much faster than old I5's.  So, go as new as possible.

Dabs is a good place to look for laptop deals.

M.

lloyd

TheMarlin said:

Go for I5 at the least.  I3 is too slow.

Also bear in mind that new I3's are much faster than old I5's.  So, go as new as possible.

Dabs is a good place to look for laptop deals.

M.

I don't know what I3/5 is mate....and I've need to get it off Very, but cheers.

hugbot

The thing about laptops is you really do need to see it in person because its hard to quantify things like an ugly screen or a horrible feeling keyboard until you try it.

lloyd

hugbot said:

The thing about laptops is you really do need to see it in person because its hard to quantify things like an ugly screen or a horrible feeling keyboard until you try it.

I don't think I'm into them enough to know (or care) what an ugly screen is or a horrible feeling keyboard!

Deadman

We've got an Acer, Lenovo and. Dell. The Acer is shite, the Lenovo has been very reliable. The Dell is new, it has a 17 inch screen, I7, GeForce 840 graphics and it's aluminum clad. Cost 470 notes and imo was a great buy. It runs games really well if that's what you're into.

lloyd

Nah don't play games so it's just for looking at porn and doing my coursework so I'm hoping that the screens big and is wipe clean.

digitalscream

Axe_meister said:

The A8 6410 is only about 12% slower for single threaded tasks which most people won't notice at all, but with 4 cores rather than just two when compared to the equivalent i5 4200U (dual core). In my experience the i5 will start to slow down once CPU utilization hits 80% whereas the AMD unit hangs on for a little bit longer before it starts to choke.

I know it's pretty much an academic discussion at this point, but all the A8 laptops I've come across just felt really sluggish compared to the i3/i5 ones. In fact, in terms of responsiveness they came across more like a Celeron machine. It could well be down to chipset choice.

However...it's entirely possible that's down to the rest of the component choices - machines with i-series CPUs tend to have better hard drives and motherboards, because there's a bit more room in the BoM budget.

Danny1969

See my point earlier about AMD laptops - avoid

Deadman

lloyd;476282" said:

Nah don't play games so it's just for looking at porn and doing my coursework so I'm hoping that the screens big and is wipe clean.

Fair play