laptop

Fast running out of space in the house with 3 kids so was thinking of laptop combined with a decent screen when i want to do photoshop work plus external hard drive to keep pics on.
What do you think of this as not got allot of spare cash but this may suit my needs .

http://www.argos.co.uk …C12108673.htm?P​rice+Cut=1

cheers shane

Having been in the laptop industry for 9 years now in many different rolls including product management, I would not reco acer to anyone. One of the higher failure rates in the industry. You should be able to find something comparable within the HP or Toshiba family. I would reco Toshiba.

many will chime in with a variety of brands, so my opinion is based on a variety of factors including hard core industry numbers.

That laptop has a pretty old CPU and only 2.0GHz at that. I wouldn't get anything older than 2 years old and I would stick with Lenovo if I HAD to go with a PC. Otherwise, I would just buy a referb MacBook Pro

MaxxuM wrote in post #7895335
That laptop has a pretty old CPU and only 2.0GHz at that. I wouldn't get anything older than 2 years old and I would stick with Lenovo if I HAD to go with a PC. Otherwise, I would just buy a referb MacBook Pro

macbook if you're a macuser, otherwise stick to the ones in the industry who have been around the longest: IBM.

got the T500, and it's the best machine i've ever had.

(and yes, i'm a computer scientist, so i've had a couple of machines between my fingers )

Electrical wrote in post #7898120
macbook if you're a macuser, otherwise stick to the ones in the industry who have been around the longest: IBM.

got the T500, and it's the best machine i've ever had.

(and yes, i'm a computer scientist, so i've had a couple of machines between my fingers )

Longer? IBM no longer exsists, they sold off the business to a company in China. Since the change, their level of quality has fallen (not a lot, but enough to notice).

Longer? Toshiba was the first company in the world to launch a mobile computer.

YP5 Toronto wrote in post #7898602
Longer? IBM no longer exsists, they sold off the business to a company in China. Since the change, their level of quality has fallen (not a lot, but enough to notice).

Longer? Toshiba was the first company in the world to launch a mobile computer.

IBM has a service level contract with lenovo, forcing them to have/keep the same service and quality IBM had with its customers.

toshiba may have made the first laptops, but computers have been made by IBM since the 1950's. (Industrial Business Machines.)

if you want a printer, stick to HP, but don't get their laptops despite the fact of they maybe being quite good. stick to the premier industry of a company and you're "safe".

Electrical wrote in post #7899109
IBM has a service level contract with lenovo, forcing them to have/keep the same service and quality IBM had with its customers.

toshiba may have made the first laptops, but computers have been made by IBM since the 1950's. (Industrial Business Machines.)

if you want a printer, stick to HP, but don't get their laptops despite the fact of they maybe being quite good. stick to the premier industry of a company and you're "safe".

That "contract" is nothing more than marketing fluff....

I woud agree with you on IBM when IBM was in the notebook business. The bottom line is that Lenovo does not equate to IBM, has no ties to its engineering history and has seperated its channel strategy. Moreover in North America they have changed the service strategy. Lenovo has their own agendas now and their products are different that the IBMs of old.

They are loosing market share in North America (dont know the world wide numbers) and have made huge cutbacks in personel over the last 6 months.

whilst thankyou for comments i have 3 kids and not a massive budget hence why i looked at the original pc.
As good as the laptops some have mentioned they are simply out of my price range at this moment.
so if you have any best buys up to £500 please fire away.

cheers shane

ninjaboy wrote in post #7899471
whilst thankyou for comments i have 3 kids and not a massive budget hence why i looked at the original pc.
As good as the laptops some have mentioned they are simply out of my price range at this moment.
so if you have any best buys up to £500 please fire away.

cheers shane

Are you sure you have to have a notebook computer? With notebook computers you're paying 30% more for 30% less power. For the same amount you could get a desktop for around £500 with 1.5x more power, a nicer screen (more colours), more storage, full sized keyboard and more options.

The laptop you mentioned isn't bad, just that it's starting to show its age with slower bus and last gen CPU architecture. It will huff and puff with Lightroom + 10MP+ RAW files @ 100% zoom but overall, you'll probably be OK with it.

max i hadnt really looked as was getting caught up in the space saving thing but i still wanted a big screen so took a look at what mesh got to offer as already got on of there pc.
What you think of this especially the screen that comes with it.
http://www.meshcompute​rs.com …CT&ENT=PRODUCT&​KEY=500851

cheers shane

Overall, not bad. The only two things I could nag about are the 300w power supply and not knowing much about MeshComputers or the monitor's brand (who makes their panels?). It is also £100 less than Dell UK similarly setup which makes me wonder where they are cutting costs. The monitor which I found HERE seems pretty typical for monitors these days; 1000:1 contrast, 5ms, 16.7m colours and will likely be above adequate for photography as long as you are not hyper-critical. Again, not bad. If I had to give it a star rating I would say it was an overall 3.5 mainly because it's price is so low. It looks like a good bang-for-the-buck deal.

hmm i started to think hang on for pc till next year as i dont really like vista my dad orriginally upgraded to vista and had loads of probs.so when he passed this pc on to me first thing i did is wipe it and put xp back on. A friend of mine has laptop with vista on and forever haing probs withit i had a look at it this week and it just reminded me why i dont like it so.

i want new monito so it looks like the dell on here fits the bill.
also thought extra ram wouldnt hurt looked on crucial and they cant find match quess thats cos pc a few years old now its a mesh elite D950.

Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: P5N32-SLI-SE-Deluxe
this is info i got from crucial

1024 MB
DDR PC2-5200
1024 MB
DDR PC2-5200
EMPTY

EMPTY

• Maximum Memory Capacity: 16777216 MB
  
• Currently Installed Memory: 2048 MB
  
• Available Memory Slots: 2
  
• Number of Banks: 4
  
• Dual Channel Support: N.A.
  
• CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
  
• CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.40GHz Model 6, Stepping 5
  
• CPU Speed: 3400 MHz

You cannot find the memory because they don't make it anymore. However, you can use faster memory like these or these - you can let the motherboard auto sense the RAM voltage, but I usually set it manually just in case (in this case 2.0v for the memory I mentioned). XP/Vista 32-bit will see 3.2GB of the total 4GB due to memory mapping. This memory is pretty cheap and will increase overall performance by about 10%. Also, the SE Deluxe also supports Core2Duo's up to the E6700 (after BIOS update). If you can find an E6300 or better you'll see some very big gains in speed. That motherboard supports the E4300 to the E6700 according to ASUS (HERE). I found this but if you can find an E6700 (plus memory above) you'll see at least a 40% increase in overall speed. The E6300 is still faster than your current CPU.

It all comes down to what you are willing to buy, save or wait for. With 4GB RAM (above) and an E6300 (or better) you'll be able to run just about anything you need (LR, Photoshop and even many games). It won't be a speed demon, but it will get the job done as fast as most moderen $1,000+ laptops. If you aren't willing to buy the CPU then more memory is also probably not worth the money since spending £43 for just 10% isn't really worth it in my book. Well, hope that helps.

hi max
I see what your saying but with the dell screen i want comes to around £400 so may aswell have new pc. Whilst i like the mesh unit shown earlier i want the dell screen.so thought about just buy the nesh base but cant get that base on its own.found this although a little bit more money.
http://www.meshcompute​rs.com …CT&ENT=PRODUCT&​KEY=516948

but then it still comes with vista how do i get a new pc with xp on it ?

also lets say i had £400 what kind of build could i do for that (i have never done one before) or for that kind of money is it not worth looking at.

cheers shane

£400 is about at the edge of an OK system, but at around £500 you'll start to get to the truly powerful PC's. I would try Misco.co.uk first as they deal with parts that are on the way out as well as the newer stuff. They are the same company as TigerDirect and CompUSA (Systemax) and pretty respected. There may be others in the UK but its been a while since I've been in Europe.

I could come up with a thousand different systems and all would be fine, but I would recommend you look for yourself as it will help you understand all the computer components. There are some hints to getting better parts though. Start with the top sellers first.

Intel's are generally faster than AMD's, but lately AMD's newest CPUs are pretty good and they'll save you a couple of pounds. If you go AMD a x3 core is good enough. Tests have shown that 3 cores does just as well as 4 and is sometimes better speed wise. If you go with x2 core's then you'll want at least 2.8GHz - if you go with 3 or 4 core's then 2.0 or better would do the job, but 2.4 is better. Also, remember not to get more than nessessary either (unless you plan on upgrading in the future). If your motherboard only goes up to 667MHz RAM speed then getting any faster would be a waist of money. It can get a little complicated, but once you understand the basics then you'll know what to look for (and save money and time).

Here is a link to help you understand CPU and memory speeds - LINK.