HELP ME BUY A LAPTOP PLEASE?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › HELP ME BUY A LAPTOP PLEASE?

Chilipepper

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Wannabe Geek

#25567 25-Aug-2008 18:28

Hi - I am looking at buying my first laptop.

My budget is around the 1K mark but could go up a couple of hundred if need be.
I am planning a long overseas trip, at least 12, maybe 18 months so it needs to be light and very portable.
Obviously i don't need a high powered business tool. Use will be Internet access, Digital photo's, Music, e-mailing, skype & web cam, etc

A friend has recommended Asus and Toshiba, another mate is pushing hard for Macbook who siad the extra $$ is money well spent.

I would appreciate recommendations from those of you out here in "The Know"
Cheers.

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#159665 25-Aug-2008 18:45

You'll be hard pressed to get a decent new laptop for only $1,000. I'd suggest a budget twice (if not more) that to get a laptop that'll last you.

Chilipepper

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Wannabe Geek

#159668 25-Aug-2008 18:59

Really??

Any comments on the Macbook?

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#159669 25-Aug-2008 19:02

I've seen some good midrange Compaq laptops around for this price - DSE is selling a Compaq, Intel dual core, 1.73 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD for $999.

If you just want something for e-mail, browsing and to sort your pictures during your trip you can't go better than this. An Apple notebook will cost you a lot more.

Chilipepper

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#159677 25-Aug-2008 19:09

cool! - thanks for your reply.

lotech

126 posts

Master Geek

#159678 25-Aug-2008 19:10

Yeah if you plan on traveling 2 real options -
Something small but practical like a EEE-PC 900/1000 or spend more and get a Macbook.
The specific reason for the Mac is that they come with 12 month worldwide warranty and you can get an extra 2 years (3 total) at anytime in the first 12 months. When things do go wrong and it breaks, or you break it, theres no one with better service. Theres Apple Stores throughout America, Europe and most major centres worldwide. You can just roll in an expect the same service as if you brought it from the same store. I've experienced this via the Las Vegas Apple Store - walked in, walked out with a repaired laptop no questions asked (except the necessary ones).
Don't get me wrong, most laptops have international warranties but good luck ringing Dell/HP/Acer... while you're at a hostel/hotel and then shipping it off to god knows where, and then waiting - possibly weeks.
As for the EEE-PC, my well travelled (and still traveling) friend got one on my recommendation and thinks its the best, so small you can throw it in a bag and not feel you've got a laptop in there. Plays all media formats, syncs with his ipod, does video for skype and just works. Of course if something does happen its only a $700 computer so no real loss.

kobiak

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#159694 25-Aug-2008 20:19

For a total mobility I would agree to go with asus eee 1000 or MSI wind or acer aspire one (played last weekend at noel leimeng last saturday and it's only for 845 :) faturing intel atom1.6gh , 1gb ram and sata 80gb drive) :) and all of this under 1kg :)

The only thing i did not like about aspire one is 8.9" display :( way to small for me :(

Personally, I would go for MSI WIND 10" display or freitasm's option.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

psychrn

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#159699 25-Aug-2008 20:28

If you are going overseas whats wrong with one of those cheaper Flash drive computers,
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/48b26c070502b052273fc0a87f3b0660/Product/View/XC4839

http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/48b26c070502b052273fc0a87f3b0660/Product/View/XC4752

Now hows that for a cheap optoin especially if travelling

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cisconz

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#159703 25-Aug-2008 20:47

psychrn: If you are going overseas whats wrong with one of those cheaper Flash drive computers,
http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/48b26c070502b052273fc0a87f3b0660/Product/View/XC4839

http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/48b26c070502b052273fc0a87f3b0660/Product/View/XC4752

Now hows that for a cheap optoin especially if travelling

I have both an eee-701 and an eee-900.
The 701 screen is way too small for me.
But either coupled with a external hdd (http://search.dse.co.nz/search.php?&site=&w=usb+hdd) will work wonders for sorting and saving your pictures etc (Just make sure the hdd doesnt require a power adaptor).
Also they have a webcam builtin for skype.

Hmmmm

Chilipepper

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#159759 26-Aug-2008 05:07

Thanks for all your help and replies.

I'll look into the eee 900 / 1000 today.
i noticed they do not have a dvd / cd drive built in - what do you do in circumstances when you recieve software with an item such as a Digi Camera and it comes with a the download on CD??

Cheers,
Steve.

freitasm

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#159764 26-Aug-2008 07:16

Now comes the tricky part. For this you will need an external USB CD/DV, making the price go up. I particularly don't like the Eee PC - too small and the keys are too little.

If you do get an Eee PC you have the option of Windows or Linux. Remember that's unlikely your camera will have a Linux software ready on the CD.

The Eee PC in my opinion is the type of laptop you buy and use as it is so don't expect to go installing much programs - also you will need some external storage (a USB HDD or a large SD card) because at the end you don't have much space in it. Again the price goes up when you buy those things.

Dratsab

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#159781 26-Aug-2008 09:00

Also, are you going to be travelling through tropical countries?

If you you might want to look at investing in a laptop cooling device. They can be brought quite cheaply if you hunt around.

I'm in the Solomon Islands and have forgotten to plug my laptop cooler in the odd time or two and the poor old laptop has gotten very hot very fast! I'm pretty sure that without a cooler my laptop would have cooked itself by now.

foobar

186 posts

Master Geek

#159794 26-Aug-2008 09:39

It wouild be good to know if you want to run Linux or Windows on your machine. You can get GNU/Linux distros that are very light on required resources, so a model with less memory or a smaller CPU could be used (cheaper).

Mauricio mentioned that the camera is unlikely to come with GNU/Linux software. That's true, but for the most part, as long as the camera can be connected via USB, most of them will just be recognised as plug-and-play USB device by GNU/Linux without any problems. There is good photo mangement software available for GNU/Linux as well (Digikam, for example).

Ragnor

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#159863 26-Aug-2008 13:00

You should be able to get a Toshiba Satellite A200 for under 1k, check www.pricespy.co.nz

I would go for 1.8ghz Core2Duo and 2gb of ram as minimum spec's probably.

Chilipepper

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#159883 26-Aug-2008 14:00

Hi - once agina thanks for the feedback and coments.

Definitley running windows, not Linux - that is all i know.
What abou the the Asus Eeepc 1000 - how does that rate? or would i be facing the same problems?

Light and portable are key requirements. haven't given up on the idea of a Macbook - not much feedback there, i know is alot more $$, but some say worth it - but then i suppose i could spend more on PC laptop - I'm getting well confused.

Thanks

timestyles

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#159899 26-Aug-2008 14:50

A couple of thoughts - having just recently bought a laptop:

You probably want to get a 2GB memory upgrade, so budget for that.

Try the laptop out first - spend at least 15 minutes fiddling and looking at it and others to see how they compare

(my bugbear) Is the touchpad at the same level of the palmrest? If so, you may have problems with your palms interfering with the trackpad, and causing the mouse to go walking...

Some manufacturers offer international warranties

Can you afford a repair of say 1/3 of the cost? If not, get an extended warranty (laptops can't be self-repaired like normal desktops). Dick Smith offers an additional warranty for $230 on low cost laptops

Is the power adapter 110/230V capable? (one less thing to worry about)

When you first get the laptop run Windows update and do not use the web browser until you have clicked on the "check for new updates" at least 9 times and having rebooted at least 5 times (or don't use the web browser unless 3 consecutive clicks on Check for New Updates show no new updates). Sometimes it doesn't work properly, you need to click it more than once for it to show available updates. In these updates (you'll get at least 3 sets of updates, probably more) there are lots of security fixes plus Vista Service Pack 1. On my machine the whole process took about 3-4 hours and used about 500MB-1GB depending on if you have Office 2007.

The best resource on laptops is: http://www.notebookreview.com/

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