Looking At Getting New Laptop And Selling Desktop

[Fat-magz]

hey everyone just wondering im looking for a laptop at the moment i wanna spend under 1500.00 i want somthing that is fast,use for multimedia,gaming, plenty of room so it doesnt lag etc....basically good bang for the buck machine..... not looking to do high end gaming as i do gaming on console....

other things:

1. is it better to get a laptop built will i save money?

2. i want somthing with a warranty?

3. Can play dvd's....and inbuilt burner

im located in brisbane, if anyone has any advice on shops.. people to go to or models to look at that would be great

cheers

Dan

P.S my destop pc specs at the moment:

intel core 2 duo E6550 @ 2.33ghz

2047mb ram

32 bit operating system

Edited August 18, 2009 by Fat-magz

[CHA54]

my only advise is to get something with onsite warranty. If something goes wrong then they come out to you to fix it instead of you having to take the machine back to a service center etc for repair.

[LordMidol]

http://www1.ap.dell.com/au/en/home/noteboo...16_s540305au1~~

[BigDirtyJase]

I have to agree with CHAS4 and go pay the little bit extra for onsite warranty means you can get your rig fixed at your home and not have to take into a service and get it fixed

if money was no problem you can get this (my friend just brought it for gaming)

http://www.alienware.com.au/DNN2/Default.a...figurationID=75

but he paid more because he got it customised with 2x 1GB 4850's in Crossfire, QX9300, 8GB Ram and WinVista Ulitimate 64bit edition to name a few...it set him back about 7k but it's a real nice laptop but for me it's just too much

[LordMidol]

OT here, and totally not directed at you BigDirtyJase... It's just an observation.

How come Alienware have such a great reputation for quality yet Dell attracts a fair bit of criticism when Alienware is owned by Dell?

Now back on topic, if you can afford it go Alienware. Alienware = Dells gaming line. But you're going to have to pull another 1k minimum from somewhere - so studio xps laptops are your next best.

[BigDirtyJase]

To try and answer LordMidol's question

Alienware (now owned by Dell) kept its autonomy for while and Dell kept Alienware's main competitor, the XPS line going.

As of 2009 the XPS units have scaled down and becoming the 2nd line gaming units, where now Alienware is Dell premium gaming brand and the laptop my mate brought is the first Alienware/Dell branded system

So yeah...the Studio XPS line is now the 2nd tier gaming laptops....they are still pretty good and try to maintain a reletive good price level.

Another good laptop is HP 4510S (Model#: VA033PA)

[Johnny]

Im gonna recommend asus as they are expanding now with a new sattelite into space which will allow for multimedia streaming anywhere in the world.

Asus seems to have the best cooling also, as laptops are cramped they tend to overheat and slowdown/shutdown abruptly e.g older toshiba models.

always buy an extended warranty on it, anywhere from 150-250 depending on laptop

if you want it for gaming, make sure there is a good graphic card in it and plenty of ram; grab an upgrade if you can

JB seems to have good deals n good warranty support so pop down there n make sure u bargain.

-Johnny

[910trx]

my missus got a toshiba satellite from Dick Smiths

got vista, wicked display

ati graphics (512mb)

2 gig of ram

2 gig of memory

large hdd

wireless

very small

fingerprint scanner

light as buggery

burner

doesn't compare to my pc (tower) but can play sim city 4, flatout, battlefield 2 etc on it with limited graphics lag on full.

i like pc's more as i hate laptop keyboards, they way they share memory etc, but hers is 6 months old and still pretty good

i do not like dell that much, i found custom building one or buying one at retail (with enough searching) came to the same price - dell is a good place to get a start though.

Good luck!

[HtwCHACtkh]

First of all, good choice on moving to a laptop if you're not doing high end gaming! Get something that's indeed a laptop and not a desktop crammed into a laptop case tho please.

You won't save too much money, and you'll have a lot more effort on your hands if you make one from OEM parts. Don't do that.

I've sold, repaired and serviced heaps of laptops at my old job at a computer store.

My honest unbiased pointers:

Cooling!

If you have a laptop with crappy cooling, you will be spewing with anger non stop. Stay away from HP/Compaq and even Acer, they're the worst for this. And stay away from ultra fancy looking cases that look super sleek/curvy etc.. Even Toshiba have a few of these. With that said, even the most classic of looking laptops have poor cooling. So really you need an eye for this.

Reliability!

This is a hard one, but Toshiba have been pretty solid over the years. Asus I've noticed very weird/unique little problems on each one. I have used and sold a lot of MSI laptops, and all of them have been amazing performers without any flaw, honestly they're just amazing no bloat on their casings either like other manufacturers, I really like them. Dells aren't too bad either man, but I prefer the tactile feel of MSI a lot more. Oh and IBM (Lenovo) are definitely good contenders.

Performance!

Don't buy a Celeron, please. Also since you're doing some gaming you'd probably want an Nvidia or ATi videocard not an Intel one.. well it all really depends on what games you're playing and how avidly.

To be honest man, it depends how much thought and effort you want to put into researching it.. there are so many out there for sale now a days..

If you're lazy - don't want to think about it much now or in the future, buy that Dell linked above by LordMidol, get the best warranty you can buy and you'll be happy enough. (Spec wise it's pretty damn good)

Otherwise I know quite a few good stores in Brisbane I can list.

[Mayuri Krab]

Im gonna recommend asus as they are expanding now with a new sattelite into space which will allow for multimedia streaming anywhere in the world.

Asus seems to have the best cooling also, as laptops are cramped they tend to overheat and slowdown/shutdown abruptly e.g older toshiba models.

always buy an extended warranty on it, anywhere from 150-250 depending on laptop

if you want it for gaming, make sure there is a good graphic card in it and plenty of ram; grab an upgrade if you can

JB seems to have good deals n good warranty support so pop down there n make sure u bargain.

-Johnny

Another +1 for the asus.

I have found that they have the best performance hardware for a given price.

I had a Asus M50SV notebook (later was replaced by a M51 by RAC when my old one got stolen), it was $1.8k when I bought it & the hardware inside was better than any other brands (ones you can get off the shelf at least).

What time of gaming are you planning on playing on it?

One problem I found with my Asus was that the battery life is crap, its only got a 6 cell battery which could only last about 2hrs max on battery saving mode. Due to the decated video chip sucking up extra power compared to a integrated intel/via/sis one.

[Fat-magz]

First of all, good choice on moving to a laptop if you're not doing high end gaming! Get something that's indeed a laptop and not a desktop crammed into a laptop case tho please.

You won't save too much money, and you'll have a lot more effort on your hands if you make one from OEM parts. Don't do that.

I've sold, repaired and serviced heaps of laptops at my old job at a computer store.

My honest unbiased pointers:

Cooling!

If you have a laptop with crappy cooling, you will be spewing with anger non stop. Stay away from HP/Compaq and even Acer, they're the worst for this. And stay away from ultra fancy looking cases that look super sleek/curvy etc.. Even Toshiba have a few of these. With that said, even the most classic of looking laptops have poor cooling. So really you need an eye for this.

Reliability!

This is a hard one, but Toshiba have been pretty solid over the years. Asus I've noticed very weird/unique little problems on each one. I have used and sold a lot of MSI laptops, and all of them have been amazing performers without any flaw, honestly they're just amazing no bloat on their casings either like other manufacturers, I really like them. Dells aren't too bad either man, but I prefer the tactile feel of MSI a lot more. Oh and IBM (Lenovo) are definitely good contenders.

Performance!

Don't buy a Celeron, please. Also since you're doing some gaming you'd probably want an Nvidia or ATi videocard not an Intel one.. well it all really depends on what games you're playing and how avidly.

To be honest man, it depends how much thought and effort you want to put into researching it.. there are so many out there for sale now a days..

If you're lazy - don't want to think about it much now or in the future, buy that Dell linked above by LordMidol, get the best warranty you can buy and you'll be happy enough. (Spec wise it's pretty damn good)

Otherwise I know quite a few good stores in Brisbane I can list.

its basically going to be for internet surfing playing videos and music with abit of cod 4 sorta stuff for gaming... what stores can u recommend bro im near logan hyperdome (southside)

cheers

[bloodsword27]

get a dell i literally just ordered a full spec'd studio 15 model (top processor available, 512 gpu, wled full HD screen, backlit keyboard, 500gb hdd, 2yrs warranty etc etc PLUS a 23" full HD screen) for under $1800(minus $250 if u dont want extra screen). theyve got awesome reviews and battery life is in the 6hr region. im only getting the extra 23" screen to use as my tv haha sick of the little 51cm!

[boiracer]

i was told to go asus too......but am far from impressed, ive had my asus laptop now for almost 2 yrs, twas ok then, pretty crap now. but its always had heat issues and the ATI vid card keeps having errors. also the lid lock mechanism broke somehow. the DVD drive is rubish as it doesnt read or do anything with half the discs i shove in it. and battery life is shocking the moment the video card has a think, so its always plugged in.

and last but not least, cause it was one of those 1gig ram laptops with vista......my old 6 yr old desktop is faster.....(my own silly fault for not getting the free downgrade to XP when it was avaliable).

my vote would be, unless your taking it around everywhere all the time, get a desktop. more bang for your buck, and 1500 would build a nice machine.