HELP!!!laptop at approx £1300 (incl VAT)

[fathertedirl]

Student needs laptop for multimedia modules (must run 3d applications well, have a firewire,usb. ethernet,cdrw,dvd able to play games well a nice bonus). Must be new,available on HP(I can pay £50 a week & have A1 credit rating). My friend said he saw an excellent offer by PC World for an Advent laptop for £999(its not on their website) - anyone know of this. Any other good offers anyone- Help
Any help would be very much appreciated frightened of making a bad decesion ( again )

Thanks ........I know I am asking too much for price but......

 

[bids]

Have you tried Dell, this for example at £815 inc:

http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/uk/enu/dhs/local/offers/hotdeals_hotdeals.htm

Dunno about their financing, but deffo worth a look. We use Dell laptops at work, and they are good builds, and support is pretty good too.

 

[fathertedirl]

Thanks for the reply but doesnt seen to have the elements I want dvd cdrw firewire etc -I would go to £1400 max

 

[fathertedirl]

£1400 (incl VAT)

 

[Will]

I suppose an iBook is out of the question?

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Get an Ibook, they rock

 

[fathertedirl]

I don't want compatability issues with uni PCs and apps, really after a PC at my stage.
This any good, might be able to get it for £100 less
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/store/mart...ikdcefecfgmdffgdghn.0&page=Product&sku=678698

 

[PR.]

Urgh, that machine doesn't say it uses a P4m just a regular joe desktop chip meaning its gonna suck the batteries dry very quick

I just built a Dell 2650 with a 1.7ghz P4m, 384mb RAM, 15" SXGA+ 1400x1050 TFT, 24x CD-RW/DVD, Ethernet, 20Gb HDD, 32Mb Gf2go, XP Pro, MS Works 6

£1374 or £38.83 over 48months

Here

If thats too expensive dump the screen back to a normal 15" TFT


You buy games from PC World, you buy bits you need urgently from PC World. When you want proper stuff like a PC go elsewhere.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

I'd be inclined to go for a Dell as well simply because they're reliable as anything, and the support options are superb.

 

[fathertedirl]

Cheers PR u’ve talked me into it I am gonna go whole hog and get exact same specs as u, once my money comes thru in next week or so. I asked my lecturer for advice today and he agreed with u. Just one thing that bothers me I saw A Toshiba satellite with a GF4go for same money.. I like my games but don’t want to go against people who know better than me. You got yours yet…whats battery life like…etc ?????

 

[PR.]

I didn't get that one. I do own an 'old' Inspiron 8100 it also has a GF2go

Depends what kinda games your looking at, most modern games will run choppy on the Gf2go even on low settings, but it has been known for me to play BF1942 on it

Check out the Dell forums and you may be able to seperately purchase the Gf4go and install it, if you feel daring

Forums = http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums

I can't say anything regarding Toshibas, but my 8100 has been very stable even more than I had hoped, and I would still go with the Dell

Hope this helps

 

[bodhi]

Get a VAIO. You know you want to.

 

[Kempo]

bodhi speaks the truth

 

[old.Jas]

Dell ownz all

 

[[UKLans]Khan]

Dunno if your interested but I am selling my Vaio on ebay, e-mail me on khan@uklans.com if you want the link.

Tis a P4 1.6MHz 256MB Ram 30GB HDD etc etc for £1100

Thanks,

Khan

 

[bodhi]

Originally posted by Kempo
bodhi speaks the truth

Are you feeling as hungover as I am?

 

[Embattle]

Sony VAIO's are the Apple's of Wintel Laptops

 

[fathertedirl]

Thanks Khan but I'm reallly looking for one that will play me UT 2003. I originally planned to buy a dirt cheap laptop and get a good desk top but I'm a computer student at university and not home much so a pretty good laptop seems the way to go. This is what I am tempted to go for in next week or so - for the money could I do any better?
Dell Inspiron 8200 P4 mobile1.8 ghz
DVD/CD-RW Combo & 30GB HD
15" UXGA ASV (1600 x 1200) TFT Enhanced Screen
384MB 266Mhz DDR RAM
30GB Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB Graphics Card
Price £1,382 (excl. VAT)
£1,623.85 (incl. VAT)
also Kodak CX4210 Digital Camera(free)

Am I nuts going for this - could I get a similar spec for less (is the graphics card worth £128 extra over a nVidia® GeForce4 Go 440™ with 32MB DDR Video RAM. I really love my games.Is the £100 extra on screen well spent (i love my dvds)

One thing that bothers is me is that I don't think there is any firewire connection for digital camcorders etc.Multimedia is a big part of my course and is more fun than java

 

[PR.]

Somethings to bare in mind about the 8200...

• Its nearly a year old, and a replacement is expected very soon
• The 1600x1200 fonts are very small if you have poor eyes stick to the lower res
• DVD's only have a res of about 700x400 (For TV) so any higher means stretching them...
• The 9000 is currently the best you can get, but nvidia will be releasing a new even better card soon (as usual )
• You may be better of getting a single stick of memory so that when you upgrade (the 8200 can take up to 1gb) you have a spare slot. Not sure if that 384 is 1x 256 + 1x 128 - You can get dell memory from Crucial who sell it cheaper than dell do
• If your gonna be working away from a power supply regularly get two batteries you will only get 2hrs max from a single battery

I remember when I bought my 8100, I set myself a limit of £1000-£1200 but wanted similar stuff to you (Games/DVD) so I got a loan for £2000 but then went and spent £2400, Doh

Hope this helps...

 

[[UKLans]Khan]

one that will play me UT 2003

I play UT 2003 on my laptop, is suprising how well it plays.

Khan

 

[bids]

Originally posted by fathertedirl

One thing that bothers is me is that I don't think there is any firewire connection for digital camcorders etc.Multimedia is a big part of my course and is more fun than java

No problem if it don't have Firewire built-in - I got a Firewire PC Card for my Vaio from PC World - cost about £60.

 

[PR.]

Hmm the 8100 had a small Firewire port by the sound card...

I'm pretty sure the 8200 has firewire but its not the same shape as

...........................................^here

 

[fathertedirl]

Right, here's what i went for on-line today, I know there wil be a better & cheaper one out on monday, but I've done it now.
Just one thing bothering me I have a 600k Ntl connection at home, I assumed that the 10/100 NIC combo card is like the ethernet card in my desk top and I will be able to connect using the ntl broadband as before, or should I have went for the expensive networkcard instead of 2nd battery - hurry please, a quick reply will enable me to change
Also will I be able to connect to university pcs, not worried about networking with them, just using uni internet connection like I see others doing.
Cheers




D21) Inspiron 8200 2.2GHz
Includes Double Discount + M105 PDA + 512MB DDR RAM!
Standard Features: Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.2GHz-M
IEEE 1394 - Firewire Port
High Quality Audio System with built in Speaker
Norton AntiVirus 2002 (with 90 days free virus updates)
.

Online Offer - Double Discount!: £70.50 (Inc VAT) Discount when you Order Online! (-GBP - £60)

Extra Support & Service + Accidental Cover: 1 Year European Collect and Return Service (-GBP - £199)

Screen: 15" UXGA ASV (1600 x 1200) TFT Enhanced Screen

Additional Colours: Not Included

Memory: 512MB 266Mhz DDR RAM

Home Installation: Not Included

Internal Hard Drive: 60GB Hard Drive

Second Hard Drive: Not Included

Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB Graphics Card

Fixed Bay CD, DVD & CD-RW: Integrated 24x CD-RW/8x DVD Combo Drive

Multi-media Audio/VideoCable Kit: -

Interchangeable Bay: Not Included

Digital Cameras & PDA`s: Kodak Digital Camera CX4210 (+ GBP £31)

Second Battery: 66Whr 8 Cell Second battery (+ GBP £79)

DeskTop Docking Device: -

Modem/Combo Cards: Internal V92 Modem & 10/100 NIC

Mobile Options: -

Network Card: Not Included

Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio

Dell True Mobile Wireless: -

Desktop Ready Kit: -

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition (Why not upgrade to Windows® XP Professional?)

Software: Microsoft Works 6.0

Carrycases and Backpacks: Targus Backpack - Black (+ GBP £39)

Mobile Security: -

DeskTop Printers: -

External Storage: Choose your upgrade below

Printer Cables: -

Scanners: Epson 1260 1200x2400 dpi, 48bit Colour (+ GBP £65)

 

[[UKLans]Khan]

I'm pretty sure a standard 10/100 NIC [network interface card] will be fine... 600k ntl would only use a tiny bit of the cards capacity. Also the 10/100 in the laptop would perform about the same as you desktop pc's NIC.

Khan

 

[fathertedirl]

Cheers for your reply Khan,
Thats what I thought but what is the Xircom Combo Type III RBEM with Combo Solution - Kit Item (+£155) for. Wht does it allow you to do, whats difference, just hook up to networks?

 

[[UKLans]Khan]

You will be able to hook up to the network with the built in 10/100 nic. It is basically exactly the same as you desktop pc network card. The combo card may have a modem or wireless facility built in.

Hope this helps,

Khan

 

[fathertedirl]

thanks again

 

[fathertedirl]

I know I will not get desk top peformance but how good will this be for latest games when i get it? Really looking foward to it, hope I get it for Xmas.
What are drivers like for graphics card are they updated much?

 

[PR.]

What are drivers like for graphics card are they updated much?

Nope, you will need to keep an eye on the Dell forums who frequently modify the 41.xx drivers with the other resolutions needed on the laptop.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/

 

[bodhi]

41.xx drivers wont do him much good with a Mobility Radeon.