What Laptop & More ?

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Hi all - one or two for the techies among us;

I am currently using a Tosh Tecra laptop that I have to return in a few months.

For reasons I will not bore you with here I think a laptop is necessary for my purposes rather than a desktop ... for now and the forseeable at least !

My questions are; :help: please !

1. Having searched the various forae here I am still undecided what laptop to go for... :shrug: doh I know !
a. For working/travelling purposes I need to have XP Professional and full MS Office suite and wireless and, preferably Bluetooth connectivity .
b. For own use I need, obviously speed, capability and storage for photography and wireless broadband internet access.
c. Budget = I don't really want to afford more than around £800 or so ?

2. Once I have my new toy I will need to transfer all files and stuff, including set-up/formats (?) from this one to the new kit;
a. What/how is the best way to go about this please ?

3. After all of the above I feel it my duty to wipe the slate completely clean :naughty:
a. Is this easy in terms of wiping out everything on the Tosh ?

I hope you can/will be able to offer advice and pointers in resolving these few quandaries and thank you all in advance for both reading and, where you do for helping in any way no matter how small. :ty:

Finally, Site Staff - as technically our 'puters are accessories to our hobby/profession I have posted in C, L & A but if this is not correct please feel free to move me on ! :shrug:

Many thanx for any help/advice you can offer !
 
if you have the original OP that came with the laptop, either reinstall it or recover the partition, that will nuke it.

I have a IBM thinkpad that does a fine job, no idea of the spec, will check it out when i get home

you want memory and a larger HDD, that will do it

before you nuke the old one, use the files and settings transfer wizard that uncle bill built into his software, that will make that side of it very simple and quick to undertake
 
Cheers Matty, will bank the info ! (y)

Have been looking at the Thinkpads most recently and quite like the look of them. Next up, in order were probably Sony and Dell. :thinking:

Previous threads on the Laptop/Desktop debate were quite helpful in this respect but didn't really answer all the choice issues. :shrug:
 
For everyday use you want something with a big enough screen.....for travelling you want small and light so 1st decision.

Not sure why you need XP pro instead of home that most come with.

Personally I'd just watch the bargains sites for a brand and spec that I liked on a special offer and get that.

If you have many Gigs of photo files etc on the outgoing laptop you may want to network them and copy your files across first. Long time since I used the transfer wizard - I know it got email details across Ok but can't remember if it could do personal data files.

I used a small downloaded program called 'boot and nuke' on the outgoing PCs at work. It comes as an ISO that you use to burn a bootable CD. Once booted you confirm and it proceeds to wipe and write and wipe again the hard drive so it is erased and not recoverable. If you want to return the laptop working then use the restore CD (assuming it has one :) )
 
Thanks for the comments Robert; :)

Screen size needs to be workable - transportability is secondary to workability.

XP Pro purely for compatibility/workability factors ... not 'spert in either just hedging bets and going with what I am used to ? Do you reckon it makes no difference ?

I will explore networking as it is not just pics I have there are loads of excel, word, powerpoint, outlook and project files too - some very large too ! :eek:

Will look at 'boot & nuke' when the time comes, thanx for the tip. It does not need to be 'working' when I return it. ;)

Thanks again for taking the time to respond ! (y)
 
Hard to imagine there is anything in XP pro that you would notice missing in home version - I don't for anything that I do.

If you are a gamer that will change your hardware decisions as a decent graphics card in a laptop tends to push the price up.

As to networking if you are using a wireless router for your internet access then its just a few settings to get two laptops talking on a network.
 
I can reccomend Dell, go onto their website add the bits you want and get a price. Got mine last month, ordered it online 22:30 on Wed, delivered 12:00 Fri.
HTH
 
namllihs said:
I can reccomend Dell, go onto their website add the bits you want and get a price. Got mine last month, ordered it online 22:30 on Wed, delivered 12:00 Fri.
HTH
Click to expand...

Thanx S Hillman ! ;)
Out of interest - what model and build did you go for ?

RobertP said:
If you are a gamer that will change your hardware decisions as a decent graphics card in a laptop tends to push the price up.
Click to expand...

Thanx Robert ... not a gamer and useful to know 'Home' may be OK - keeps the options a tad more flexible. :)
 
Well I've had Thinkpads for years now, working for IBM. Last one was a T43 from memory...just the right size, good battery life, good ergonomics.....very good & reliable, apart from HD which failed after a 18 months....although I was using it 10hrs+ Mon- Friday every day. Just make sure whichever model you choose has a DVD writer to backup thos critical files ;)
 
Inspiron 1300: 1.5ghz processor,15.4 inch screen 512mb RAM:bang: (wish i'd got 1024mb) 80gb hard disk

combo DVD/CD burner built in Wi-Fi and 10/100 network adapters. PC Express card slot.

what I liked was the way you could add and subtract features and get an updated price and compare different specs.
 
My wife has an Acer widescreen. She always puts it down one side first. The USB plug touches down first and that has been enough to break the socket mount so it needs to go back.

That said I've not read of many faults with Acer but they do tend to be basic machines.
 
depending on how long you can wait register on www.hotukdeals.com and set up the "deal alerts" to email you about laptop offers saw a admitedly low spec dell for £299 not that long ago
 
Well guys, such a great response so far - I really appreciate all your inputs; :clap:

DJW - like the looks a lot Dave, but the T43 starts over £1K and then is only 512 RAM :shrug: you must get 'em discounted/free ?

Namllihs - Thanx, you can always upgrade very easily !

Whitewash - Doesn't look half bad actually and worth the melting pot !

Steep - Thanx for the links, I keep coming back to the Inspirons ! (had seen the TPF thread earlier) (y)

Evilowl - Great new site for me to keep an eye on, thanx ! ;)

Gemok - Thanx for the reminder, I have a little time so can watch this one for a bit ! :)

Again all your help is much appreciated - :ty: but keep it coming ?
 
Venomator said:
Whitewash - Doesn't look half bad actually and worth the melting pot !
Click to expand...

its nice looking, its quick, the screen is "the sex" (its all shiney!), my only annoyance with it is one small keyboard layou thing (cuz im not use to laptops!) and the fact that there are 2 buttons on the front, one for wireless and one for bluetooth, these enable or disable the fucntionality, when im lying with the laptop on my lap with my feet on the table i keep accidentally disabling the wifi!:bonk:
 
Great information here as I will also be looking for a new laptop soon due to probable redundancy.

V, if you want to 'wipe the slate clean' use something like evidence eliminator where the paths to all deleted items, favourites, cookies etc etc is wiped over, just re-formatting will not get rid of stuff you don't want other people to see or find. Forensic software, which a lot of companies have, will find it quite easily.
 
I've just got an Asus A6KM laptop as a replacement for my old one which fell down the stairs with me, and it's very good.

Spec is...
AMD Turion64 MT-32 (25w) 1.8GHz
512Mb PC2700 DDR (in 1 of the 2 slots)
80Gb Hitachi 5400rpm HD
8x dual layer DVDRW
64Mb Nvidia Go 7300 w/Turbocache (256Mb)
15.4" widescreen 1280x800 w/Color Shine
1.3Mp webcam
10/100/1000 LAN
54g wireless
Bluetooth
4x USB 2.0
1x Firewire
SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro card reader (why dont they ever put CF on?)
XP Home
2yr global wty (std)
Asus Bag
Asus optical mouse


Having looked around cost is about £700, and I'm going to upgrade the RAM to 1Gb with another stick of 512Mb from Crucial for under £40. I'll get 2x 1Gb sticks when the price comes down a bit as it's £93 a stick.

The gfx seems perfectly capable of running Age of Empires 3 & World of Warcraft with only turning down settings like water reflections etc. (even the Nv6800 on 2nd PC has to do that), although gaming is what I want it for.

Battery has lasted a minimum 2hrs each time up to about 3hrs, which is pretty good IMHO, and could probably last a little longer if power settings were lowered. Takes about 4hrs to charge while switched on, 2.5hrs when not.

Great keyboard with no flex and has a fairly normal layout.
 
has anyone tried the 15.4 inch dell inspirons as they seeem to have an option to have a 1600x1080 screen res which would be nice to have?
 
noah said:
has anyone tried the 15.4 inch dell inspirons as they seeem to have an option to have a 1600x1080 screen res which would be nice to have?
Click to expand...
That'll be me then - Inspiron 6000. Very happy with laptop and screen.
 
Kellie has an ASUS aspire, not sure of the model number nut it was under 700 notes. 1gb, 100 gb H/d, mobile celeron processor (yeuch) wifi etc. Tis very good for the money but the battery life and screen are absolute gash. Maybe 2 hours off the battery with the wireless on and the screen is extremely sensitive to viewing angles!

I would imagine you're going to be doing editing on it, so the screen would have to be major factor surely?
 
This looks quite good for the dosh :-

ThinkPad Z60m Widescreen
Intel Celeron M Processor 370 (1.50GHz)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
512MB Memory
Multi-Burner (DVD/RW CD/RW)
Modem and Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
80GB Hard Disk Drive
15.4” WXGA TFT/1280x800
Intel Centrino Mobile Technology 802.11 (a/b/g) Wireless
Fingerprint Reader
Integrated 915GM graphics up to 128MB
Bluetooth
Li-Ion battery life up to 4 hrs (6-cell)
Travel weight: 2.9kg

£702 here

Needs memory upgraded to 1GB, but the firewire is good if you have DVI video camera. Widescreen is miles better for PS work. You can also watch widescreen DVDs, plus with S-Video output you can drive your TV. Also has built in 3-1 digital media reader from what I can see
 
Gandhi said:
Kellie has an ASUS aspire, not sure of the model number nut it was under 700 notes. 1gb, 100 gb H/d, mobile celeron processor (yeuch) wifi etc. Tis very good for the money but the battery life and screen are absolute gash. Maybe 2 hours off the battery with the wireless on and the screen is extremely sensitive to viewing angles!

I would imagine you're going to be doing editing on it, so the screen would have to be major factor surely?
Click to expand...

Thanx for the comments Ghandi - much appreciated ! (y)

Do you mean Acer Aspire ? Sounds like you're not keen on Celeron - why ? :thinking:

And yes the screen will be one of the main concerns ... ? :shrug:

Cheers,
 
DJW said:
This looks quite good for the dosh :-

ThinkPad Z60m Widescreen

Needs memory upgraded to 1GB, but the firewire is good if you have DVI video camera. Widescreen is miles better for PS work. You can also watch widescreen DVDs, plus with S-Video output you can drive your TV. Also has built in 3-1 digital media reader from what I can see
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the detail and linky Dave ... I will check this one out too !

This is great ... so many choices now ... will have to start shortlisting soon but I am sure there is still input to come and it is quite useful for other members too !

Cheers again,
 
Biggus said:
I've just got an Asus A6KM laptop as a replacement for my old one which fell down the stairs with me, and it's very good.
Click to expand...

Hope you recovered from the fall better than your last laptop ? ;)

Many thanks for the spec and link Biggus ... I have spent some time exploring their site and I have to say, never having heard of them I am a little impressed ! ;)

Has anyone else got one or know of this manufacturer - good or otherwise ? :shrug:
 
Venomator said:
Has anyone else got one or know of this manufacturer - good or otherwise ? :shrug:
Click to expand...

I have always used Asus motherboards in the computers I have built and have never had a failure or problem with any of them - no idea if the same carries over to laptops :)
 
I would steer clear of Asus laptops going on past experience with them. Strangely their motherboards are excellent though.

The only laptop brands I would spend my own money on are:

Apple
Sony
IBM
Compaq
Dell
 
evilowl said:
I would steer clear of Asus laptops going on past experience with them. Strangely their motherboards are excellent though.
Click to expand...

Thanx for contributing Evilowl ! (y)

If the motherboards are so good what experiences have put you off ? :thinking:

And, of your preferred list ... what sits on your workstation ?
 
whitewash said:
do apple laptops scratch as easily as their ipods do? (i.e you just have to look at them and they form a scratch..)
Click to expand...
My girlfriends 15" G4 Powerbook is very scratch resistant, not a single mark after 18 months hard use.

Venomator said:
Thanx for contributing Evilowl ! (y)

If the motherboards are so good what experiences have put you off ? :thinking:

And, of your preferred list ... what sits on your workstation ?
Click to expand...
Mainly the warranty claims and the technical support. The hardware is not actually bad in itself.

Of my list, I have a Sony S2XP and, as I mentioned above, my girlfriend has an Apple Powerbook. Both are excellent machines and worthy of their price tags (around £1800 each brand new 18 months ago) although the Onyx black screen of my Sony spanks the Apple screen from here to next week.

Slightly out of your budget I know - but I wouldn't hesitate to spend the same on them again in the future.

If you can get down to London then I can recommend you take a stroll down Tottenham Court Road and check out every single laptop available on the market in one place...but then go away and buy online!
 
evilowl said:
If you can get down to London then I can recommend you take a stroll down Tottenham Court Road and check out every single laptop available on the market in one place...but then go away and buy online!
Click to expand...

I might just do that EO ... thanx for the tip !

And as for Sony ... popped into local Sony shop and came across their VGN-FE11 H for a shade under £900 ! Cannot find it for this on the net ... and nearly succumbed !

And seriously impressed with the machine, especially the screen ... :p and had Vaio before the Tosh I have now so I know they are OK.

:thinking: :shrug:
 
mfwild13 said:
That'll be me then - Inspiron 6000. Very happy with laptop and screen.
Click to expand...
sorely tempted myself. these are definately worth a look ven, unless you don't like things too small on the screen
 
noah said:
sorely tempted myself. these are definately worth a look ven, unless you don't like things too small on the screen
Click to expand...

Thanx Noah ... As it happens I had this one up on a HotDeal.uk screen !

What do you mean by too small on screen Noah ? :thinking:

15.4" Wide Screen UltraSharpTM WXGA (1280 x 800) LCD Panel < this was a pasty btb NOT a pastie !?! :LOL:

This seems to be the same for all 15.4 wides ? :shrug:
 
Most widescreen laptops are 16:10 format. The standard 1280 x 800 are great for watching DVDs/TV etc on the laptop but 800 pixels is pretty small really for other uses especially photo editing. I upgraded mine from the default to the 1680 x 1050 screen to give better vertical space. Noah is referring to the fact that you are then getting more pixels per inch which means things will look smaller although it is possible to select larger text sizes to overcome this.

FYI I also upgraded the video adapter and the HDD to the 7200 RPM one (60Gb).
 
the dells i was thinking of has a resolution of 1600x1080 as opposed to the 1280x800 on that one so given the same screen size everything will be smaller, but you can fit more on it so use the space better.

edit: oops too slow ^^^what he said :)
 
mfwild13 said:
Most widescreen laptops are 16:10 format. The standard 1280 x 800 are great for watching DVDs/TV etc on the laptop but 800 pixels is pretty small really for other uses especially photo editing. I upgraded mine from the default to the 1680 x 1050 screen to give better vertical space. Noah is referring to the fact that you are then getting more pixels per inch which means things will look smaller although it is possible to select larger text sizes to overcome this.

FYI I also upgraded the video adapter and the HDD to the 7200 RPM one (60Gb).
Click to expand...

Thanx Mark ... is this a new screen or something you do in the set-up ? And can you do this with all lappies without bu**ering them ? :thinking:

Sorry if that is a stoopy q ! :shrug:
 
nope, gotta get it done when ordering it. i'm not sure who else offeres it apart from dell.
 
noah said:
nope, gotta get it done when ordering it. i'm not sure who else offeres it apart from dell.
Click to expand...

Uhuh ... doh ! Found it thanx ... xtra £90 on the 6400 ! :(

So it can't be done on something like the Acer equivalent then ? :thinking:
 
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