Best notebook for under a grand?
Discussion
Yes, another one of those thread again I'm afraid.
As the title says, looking for a new notebook to replace my Samsung (which was very good, until it started eating hard drives with 3 failures this year).
I like the idea of Intel Core 2 Duo processor (5500/5600/7200), at least 1 Gb of RAM, 15.4" widescreen, built in bluetooth and minimum of 54 mps WiFi. Must also have DVD RW, decent graphics capability, decent build quality (like no dead pixels!) and preferably run XP Pro at the moment with free upgrade to Vista when launched. Battery life should be no less than 2.5 hours (in this day and age) and the notebook should not be especially heavy.
There is a bewildering array of machines out there and I like Sony and Samsung, though that spec is getting just about to the top of the budget I have set. Should I blow it all on a Dell or keep to one of the other brands.
Usage is not games, but office applications, net, DVD rips etc.
As the title says, looking for a new notebook to replace my Samsung (which was very good, until it started eating hard drives with 3 failures this year).
I like the idea of Intel Core 2 Duo processor (5500/5600/7200), at least 1 Gb of RAM, 15.4" widescreen, built in bluetooth and minimum of 54 mps WiFi. Must also have DVD RW, decent graphics capability, decent build quality (like no dead pixels!) and preferably run XP Pro at the moment with free upgrade to Vista when launched. Battery life should be no less than 2.5 hours (in this day and age) and the notebook should not be especially heavy.
There is a bewildering array of machines out there and I like Sony and Samsung, though that spec is getting just about to the top of the budget I have set. Should I blow it all on a Dell or keep to one of the other brands.
Usage is not games, but office applications, net, DVD rips etc.
Most laptops all have one terrible thing in common: they run Windows.
www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/viruses_for_profit/
As I really dislike shoddy engineering and price gouging monopolies I'd steer clear of microsoft entirely and buy a MacBook. Good value, run a real OS (safe, secure, useful) and come with masses of useful programs for free.
Plus Apples taste better
www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/viruses_for_profit/
As I really dislike shoddy engineering and price gouging monopolies I'd steer clear of microsoft entirely and buy a MacBook. Good value, run a real OS (safe, secure, useful) and come with masses of useful programs for free.
Plus Apples taste better
Edited by Globulator on Wednesday 22 November 08:47
Globulator said:
Most laptops all have one terrible thing in common: they run Windows.
www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/viruses_for_profit/
As I really dislike shoddy engineering and price gouging monopolies I'd steer clear of microsoft entirely and buy a MacBook. Good value, run a real OS (safe, secure, useful) and come with masses of useful programs for free.
Plus Apples taste better
www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/26/viruses_for_profit/
As I really dislike shoddy engineering and price gouging monopolies I'd steer clear of microsoft entirely and buy a MacBook. Good value, run a real OS (safe, secure, useful) and come with masses of useful programs for free.
Plus Apples taste better
Edited by Globulator on Wednesday 22 November 08:47
But not for under a grand .... more like 1500 inc vat .. only 2 usb connectors which wont power external disks ...
But at least you can put vista on them
( as long as you dont need to right click )arfur said:
But not for under a grand .... more like 1500 inc vat .. only 2 usb connectors which wont power external disks ...
But at least you can put vista on them ( as long as you dont need to right click )
I run external hard disks from my 12" Powerbook all the time - no worries there. But at least you can put vista on them
( as long as you dont need to right click )Pictured Macbook: £750
That's well under a grand I think!
Mac-OS/X of five years ago was more advanced than Vista was ever promised to be. Mac OS/X today compared to Vista is like comparing a Lexus to a Rover Metro. Plus you get Preview, full dev kits, command line terminals, iLife etc as well as a company who wants to work with other companies (seamless Java anyone) - rather than bankrupt them.
A Mac + Firefox + Thunderbird + NeoOffice + Preview makes using a XPoo machine seem like stone age technology. Windows is poor engineering, I don't like poor engineering, and neither should you!
A complete home office for £750 with full security (disk + memory encryption built in) - beat that with a PC!
Edited by Globulator on Wednesday 22 November 13:09
Globulator said:
Pictured Macbook: £750
That's well under a grand I think!
That's well under a grand I think!
True, but the OP wanted a machine with a 15.4" screen, not just a 13" screen, and a DVD-RW, not just a DVD-ROM.
They also wanted 1GB RAM, not 512MB, but I accept that might not be so important if they did go with a Mac.
I've not tried NeoOffice, but does it have an 'Access'-alike application? OpenOffice didn't, last time I looked. Can it import/export MS-format files and retain their macros?
I know nothing about Macs except they like nice 
. All in all though, this is a machine that I will use for work and sometimes other people will too. I therefore wish to stick to something more mainstream, that I can use with my existing software, network with my PC, and use with my existing printers. Like I said, I don't know Mac but I do know Windows. It is therefore the hardware angle that I was taking.
Sony FE31 looks good but I had noticed already that it lacked BT (something I am using more and more these days), apart from that it would be perfect. I did notice that for a little more £, a more highly specced Dell machine is available.
. All in all though, this is a machine that I will use for work and sometimes other people will too. I therefore wish to stick to something more mainstream, that I can use with my existing software, network with my PC, and use with my existing printers. Like I said, I don't know Mac but I do know Windows. It is therefore the hardware angle that I was taking. Sony FE31 looks good but I had noticed already that it lacked BT (something I am using more and more these days), apart from that it would be perfect. I did notice that for a little more £, a more highly specced Dell machine is available.
TUS 373 said:
I know nothing about Macs except they like nice . All in all though, this is a machine that I will use for work and sometimes other people will too. I therefore wish to stick to something more mainstream, that I can use with my existing software, network with my PC, and use with my existing printers. Like I said, I don't know Mac but I do know Windows. It is therefore the hardware angle that I was taking.
Sony FE31 looks good but I had noticed already that it lacked BT (something I am using more and more these days), apart from that it would be perfect. I did notice that for a little more £, a more highly specced Dell machine is available.
. All in all though, this is a machine that I will use for work and sometimes other people will too. I therefore wish to stick to something more mainstream, that I can use with my existing software, network with my PC, and use with my existing printers. Like I said, I don't know Mac but I do know Windows. It is therefore the hardware angle that I was taking. Sony FE31 looks good but I had noticed already that it lacked BT (something I am using more and more these days), apart from that it would be perfect. I did notice that for a little more £, a more highly specced Dell machine is available.
Look for the FE21H then ( what I'm using to write this ) It's 100gig not 120 gig and core duo, not core2 duo ... perfect machine !
I also have a fe31H and for the money it's very good ( john lewis online 899 inc vat with 2 yr warranty .. cheapest place with them in stock ) You can add a pcmcia bt card as you'd never be using the pcmcia for anything else
Globulator said:
arfur said:
But not for under a grand .... more like 1500 inc vat .. only 2 usb connectors which wont power external disks ...
But at least you can put vista on them ( as long as you dont need to right click )
I run external hard disks from my 12" Powerbook all the time - no worries there. But at least you can put vista on them
( as long as you dont need to right click )Pictured Macbook: £750
That's well under a grand I think!
Mac-OS/X of five years ago was more advanced than Vista was ever promised to be. Mac OS/X today compared to Vista is like comparing a Lexus to a Rover Metro. Plus you get Preview, full dev kits, command line terminals, iLife etc as well as a company who wants to work with other companies (seamless Java anyone) - rather than bankrupt them.
A Mac + Firefox + Thunderbird + NeoOffice + Preview makes using a XPoo machine seem like stone age technology. Windows is poor engineering, I don't like poor engineering, and neither should you!
A complete home office for £750 with full security (disk + memory encryption built in) - beat that with a PC!
Edited by Globulator on Wednesday 22 November 13:09
As the OP said 15.4 with 1 gig. £1500 inc vat was what they were last week with 2 gig.
As to the os ... I'm a unix person by default ( 20 years ). MacOS10 is very good, but when you factor in MS Advantage Pack as well ( 200 per year ) and you get _all_ ms software ( 10 licences for each ) then you get a very nice business setup with remote access etc etc all at the click of a button.
I prefer to click a button some of the time instead of having to 'get it to work' ... I do that for work !!
jamieboy said:
I've not tried NeoOffice, but does it have an 'Access'-alike application? OpenOffice didn't, last time I looked. Can it import/export MS-format files and retain their macros?
Not sure if you mean Excel, which it has, for database stuff I run MySQL which seems fine. Most of the time I read word docs (never had an issue, but you never know (had loads of issues with MS Office 2003)) and use it to write docs. A common thing will be to use Preview to view PDF and images, and cut out relevant bits to stick into the Neo-Office doc, which then gets printed or exported as PDF. Not tried exporting as .doc etc. If you really really want full MS Office - Macs (well this one anyway) come PREINSTALLED with MS Office - you just delete it if you do not want it, else you've got 30 days until you have to pay for it.
TUS 373 said:
I know nothing about Macs except they like nice . All in all though, this is a machine that I will use for work and sometimes other people will too. I therefore wish to stick to something more mainstream, that I can use with my existing software, network with my PC, and use with my existing printers.
Just the situation I was in about a year ago - needed a new laptop, wasn't sure about the Apple, except the 12" was cheaper than any other big-name 12" PC (sadly now discontinued . All in all though, this is a machine that I will use for work and sometimes other people will too. I therefore wish to stick to something more mainstream, that I can use with my existing software, network with my PC, and use with my existing printers. 
) It was a big leap of faith, but so far it's worked perfectly out of the box with PCs, printers, USB devices and all software development (It's like the perfect linux laptop if you want it to be). Then you get the bonuses - no anti virus. secure encryption. preview. full IDE and dev kit, dashboard, preview, iTunes/iMovie/iPhoto/GarageBand, amazing effects, good use of screen space, simple admin, built in bluetooth/wifi, seamless Java, just adding VLC, Firefox, Thunderbird (you won't believe how neat and easy software installion is), oh and I've got MySQL and Apache running too.
More memory is obviously a good thing, but remember OS/X does not slow down as you install more programs, the paging system I would argue is much more advanced, it comes with a brilliant system task management tool, and no anti-virus free up speed and memory (and setup, fees, updates etc). Plus it is simple to upgrade.
Careful if you do buy one though - like being used to a Metro and then trying out a Lexus, you only realise how sh*t the Metro was in hindsight!! I'd just go for a simple MacBook, the screen size is fine and you can plug in a monitor at the desk (seamlessly).
It will work, Apple have spent a great deal of effort making sure of that.
Unless you want to use apps that are not available on Apple...
OSX is memory hungry. How is the paging system better? Genuinely interested.
On the MacBook I am typing this from (2ghz core duo, 2GB RAM) the RTM Vista code seems just as stable and as fast or faster than OSX (same time to boot but seems a bit snappier, apps load really fast).
Do any of the office clones support the latest office formats? Certainly office on OSX doesn't. I now use Vista via bootcamp with Office 2k7 and VS2005 for productivity and OSX for creative stuff like Aperture and Final Cut Pro. Things like VLC and openoffice are available for PC too so shouldn't swing the descision either way.
Both have their place.
OSX is memory hungry. How is the paging system better? Genuinely interested.
On the MacBook I am typing this from (2ghz core duo, 2GB RAM) the RTM Vista code seems just as stable and as fast or faster than OSX (same time to boot but seems a bit snappier, apps load really fast).
Do any of the office clones support the latest office formats? Certainly office on OSX doesn't. I now use Vista via bootcamp with Office 2k7 and VS2005 for productivity and OSX for creative stuff like Aperture and Final Cut Pro. Things like VLC and openoffice are available for PC too so shouldn't swing the descision either way.
Both have their place.
jamieboy said:
I've not tried NeoOffice, but does it have an 'Access'-alike application? OpenOffice didn't, last time I looked.
Globulator said:
Not sure if you mean Excel, which it has, for database stuff I run MySQL which seems fine.
No, I mean Access. Neither OpenOffice, NeoOffice, nor MS Office for Mac has a file-compatible equivalent, as far as I know, so I don't think you can say they're a replacement or an 'improvement' when they're missing one of the four (five, if you count email) core Office components.
jamieboy said:
Can it import/export MS-format files and retain their macros?
Globulator said:
Most of the time I read word docs (never had an issue, but you never know (had loads of issues with MS Office 2003)) and use it to write docs. A common thing will be to use Preview to view PDF and images, and cut out relevant bits to stick into the Neo-Office doc, which then gets printed or exported as PDF. Not tried exporting as .doc etc.
Had a quick look again today, and I don't think it can. Which is fine if all your documents are nice and simple, but no good for more complex stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I do like Macs. They're better designed than most Windows PCs, and for lots of people they do 'just work'. It's just that they aren't the best solution for everyone, and it's misleading to pretend that they are.
True, parellels is pretty good but any graphics intensive windows OS or applications don't run great in it (Vista score of 1.0 for graphics verses 3.0 using bootcamp).
Problem with that approach given the original budget is that you'll spend x amount on a Mac, followed by having to spend a further £150 odd quid on a windows OS + about £40 on parellels and the disk space requirements that go with a virtual copy of Windows and installed apps. You'll still have the problems of having to secure the windows OS so no saving there either.
If you have a requirement to use apps that are not available for OSX then a pc does make sense within the original requirements IMO.
I like both windows and OSX FWIW.
Problem with that approach given the original budget is that you'll spend x amount on a Mac, followed by having to spend a further £150 odd quid on a windows OS + about £40 on parellels and the disk space requirements that go with a virtual copy of Windows and installed apps. You'll still have the problems of having to secure the windows OS so no saving there either.
If you have a requirement to use apps that are not available for OSX then a pc does make sense within the original requirements IMO.
I like both windows and OSX FWIW.
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