recommend me a decent laptop...
Discussion
...please
Well my desktop machine has thrown a wobbler and decided to stop working. No amount of fixing or formatting and re-installing has managed to fix it, so it looks like I need to bite the bullet and part with some cash for a replacement system.
It will be used for:
-amateur photo-editing
-playing DVD movies and lots of music
-net surfing
-occasional gaming
-other general things
I also need to access the internet and printer through another computer, so needs to be able to do this.
I guess I should be looking for as much RAM as I can get and the fastest processor that I can get. However, having never had a laptop before, I don't know what would be considered a decent spec.
Budget of <£1k, which must include OS (I'm more than happy using XP pro) and a decent MS Office package (again I'm happy using Office 2002), as well as things like DVD burner, etc.
Any pointers to specific machines/deals, or decent retailers/websites will be muchly appreciated
I realise laptops ae generally a little more expensive than an approximately equivalent desktop, but Dell seem a little high to me - then again maybe I'm expecting too much
Well my desktop machine has thrown a wobbler and decided to stop working. No amount of fixing or formatting and re-installing has managed to fix it, so it looks like I need to bite the bullet and part with some cash for a replacement system.
It will be used for:
-amateur photo-editing
-playing DVD movies and lots of music
-net surfing
-occasional gaming
-other general things
I also need to access the internet and printer through another computer, so needs to be able to do this.
I guess I should be looking for as much RAM as I can get and the fastest processor that I can get. However, having never had a laptop before, I don't know what would be considered a decent spec.
Budget of <£1k, which must include OS (I'm more than happy using XP pro) and a decent MS Office package (again I'm happy using Office 2002), as well as things like DVD burner, etc.
Any pointers to specific machines/deals, or decent retailers/websites will be muchly appreciated
I realise laptops ae generally a little more expensive than an approximately equivalent desktop, but Dell seem a little high to me - then again maybe I'm expecting too muchWell its a bit of a long story...
A few weeks ago it started rebooting itself randomly a few hours into using it. This got worse over the next few weeks until it would only boot to the log-in screen, and then reboot, ad-infinitum.
The first thing i tried was a system restore back a couple of months, but this didnt help. Then i tried repairing it with the XP CD, which seemed to cure the problem, however I wasnt happy with the restore point, and thought hell, why not just re-install and have a nice fresh system (glad I bought that External HD now
)
however upon booting for the first time, it froze at the "welcome to XP" animation thing, and then fell over into a blue screen with something about a terminal loop and "ati2dvag". So I looked this up and found it seems to be a common problem.
It was at this point i posted the post above.
I was able to start up in safe mode and removed everything ATI related using the add/reomve facility, and then it started up fine, except it was very low resolution and very few colours. so I put the ATI radeon CD in and loaded everything off that, restarted and.... same problem: gets to the blue welcome screen and freezes. So I start up in safe mode, remove all ATI stuff, restart, starts fine.
so i set up the internet and downloaded and installed drivers from ATI for the radeon 9200 series card I have in my machine, restarted and... wow! at first it seems to have worked. "few", i think! However there is one small but very annoying problem now: when I scroll in any application (IE, Firefox, Excel, etc) it is very jerky.
So to summarise, managed to fix it, to a point, but why is it now jerky when scrolling?
Appologies for the long post, thanks for your help
A few weeks ago it started rebooting itself randomly a few hours into using it. This got worse over the next few weeks until it would only boot to the log-in screen, and then reboot, ad-infinitum.
The first thing i tried was a system restore back a couple of months, but this didnt help. Then i tried repairing it with the XP CD, which seemed to cure the problem, however I wasnt happy with the restore point, and thought hell, why not just re-install and have a nice fresh system (glad I bought that External HD now
) however upon booting for the first time, it froze at the "welcome to XP" animation thing, and then fell over into a blue screen with something about a terminal loop and "ati2dvag". So I looked this up and found it seems to be a common problem.
It was at this point i posted the post above.
I was able to start up in safe mode and removed everything ATI related using the add/reomve facility, and then it started up fine, except it was very low resolution and very few colours. so I put the ATI radeon CD in and loaded everything off that, restarted and.... same problem: gets to the blue welcome screen and freezes. So I start up in safe mode, remove all ATI stuff, restart, starts fine.
so i set up the internet and downloaded and installed drivers from ATI for the radeon 9200 series card I have in my machine, restarted and... wow! at first it seems to have worked. "few", i think! However there is one small but very annoying problem now: when I scroll in any application (IE, Firefox, Excel, etc) it is very jerky.
So to summarise, managed to fix it, to a point, but why is it now jerky when scrolling?
Appologies for the long post, thanks for your help
ATi drivers are a royal sod. Your best bet would be to go and visit the ATi website and get the latest Catalyst drivers. Might resolve any issues the drivers are having with Windows (patches and so on).
Other than that it sounds like your PC is in full working order (for the most part). My gut feeling is that if you open the side panel and do some serving (clean out the fans) and replace the ATi card with a cheap Nvidia unit (their drivers are superior and more stable) then it'll be golden for a long time to come.
Other than that it sounds like your PC is in full working order (for the most part). My gut feeling is that if you open the side panel and do some serving (clean out the fans) and replace the ATi card with a cheap Nvidia unit (their drivers are superior and more stable) then it'll be golden for a long time to come.
TP, I've been on their site and downloaded and installed the drivers for my card/machine. This is the stage I am at now - its working again, but with jerky scrolling 
Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of being able to swap the card 
I've also had the sides off the machine and blown all the dust out that I possibly can. Its off to see a Mr Fix-It today, so hopefully that will be an end to the matter. I think you're probably right - I probably do have a healthy machine, maybe its just time for a new grafix card?
I quite fancied the idea of a laptop, too...
Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of being able to swap the card I've also had the sides off the machine and blown all the dust out that I possibly can. Its off to see a Mr Fix-It today, so hopefully that will be an end to the matter. I think you're probably right - I probably do have a healthy machine, maybe its just time for a new grafix card?
I quite fancied the idea of a laptop, too...
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff