New Laptop

[Nath]

After a few years my laptop has gone beyond repair. I've taken it to be repaired, but have been advised it would be better getting a replacement. So here we are.

I've spoken to a few people who have advised to get a MacBook. I'm sure the machine is fantastic, but not sure I can justify spending £1000 on something I'll use for pretty basic stuff. I just need a machine which is very quick, does the basics brilliantly and can run Football Manager with no issues. I'm looking at something with a Solid State Drive, preferably i5 with high ram.

Does this look a good bet - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...061sa-13-3-laptop-aluminium-10137769-pdt.html

 

[Stevencc]

I don't think you would have to spend anywhere near £700 to do the things you are looking to do.

Pagnell is your man.

 

[Nath]

I agree.

I don't mind paying a bit more if it means having a machine which won't shit itself after a few years.

 

[Stevencc]

It looks like Pagnell doesn't want to help.

Taking the Liverpool/United rivalry to ridiculous lengths here, in my opinion.

 

[Nath]

It looks like Pagnell doesn't want to help.

Taking the Liverpool/United rivalry to ridiculous lengths here, in my opinion.

If Van Gaal was still manager, he'd have replied by now...

 

[spireite]

I don't think laptops come cheap with SSD's in them, but you definitely want it. I find it nearly unbearable to use a PC with snail hard disk. That being said an i5 might be slightly overkill if you're looking to save money somewhere. I don't know if you'll get much cheaper than around that figure you've linked if you want a built in 256GB SSD (could this be trimmed and paired with some slower storage?) on a package unit.

I always like to build my own machines (not literally with laptops, just pick the parts) rather than these pre-packed ones, then you can cut costs where you can and improve areas you want improving. Try putting one together here - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptops/ - Pick a laptop body and then pick your parts. For general shit, Footy Manager and day to day use, I'd just swap out the drive for an SSD, add a snail drive for storage (500gb, 1tb?) and leave most everything else. You can even leave off Windows if you feel comfortable getting your own copy off a torrent site and installing it (piss easy). I just did it quickly with the 17.3" Cosmos IV body and it came out below £500.

The only problem with these guys is you have to wait for the machine to built for you, which can take a few weeks depending how busy they are, but I'd say it's worth it. I swear by them when it comes to picking your own machine parts without the hassle of building it, their customer service is amazing if you need them for anything.

Disclaimer: Not on commission!

 

[Stevencc]

Nevermind Pagnell - Spireite to the rescue.

 

[Destruction]

After a few years my laptop has gone beyond repair. I've taken it to be repaired, but have been advised it would be better getting a replacement. So here we are.

I've spoken to a few people who have advised to get a MacBook. I'm sure the machine is fantastic, but not sure I can justify spending £1000 on something I'll use for pretty basic stuff. I just need a machine which is very quick, does the basics brilliantly and can run Football Manager with no issues. I'm looking at something with a Solid State Drive, preferably i5 with high ram.

Does this look a good bet - http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...061sa-13-3-laptop-aluminium-10137769-pdt.html

I'm in the same boat mate but I've already decided that I'm saving up and waiting until Apple run their "back to school" summer offer for students to buy myself a MacBook so I look the part when I'm working in Starbucks.

You can't put a price on street cred.

 

[Stevencc]

Apple will, probably a large one.

 

[Nath]

I don't think laptops come cheap with SSD's in them, but you definitely want it. I find it nearly unbearable to use a PC with snail hard disk. That being said an i5 might be slightly overkill if you're looking to save money somewhere. I don't know if you'll get much cheaper than around that figure you've linked if you want a built in 256GB SSD (could this be trimmed and paired with some slower storage?) on a package unit.

I always like to build my own machines (not literally with laptops, just pick the parts) rather than these pre-packed ones, then you can cut costs where you can and improve areas you want improving. Try putting one together here - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/laptops/ - Pick a laptop body and then pick your parts. For general shit, Footy Manager and day to day use, I'd just swap out the drive for an SSD, add a snail drive for storage (500gb, 1tb?) and leave most everything else. You can even leave off Windows if you feel comfortable getting your own copy off a torrent site and installing it (piss easy). I just did it quickly with the 17.3" Cosmos IV body and it came out below £500.

The only problem with these guys is you have to wait for the machine to built for you, which can take a few weeks depending how busy they are, but I'd say it's worth it. I swear by them when it comes to picking your own machine parts without the hassle of building it, their customer service is amazing if you need them for anything.

Disclaimer: Not on commission!

This seems like a good idea. I'll have a look into it.

I seen a lot of brilliant reviews about the Asus ZenBook UX305.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compu...ook-ux305-13-3-laptop-black-10140912-pdt.html

Does it seem like it's powerful enough for basic gaming, HD streaming etc?

Also the HP laptop I linked above comes in 4GB ram instead of 8GB ram at a cheaper price. Might be a better option

 

[spireite]

This seems like a good idea. I'll have a look into it.

I seen a lot of brilliant reviews about the Asus ZenBook UX305.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/compu...ook-ux305-13-3-laptop-black-10140912-pdt.html

Does it seem like it's powerful enough for basic gaming, HD streaming etc?

Also the HP laptop I linked above comes in 4GB ram instead of 8GB ram at a cheaper price. Might be a better option

I don't know much about it myself, but you generally can't fault overwhelmingly good reviews. My only worries about that one is that 128gb SSD would be used up pretty quickly, and 13.3" seems a bit on the small side to me - that's personal preference though. Aside from that it would probably handle the things you mentioned fine.

This is just the IT snob in me, but I never like it when package computers say things like '8gb ram, 128gb SSD' etc without specifying the make/model of the component. The difference between a cheap end 128SSD and high end 128SSD for example is pretty huge in terms of read/write speed etc. When they don't say what component it is, I always just assume it's a pretty shit one otherwise they'd be boasting about it. When you pick the parts yourself, you know exactly what is in your machine and you know the memory isn't going to fail in a year due to it being cheap crap