Advice For Buying A Laptop

[4sak3n]

I am looking to purchase a laptop within the next month or two and have a budget of ~ R12k.

Unfortunately I have been a desktop man all my life so don't know where to start looking when it comes to laptops and, on top of that, haven't been keeping up with what technology is hot etc

So I am looking for advice about what to look for in a laptop, what are good deals and possibly good deals I should investigate.

For example, what is considered an entry level processor these days? Dual core? 2.1GHz? 3 GHz? And ram? Is 2 gigs entry level? 4?

Many thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Eyenstyn]

I read some reviews on Core 2 Solo processors for the MSI Slim notebooks, which mentioned that they are not soo powerful as one might think. They cant handle multi-tasking very well and other programs like photoshop and maya require more powerful processing power. Of course notebook cpus wont be able to do hectic rendering.

Trying getting good laptop ram on the side if you plan to do gaming. Like mushkin or something.

The weight of the laptop also plays an important role. I have a 2.5kg Compaq 615 which is ok to carry for a while.

I like the slim range of laptops coming out or are out...they just look sexy. Some are quite powerful depending on what you want to use them for?

http://www.slashgear.com/ces-2009-msi-x32-super-slim-notebook-0628991/
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Acer-Travelmate-8371,7981.html
http://blogntech.com/lenovo-ideapad-y650-y550-and-y450-the-super-slim-notebook.html

 

[Sapphiron]

For 12K you can get some very expensive notebooks, but you really should not be spending more than R8.5k on a notebook. I would rather add things like a 23 or 24" monitor, a large external hard drive. USB docking station (like the Logitech alto connect) and a decent cordless keyboard and mouse.

I like these two in particular:
ASUS K50IN - 15.6" screen
ASUS K6A - 13" screen - nice and portable

The reason is that high end notebooks are not much faster than midrange notebooks now, nor do they have any battery life advantages like they did a few months ago.

3rd thing you should know. Notebooks are rubbish at gaming. The form factor simply does not allow for sufficient graphics processing power even with discrete graphics. So if you want to game at all. keep a desktop and a notebook.

 

[rurapente]

i would add an extended warranty too, if you're planning on keeping it for a while. just remember most batteries have a year warranty and it cant be extended.

PS -you could get an Apple for that price, in which case its a given for me