Looking for a laptop? Advise Please!

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PokerKing

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Hey all

Im looking to buy a new laptop for myself..
I am willing to spend R11000-R11500 on it..

I want the laptop to look nice, and obviously perform excellently!
What brand must I be looking at?

Tia
 
Please please please just don't buy acer, you will have endless problems with pathetic support.
 
PokerKing said:
Hey all

Im looking to buy a new laptop for myself..
I am willing to spend R11000-R11500 on it..

I want the laptop to look nice, and obviously perform excellently!
What brand must I be looking at?

Tia
Click to expand...

Do yourself a favour and look at the Sony VAIO FW VGN-FW45GJ

it's got a an Intel P8700 (2.53 ghz with 3mb cache)
Hard Disk Drive 400 GB
RAM 4 GB DDR2
DisplayType 16.4 (41.6 cm) wide (WXGA++: 1600 x 900)
Graphics Accelerator ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 Graphics

My friend just got one, and wow it's nice.
 
The HP DV6 might interest you also
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-Pavilion-dv6-Notebook.17209.0.html

SA has 1120,1130,1150 models(all low end spec of whats available elsewhere)
Best shop config i seen not counting the US CTO (custom to order) is the Australian DV6 1247tx which you'd get for the same price as a 1150 here but with better GFX + faster CPU + more Ram + larger HDD.
 
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What about the HP 6530b?
specs:
HP GB975EA 6530b , with built-in 2.0mp webcam , support docking station - intel Core2-Duo P8400 ( with VT, TXT, SiPP ) , 2.26GHz ( 45nm , 1066fsb ; L1 : 2x 64k , L2 : 3mb , EDB , EiST ) , 2Gb DDR2-800 , Intel GE45 chipset , Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD ( 384mb UMA ) , 14.1" Lcd ( 1280x800 WXGA ) , TV-out , 250gb SATA HDD , super-multi dvd+/-RW DL light-scribe drive , built-in card reader + bluetooth + dual-band WLAN + gigabit lan + 56k modem + Firewire , express card/54 - with windows Vista Business 32+64bit + XP disc for downgrade purpose + Office 2007 Ready ( professional with 60 day free trial )
Click to expand...

Imoe said:
Please please please just don't buy acer, you will have endless problems with pathetic support.
Click to expand...

please add packard bell to that ;)
 
Although HP make some lovely laptops, a word of caution over there service levels locally. Just check around in the forums here, there are a few horror stories on HP service. Might be an good idea to go for an extended warranty for peace of mind, whatever you go for.
 
scotty777 said:
Do yourself a favour and look at the Sony VAIO FW VGN-FW45GJ

it's got a an Intel P8700 (2.53 ghz with 3mb cache)
Hard Disk Drive 400 GB
RAM 4 GB DDR2
DisplayType 16.4 (41.6 cm) wide (WXGA++: 1600 x 900)
Graphics Accelerator ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4650 Graphics

My friend just got one, and wow it's nice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies guys, this Sony looks amazing, do you know where I could get one for the best price?

Scotty777, what did your friend pay for it?

Thanks
 
kayvee said:
Although HP make some lovely laptops, a word of caution over there service levels locally. Just check around in the forums here, there are a few horror stories on HP service. Might be an good idea to go for an extended warranty for peace of mind, whatever you go for.
Click to expand...

I must just be excessively lucky but in about 7 years of owning 3 successive laptops for business purposes, as well as extensive home use (so laptop pretty much on for 24 hours a day), I am yet to have to return one to the supplier with problems. These laptops were made up of two HPs and now an LG.

For this reason I usually settle for the one year standard warranty, just in case the laptop has some major defects which should be picked up in the first year. I always see three year warranties as a money making gimmick.
 
PokerKing said:
Thanks for the replies guys, this Sony looks amazing, do you know where I could get one for the best price?

Scotty777, what did your friend pay for it?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Here is one place that has it...

http://www.laptopdirect.co.za/laptop_specifications.php?laptop=27962


LancelotSA said:
I must just be excessively lucky but in about 7 years of owning 3 successive laptops for business purposes, as well as extensive home use (so laptop pretty much on for 24 hours a day), I am yet to have to return one to the supplier with problems. These laptops were made up of two HPs and now an LG.

For this reason I usually settle for the one year standard warranty, just in case the laptop has some major defects which should be picked up in the first year. I always see three year warranties as a money making gimmick.
Click to expand...

Yes, you seem to be lucky. YMMV. I have a HP Pavillion series, one prone to well documented motherboard problems, but fortunately mine seems to be okay so far. I had a 1 year warranty only. It is not heavily used, maybe that saved it, and if it dies now, hey, it's getting old anyway.

I take your point about being a money making gimmick, but it's like all insurance policies, it gives you a little peace of mind, but it's a grudge expense.
 
kayvee said:
Yes, you seem to be lucky. YMMV. I have a HP Pavillion series, one prone to well documented motherboard problems, but fortunately mine seems to be okay so far. I had a 1 year warranty only. It is not heavily used, maybe that saved it, and if it dies now, hey, it's getting old anyway.
Click to expand...

This seems to be a more earlier DV**** series heat related issue from what i've read about the place.Similar thing with heat in the Xbox 360's where the soldering ends up letting go.
AMD CPU's that run at 90-100deg coupled with Nvidia GFX seemed to be the worst.
Safest bet for any laptop with some sort of reasonable Gfx in it seems to be to go with an Intel "P****" series CPU with ATI GFX as they don't run so hot.
 
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Tun@ said:
This seems to be a more earlier DV**** series heat related issue from what i've read about the place.Similar thing with heat in the Xbox 360's where the soldering ends up letting go.
AMD CPU's that run at 90-100deg coupled with Nvidia GFX seemed to be the worst.
Safest bet for any laptop with some sort of reasonable Gfx in it seems to be to go with an Intel "P****" series CPU with ATI GFX as they don't run so hot.
Click to expand...

Mine is the Intel version, though unfortunately not a P series.
 
I am currently in the same boat, looking for a laptop in that price range or more.
Options I'm considering:
Toshiba A505-S6965 (P7350 2.0GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570)
HP HDX 16-1375DX (P7550 2.26GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M)
Sony Vaio VGN-FW480J/T (P7350 2.0GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650)
Dell XPS X1640-026B (P8600, 2.4GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon M86XT)

I'm leaning towards the HP, as it looks to me to be the best bang for buck.
 
PokerKing said:
Thanks for the replies guys, this Sony looks amazing, do you know where I could get one for the best price?

Scotty777, what did your friend pay for it?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Friend got the laptop from a Sony Shop, and it was about R600 cheaper there then Laptop direct! He paid about R13 000 (including a bag I think). Basically, the laptop isn't too big to be intrusive, it isn't too small to be difficult to use (the keyboard is amazing, my big fingers type away on it like nothing else). The HDMI is a nice little addition too (we were watching HD movies from the harddrive to the tv, and also played some games). The graphics isn't the fastest, but my friend who had a 7600gt (desktop) to the HD4650, he just couldn't stop smiling. the windows is a 64 bit edition (so you can use all the ram).

One other thing that confuses me is how thin this laptop is, it's ridiculous! The Aluminum case (where the keyboard is) is nice and solid. the only issues we have with it is that the casing around the screen seems flimsy. and the fact that it says the laptop is full HD (1080p), but the screen resolution is only 1600 x 900 (which I guess on that screen size you won't notice the difference).

I know, I know, R13 000 is a bit out your budget, but I spent a few weeks looking for laptops in the R11 000-R13 000 bracket, and this laptop has the best specs of any R3 000 more then it.
 
dlc said:
I am currently in the same boat, looking for a laptop in that price range or more.
Options I'm considering:
Toshiba A505-S6965 (P7350 2.0GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570)
HP HDX 16-1375DX (P7550 2.26GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M)
Sony Vaio VGN-FW480J/T (P7350 2.0GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650)
Dell XPS X1640-026B (P8600, 2.4GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon M86XT)

I'm leaning towards the HP, as it looks to me to be the best bang for buck.
Click to expand...

That gfx in the Dell seems its a Ati Radeon 3670
Good list here that has Laptop GFX stacked in order of performance.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

Same for various processors here
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

I have HP DV6 1150.....Thats a P7450 2.13GHz,Ati Radeon 4530....that gives me 3333 with 3dmark06.....It'll play Crysis but not so great,going to swap mobo to one with the Radeon 4650 on.Other than that i like it. Was 11700 from ComX but for some reason they not showing this model anymore.....Is 13k at Inc con.
 
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Hey guys

I have made a decision, I am going with the Sony VAIO as Scotty777 suggested!
I am going to pay the extra money as I think it will be worth it!
The VAIO looks amazing and should serve me well :)
Just need to find a Song shop now :?
 
Yeah specs look good,sure you'll be happy with it....Try twist their arm into getting 64bit windows to make use of that 4Gb Ram.
Be interested to see what your WEI numbers look like.

Heres Hp DV6 1150ei GPU/GFX is Radeon HD 4530
picture.php
 
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scotty777 said:
Friend got the laptop from a Sony Shop, and it was about R600 cheaper there then Laptop direct! He paid about R13 000 (including a bag I think). Basically, the laptop isn't too big to be intrusive, it isn't too small to be difficult to use (the keyboard is amazing, my big fingers type away on it like nothing else). The HDMI is a nice little addition too (we were watching HD movies from the harddrive to the tv, and also played some games). The graphics isn't the fastest, but my friend who had a 7600gt (desktop) to the HD4650, he just couldn't stop smiling. the windows is a 64 bit edition (so you can use all the ram).

One other thing that confuses me is how thin this laptop is, it's ridiculous! The Aluminum case (where the keyboard is) is nice and solid. the only issues we have with it is that the casing around the screen seems flimsy. and the fact that it says the laptop is full HD (1080p), but the screen resolution is only 1600 x 900 (which I guess on that screen size you won't notice the difference).

I know, I know, R13 000 is a bit out your budget, but I spent a few weeks looking for laptops in the R11 000-R13 000 bracket, and this laptop has the best specs of any R3 000 more then it.
Click to expand...

Hi Scotty777, tried PMing you but you have disable PMs :S

Where did your friend find a sony shop?
I am phoning around trying to find this laptop and no one has it.
 
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