New Laptop - Recommendations?

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fxit_man

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Hi guys, so im getting a new laptop on my trip overseas..

Any suggestions? (I know how you guys are always itching to help :p )

I need good graphics to play the occasional game or so and looks is my main priority after performance.

A high performance laptop with ugly looks doesnt do it for me..

So...what do you guys think?

I quite liked the new HP notebooks..

Also i dont think i would like anything bigger than 15.4" as 17" is too big for me :p

Thanks guys would really appreciate it..

P.S : Im not a big Dell fan :o
 
What? Not a big Dell fan? Wake up china, Dell's are great! (where's lilDeath when I need him?) ;) :D :p

HP's are good, all around, in the laptop arena, you need a budget and then you google and compare different ones, that's the only way.
 
Ok well im Dling on my local account atm and i dont fancy switching, maybe 2moro when my Dl's are done :)

But i'd say my budget is around R15 000

But you guys can suggest anything.... since what R15k can get you in SA doesnt really compare to what you can get overseas for that kinda money..

So as long as the price is nothing crazy, please do make some suggestions :) thanks tera

Im looking for around 1-2GB of RAM btw.. And must have gfx card...Thx again
 
I was going to suggest a Thinkpad, but you said you didn't want ugly :p

I've had my Thinkpad T61 for a few months now, and I am still in awe.
 
For good reviews.
www.notebookreview.com

I'd suggest the Dell range of Lattitude or Vostro or XPS, depending on what you want. The Lattitude is Dell's flagship/business model, basically. Their quality is good, their service, from the most part I hear is great.

Or look at a Lenovo Thinkpad T61 series, or cheaper, the R61 range is slightly cheaper but with less of the business class features, but you'd get the brilliant build quality only Thinkpads can really offer.

I'm not sure on HP, but I hear great things about their business class notebooks.

All 3 of these I have mentioned, are "boring" (if that's your perception) looking notebooks, the shiney, bling-y notebooks are usually aimed at the average consumer. If you're going to spend R15k, then make sure you get a good, rugged machine, especially if you plan to take it with you. I've seen quite a few Acer Travelmates that look 4 years old after 6 months of casual use, for example.

Make sure you get the extended warranty, notebook sare expensive items, get a 3 year warranty, usually it's R1k more, and believe me, if your screen or mobo or DVD-RW pops, sometimes these items can cost a LOT more than an extended warranty.

And, make sure you have it insured as a specified item, so that if you drop/lose/gets stolen etc; you are covered.
 
thanks for that!

<whisper>
psst..im only 18 tbh so i think that accounts for the attraction towards the "bling-y" type notebooks..
</whisper>

lol but ill be sure to check that site out thanks..

What can you tell me about the IBM thinkpads though?
 
mxit_fan said:
Thanks guys..

lol ....IBM....i really never saw the excitement in them? Whats so special about them?
Click to expand...

Roll cage: Protects body/screen from pressure/stress on the chassis.

Build quality: Thinkpad's have generally the best build quality.

Full Disk Encryption (optional): The entire HDD can be encrypted and the drive can be bound to the system, so if the HDD is removed and placed in another system, it will NOT work.

Keyboard quality: best keyboard on a notebook. If you touch type, this is your wet dream.

Draining: The keyboard has a drip tray to prevent dmage to system if you spil liquids on it.

HDD protection: The notebook senses it's orientation and will shut off the hard drive and move the heads from the platter if the notebook is suddenly dropped or is tilted suddenly.

Other things: You get the Thinklight, it's a lil' LED that lives in the screen bezel, it lights up the keys / the area around the notebook slightly, this is useful if you use it for business / on planes etc; You get the Ultrabay Slim, ie: you can hotswap the optical drive with a second battery or hard drive, etc;

I could go on, but meh, I'm already sounding like a fanboy.

And since you asked, Thinkpads are not bling items, your friends will not give you jaw drop looks with it, it won't get you hot chicks. It will however, last a long time and function well and not look like a peice of trash in a few years. Bling wears off very quickly. These are not toys, they are work horses. I'm just saying this because I'd hate you to buy one and lose fashion credit by all your fashionable friends :)

PM me if you want more info.

Warranty and fair use: Unlike some brands (Acer, for example) I was rudely told I was not allowed to install 3rd party RAM or another HDD, with Lenovo/IBM I am, they were not funny about this sort of thing.
 
mxit_fan said:
thanks n1hilist..i understand now :)

guys what about a macbook?

they are high spec, plus i'll have leopard and bootcamp...

that would be awesome
Click to expand...

You are getting one overseas, right?

IMHO you have two options:
1. Dell XPS - Built for gaming
2. Apple MacBook Pro 15" ... with their decent GFX cards and speed you will be able to play your games using bootcamp without a problem
 
I was looking at the Dell pricing and I was keen to buy one overseas but here is my issue. If I read the Dell warrantee correctly it is not an international warrantee. It is only vald for the territory that it was purchased in. You can ask Dell to switch the warrantee to SA from whereever you buy it but that can't be done in the first 6 months of the products life.
For an XPS that would mean that you were without a warrantee for half the warantee period.

Tell me I'm wrong... please...
 
dlc said:
I'll have this thanks http://www.acer.co.za/public/page4.do?sp=page9&dau22.oid=24214&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=23&CountryISOCtxParam=ZA&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&ctx3=-1&ctx4=South+Africa&crc=1618016777 - Acer Aspire 5920, new Gemstone series! looks awesome!
Click to expand...

They are priced very well also. I think it's between R10 and R14000 depending on specs but good value for money. Only negative thing I've heard about them though is that the screen suffers from poor viewing angles.
 
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