Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: regiment on June 27, 2018, 01:26:34 pm
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which is the best lap top windows 10
pentium
intel celeron
and the best make
£350 to spend thanks gordon
ps not wanted for games etc
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Hi mate
Pentium I5, 8 Gig memory, solid state hard drive and a good brand name like HP, etc.
Good size screen 15 and 1/2" for the old eyes !!!
Canabus
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Also bear in mind that many laptops don't come with a CD/DVD drive these days which can be a problem if you use those.
Colin
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as long as i can get mayhem ok
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chrome book? i gave up with windows, my chrome book does everything i need.
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If you are on a budget, you won't get top spec. But for 350 you can get something equivalent to what was top spec a few short years ago.
Solid state memory is way faster, but for the money much smaller. For example at the lower end of budgets, you might only get 128GB solid state memory, but 500 GB of disk memory. Unless you are a power user (gaming etc) you probably will not notice the speed difference that much, but if you download a lot of video 128GB will fill up fast. Remember that a HD movie can be several GB now.
Screens are much higher resolution and easier to read than they used to be. 15.5 inch is great for visibility now.
If you go to the big retailers you can sometimes buy what they call refurbished. This is a new computer that may have only been out of the box once before being returned, but cannot be sold as new. They come with a full guarantee, and big price reduction.
Brands. All the major brands are pretty solid. Computers are pretty reliable nowadays. If you travel or are heavy handed with stuff, the Lenovo ThinkPad are robust. The rest of the Lenovo range have less expensive casings than many other laptops, and this is reflected in the price. Lenovo are a Chinese company that bought IBM's computer manufacturing.
Go the the retailer, see what is on offer, then Google the reviews. I don't usually understand too much about the tech reviews, but the star ratings give me some confidence in purchasing choice. Lemons are rare, but the reviews will find them out.
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https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-computing/laptops/laptops/315_3226_30328_1700_xx/120-299_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-criteria.html
Any of these would be suitable.
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Check out Acer brand. I was looking at one today, 8Gb of ram, 2Tb hard drive, intel celeron i5, 430€ so around £380-390 in the UK, fantastic spec for the money, I am seriously considering one even though I get a Spanish keyboard over here - yes a big difference, some letters come with a tilde above them and also upside down ? and !
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Hi all, I replaced my laptop 18 months ago, no DVD player. So bought a recommended one and made the mistake of reading the instructions! Took ages to get it working but fine now. I did spend a bit more money than previous threads have mentioned but I went for a larger screen 15.5 inch and I have B & O sound which I use a lot. Also backlit keyboard, I am happy with my purchase (HP Envy 15).
I bought mine from J.Lewis who give a 2 year warranty. If you buy direct with HP you get 3 years but I heard that it is not easy if you have problems, dealing with HP direct.
Good idea to look at last years best buys and see if there is a discounted one around.
regards Roy
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https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-computing/laptops/laptops/315_3226_30328_1700_xx/120-299_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-criteria.html (https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-computing/laptops/laptops/315_3226_30328_1700_xx/120-299_xx_xx_xx_5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-criteria.html)
Any of these would be suitable.
Looking at these, ignore what I said about HDD sizes, it seems you can get a lot more storage for your money now.
BUT look at the laptops listed carefully, some have very big storage (1TB) which gives you future proofing (files and applications are getting bigger every year), some very small (32GB which won't run much more than your OS, and/or offer any real storage).
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Hi all, a second disc is a good idea for simple back-up, they are quite cheap as well.
regards Roy
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I got my present Toshiba almost 2 years ago as a bargain from Argos as it was "back to school sale" time of year.
No disc drive, but I took the old drive out of the dead Compaq that it was replacing, put it in a £10 case and it gets used the odd times that it is wanted. Much the same with the old hard drive from it, but that was a £7 case.
A Solid State Hard Drive (SSHD) is almost compulsory today, and they are getting big enough to be useful, but an external drive, if only for back-ups, is essential.
The only downside of the Toshiba is the dodgy keyboard, careful proof-reading is vital to spot the odd missing character, including the ones that I have actually missed. That, and as with all of the other laptops, I use a mouse rather than the track pad. New ones will almost certainly have a touch screen, so the mouse might not be needed.
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A proper mouse is really helpful. I have a wireless one, which I find easier to use. I also use a separate full size keyboard for fat finger Joe.
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I have just repaired a laptop that had the hard drive die, a 500Gb SSD drive for it was just over £100, I created a win10 usb installation media from the microsoft site, and loaded windows 10 back onto it, it automatically found the product codes even with a new hard drive, and there is the added bonus that the machine is a lot faster than it used to be.
I have my storage on an old XP desktop machine 3Tb in total, that is more than half full now (I have 5 hard drives running in that desktop, but the main ones are a 1Tb and a 2Tb) I also have several SATA hard drives on an external sata hot swap caddy, this enables me to access data on several other hard drives when I need to. to use this I just turn the caddy off, remove one hard drive and put in a different one, then turn it on again.
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Have a look at:
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-14-bp060sa-14-laptop-white-10165278-pdt.html (https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-14-bp060sa-14-laptop-white-10165278-pdt.html)
https://www.ebuyer.com/819843-hp-250-g6-i3-laptop-2sy33es-2sy33es-abu (https://www.ebuyer.com/819843-hp-250-g6-i3-laptop-2sy33es-2sy33es-abu)
( I don't like celeron & pentium these days, "i" series much more like real processors! )
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I bought a new laptop towards the end of last year, after my old one died. The new one is an HP 250 Core i5 with a 240 Gb SSD (solid state drive) and 8 Gb RAM, running Windows 10. It also has a built in DVD drive which is a bonus these days. I'm very happy with it, particularly the speed of the SSD, booting up is extremely quick. I use several external HDDs for storage and back up.
Peter.
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Also bear in mind that many laptops don't come with a CD/DVD drive these days which can be a problem if you use those.
Colin
Not necessary according to Microsoft >>:-( <*< <:(
Gurus say that Microsoft didn't include a DVD player in Win10 because we all now live stream. %% %% %%
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People are mostly streaming. In China it used to be that there were many places you could buy pirate discs, but these have nearly all gone now. Win10 still comes with a media player and a film editor. All you need to play CD/DVD is an external disc drive, that plugs into a USB port. No problem. Personally, I have not watched a DVD in 4 or 5 years, and I used to buy many. I am now watching a lot of downloaded content.
My old laptop is now sitting on a shelf, permanently connected to the TV, and a couple of 1TB external hard drives. It has an internal disc drive, but it never gets used.
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Yes I too used to buy DVD's but no longer as they, the latest movies, are available free from the Library.
Whilst I also have Netflix and Iview, compliments of my children, I still prefer to watch a DVD, as I can pause, go back, watch the extras, such as how stunts or scenes were filmed etc. Whilst this may be also possible with streaming, am getting a bit long in the tooth to master the art.
The DVD is simpler and I do subscribe to KISS.
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my family are going to buy me a new laptop 17 inch screen which is the best both from argos hp 17 ak0114va or asus x 75 inatyoo
price does not matter thanks gordon
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I can't comment on those individually, however, I have always had great service from HP laptops, and my 10 inch tablet is an Asus, both have given me no trouple at all.
But you do need to watch for storage size on either of them. Most manufacturers nowadays are opting to install small hard disks because they expect you to store your information in the 'Cloud'. Personally pick the one with the largest ram - preferably over 4Gb, the bigger the better if you like dabbling with various software, and also look for the largest hard disk you can. Again forget any of those offering say 32 Gb's you will not store anything on that bar a few photos and music tracks.
Until I managed to get the spare board for this laptop ( stupidly damaged by yours truly) I was looking at a 12Gb ram (think ready memory) and a 3 terabyte disk, but then I do a lot of photo manipulation, music downloading, 3d drawing, 2 d drawing, so need all of that.
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Hi regiment, my last laptop was a 17 inch one, I now have a 15 inch one and hardly notice the difference. I have an HP Envy15, very pleased with it and if you want to spend the extra there is a top class screen available, mine is good for me though. If you also listen to the sound then this laptop has a B & O sound system. (Which liked it too)
regards Roy
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I agree with Brian, you need plenty of RAM, my HP has 8 Gb plus it has a solid state drive (SSD) which gives a much faster start up and access time. SSDs are also not prone to mechanical faults, mainly because they aren't mechanical %) :}
When I'm at home I connect my laptop to a 21" monitor, use a wireless mouse and the laptop keyboard. When we are away I use it as a normal laptop, although I do take the mouse as I'm not keen on the touchpad.
Peter.
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If price isn't an issue go for a Razer Blade Pro
https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-pro/shop (https://www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-pro/shop)
Bear in mind the X75 is long since discontinued. Another good shout would be any of the Asus ROG Strix line
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Yes, I also noticed that the Asus X75 is listed as old model in several searches online.
I don't know how to check this, but the new high res 15" screens are as easy to read as my old 17" screen.
The 15" is easier to transport too.
If you are always going to be sat at the same desk, a desktop PC will give you so much more for a lot less money; including the chance of a much bigger screen.
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If you are always going to be sat at the same desk, a desktop PC will give you so much more for a lot less money; including the chance of a much bigger screen.
The very reason I plug a 21" external HD monitor into my laptop, giving me the portability of a laptop and the clarity of a desk top.
Peter.
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But not the performance of one ;)
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I just rebuilt my windows 10 laptop with a new ssd hard drive and that plugs into a 24" TV via the HD port, I run CAD on it and my 3d printer.
at work I use a desktop with 2 21" screens and a third 18" screen, and use all that space and frequently wish for more - but then I am running CAD most of the time - the third smaller screen is just to show my emails as otherwise they get lost under every other window I have open, its also handy for the mitel phone interface which i park under the emails with just an edge showing so I can pop it to the front.
screen acreage nowadays is quite important so check if the laptop you want has an HD port (or more than one) then you can plug it into any tv to use as a monitor.
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I think Gordon just wants a reliable standard laptop with a reasonably large screen for clarity, not a super computer set up for high speed gaming or CAD! Something from PC World will do him fine.
Colin
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thanks for the reminder Colin, the point I was tyring to make is that the laptop I have is one of those bulk standard beasties, but check that the one he gets has an hdmi port that will allow him to connect to a tv if he wants to.
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Yes, good point re the HDMI port. Very useful.
Colin
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Hi
Both are fine for what you need.
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saw some in pc world hp but what is Pentium and Celeron gordon
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who that was quick the answer before i wrote the question gordon
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who that was quick the answer before i wrote the question gordon
Referring to your very first post.
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getting cheesed off now with computers what is amd
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Different brand of CPU ( main processing chip ) AMD & Intel are the 'main brands.
( Think, Ford v Vauxhall )
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Have a look at: https://youtu.be/33_XesFphn4
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Think of Intel chipset and AMD chipset the same as mobile phones. A Apple iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy. Both phones are every bit as good as each other, but the Apple is the phone 'to be seen with' or 'I have an iphone and you've only got a samsung' - bragging rights.
It is the same with the Intel and AMD chipsets, some people like to brag that the Intel is the best - for best read more expensive! But in reality the ordinary bloke in the street will not notice any difference between them at all - a phone is a phone right? so one computer chipset is just the same as another, in laymans terms!
Computer geeks feel free to rubbish that analogy, but you know I'm right :} Unless you are computer savvy and keep up with all the latest releases and avidly follow the tech forums to see which latest release is micro milliseconds quicker to compute Pi to the 1 millionth decimal place, the above analogy is good enough for the layman.
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Gordon,
A bog standard general purpose laptop like this one will do everything you might want and more as long as you don't need a built in CD/DVD drive.
No need to agonise over detailed specs at this level. It has a decent size screen and you can connect it to your TV as well if you want.
Colin
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-15-bw060sa-15-6-laptop-grey-10164851-pdt.html (https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-15-bw060sa-15-6-laptop-grey-10164851-pdt.html)
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Gordon, I am inclined to agree that a yearly subscription for Microsoft Office 365 [complete suite for 30 something pounds PA] is logical cost effective way to purchase software
Having said this, you would probably not use 90% of the included packages........[some could say that you can get a stand alone e-mail package for 1/2 the cost and this is true]
In my collection [in Adelaide] we have a desktop PC running Win7 and Office 2003 Professional.....yes 15 year old software...the Internet Explorer died and naturally MS did not support 15 YO software
The only software I use currently on a yearly subscription is an Adobe Package and Norton 360...........
Hewlett Packard is known for its reliability and value for money........... Derek
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I am still running Office (Home and Student) 2010 with no problems. I bought the disks for it years ago, in other words paid once. I have installed it on several different machines. You may be able to find a set of disks for sale somewhere. If you are familiar with MS Office and don't want to learn anything new, it might be worth considering. I only really use if for MS Word, and MS Powerpoint.
There is a lot of very reliable/stable free MS compatible stuff available now. If you are not using it for professional purposes, it is more than up to the job. If you are familiar with MS Office, these are reasonably easy to learn, there are only a few differences. These differences is that some of the tools that a 'power user' may want are not there.
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thanks for the reminder Colin, the point I was tyring to make is that the laptop I have is one of those bulk standard beasties, but check that the one he gets has an hdmi port that will allow him to connect to a tv if he wants to.
The other thing is that most laptops come with Bluetooth now. If you buy Bluetooth headphones, you only need to set them up once, and after that just turn them on for wire free headphone sounds. You don't even need to plug a transmitter box into your laptop.