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Laptop advise & some e-vouchers

I am looking to replace my 6 year old Presario laptop.
I need a small laptop (no bigger than 14.1 inch)
As this HP Compaq has been trouble free for 6 years I'm tempted to go for the HP DV2535EA, I can get one of these for £575 delivered.
option two would be the more expensive Dell XPS 1330, this would cost around £700+ for the spec I want.
I like the HP & I like the price but how tough & reliable are they these days !
The Dells OK but is it worth the extra £100/£200 !
The third option is the Acer Travelmate range, look quite dull but seem to have a reputation for reliability & good value !
Anyone using or have experience with these brands, your comments/brand slagging will be of use to me
Here are e-voucher codes for HP & Dell:
HP: 10% discount & free delivery > HPSPLDIS
Dell: 5% discount off XPS notebooks & desktops > JTXL12S8??VZ31

Mister B said:
I am looking to replace my 6 year old Presario laptop.
I need a small laptop (no bigger than 14.1 inch)
As this HP Compaq has been trouble free for 6 years I'm tempted to go for the HP DV2535EA, I can get one of these for £575 delivered.
option two would be the more expensive Dell XPS 1330, this would cost around £700+ for the spec I want.
I like the HP & I like the price but how tough & reliable are they these days !
The Dells OK but is it worth the extra £100/£200 !
The third option is the Acer Travelmate range, look quite dull but seem to have a reputation for reliability & good value !
Anyone using or have experience with these brands, your comments/brand slagging will be of use to me
Here are e-voucher codes for HP & Dell:
HP: 10% discount & free delivery > HPSPLDIS
Dell: 5% discount off XPS notebooks & desktops > JTXL12S8??VZ31
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, let me suggest you another reliable notebook,why don't you look up for Sony Vaio series,they are more versatile and equipped with better components to suite your tastes and demands,and of course price wise compatible with any brand,just a suggestion though,lol

Don't buy Acer laptops!
I bought one and it was kinda bad on many sides. The price was not especially great but only normal. They are ugly. And the computer is always recongnized as being 800x600 and only a piece of software makes it the resolution it truly has (uninstall it and you see your stuff in 800x600!).
It was a great laptop, but I'm sure there's better for the price. Try HP laptops, they are great, powerful, affordable and so damn hot!

Thanks for the replies !
Looks like I'll be going for the HP DV2535EA unless anyone scares me off it in the next couple of days.
Most other options (Dell, Toshiba, Sony) are just too expensive for the models I like.

have a look in currys ...they have an advent 8112 12.1 screen c2d cpu @1.5ghz (but u can put a 2ghz cpu in there ....i know as i did with mine) ix1gb ddr2 and i spare slot................449£........i bought one and am really happy with it ...............if u buy and need a faster chip let me know as i got a cpl of 2ghz c2d

FWIW, I bought the extended "accidental" breakage warranty on my old Toshiba laptop. It had become out dated and it was time for it to "accidentally" break (they give you a new one if it is beyond repair).
Tossed it down my stairs where it met a concrete floor in the basement...1...2....3...4 times and the thing was still on an running. GRRRR... Tossed it out of a 2nd story window onto my driveway... Battery fell out. Put it back in, and voila! It turned on!
Finally ended up tossing it in the air several times and letting it hit the street before it went completely dead... and yes.. replaced it with another Toshiba

momentarylapseofreason said:
FWIW, I bought the extended "accidental" breakage warranty on my old Toshiba laptop. It had become out dated and it was time for it to "accidentally" break (they give you a new one if it is beyond repair).
Tossed it down my stairs where it met a concrete floor in the basement...1...2....3...4 times and the thing was still on an running. GRRRR... Tossed it out of a 2nd story window onto my driveway... Battery fell out. Put it back in, and voila! It turned on!
Finally ended up tossing it in the air several times and letting it hit the street before it went completely dead... and yes.. replaced it with another Toshiba
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Click to collapse
Mmm my house contents insurance could cover my old laptop if damaged in my home & I think my Compaq wil be easier to kill, lol

Get an ASUS laptop. Best value i would say in the market compared to its competitiors like Hp and Dell.
I do not reccomend Sony Laptops anyhow. They are overpriced and yet the specs arent worth the price. Its only good if you buy a laptop just for the style, not performance.

I'm also not recommending Sony laptops in general, due to them being overpriced and they tend to use their stuff (i.e. Sony memory card/stick thing).
I think since you like HP, I would suggest you to go with HP. In general, the currently HP (AFAIK) is that, they tend to release stable version under the brand "HP" and more advance (i.e. less stable) under "Compaq". It is like Dell's Inspiron and Latitute for the stable:advance users.
I'm using an Asus.. for almost 3 years.. and it is pretty good so far. No issues.

Well I've gone for the HP DV2535EA. Dell XPS 1330 was going to cost me £220 more to get it to the same spec. Toshiba, well the R500 is nice but just too expensive & none of their other range suited my needs.
As for Sony, not a brand name I would use for computers. Asus devices look interesting but I have no experience with them & do not know anyone who has one.
Thanks for the replies.
I hope this modern HP is as reliable as my old one !!

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...v1=Travel/mobility&series_name=tx1000z_series
i'm getting the tx1270 of this family

can't decide.....

So I am at yet another nerdy crossroads....
I was about to buy a little net book today and I stoped and thought do I want this or a new nexus one.. then I contemplated the good and bad of them bolth..and I can't decide.
What do you guys think?

Completely different usage devices
Decision will be according to your real needs

a fone is enuff for music , video and some browsing , fun ps1 games if u have winmo , plus it has outstanding battery time ...
if u need more than that ull have to go with a umpc or a netbook .
personally im selling my umpc just because of that : i dont need full blown pc power for music video , and minor browsing , i dont need the heat it generates , and its thickness .

Just to perhaps foster some discussion, my vote will be against purchasing a netbook.
I personally just never understood the purpose of a netbook.
-It can't be your primary PC since it's so underpowered and too small.
-Many don't have optical drives so you can't use it for watching DVD's (unless of course you rip it to HDD).
-Most are uncomfortable to use. Screen, keys, and trackpad are too small. Some don't even have a trackpad!
You're probably better off with a proper thin&light notebook. Sure those are more expensive, but you can do so much more with those than you ever can with a netbook.
I just thought of 1 scenario where you might be right to get a netbook:
You're in college/university and you insist on taking notes in class with a computer; You already have a primary PC that's either a desktop or a gaming laptop that weighs more than 8 lbs.

PJcastaldo said:
So I am at yet another nerdy crossroads....
I was about to buy a little net book today and I stoped and thought do I want this or a new nexus one.. then I contemplated the good and bad of them bolth..and I can't decide.
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Write a list of all your needs and see which ticks most or all of them....then get it

Thanks for the answers. Ill let you guys know what I do.

ohyeahar said:
Just to perhaps foster some discussion, my vote will be against purchasing a netbook.
I personally just never understood the purpose of a netbook.
-It can't be your primary PC since it's so underpowered and too small.
-Many don't have optical drives so you can't use it for watching DVD's (unless of course you rip it to HDD).
-Most are uncomfortable to use. Screen, keys, and trackpad are too small. Some don't even have a trackpad!
You're probably better off with a proper thin&light notebook. Sure those are more expensive, but you can do so much more with those than you ever can with a netbook.
I just thought of 1 scenario where you might be right to get a netbook:
You're in college/university and you insist on taking notes in class with a computer; You already have a primary PC that's either a desktop or a gaming laptop that weighs more than 8 lbs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sure does beat the crap out of normal sized laptops when you're studying for the finals at the university library.
Most of the time, the computers are occupied and I am sick. Literally sick of carrying any laptop with a 14 inch or more sized screen to school.

MacBook Pro

What do you guys think? think the new version is worth it? Considering a 15 inch with a 2.4GHz i5. Cheapest
But yeah, if you think its not worth it, post a alternative please.
Also, whats so good about the new intel cores anyways?
Thanks guys

3 "NOOOOOOOS". Any reasons? besides hating apple? I like the look of them too xD

GamerMYJ said:
3 "NOOOOOOOS". Any reasons? besides hating apple? I like the look of them too xD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was one of the Apple haters that hit no and then ran, but seriously, you can get a lot more for less money.

yesterday i got my hp elitebook 8540w:
core i7-720: 4x1.6ghz
4gb 1333 ram
nvidia quadro fx 1800m
500gb hdd 7200
full hd 15" screen
elitebook build quality > apple unibody.
-> ~ 1,500 €
ofcourse because of my university... but you wanted an alternative, here you have

If you got the money YEAH, but if not i would get a: Dell 1558 (W7 Home Premium x64)
Specs
I've got:
Windows 7 Home Premium OEM
512 ATI HD Graphics Card
500gb HDD
4096MB DDR3 RAM
15.5 LED screen
SRS Speakers (IDT Audio)
Slip Drive( not the pop oiut eg on desktop)
Edit: ow yeah and an i5 Processer
which is quick as hell

First off, thanks for those. Specs' look pretty darn amazing
I looked at those, but they look just so... sharp? Is there anything that looks as nice as a unibody MBP? Like, all one peice? And another thing is battery. The 15 inch MBP has 9.5 hours. All the other like spec'ed ones have anywhere from 3-6 hours. I will be travelng on a 14 hour flight to china, and need the life I can get. I think apple has me on that. Also, their customer service seems pretty good. Any opinions on that? stories to tell?

get a spare battary lol.
it shouldn't be that expansive...
and some plane (scecific company?) provide power output on your own seat.
or you can go wild and charge in the plane bathroom...
Im not a professional at laptop pricing but it shoundn't be that hard

but no matter what alternate laptop you go for you ain't gonna get mac os on it, and its the main selling point seriously my macbook pro 2.26 dual boots quicker than a 2.26 quad with nearly double ram, and other things such as the screen will be hard to beat with another laptop. so YES YES YES AND ANOTHER YES, now i will just sit here and wait to be called a fan boi

slaming said:
but no matter what alternate laptop you go for you ain't gonna get mac os on it, and its the main selling point seriously my macbook pro 2.26 dual boots quicker than a 2.26 quad with nearly double ram, and other things such as the screen will be hard to beat with another laptop. so YES YES YES AND ANOTHER YES, now i will just sit here and wait to be called a fan boi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can run Mac OS as it's i386
The price of Mac's just doesn't cut the mustard since you can spec up a Windows system for about 1/3, there are things Macs are better @ as always has been but for the average user this doesn't come into consideration.

[Q] Zoostorm netbook?

Anyone had experience with zoostorm?
my current PC is a home build, which started its life as a Zoostorm, but now its only really a zoostorm case.
Im after a small laptop that I can do basic word processing on hence needing a low price. I'll be carrying it almost everywhere, hence wanting a netbook.
Do you guys think its worth it?
Ebuyer reviews say its not bad, and they are usually spot on.
(btw, I'd probably slap some flavour of Linux on it/any netbook I buy)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/193039?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

lonelykatana said:
Do you guys think its worth it?
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Click to collapse
I reckon tht's quite a good deal&netbook

Doesn't look too bad.
I personally have an ASUS 1005HAP and I love it. Loved it and it's battery life so much that I stopped using my quad core desktop for many many months.

Looks good to me, decent price for the hardware.
This may also be an option - has a slightly newer and better revision CPU with an on die GPU.
Comparison
Personally, I would get one of these, but if that is not an option, then fair enough Would probabaly need a bluetooth keyboard to carry around - or even a rollup usb one.

captainstu72 said:
Looks good to me, decent price for the hardware.
This may also be an option - has a slightly newer and better revision CPU with an on die GPU.
Comparison
Personally, I would get one of these, but if that is not an option, then fair enough Would probabaly need a bluetooth keyboard to carry around - or even a rollup usb one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks allot man!
Im really liking the look of that tablet type thing! I might think about it. But a stand and keyboard would be a must lol.
But thanks allot!

SGS one year onwards: still worth buying?

hi peeps,
At least in the 1Ghz cpu weight devision, is it still worth buying at ~US$545? i'm not that impressed with the past and current 1Ghz offerings. My main concern is software updates -- which, ironically, was why i hesitated buying the SGS a year ago. But then Samsung appears to have released a Gingerbread update ahead of everyone else( *cough* HTC *cough*), has even announced that it won't lock the bootloader, and appears to have a ton of custom ROMs and just as much "unofficial" developer support.
Then again, the projected price range of the dual core monsters coming in May isn't really that big; imho a US$100 price premium is well worth it for me.

I think as of right now, anyone who wants a phone should wait for the SGSII, but as for buying the SGS, im glad i bought it when i did (jan). The community make it what it is. If there wasnt custom roms to speed the phone up then i would have been bitterly disapointed with the lag of a stock SGS, yes gingerbread is quick but its been awhile in the making.

One year and another month different story SGS 2 on sale SGS 1 at a cheaper price .
jje

Nope. Save your money for SGS2 or dual-core HTCm whatever suits you.

I would definitely hang on for whichever dual core floats your boat, be it HTC or SGS II. As good as the SGS is (I love mine) it will struggle to compete with the heavyweight dual core handsets.

Get a Tegra 2 based device. See how much juice they consume though.
SGS 2 is silly big, well for me personally, there ought to be some constraints to limit overall size of device, afterall its mobile phones we're talking about. Bigger devices defeat the purpose of having a mobile phone and tend to look rather unprofessional, more like portable gaming devices.

I'm going to take the opposite opinion to many on here.
+es
SGS is a solid, reliable, known platform, that just keeps improving with each android revision.
not possible to have a problem that can't be answered by reading here
****load of 3rd party hardware, from spare batteries on up
-es
doesn't have dual core, waaa waaa my penis isn't big enough, go and buy 3 spare batteries to run the dual core SGS2, better still buy a laptop, because the only people I have seen with ANY kind of computing power problems are frankly assholes who could bring a cray to its knees in a week.
============================
phones have got to the place desktops got with 3ghz cpu's and xp/linux, almost nobody actually needs faster more than 0.5% of the time.
============================
The next big revolution is going to be in battery tech, when you can get 5000 mAh into the volume and mass of 1000 mAh today, that will open new doors
thermal rejection of an SGS at full battery draining whack is already as high as you can go and stay healthy silicon wise.
just be grateful it ain't x86.... (speaking as someone who used to run 64bit MIPS Cobalt RAQ2's back in the day when they were the new kid on the block... wow, an empty pizza box with not even any heatsinks on the silicon...)

save your money for SGS II

i just bought mine last week. got it for around $470 (8GB version) in Vietnam. the reason i got it was mainly due to the great screen as well as the strong community developer support which coming from the Galaxy Spica is a BIG difference in the overall user experience. I love tech and love tinkering with my phone. I don't believe dual core will make that much of a difference unlike on a laptop/desktop where you really have to run multiple programs (note: antivirus). I know my SGS will be astounding as soon as the devs finish tweaking the heck out of the GB code!

If you are going to pay that kind of price (around 500$) and you care about updates, why don't you get a Nexus S ?
Same phone, slightly better and corrected hardware-wise. It is supported by Google and CyanogenMod.

I think it's worth considering buying second hand. I just bought a 1 month old handset for quite a bit less than a new one. It's in perfect condition. And I'll use it for the next year and then upgrade when the SGSII (and others like it) are down to a reasonable price. Rinse and repeat (too expensive to be on the bleeding edge all the time ).

benoitb85 said:
If you are going to pay that kind of price (around 500$) and you care about updates, why don't you get a Nexus S ?
Same phone, slightly better and corrected hardware-wise. It is supported by Google and CyanogenMod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the deal breaker for me on the nexus s was the lack of micro SD support

mmjuban said:
the deal breaker for me on the nexus s was the lack of micro SD support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had 2 deal breakers...
No microsd slot and no fm radio.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

depends on $$$$

Johnny55555555 said:
I'm going to take the opposite opinion to many on here.
+es
SGS is a solid, reliable, known platform, that just keeps improving with each android revision.
not possible to have a problem that can't be answered by reading here
****load of 3rd party hardware, from spare batteries on up
-es
doesn't have dual core, waaa waaa my penis isn't big enough, go and buy 3 spare batteries to run the dual core SGS2, better still buy a laptop, because the only people I have seen with ANY kind of computing power problems are frankly assholes who could bring a cray to its knees in a week.
============================
phones have got to the place desktops got with 3ghz cpu's and xp/linux, almost nobody actually needs faster more than 0.5% of the time.
============================
The next big revolution is going to be in battery tech, when you can get 5000 mAh into the volume and mass of 1000 mAh today, that will open new doors
thermal rejection of an SGS at full battery draining whack is already as high as you can go and stay healthy silicon wise.
just be grateful it ain't x86.... (speaking as someone who used to run 64bit MIPS Cobalt RAQ2's back in the day when they were the new kid on the block... wow, an empty pizza box with not even any heatsinks on the silicon...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. SGS is still a great buy.

honestly, i do find dual cores a bit of an overkill for phones...but yeah, the price diff is just too close, esp. if you compare it with the G2X. dual core it is then. i just wish HTC(and all the other brands) would stop with the signed bootloader crap.
Then again, once the other dual cores come out, then the SGS drops to US$350...hmm...

badkuk said:
hi peeps,
At least in the 1Ghz cpu weight devision, is it still worth buying at ~US$545?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For sure it wasn't worth buying one year ago when I bought mine...
maybe it's like wine, the older the better
Soulbrighter

In Austria, you get the I9000 for 299€ .
A year ago, I paid the same + 24 months contract...
As you look around and see the tons of fixes / mods / developments, I would suggest, this is a very good buy even though I guess, SGS 2 is quite interesting as well...
Kind regards,
ww

in scotland you can get galaxy s's from £170 second hand on gumtree.
most are around £200 but to me thats still a bargain
regards