Calling the Geeks, Laptop shopping...

[TonyN]

Anyone research any laptops recently?

Finding just over £400 gets Intel 3i, 3gb Mem, 250gb HD, but everywhere the same.

or any other ideas of what to look for?

Any issues using an AMD processor instead? Which one is the equilivient to a i3 or i5?

is a i3 worth the extra over Pentium P6100? which would get me 4gb, 500gb HD and otherstuff like bluetooth, etc.. for same price

PC world store is doing Acer AS5742 15.6" i3 4gb/320gb, for £399 which I can't beat anywhere online.

Don't want another Celeron, the one I have gets stupidly hot and dosn't seem all that performance wise.

Ta.

[Surfer Ross]

Tony,

The model from PC World sounds like a good deal.

I'm not a massive fan of Intel Processors as a rule, I have one in my Desktop PC but I prefer AMD if all else is equal. My Laptop has an AMD 64 M320 processor and it goes like the wind without getting a fraction as hot as the wife's Celeron M. I paid just under £400 for an Asus X5EA laptop with Windows 7 64bit, AMD 64 M320, 4 GB RAM, 500GB HDD, ATI Radeon HD4200 Graphics, LED display etc from www.ebuyer.com . Unfortunately this model is no longer available from them or I'd have another one to replace my wife's HP Celeron M laptop with cooling fan like a Chinook rotor and enough heat to warrant turning the central heating off.

[Albannach]

Do the new Windoze incarnations address the 3gb memory thing?

[TonyN]

Do the new Windoze incarnations address the 3gb memory thing?

No idea, what this and do I need to know about it?

Tony,

I'd have another one to replace my wife's HP Celeron M laptop with cooling fan like a Chinook rotor and enough heat to warrant turning the central heating off.

LOL, I can't have my 'laptop' on my lap, the bottom get so hot it burns my leg!

[si tate]

Got my daughter a note book from pc world yesterday & did a little looking around before hand but they were giving the best deals by far.

[kamaangir]

Don't bother with acer they are built like landrovers! Hence why they are cheaper. Have had 2 both died within the year (lost receipt so no warranty! plus ####ed me off, so don't really want another acer)

Have had Hp's they seem ok, my Samsung has lasted 4 years of constant use and some attention from the dog, and still going strong. Sony are over priced. Lenovo were very good but expensive, taken over by chinese lot so not too sure of the quality anymore. Toshiba are ok.
Avoid own brands like matsui etc.. also avoid MSI although the manufacture a lot of components thier laptops don't seem that great.


Rather than the processor spec you should be after real life battery capacity. They say up to 5 hours, which is a bit like saying a surf 3.0 can return up to 60mpg, but in real life 20 would be more the mark.

Hope that helps.

[Scorpion]

Never had bother with Acers and I've had three of them. Just bought my dad this one and it looks and runs extremely well. It also has a three year warrenty (don't lose the receipt and you'll be fine!)

I also have an MSI Wind notebook and I've never had a problem with that either.

[Calos]

Do the new Windoze incarnations address the 3gb memory thing?

All the 64bit ones can make use of ram above 3.2gb but then don't do much with it.
My DAW software certainley does though.

peace
cal

[Chainsawdude]

Ive had a dell inspiron running nearly 24/7 for over 2 years and its never missed a beat, its still as good now as it was when i bought it, Intel core2 duo,3gb ram,320gb hard drive and it only cost like £320 back then, it all depends what you want to do with it really, no point buying a fancy laptop if yer only gonna browse the net.

[dieselboy]

If you're going for a laptop then go for an Intel based machine. Intel chips can do more work per Hz than AMD (correct me if I'm wrong) and also Intel chips are made differently so they can handle higher temperatures than AMD whereas AMD chips start to get unstable about 55c AMD do not.
You should be getting at least dual core and with a minimum of 2gb RAM for general use on a Win7 OS.

[Albannach]

AMD chips start to get unstable about 55c AMD do not.

Really? That's helped a lot...

[Surfer Ross]

If you're going for a laptop then go for an Intel based machine. Intel chips can do more work per Hz than AMD (correct me if I'm wrong)

You're wrong. Mips (Millions of Instructions per second) is dependent on the function of the core and memory multipliers. Your statement is like saying the flywheel on a V8 engine turns more slowly for a given rpm than the flywheel on a 4 cylinder. Hz is a measurement of frequency, in this case, 1 cycle per second.

and also Intel chips are made differently so they can handle higher temperatures than AMD whereas AMD chips start to get unstable about 55c AMD do not.

Sorry but this is nonsense, where did you glean this information from?

[dieselboy]

Sorry but this is nonsense, where did you glean this information from?

When I was interested in this the general idea was that Intel could do more work for the same given clock frequency with a comparable AMD chip. I know times have changed now so this may not still hold true.

Regarding the temperature differences - this is fact and is out there. AMD have a cheaper way of manufacturing their chips and operational temps need to be lower.

[Surfer Ross]

When I was interested in this the general idea was that Intel could do more work for the same given clock frequency with a comparable AMD chip. I know times have changed now so this may not still hold true.

It was advertising gimickery. One manufacturer quoted single core clock speed without multipliers. The other quoted overall multiplied speed.

Regarding the temperature differences - this is fact and is out there. AMD have a cheaper way of manufacturing their chips and operational temps need to be lower.

You've got this the wrong way round. AMD core architecture is now light years in advance of Intel. AMD cores can and do run far higher temperatures than Intel and do so much more safely:

http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/Art...eratures.shtml

My wife's Celeron Dual Core regularly shuts down because it overheats. The CPU fan is constantly at full whack trying to keep it below its critical temperature. In 10 years of personal AMD use, I've never had a heat related failure of a CPU.

We have a Core 2 Duo in the desktop and that has been fine. Intel do make good processors but in my opinion, they are not in the same league as an AMD chip of a similar price.

[dieselboy]

At what temperature does the Celeron blue screen / reboot? That does sound like overheating. I would clean the heat sink of any dust and give the insides of the case a thorough clean. Then also remove the heat sink from the socket, clean off any thermal paste and apply some AS5 silver compound very very lightly on both sides. Smear with a bank card. This should stop the over heating issues. Depending on the motherboard you may be able to tweak how far it is declocked when it nears its critical temperature.

There is a write up by someone who done all sorts of lab tests about the latest AMD chips the Phenom and Phenom 2's. It did actually turn into a sort of public gathering of information and they found that the general max temp of the AMD chips (even older ones) is around 55c. I've also noted this and the result is reboot or blue screen under Windows.

Whilst I am an AMD fan because of mainly cost of components (my 4Ghz rig cost less than £400) and secondly due to the fun of playing with the high end cheap components, the general idea is that Intel are far better at pure crunching and for gaming. Even a slower clock speed equivelant intel will produce better results by tests. The difference being you're looking at nearing £1000 mark for the equivelant components which are better but not £600 better!

Thanks for the link. These figures have been endlessly debated! In short I briefly whisked through those debates (you might notice one of my downfalls is not reading entire threads ) In any case those figures are apparently to be taken with a pinch of salt. One part of that link: " Critical temperature is often referred as Critical Case temperature as CPU core temperatures are difficult to report accurately".
Manufacturers now include a way of obtaining the Core temperature and as such this is what is looked at to see the status of the cpu - it is this figure which when 55c is reached (for AMD systems) that it is found the reboots / blue screens are experienced.

Could you tell me how you were measuring temperature of the Celeron?