Am in need of a new laptop, in budget/affordable range (<€600/$800). Looking at Dell Inspiron 1546. Regarding best anti-virus software, I see VIPRE gets best press. Hard drive space is not a big deal as I have external hard drive. Vista not acceptable, probably favour Windows 7.
Any tips/advice? Forgive my innocence, me and computers always stand on each others toes at the dance.
I wouldn’t bother with an Inspiron, though I would recommend the Latitude line. The Latitudes are really sturdy…I’ve owned a couple of them and have never had any hardware problems.
I recommend purchasing a laptop small enough that it can be transported comfortably. I have a Dell Studio 17" laptop. The extended-life, 9-cell battery and large dimensions make it not so portable when required to carry it over sizable distances for a long duration.
Why not get a MacBook Pro?
I agree, why not a MacBook Pro?
I love mine, cuz its purdy.
Why not get a MacBook Pro?
A MacBook Pro costs over €1,000. Too much on present funds. If money was not an issue I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a new Mac.
well what do you specifically need it for? You gave us some specs but what do you want to be doing with it? gaming? music making? general fucking around? porn? hacking? porn? posting on the piss army (ha)?
boycott apple
well what do you specifically need it for? You gave us some specs but what do you want to be doing with it? gaming? music making? general fucking around? porn? hacking? porn? posting on the piss army (ha)?
The basics: internet, itunes, word. No gaming. Have external hard drive so size of hard drive not major. Probably not run more than three programs at any one time too. Good battery life I suppose would be prefered.
The Piss Army must have been a strain on the server with all those giant fucking avatars!
i had several geeks help me pick mine out, overall everyone agreed (if i was staying with windows) that the toshiba satellite series was the way to go.
totally agreed after i got it, expands up to 8gb, unique touch pad, quiet as a mouse and super fast, it came loaded with windows 7 which i love.
i used a amazon store card which gave me 6 months same as cash.
dont listen to the windows 7 haters, there still stuck in xp world without hope of transition without whining that is…
Personally, I think the best bang for the buck out there now (if you live in the US & want to purchase at retail) are the new Gateways (now owned by Acer) as well as Acer-branded units. In the EU you will find comparable models under both the Packard Bell and Acer brands. You can get one with the latest generation Intel Core i3 or i5 which, clock for clock, are faster than the older Core 2 Duo CPUs and have better integrated video capabilities. and superior battery life. You will have to deal with a good deal of bloatware on Acer machines (as well as Sony, HP & Toshiba) but it can be dealt with if you research what is safe to remove or just run PC Decrapifier.
if you want something a bit more decked out, the Dell Studio (esp. the 15 & 17 versions) line are quite nice. TThey have a nice overall feature set (slot load optical drives, backlit keyboards available) than the regular Inspiron line and have better build quality as well. The Studios are also now available with the latest Core i series chipsets & CPUs.
I also like Asus, though you do have a slight price premium with them. Vista has been banished from pretty much the vast majority of contemporary systems. Windows 7 65-bit is the way to go to be future-proof, though I’d go with 32-bit Win 7 if you have any legacy apps to run that might not play nicely under 64-bit. I’d also try to get a system with HDMI output for easy connection to HDTVs and external monitors.
That’s about it, other than I’d recommend getting something with 802.11N wireless built in. You will pay a very small price pentalty ($25?) for it and it’s a nice feature to have as G wireless will enentually give way to N and the N standard has thankfully finally been ratified.
For AV, Microsoft’s security essentials is free, VERY solid and integrates perfectly into Windows. Hard to go wrong with that.
You can do a payment plan through Apple that will let you pay in installments. I did mine that way and basically pay $85 a month for a year for my Macbook Pro.
Fuck windows seriously it’s a fucking joke and those of you who stubbornly stick with it because you’re comfortable with the shitty operating system are just missing out…
Why not get a netbook? They are under $300 American these days, and really the only thing you don’t get is the CD-ROM drive (which is useless unless you’re using it for school, some classes use multimedia CD’s).
Really, I mean storage space is so cheap these days, plus external DVD burners are like maybe $40…and that’s if you really want it. Most netbooks these days carry 2gb/RAM, more than enough for web browsing, iTunes (or if you use Linux, Banshee), VLC…
I love my netbook 
Ick. Unless you REALLY need a laptop, I’d go PC all the way.
I’m sick of this laptop, and pretty soon I’m gonna retire it for a behemoth of a tower wired to a cheap Goodwill-status CRT and a massive sound system.
Yee.
I’ve got no other advice other than to avoid acer like the plague.
It seems anything they make turns to shit. Even the fucking projector I got from them is on the fritz… [mad]
i’m aging myself here, but i remember just getting a pc clone… a blank case, buying the parts at computer shows and building the shit myself to whatever specs i wanted. obviously not an option with a laptop, but i don’t know nevermind… good luck finding your computer
i had several geeks help me pick mine out, overall everyone agreed (if i was staying with windows) that the toshiba satellite series was the way to go.
totally agreed after i got it, expands up to 8gb, unique touch pad, quiet as a mouse and super fast, it came loaded with windows 7 which i love.
i used a amazon store card which gave me 6 months same as cash.
dont listen to the windows 7 haters, there still stuck in xp world without hope of transition without whining that is…
Ugh… I have a satellite C300 or something… from a few years back. Biggest piece of shit/waste of money. Probably because it came pre-loaded with Vista and they only gave it 1 gb of ram. Thing is SLOOOOWW.
I have used one of the massive Satellites as well, the $2K models, it seemed ok, but still not as good as a macbook pro I’ve used…
Again bearing price in mind… I’ve never had any issue with my Dell Desktop (4+ years old, the only problem I’ve ever had was the speakers), despite what all the dell haters say!
@Icepick my brother is right into making gaming machines etc… his current PC is the size of a small car that has a neon disco going on iside of it, lol.
Good thing is I just got his old video card, (some 1GB genuine Nvidia thing) so once I get a new PSU my PC will be able to play most things I throw in it. (well according to systemrequirementslab anyway… lol)
Dunno how you could go to a CRT monitor though, bleh. If you have a LCD tv just plug it into that if you have a video card that supports it, lol.
I saw this Asus on newegg for 800, which I considered getting. Still might. I basically just want something that can play the newer games coming out without any problems. Considered trying to build a new desktop altogether, but I dunno. Not sure where to begin with the motherboard and so on… Have an almost general idea on the processor and video card though.