[kirby777]

Hi-

There has to be some tech savvy PC members!

I want to purchase a laptop. Right now my desktop is 9 yrs old. I need some guidance.

Will someone assist me?

Thanks in advance!

What kind of stuff are you going to be using the laptop for?

[IchbinkeinTeufel]

The above question is worth answering, given you could spend mind-boggling amounts on a computer/laptop you're only going to use to play, ... 2D Pong. Or a really shiny, expensive-looking brick. Or a sluggish thing, that couldn't compute itself out of a wet, toilet-paper bag. Whatever hints go your way, unless someone has the model suggested, there's still gonna be a chance you'll get a lemon; unfortunately, these things can be a gamble. You'll up your chances by going for renowned brands, getting only what you need, or think you might need, using a good store/seller, etc.

If you spot a laptop, feel free to link me it (via PM, to get my attention, as I might miss this thread) and I'll happy have a peek at it, and maybe do some research. If you buy online, make sure it's a good seller, and check all the reviews, if you can, for the laptop. It might help to even look at some YouTube videos about it. Knowledge is power, or in this case, knowledge is a better laptop and a happier wallet/purse. Overclockers UK - Computer components, hardware & gaming PC is apparently very good, and I've known people to recommend it rather a lot; it's a US one, I think. I'd give Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more a good try - I use Amazon a lot, built my PC and my dad's old one, with parts mostly purchased from it, and have very little problems with the site, as a whole. I wouldn't recommend eBay, because I simply don't trust it anywhere near as much as the likes of Amazon, especially for larger purchases; conversely, my brother uses eBay quite a bit, and he likes it and stands by it, so it's your call! You could try places like PC World, but I think they're kinda overpriced. Careful of those tiny little obscure computer stores, that may or may not be local to you, as, based on the ones I've seen in England, they are often overpriced, and may sooner sell you a lemon, than give you something you'd actually find useful. I'm kinda cynical, so take what you will, from my ramblings. :P

Careful not to get confused between a laptop and a netbook; they are not the same. A netbook is typically slower than a more powerful laptop, because netbooks have power conservation as, so far as I know, the upmost priority. I have a netbook, and as cool as it is, it's certainly not the fastest. I imagine to get a much faster netbook, it would set you back £300+, but I got mine for £200 or something. xD Netbooks tend to not have a disc drive, so that wouldn't help, if you actually need it.

If you decide to ignore the laptops and netbooks, but want something different, more portable, and kinda fun, then you might wanna look at Android tablets, such as the only one I can ever really honestly recommend: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2; I recommend it, because the cheaper ones are a huge gamble, often rubbish or malfunctioning, and can have software-side issues. I'm not sure if there's a newer model out, as I haven't looked for a few months, but there might be. There's another competing model, that almost tempted me, back when I was in my "OMG, I WANT A TABLET!" phase, but I can't remember it, ... >.< ... *looks it up* ... Nexus 7, I think is the one, but it had the drawback, I think, of lacking the support for a storage card, which I personally thought was utterly useless. One again, with tablets, perhaps more so, it's important to check the reviews! With so many dodgy tablets going about, it is somewhat of a gamble. In the end, I wasn't prepared to gamble, even with the Samsung, so got a netbook - in retrospect, I should've probably got the tablet.

When you do look up a laptop, remember to use its model number, to ensure you're looking up the right model, as you don't want to read amazing things about a slightly different laptop to the worse model, of which you might actually purchase.

I typed out some stuff on page 2 of THIS thread (don't worry, it's on PC) so that might be of help to you.

Best of luck.

[kirby777]

I basically just go on the internet. I may want to use it to go back to school & take some online classes. I want to be able to Skype.

Someone mentioned that Lenovo was a good brand.

A guy at BestBuy told me I probably would pay $100 more for a touch screen. DO people tend to prefer touch screen laptops?

What I have now is a Dell, and I cannot even load facebook

I appreciate the advice!

[IchbinkeinTeufel]

I wouldn't bother with touch-screen! Sounds like that guy is just trying to get you to buy something more expensive than necessary. Since you just wanna go on the 'net, Skype, 'n stuff.

Looking through some laptops on Amazon, now, to get an idea of the sort of thing you might like.

I have only got personal experience with ASUS, Medion, and Acer laptops. ASUS seem to really care about quality, but I've been told their laptops are questionable, although I've yet to actually see that for myself. The last ASUS laptop I saw, was awesome, but that's just one of a bazillion out there.

It occurs to me that you might well be better off just fixing your Dell laptop. 9 years is old, very old, especially in computer world, but it might still be sufficient, just, ... broken down, on the software-side. Have you defragmented its hard disk drive(s), cleared any junk cache, tweaked any system settings, or perhaps considered a small cheap RAM upgrade? These are things I'd love to do if I could get my hands on that laptop. xD I've got a real thing for tweaking and generally sorting out machines. Ah well. What laptop do you actually have? Could you possible give me a model number and brand? Also, what operating system do you use on it? Windows 7? Windows XP? 'o.O

EDIT: Eek, these modern laptops are certainly quite expensive, or maybe it just looks like it because I'm looking on the US Amazon, with all those bucks, dollars, and bills. I see a lot of netbooks on Amazon, that are titled as laptops. ¬_¬ That's like selling a bike and calling it a car. FALSE ADVERTISING. xD

TBH, it seems that the only sort of modern laptop you will easily get, brand new, is gonna have specs you probably won't remotely need, but, regardless, it looks like it's gonna cost you £300+, or, ... ähm, ... $450+, if my conversion is anywhere near close. Personally, I'd be looking for a second-hand one - save yourself some monies! xD That said, the bonus with a new one, is the guarantee (so they say) that it works 'n all that. I went through this laptop fiasco a while back, before I bought my netbook. xD I looked through loads of netbooks, laptops, and tablets, for months on end; never quite deciding what I was gonna do. xD Then one day, spontaneity kicked in, and I just grabbed a nice looking Acer netbook.

So, what's your budget? How much an issue is money?

ANOTHER EDIT: Looks like I had dollars pegged to be worth a lot more than I thought. As I understand it, if you want a brand new, decent, modern laptop, you're looking at £300-400, and that's $476-635 holy crap, that looks like a lot. O.O xD

Amazon.com: ASUS A550CA-EB51 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Gray): Computers & Accessories
^ That looked so awesome; great specs, sleek design, ASUS, but then I saw that review - consider my positive impression shot. >.< I'm really seeing that ASUS may well rock the GPU world, but they seem to suck at laptops.

What size of a screen are you after? Generally speaking, the size of the screen, will dictate the size of the laptop. I'm guessing you're gonna be after 15.6" or 17"; the latter often being the more expensive, as well as it sacrificing some portability.

I'll check out some Lenovo laptops, as they do seem pretty nifty...

Amazon.com: Lenovo Ideapad Z575 12992DU 15.6-Inch Laptop (Gun Metal Grey): Computers & Accessories
^ If you can get a good deal on this model, it looks like you'd be a very happy camper! That laptop has very much impressed me, and if I needed one, I'd probably get it! Seems to have great reviews. The specs are fantastic. It'd do what you need it to, and a lot more, including some games.

I really like the cosmetic style of these Lenovo laptops.

[healingme4me]

Also, depends on how long, you are willing to ride out the prices! We are getting into the sale season on electronics. I've the IdeaPad Z580, was $500 at Staples. Think that was in February.

I wouldn't get a touchscreen, myself. They look nice and cool, but after using them day after day, at work, they lose sensitivity, after a time period.

Push aside you budget money, into an account, is my recommendation. And start shopping around, comparing, etc. THEN, when the time is RIGHT...and you know you've just got yourself a deal or a 'steal', go for it! Patience, is a virtue to have in tech shopping!

[bigt777]

You need a laptop with 4GB RAM I think that is enough to satisfy your needs.
Plus webcam. Have you tried Craigslist? They usually sell good one cheap.
Lenovo are good just too expensive.
I would go to WalMart and maybe look into an Acer or Compaq maybe HP?
You'd be surprised at how good cheaper brands are actually pretty good.
A 4GB RAM laptop are pretty cheap now.
Bestbuy tries to rip you off especially since you don't know about computers.
If you can get a 6GB or 8GB RAM for a good price I'd suggest to buy it.

This one is actually a good one. Slim good components and great resolution
500GB hard drive 4GB RAM perfect for you. Really cheap too
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-ATIV-N...productDetails

Hope it helps