Gonna buy a new laptop (mainly for on-line play) - any tips?

[Drain Alien]

The obvious choice is Dell.
Any views/thoughts on alternatives and the latest offerings - much appeciated.
Thanks, Drainy.

[Biddy 62]

We've had an Acer for 3 years never been a problem. Paid around£450 from pc world.

[Ironside]

on my 2nd acer 17 in screen under £400 hard to beat for online poker

[Snatiramas]

I think a bigger question is should you wait for windows 7

[lazaroonie]

I think a bigger question is should you wait for windows 7

undoubtedly....

there will be no upgrade path for vista/xp to windows 7. which means even if the laptop you are buying at the moment includes a 'free upgrade' to windows 7, then it will require a complete format/reinstall, which will mean you needing to backup all your data, install windows 7, and then reinstall your programs/data. which can be a bit of pita


EDIT : just to add that it needs to be established that your favourite poker software is going to be windows 7 compatible from the start....

[rex008]

I think a bigger question is should you wait for windows 7

undoubtedly....

there will be no upgrade path for vista/xp to windows 7. which means even if the laptop you are buying at the moment includes a 'free upgrade' to windows 7, then it will require a complete format/reinstall, which will mean you needing to backup all your data, install windows 7, and then reinstall your programs/data. which can be a bit of pita

EDIT : just to add that it needs to be established that your favourite poker software is going to be windows 7 compatible from the start....

Laz, Not sure where you got that information from, but Windows 7 upgrade from Vista doesn't mean a reformat. Given that it's virtually identical, it's not surprising. However, XP upgrade to Windows 7 WILL require reformat.

And if software runs on Vista, it's 99% certain to run on Windows 7. Very very unusual for any software not to be forwards compatible between Windows versions. Assuming you're not going from 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Windows 7 (probably down to about 98% certain). Same goes for XP to W7. It's extraordinarily rare for Microsoft to remove API methods between windows versions. The only things that are having problems these days are very old 16 bit apps running on 64 bit windows (doesn't work at all).

I've run three Vista machines at home for > 1 year, and installed W7 on an older XP machine recently (new HD, so kept all my old data as a second drive, which works fine under W7). Given the hype around W7, and the huge criticisms around Vista, I was rather surprised that it seems to offer very little over and above Vista. Yes, you get slightly less UAC alerts, which is a big annoyance in Vista, but there doesn't seem to be much more to it.

[lazaroonie]

I think a bigger question is should you wait for windows 7

undoubtedly....

there will be no upgrade path for vista/xp to windows 7. which means even if the laptop you are buying at the moment includes a 'free upgrade' to windows 7, then it will require a complete format/reinstall, which will mean you needing to backup all your data, install windows 7, and then reinstall your programs/data. which can be a bit of pita

EDIT : just to add that it needs to be established that your favourite poker software is going to be windows 7 compatible from the start....

Laz, Not sure where you got that information from, but Windows 7 upgrade from Vista doesn't mean a reformat. Given that it's virtually identical, it's not surprising. However, XP upgrade to Windows 7 WILL require reformat.

And if software runs on Vista, it's 99% certain to run on Windows 7. Very very unusual for any software not to be forwards compatible between Windows versions. Assuming you're not going from 32 bit Vista to 64 bit Windows 7 (probably down to about 98% certain). Same goes for XP to W7. It's extraordinarily rare for Microsoft to remove API methods between windows versions. The only things that are having problems these days are very old 16 bit apps running on 64 bit windows (doesn't work at all).

I've run three Vista machines at home for > 1 year, and installed W7 on an older XP machine recently (new HD, so kept all my old data as a second drive, which works fine under W7). Given the hype around W7, and the huge criticisms around Vista, I was rather surprised that it seems to offer very little over and above Vista. Yes, you get slightly less UAC alerts, which is a big annoyance in Vista, but there doesn't seem to be much more to it.

that must be pretty recent - the last news i got was that there was no upgrade path from vista to w7. good news if there is.

I agree with you about the compatibility stuff, but where money and poker are concerned i like to have the safety net of the software being certified to run on the OS

"hello support, i just had a 4 grand pot with quad aces folded on the river."
"sorry you are using windows 7, we dont officially support that yet...gg"

[G1BTW]

on my 2nd acer 17 in screen under £400 hard to beat for online poker

How many tables do you run on that screen?


Thread addendum. I'm thinking of getting a new one and putting a 3G dongle in it. Can I safely expect it to be useable in most of the country without it dropping on me frequently? Are there big differences between operators? I don't care so much about bandwidth for video streaming, just the pokers. Thanks

[Ironside]

on my 2nd acer 17 in screen under £400 hard to beat for online poker

How many tables do you run on that screen?


Thread addendum. I'm thinking of getting a new one and putting a 3G dongle in it. Can I safely expect it to be useable in most of the country without it dropping on me frequently? Are there big differences between operators? I don't care so much about bandwidth for video streaming, just the pokers. Thanks

4 tabling is easy could maybe do more if i could play more than 4 at a time

[rex008]

Thread addendum. I'm thinking of getting a new one and putting a 3G dongle in it. Can I safely expect it to be useable in most of the country without it dropping on me frequently?

No, not in the slightest, geographically. However, you'll get 3G coverage in most population centres.

Most operators have maps on their websites showing where their 3G coverage is.

% coverage by population and % coverage by area are two very very different numbers. Obviously most operators quote the former, as it's always much higher.

[Betfair Poker Guy]

I always use Laptops Direct (do a Google search) for my computer stuff. Good little company just outside Huddersfield that do new and refurb models. Some real high-spec lappies on the cheap

[cia260895]

on my 2nd acer 17 in screen under £400 hard to beat for online poker

How many tables do you run on that screen?


Thread addendum. I'm thinking of getting a new one and putting a 3G dongle in it. Can I safely expect it to be useable in most of the country without it dropping on me frequently? Are there big differences between operators? I don't care so much about bandwidth for video streaming, just the pokers. Thanks

this  acer handles 6 ok

[Drain Alien]

Thanks for all your advice guys.