Another Laptop thread

[Boba Fett]

Looking to buy a new laptop, would like recommendations on what specs are most important and links to any good laptops out there

Gonna be using it for MTTs, 6-10 sites, 10-15 tables with HEM.

Also gonna be using it for random everyday stuff too, I guess speed and resolution are the most important but Im not sure what specs I should be looking at and how much I should be paying for it.

I saw this Sony Vaio for £770, worth it or not?

Processor:    Intel® CoreTM i5-2450M, 2.5GHz
Operating system:   Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
Hard drive:    1 TB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
Memory:    8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3-SDRAM
Optical Drive:    Blu-ray Disc(TM) writer
Display:    43.8cm LCD 1920x1080 + webcam
Graphics:    Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Microsoft® Office 2010:    Office 2010 Starter
Antivirus software:    No protection
McAfee Online Backup:    McAfee Online Backup trial
Adobe® Creation:    No Adobe Creation
Adobe® Lightroom®:    No Adobe® Lightroom 3
Sony Creative software:    Imagination Studio Suite
Keyboard Style:    Backlight keyboard
Battery:    Battery life up to 3.5 hours
Also Included
Webcam:   HD digital camera
AC Adapter:   1 AC Adapter
USB Port(s):   3x USB 2.0 + 1x USB 3.0
Wireless LAN:   Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11bgn)
HDMI(TM) output:   HDMI(TM) output
Bluetooth®:   Bluetooth® 4.0

Can also upgrade that too AMD Radeon HD 7650M 2GB with dedicated video memory of 2GB graphics card allowing an upgrade to Intel® CoreTM i7-3612QM, 2.1GHz processor for £180 more

[Simon Galloway]

Go for SSD (rather than HDD).  I don't have one yet, but have been reliably informed it is the way to go.  Faster performance and bootup, less power draw from the battery, faster and crisper file opening/copying/writing speed.  Also choose one with plenty of memory, the more the better, 4GB ok, 8GB+ good.

That ofc assumes price insensitivity, HDD are cheaper.  Dell Outlet website you can pick up refurbed and/or scracth/dent SSD laptops pretty reasonably.

[the sicilian]

Go for SSD (rather than HDD).  I don't have one yet, but have been reliably informed it is the way to go.  Faster performance and bootup, less power draw from the battery, faster and crisper file opening/copying/writing speed.  Also choose one with plenty of memory, the more the better, 4GB ok, 8GB+ good.

That ofc assumes price insensitivity, HDD are cheaper.  Dell Outlet website you can pick up refurbed and/or scracth/dent SSD laptops pretty reasonably.

r u talking about solid state drives simon?

[Simon Galloway]

I'm quoting someone who knows about solid state drives Dean, rather than talking about them   Obv interested to hear yoru input.

[the sicilian]

I'm quoting someone who knows about solid state drives Dean, rather than talking about them  Obv interested to hear yoru input.

ok solid state drives are ...excellent as they have literally no moving parts and therefore extremely reliable..however they are still expensive and their relative capacities are smaller....

a 300gb ssd is around £280 to buy individually whilst a 300gb sata is about £40...

As boba is using it pretty much as a poker laptop...memory, screen size and screen res are going to be the important factors..i5 intel with 8gb ram 17" screen with hi res is pretty much there..going i7 processor bit of overkill

oh and stay intel...we stopped installing AMD based systems about 8 years ago...

[Simon Galloway]

Not including build your own.. was looking at refurb ssd (laptop, not just the drive) for about the same price as new hdd.

I used to think of screen size, but then when playing from a stack anyway, if this laptop is going to be travelling, weight comes into it too. 

[the sicilian]

Not including build your own.. was looking at refurb ssd (laptop, not just the drive) for about the same price as new hdd.

I used to think of screen size, but then when playing from a stack anyway, if this laptop is going to be travelling, weight comes into it too. 

anything with a 43cm screen never gonna be a posh spice more sporty after a few pies...  anything that big always gonna be 2.7 - 3 kg

id rather go new..drives pretty reliable..if it goes its no odds in this situation as his just online pokerings rather than work based stuff stored to disc etc... stick another one and away you go...

[Cf]

I'm looking to build a new PC.

Budgeting about £500 for it so can't go too OTT.

Can't decide if I should get a SSD or not. £80 gets a 128GB one but I fear that's a bit on the small side. It's not that I need a massive amount of storage - I have a 20,000GB server for movies, tv etc. But I'm not sure 128GB is enough for an OS, working files, games...

For cheaper I can get a 500GB HDD.

Any thoughts?

[the sicilian]

I'm looking to build a new PC.

Budgeting about £500 for it so can't go too OTT.

Can't decide if I should get a SSD or not. £80 gets a 128GB one but I fear that's a bit on the small side. It's not that I need a massive amount of storage - I have a 20,000GB server for movies, tv etc. But I'm not sure 128GB is enough for an OS, working files, games...

For cheaper I can get a 500GB HDD.

Any thoughts?

would go with standard 500gb

[Boba Fett]

Specification:-
- Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium edition 64 bit
- Display: 17.3" SuperBright LED True HD Display (1920x1080 Resolution)
- Graphics: AMD Radeon™ HD7970M 2GB GDDR5
- Storage: Primary: Adata Premier Pro SP900 256GB SSD  Secondary: Samsung Spintpoint M8 1TB 5400RPM HDD
- Optical: Samsung DVD-RW
- HD Audio
- Mic Noise Suppression
- Dolby Home Theatre®
- 4W Stereo Speakers (2W x 4)
- Subwoofer
- 2 megapixel Webcam
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 Processor - Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.40GHZ Ivybridge Quad Core processor
- Physical Specification: 412mm x 276mm x 41.8~45.4mm (3.9kg with battery)
- Memory: 8GB DDR3 System Memory at 1600MHz (4GB x 2) OR choose 16GB DDR3 (8GB x 2)
- Main Chipset: Intel HM77
- Communication: 10 / 100 / 1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN,Wireless LAN, Widi Support
- Intel Centrino Wireless N 2230
- Bluetooth Connectivity
- Bluetooth 3.0
- 1x HDMI Port
- 3x USB3.0 Ports
- 1x USB2.0 Port
- 1x E-SATA
- 1x DVI-I
- 1x DisplayPort
- 1x Microphone IN
- 1x Headphone OUT
- 1x DC IN
- 1x RJ-45 Jack
- 1x IEEE 1394a
- Kensington Lock: YES
- 8 Cell Smart Lithium-ION Battery
- Fingerprint Scanner
- 9in1 Card Reader
- 2yr Warranty (1yr Parts, 2yr Labour)

£1510

overkill?

[Graham C]

I'm looking to build a new PC.

Budgeting about £500 for it so can't go too OTT.

Can't decide if I should get a SSD or not. £80 gets a 128GB one but I fear that's a bit on the small side. It's not that I need a massive amount of storage - I have a 20,000GB server for movies, tv etc. But I'm not sure 128GB is enough for an OS, working files, games...

For cheaper I can get a 500GB HDD.

Any thoughts?

would go with standard 500gb

Would you not have Windows and a few other things installed on the SSD and the files (films in Cf's case) on a normal hard drive?  Or does it not work like that? 

I'm looking at a new pc too but don't really know what to do.  I know I'd like an SSD, I don't know why except cos they're fast but I know I'd need an additional hard drive to store files.

[Graham C]

1510

overkill?

You'd be able to run a small country from that

[Cf]

I'm looking to build a new PC.

Budgeting about £500 for it so can't go too OTT.

Can't decide if I should get a SSD or not. £80 gets a 128GB one but I fear that's a bit on the small side. It's not that I need a massive amount of storage - I have a 20,000GB server for movies, tv etc. But I'm not sure 128GB is enough for an OS, working files, games...

For cheaper I can get a 500GB HDD.

Any thoughts?

would go with standard 500gb

Would you not have Windows and a few other things installed on the SSD and the files (films in Cf's case) on a normal hard drive?  Or does it not work like that? 

I'm looking at a new pc too but don't really know what to do.  I know I'd like an SSD, I don't know why except cos they're fast but I know I'd need an additional hard drive to store files.

I have my old hard drive too that I can always install for keeping files on that still has plenty of room on.

The SSD would essentially be for installing an OS, programs, and games. It's just whether or not 128GB is big enough for that... I think Windows/WoW would essentially take up half of it.

[rex008]

I've got a 60Gb SSD with W7 Ultimate plus a few essential apps installed. Works rather well. Would have got bigger, but when I bought that last year it was the only size that made economical sense for me.

Had to pull a few tricks to get Windows not to stick all its crap on there (swap file, temp files, etc), and you can't move some things (installers and a few other things), but I've still got room on it.

Boots up in about 6 seconds, and runs like a dream, frankly. 128Gb should be ample. Beware read/write speeds though - there are several classes of memory chip used on these things, and some are significantly slower than others, especially for writing. Check the specs.

[Graham C]

6 seconds to boot up?  My current pc takes about 5 mins before I can use it!