rate this laptop

[paulhouk03]

Hello

I am buying a lap top for my gf birthday. But I am abit of a noob with computers.

She is just going to use the laptop for browsing and watching youtube vids and maybe video editing.


I dont wanna spend chunks cos shes is abit of an idiot with things and always breaks them.

will this be ok? my budget is around £350

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/57241/HP-Ultrabook-B007SA-Core-i3-3217U-1-8GHz-8GB-1TB

[Kev B]

Have had a few lappy's over the years and my HP G6 series has been the best. Start from £319.99 on PC world.

[wazz]

I tend to favour samsung when it comes to laptops, however:

it's very difficult to determine whether yours is a good one just from the spec sheet. for most uses the majority of laptops will be more powerful than you will need; imo the key to finding a good laptop (or anything of this sort, really) is to find 3-4 good candidates that are within your price range, do what you want them to do, and then scour the internet for reviews.

A quick google came up with this page: http://www.johnlewis.com/hp-pavilion-14-b003sa-ultrabook-intel-core-i3-processor-1-8ghz-4gb-ram-320gb-32gb-ssd-14-/p231740036#tabinfo-ratings

The first reviewer likely doesn't know what he's doing. All manufacturers effectively overstate battery life by testing it under the most favourable possible conditions, and maintaining battery life over the life of a laptop is an art form. If you're using wifi, a wireless mouse, the screen at full brightness and are running programs, it should be no surprise that it doesn't last as long as they state on the box.

The second reviewer seems to have more of a clue and has even stated that he's done a lot of research so his opinion should be weighted more favourably, and he likes it for a good few reasons. If you're happy enough with that you should buy it, but as a bit of a tech geek I generally spend a lot more time trying to find out pros and cons before I buy. I build PCs (have built poker computers for honeybadger, mement_mori and others) so hopefully you'll take my opinion as worth something too

[StuartHopkin]

Ask if you can have Windows 7 instead of 8

[paulhouk03]

Does it make that much of a difference?

[wazz]

Does it make that much of a difference?

Not a huge amount. I've not played around with it but my understanding is that it's relatively easy to change the settings such that it looks basically the same as W7. I've heard that other than the cosmetic changes there aren't any real changes for the worse, so I personally wouldn't force it unless it saved you money.

[Suited_Jock]

Windows 8 is fine with this installed: http://www.classicshell.net/

Windows 8.1 will put the start menu back.. released in June as a free update

I'm using Windows 8 exactly like Windows 7 fwiw

[titaniumbean]

lol at having TO PUT IT BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE


if you are buying a laptop/desktop computer why would you want a fking touch screen optimised system.

win 7 > win 8 by a million miles

[StuartHopkin]

lol at having TO PUT IT BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE


if you are buying a laptop/desktop computer why would you want a fking touch screen optimised system.

win 7 > win 8 by a million miles

I do believe the above post correctly puts across the point.

[vegaslover]

lol at having TO PUT IT BACK TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE


if you are buying a laptop/desktop computer why would you want a fking touch screen optimised system.

win 7 > win 8 by a million miles

I do believe the above post correctly puts across the point.

AS above, have just bought a new laptop with windows 8 and much prefer win 7.

[EvilPie]

Definitely prefer windows 7 but once you get used to it windows 8 is fine.

8 starts up quicker that's for sure and I think it's cheaper as well because nobody actually wants it.

I wouldn't let it put you off buying a laptop if it's the right price. You'll soon get the hang of it.