Help end a bad streak :(

Tdireddi

Hello,

Just gone through my 2nd Laptop in 5 years First was a Toshiba (Excellent) and 2nd was a HP (Useless).

Im looking to get a new laptop in a week or a month or so, as im starting my final year in college next year..also i do written reports on LOI matches.

€400 max budget...Please Help Clueless regarding laptops, Thanks you !

Also am i better off buying online or...?

Basically...Fast, Sturdy, Reliable (Doing journalism a lot of going to football matches), Basics (Word, Powerpoint ect..) & just watching movies and listening to music.. Also have a soft spot for Football Manger (The Game) see system requirements below.

OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Intel Core AMD Athlon 2.2GHz+
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Intel GMA X3100 256MB VRAM
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Hard Drive: 3 GB available space

sunny2004

Personally I use Dell laptops. you pay extra but they work for years and the customer service is second to none..

duffman3833

2 examples there
Hp has an SSD which will make it a bit quicker but its not a huge harddrive. Good display
Asus is not too bad, the display isnt as good as the hp but more memory and harddrive space
http://www.komplett.ie/hp-notebook-15-ac125nd/80042342/details.aspx
http://www.komplett.ie/asus-f554la-xx2235t/80040391/details.aspx

Curb Your Enthusiasm

duffman3833 wrote: »

2 examples there
Hp has an SSD which will make it a bit quicker but its not a huge harddrive. Good display
Asus is not too bad, the display isnt as good as the hp but more memory and harddrive space
http://www.komplett.ie/hp-notebook-15-ac125nd/80042342/details.aspx
http://www.komplett.ie/asus-f554la-xx2235t/80040391/details.aspx

What a rip off! Same spec HP except with i5-6200U on SaveOnLaptops is 385euro delivered new.

duffman3833

yea i only went on their site for examples of spec rather than price

Akrasia

Tdireddi wrote: »

Hello,

Just gone through my 2nd Laptop in 5 years First was a Toshiba (Excellent) and 2nd was a HP (Useless).

Im looking to get a new laptop in a week or a month or so, as im starting my final year in college next year..also i do written reports on LOI matches.

€400 max budget...Please Help Clueless regarding laptops, Thanks you !

Also am i better off buying online or...?

Basically...Fast, Sturdy, Reliable (Doing journalism a lot of going to football matches), Basics (Word, Powerpoint ect..) & just watching movies and listening to music.. Also have a soft spot for Football Manger (The Game) see system requirements below.

OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Intel Core AMD Athlon 2.2GHz+
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Intel GMA X3100 256MB VRAM
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Hard Drive: 3 GB available space

If you're going to be lugging the laptop around you're probably better off with a 14 inch. Smaller laptops have better batteries and tend to be tougher

What about this for about 313 euros?
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Acer-Aspire-V3-371-Laptop-13-3-Intel-Core-i3-4030U-1-9GHz-4GB-500GB-SSHD-Win8-/141965787769?hash=item210dd20279:g:97AAAOSwiYFXF58b

It's got a 500gb sshd so should be pretty quick in day to day stuff (it's a hybrid between a standard HDD but with an 8gb SSD cache to sopeed up the most commonly opened files so that the system runs faster)
an I3 processor which is enough for football manager 2015 on medium settings (according to intel) but it's a low power cpu so it should also be good for battery life
https://gameplay.intel.com/GamesSettings/6804/81018/intel-core-i3-4030u-processor-br-3m-cache-1-90-ghz-

The ebay seller is reliable with 1 year warranty, free postage and even free returns , it's grade A manufacturer refurbished so it would be as good as new..

if you bought the same laptop from the same seller as an auction rather than buy it now, you'd probably get another 50 euros off the price if you're prepared to try your luck.

Tdireddi

Akrasia wrote: »

If you're going to be lugging the laptop around you're probably better off with a 14 inch. Smaller laptops have better batteries and tend to be tougher

What about this for about 313 euros?
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Acer-Aspire-V3-371-Laptop-13-3-Intel-Core-i3-4030U-1-9GHz-4GB-500GB-SSHD-Win8-/141965787769?hash=item210dd20279:g:97AAAOSwiYFXF58b

It's got a 500gb sshd so should be pretty quick in day to day stuff (it's a hybrid between a standard HDD but with an 8gb SSD cache to sopeed up the most commonly opened files so that the system runs faster)
an I3 processor which is enough for football manager 2015 on medium settings (according to intel) but it's a low power cpu so it should also be good for battery life
https://gameplay.intel.com/GamesSettings/6804/81018/intel-core-i3-4030u-processor-br-3m-cache-1-90-ghz-

The ebay seller is reliable with 1 year warranty, free postage and even free returns , it's grade A manufacturer refurbished so it would be as good as new..

if you bought the same laptop from the same seller as an auction rather than buy it now, you'd probably get another 50 euros off the price if you're prepared to try your luck.

Thanks for that..Is acer a good reliable laptop..? Would love an aluminium made laptop as i feel its a lot more robust than palstic..?

So what spec am i looking for really..?

Processor...im guessing i3 is the only way, yes..?
Hardrive...??
Ram/memory...4gb+

Are those refurbished laptops a good punt, are they always refurbished well..?

*Just noticed the Acer you posted is a notebook, need something to burn CDs on preferably..? I have bidded on it tho as i could live without burning CDS is there any other differences between a notebook and a laptop..?

Tdireddi

Also just after dawning on me that the 13.3" inch screen may be to small, regarding watching movies ect..? True or...?

Akrasia

Tdireddi wrote: »

Thanks for that..Is acer a good reliable laptop..? Would love an aluminium made laptop as i feel its a lot more robust than palstic..?

So what spec am i looking for really..?

Processor...im guessing i3 is the only way, yes..?
Hardrive...??
Ram/memory...4gb+

Are those refurbished laptops a good punt, are they always refurbished well..?

*Just noticed the Acer you posted is a notebook, need something to burn CDs on preferably..? I have bidded on it tho as i could live without burning CDS is there any other differences between a notebook and a laptop..?

Refurbs are a risk, but this risk is hugely reduced by going with 'Manufacturer refurbished' from a reputable seller. These are laptops that were returned by customers either for a fault, or sometimes just because the customer changed his or her mind, so the laptop can never be sold as 'new' but may never even have been turned on by the customer. The manufacturer will then do a second round of Quality control checks to make sure everything's working, they'll usually wait 6 or 7 months and then resell them as refurbished (they wait in order not to depress the price of their new laptops)

'Professionally refurbished' can mean anything though, from a wipe of a damp cloth and OS refresh, to a repair of a broken part and resell (maybe a new screen or hard drive or whatever)
You don't really know what you're getting, and I've found that the prices that people ask for these are often way too high to account for the risk.

The size of the screen is a trade-off between portability/battery life and, well, how big the screen is.

Lots of people watch movies on 10 inch Ipads so it's obviously acceptable
My brother had a 13.3 inch macbook that he used for years, he had no tv and watched everything on his macbook and he genuinely cried when it finally broke down. It's up if you think the screen is big enough for movies or not.

bonzodog2

I often watch films and TV on a 12.1" Dell E4200. I care more about the plot/story/content than bigscreen/3D/surround sound.

Internet Ham

If I was you I would have a little look into the Lenovo Thinkpad range. I picked up one on Adverts 4 months ago second hand for 160. It has an i5, 4 GB RAM (which can be upgraded to 8) and runs like a peach. I have not had one problem with it. These types of laptops come up all the time on adverts and Lenovo themselves sell refurbs. Honestly, they are awesome machines and serve your purposes ideally. Give them some serious consideration!