Buying new laptop - advice please

[aderino4]

If you get a PC computer (whether desktop or laptop) pay the extra money to get Windows 7. It's a vast improvement over Vista.

I was one of those that converted from PC to Mac some years ago.

Since Win 7 come; I've been using PC for home again on a little HP Mini netbook. Still have the Mac for work etc. but for casual KB troll etc the netbook wins being small and light.

If you play games stick with PC there are more games for PC than for Mac. If you want easy, relatively worry-free computer go with the Mac just beware of the higher price tag; not to mention they release new model/ revision every 6 months so you will always feel inadequate.

[Racey Rider]

Thanks for all the helpful/confusing advise.
(can't watch that clip as u-tube is no longer viewable with flash 6 and can't update on win98)

Is the extra 3 year warrenty for $300 a good idea with laptops?
They seem to have a unreliabltiy reputation from what I hear. (Mac excluded)

It's annoying that they don't give you the system disks when buying win7. So if there's a problem - you can't format and reload!

[6ft5]

Hi RR

You have to do what you have to do. Not sure what reason you have to buy a laptop, but as stated above, there are other options, MAC included. You might be well advised to go to Harvey Norman and check it out before you jump in the deep end.

[Racey Rider]

I have been discussing my needs with the HN sales rep, but it's often better getting inderdepent advise from those that use things.

Have looked at Mac, but until I've more reason to spend the extra $$$, this deal seems like 'more' computer (for home use).

[zeocen]

The extra warranty cost is a piece of mind thing. You're well and truly covered under the CGA if your laptop dies within the three year mark. But some people just don't like the hassle or the arguments that come with quoting the CGA and are prepared to pay the extra money for hassle free warranty issues, if they should arise.

If you're buying a windows laptop, chances are you're going to need that CGA within the three years for something (speaking only from experience with awful HP laptops).

[zeocen]

I've also found that DSE folk have been somewhat more helpful than Harvey Norman in regards to laptops. It might pay to shop around and see what kinda deals you can get from difference places, especially in regards to finance if you're taking that route. DSE deal with Finance Now who are great, they have no punishments on paying things early, etc. HN are with GE Money which, in my experience have been absolutely horrible with hidden costs all over the show!

[onearmedbandit]

Sounds like a decent price for its specs as has been said elsewhere, I'm in the industry currently so have a reasonable idea on that. As far as the warranty goes it is really only a piece of mind thing as also has been said, but I can add that both the manufacturers and extended warranty will most likely only cover hardware issuses, not software. This is obvious when you think about it but most buyers are not aware and not made aware either.

In regards to not being supplied with the installation disks, this was the same as vista. On your hard drive there will be a partition with the install files stored there. The idea is is that if windows should fail to boot you can access the partition (for example acer's require you to press control and f11 during bootup) where you can format and reinstall. All good as long as your hard drive hasn't suffered a terminal failure.

[Winston001]

That is a good laptop with good specs. It is a long way above the basic machines and should keep you happy for a long time. Also Asus is a reputable brand. Personally I would rely on the CGA for guarantee protection but paying for a guarantee is a lot easier. I did read of a case (reported in Consumer?) where somebody took a successful small claim for a laptop which failed after 5 years.

I have an old HP NX5000 which is 7 years old and still useable. It is slow but browses the net, email etc all good. The business level HPs (ie. expensive end) tend to be reliable laptops. Using an HP 6710b at this moment. Anyway the Asus should give you a lot of pleasure.

[davebullet]

If you are worried about the graphics card - check out:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

You'll need to know the EXACT model number. A 1Gb graphics card sounds like it should be ok for what to want. Graphics card memory is only but one indicator for performance (much like PC CPU speed is only one factor).

Does the laptop have built in wireless networking (either G or N (N= the latest))? That would be the other typical need for a laptop.

PS: I still run our Windows 98 machine with Firefox 2 over our wireless network at home (got a cheak Edimax wireless card for about $50). It is way slower than the laptop, but still useable for basic surfing. So don't feel the need to chuck the old machine just yet.

[hayd3n]

Burning new laptop - advice please

ligher and some gas

[bogan]

after squinting at the blue text to decipher what brand you are getting (blue doesnt go well with the dark zone!) I saw it was ASUS, for well cheap too, I've got an asus with very similar specs running 7 atm, its pretty sweet, first thing i did was a complete format though to get rid of all the junk that comes pre-installed. The GTX220M would be the weak point in the system I think, but if you're not wanting it for games then thatll be fine.

[CookMySock]

It's annoying that they don't give you the system disks when buying win7. So if there's a problem - you can't format and reload!

Thats because you should buy a new computer, not try to fix it.

And don't even think of using Ubuntu. It's completely boring, with nothing interesting to do whatsoever except just USE it.

Steve

[Scouse]

If your getting windos7 with the laptop you should go for somting with an intel i7 proccessor

[SMOKEU]

If you wish to contemplate everlasting virus attacks, by a windows PC

If you wish to enjoy using your computer, easily connect with the internet and components, go for a MAC. I have 3 of them and they just work. Even my clumsy teenagers are unable to break them. They just love the ease of use.

I don't have any problems with viruses. AVG Free takes care of that. I also use AdAware and Zone Alarm. Mac computers are grossly overpriced, there is far less software available for them compared to Windows XP, they are often more expensive and more difficult to do hardware upgrades on as well as being not as nice to use as Windows XP Pro. I will admit that Macs' do usually look very nice compared to generic Windows based computers, but you'd be better off buying a Windows machine and then using the spare change to buy some nice sculptures or paintings. Why pay double to get a machine that does half as much?

[jonbuoy]

If you wish to contemplate everlasting virus attacks, by a windows PC

If you wish to enjoy using your computer, easily connect with the internet and components, go for a MAC. I have 3 of them and they just work. Even my clumsy teenagers are unable to break them. They just love the ease of use.

Ive personally never had a virus on a Windows computer, had to repair a few with viruses -coincidently none of them had antivirus running on them. Windows 7 or Ubuntu.