Recommend me a laptop

[Shurv]

There are soo many laptops on the market, it's too hard for a simpleton like me to decide what to buy. My reqiurements are or both home and work, portable but doesn't have to be a tiny one, as I'll need to use it to present stuff 1:1 to potential clients.Decent processing speed and a sensible battery life and reliability are the most important.I have a separate hard drive for storage and need it to read and copy cd's and dvd's.I need "office" on it and some ability to play video clips and cd's.Thats about it. I don't want to spend more than £ 600 if I can help it, but I want a decent machine. I know there are some IT buffs on here who can help me avoid the lemons that are out there.Thanks.....

 

[turbine_2]

To be honest, with that spec just about any laptop would do the trick and your costs are reasonable. I'd probably go with Acer because I've only had good experiences with them, although they are a bit plasticy. Dell / HP / Compaq are much of a muchness, although Compaq are aimed more at the business market so better aftercare support than some but at a cost. Oddly enough PC World deals aren't that bad for laptops.

 

[Shurv]

I've been looking at 2 HP ones. a G61 - 110sa and a DM3-1025sa. Anybody got one of these or an HP and can recommend them?

 

[Padge]

. I'd probably go with Acer because I've only had good experiences with them, although they are a bit plasticy..

Probably would have agreed with you for the first few months of ownership but after 15 months of use the case on my acer has cracked around the hinges and the battery quality is cheap so only gets about 20 minutes life now. I only use it at home too, so it's not bounced around in transit like my work Dell

 

[Greger]

There are soo many laptops on the market, it's too hard for a simpleton like me to decide what to buy. My reqiurements are or both home and work, portable but doesn't have to be a tiny one, as I'll need to use it to present stuff 1:1 to potential clients.Decent processing speed and a sensible battery life and reliability are the most important.I have a separate hard drive for storage and need it to read and copy cd's and dvd's.I need "office" on it and some ability to play video clips and cd's.Thats about it. I don't want to spend more than £ 600 if I can help it, but I want a decent machine. I know there are some IT buffs on here who can help me avoid the lemons that are out there.Thanks.....

Sony VGN-NW20EF from John Lewis £499 - 2 year guarantee as well. Pressie for the wife. Pentium core duo thing with lots of memory etc. Works well, feels much better build than some cheaper brands and is nice to use. Have skyped OK and made discs. iTunes works as well which is a bonus. I like it so much I am thinking about getting one for myself. As for office I am looking at the 'openoffice.org' site for the linux version free download which will work with all microsoft office version files, in other words the latest .docx format. Comes with Windows 7 as well which is better than Visio by all accounts.
Cheers

 

[brassmonkey001]

Sony VGN-NW20EF from John Lewis £499 - 2 year guarantee as well. Pressie for the wife. Pentium core duo thing with lots of memory etc. Works well, feels much better build than some cheaper brands and is nice to use. Have skyped OK and made discs. iTunes works as well which is a bonus. I like it so much I am thinking about getting one for myself. As for office I am looking at the 'openoffice.org' site for the linux version free download which will work with all microsoft office version files, in other words the latest .docx format. Comes with Windows 7 as well which is better than Visio by all accounts.
Cheers

I think you mean Vista?