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Posted by: besip May 28 2011, 10:08 PM

Hi
i need a advice for buying laptop...because i don't use now my laptop and i have to return the laptop what i have now to my friends early as i counted my budget don't be big...i be ready to spend now around 300£ + - 50£....it's be more easy buy some kind of new dell for example for 600£ and be sure i have bomb

ok i'm now on Scotland..for example there is many good pages to check laptop prices
here is one

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/clearance_laptops_and_netbooks-1458-commercial.html?srcid=198&xtor=SEC-17-GOO-[Laptop_Generic]&mctag=gg_goog_7904&gclid=CION07vAi6kCFUEa4QodFDD0iw

and this one i was find on e-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170646351313&category=177&_trksid=p5197.c0.m619

beter version

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-620-WT090EA-2-30GHz-15-6TFT/dp/B00487C82E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1306618884&sr=8-3


i want to buy something good for the price what i have now..or i gonna have on few weeks
for sure i want to have ok camera when i buying laptop....card reader...i understand for the price that not gonna be gaming laptop and hard drive don't need to be so big because we can buy some storage hard drive later...i will prefer speed and basic usage...the laptop will be used also maybe for guitar recording..wathing some internet movies

thanks for all advice
Rene

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 28 2011, 10:15 PM

If you want to use it for some guitar recording, you will need external sound card.

Almost any laptop today is capable of doing all these tasks. I recently tried new Toshiba Satellite series, and they are excellent value computers. Satellite with new Intel's Sandy Bridge i3 CPU will do the job just great. I advise getting also good quality portable mouse, they are always handy, and good laptop bag.

Posted by: besip May 28 2011, 10:47 PM

understand thanks but still if somebody know some kind of really good stuff for the budget let me know
i know 1 laptop have this and other this

for example the link for the laptop from e-bay..on my opinion
there is few + for the laptop
price
have 2.3gh procesor
2mp camera
HDMI, Bluetooth, Card Reader, 3x USB, VGA
DVD±RW SuperMulti Dual Layer Optical Drive with LightScribe

most of laptops with price range what i wrote here do not have it all of this
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- just 250 gb---but thats not important----
- it's just Processor Intel Pentium ...lot of new stuff is core 3,,,but thats why i asking i'm not so good enough to say if thats really big - minus or if there is some other kind of - what i have to look



all of this mean...if you somebody really know some good stuff to advice me...feel free to post here
btw to me the laptop from e-bay looks ok!?

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey May 29 2011, 01:46 AM

I would look into the highest speed/ram you can get for your money, as you said you can always put a new internal HD in as well as an external. If possible I'd look into an i3 it is a step up from a dual core. Yes they are both 2 cores, but the i3 has HT (Hyper Threading) which gives you 2 virtual cores also. This will push the cpu to think it is a quad-core when needed and help render/process better. Which will help when you are creating multi-tracks for recording.

Ivan makes great points too, with the mouse / ext sound card. I can say a mouse is a mouse as long as it works. The ext sound card I can't help what so ever. I use a Pod HD500 for recording and I absolutely hate the sound it gives me via my mac. I have been searching for a usb interface that I could mic or even maybe going with a TonePort UX1/2 because some of members here pull out amazing recording with it.

Hope that helps in the journey of a new pc.

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 29 2011, 07:56 AM

In this price range, for a new machine, the specs will be pretty close. Sadly there is no "Magic Bullet", "Better than the rest" in this price range as far as I'm aware. Below 500 you are looking at a high end "Netbook". So as was mentioned try to get the i3 so you get four virtual cores total, as much ram as you can afford and that's mostly it.

You can buy laptops custom built for music but they are way pricey. At this point, just try to get something new if possible so you get a warranty as the first repair will likely be almost as much as the entire unit. Buying used laptops off ebay is DANGEROUS. I know people who have had great luck but I also know of several horror stories that make it not worth it. You are often buying someone elses problems. Like buying a used car from someone you dont' know.

The really important bit will be your audio interface as that will determine your sound much more than the commodity net book. The POD stuff is great for recording interface use, but to be honest you have to realize the limitations of the POD presets/plugins. They are great general purpose sounds. They are not really designed for Heavy Metal. So if Rock/Blues is your thing, your fine. If Metal is your thing, you can use the POD as an interface and then get something like

GUITAR RIG 4
AMPLITUDE METAL
PEAVEY REVALVER

and use that as the software to get your "sound" for recording.

Hope this helps

Posted by: besip May 29 2011, 09:11 AM

Thanks understand core 3 is best way..my budget isn't great now but the core 3 start around 350£ and thats ok
here is one

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-g62-451sa-core-i3-laptop-with-3gb-memory-black-08722513-pdt.html


this one looks ok

i was asking mainly because i want to know if there is big different betwen the 2 core and 3 core laptop on speed????

the thing is some 3 core laptops sdon't have all great features as 2 core laptops as i write here about the laptop from e-bay
yes i'm afraid to buy stuff from e-bay to somethime...but the one what i mention here looks ok


btw-if you be can compare this 2 laptop...core 2 from e-bay and this core 3 from Pc.worl....
or if you be have to buy..which one you be chose???
or advice me some kind of other please...i be maybe around 2-3 weeks out of internet because i have to return this laptop so i want to get many info as possible

Posted by: besip May 29 2011, 10:12 PM

that one also look good


http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-g62-b50sa-15-6-refurbished-laptop-red-08527209-pdt.html

??

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 29 2011, 10:13 PM

This one seems as good a choice as any in the range. Again, the big thing you want to worry about is the warranty. At this price point, one hardware failure will cost you more than the rig is worth to repair. So make certain to get a warranty or as long as you plan on using this for music. Say two years?

Posted by: Qenzoz May 29 2011, 10:25 PM

Always go after the graphic card when you're buying a PC/Laptop, everything more or less matches the graphic cards value.
For guitar recording & watching online tv movies, you just need a good camera & fast download speed , but you could always get a awesome cheap webcam in the future .

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 29 2011, 10:35 PM

Core i3 has 2 cores, but it boosts performance of them in order to make them available more often for applications. Some applications can be tricked for having 4 cores, as more cycles are available, but it's not that important IMO. What is important is that i3 is better processor in general, and the whole platform is upgraded compared to Core 2 Duo.

If you use it for music, you will need external interface, as Todd and others suggested, POD Studio GX may be a good solution for starters. It features free software modeller POD Farm, which is quite decent. I used it for a year, and it produces solid results.

Other important thing that Todd mentioned is warranty. I would also advise getting laptop with as longest warranty possible.

Posted by: besip May 29 2011, 11:47 PM

are you made this point with warranty because the last link was fo rRefurbished Laptop? or you recomedet to do that also for new one?
you guys scare me again

and yes i will plan to buy some line 6 probably stuff to record music..or i was on backround nade some ok recording just with my video camera
i'm always get crazy before i buy something

Posted by: besip May 30 2011, 02:42 PM

btw..and another what i like

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-5742z-red-laptop-08702320-pdt.html

but i'm not sure from description how strong is camera and what they want to say with
Optical disk drive DVD Writer
it's probably not just DVD writer

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 30 2011, 07:45 PM

This one is OK, but you should check some reviews for battery time, and see what is warranty time.

I don't like the fact that it has mono speaker installed tho, it can be annoying to listen music that is stereo on mono speaker.

Posted by: besip May 31 2011, 02:53 AM

thanks for the point with the sound..i'm really not good on that..so it's that mean even if i conect the laptop later to some kind of monitors i still gonna have mono sound???


the 1 HP Refurbished Laptop was look best to me...but also when Todd made the point with warranty issue i wasn't sure if he do that because we was talk about Refurbished stuff


btw-thanks all for trying to help

Posted by: Fran May 31 2011, 09:46 AM

I recently got an i3 with 4GB ram for my gf and it works like a champ

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 31 2011, 11:36 AM

If you need to work with audio, you will need this:

- sound card
- speakers
- external hard drive

So, it would be better if you could cut costs for the hard drive for the laptop. For example 250GB will do just fine for Windows and other programs, and this drive will be spinning at 5400rpm.

For audio applications you could get another external 250GB SATA3 drive with 7200rpm, they are not that expensive.

Check this one out:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/toshiba-satellite-c660d-102-15-6-refurbished-laptop-black-08616479-pdt.html

It's AMD dual core, which is nice, Toshiba Satellite series are well made, you won't have any problems with those. It has a large screen, which is very important, and separate numpad will be very useful as well.
This one runs at 270 pounds, and for the rest of the budget, you can get POD Studio GX and external 300GB SATA3 7200rpm drive.

Posted by: besip May 31 2011, 03:27 PM

ohh looks nice
i al;so like the thing so there is possible to expandability RAM and Graphics cars
thanks for the advice i will check this out

but just look like the camera is not so good there

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 31 2011, 03:29 PM

This device can be upgraded with RAM, up to 8GBs I think.

Graphic card is quite good for this price range.

Posted by: besip Jun 1 2011, 10:24 PM

next one
have also 7200rpm sata HD

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/257135

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 1 2011, 11:02 PM

Just to be clear on the warranty issue. As I mentioned in a couple of previous posts, you want to get a Warranty when you buy a laptop no matter what. New/used/refurb/built on mars, whatever, make sure it has at least a one year warranty no matter what it is, who makes it, etc. Things break, stuff happens. Cover your back and have a warranty in place. Make sense?

One unexpected repair (new machines can fail/break too) and the repair cost can be more than you paid for the laptop. I can't stress this enough, which is why this is the third time I'm saying it as I"m not sure it's sinking in?

Posted by: tonymiro Jun 2 2011, 09:30 AM

If you go for the new Sandybridge CPU be aware that there are two types H67 and P67. The P67 is apparently the one that is better for audio but needs a separate video card.

Posted by: besip Jun 2 2011, 01:10 PM

understand the warranty is important almost all laptops come with 1 year warranty
there is chance to have 3 years warranty..but my budget do not have extra 170£


i was find another nice on Acer with stereo spek

http://www.simplyacer.com/Acer_Aspire_5742z_1070067.html

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 2 2011, 01:28 PM

Yup Just be careful if buying a used laptop or one from Ebay. You can often save some money up front, but can get bit on the back end. Some great advice so far in this thread BTW.

Posted by: besip Jun 2 2011, 01:31 PM

any what you be can recomendet to me? for the budget around 350£
and thanks for your previously respond

Posted by: besip Jun 2 2011, 01:58 PM

i like this 3 now
Hp

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/257135
+icore3 7200 rmp
-lot of people complain about the shotcuts on left side on keypad and mousepad isn't sensitive enough..but i will by use regular mouse

Acer

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/acer-aspire-5742z-red-laptop-08702320-pdt.html
+500gb HD great shape
-battery and none speaker...i will gona use some 5,1 system..but can i put there better battery?

and
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/268391
+icore3 and not sure if the speakers are stereo
- again probably the battery


which of these you guys like??

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 2 2011, 08:40 PM

H67 is running on lower frequencies, and so is the RAM on it, so P67 may be a wiser choice, but a little more pricy. Thanks for adding this Tony, didn't remember it.


First one seems like the optimal choice!