Help me pick the best laptop

[GheeTsar]

I'm in the market for a laptop and having never bought one before, would value any advice on the current front runners for my cash. It's for general purpose - internet, watching films, music, office and very light gaming on the move.

Candidate 1: Dell Inspiron 15. i3 330M (2.13Ghz), 4Gb RAM @ 1066, Win7, ATI Mobility HD4330 512Mb, 320Gb HDD, 15.6" WLED screen. Wifi b/g £519

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dells...64d85e603b49d8

Candidate 2: MSI CX600. Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM @ ?, Win7, ATI Mobility HD4330 512Mb, 500Gb HDD, 16" screen. Wifi b/g/n, Card Reader £480

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176091

Candidate 3: Acer Aspire 5738ZG. Pentium T4300 2.16GHz, 4GB RAM @ 1066, Win7, ATI Mobility HD4570, 500GB HDD, 15.6" screen, Wifi b/g/n, Card Reader £511

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176852

Any advice gratefully received! With thanks in advance.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Its really confusing moving over to notebooks. Notebookcheck is were its at for processor and GPU comparisons. they have pretty intensive reviews too. www.notebookreview.com is meant to be ok.

Build quality/battery life are things to look at as well as grunt.

Hotukdeals come up with some offers occasionally - the i3 you listed for £450 for example. I don't know much about notebooks myself but the i3 looks the best bet. Should be the fastest and with all the gpus being similarish. Asus and MSI have variable build quality as do dell.

[MSIC]

It's for general purpose - internet, watching films, music, office and very light gaming on the move.

Well one person's 'very light gaming' is another person's 'gamer', etc, so any advice given is in that context.
If you are looking at 2d games such as solitaire etc, then any computer is good enough. If you are considering 3d-based games, then the graphics card is probably the most important quality (at least in any modern machine). With that in mind, your 3rd choice would be the best.

That said, they all look like good machines that i would happily own.

[GheeTsar]

Well one person's 'very light gaming' is another person's 'gamer', etc, so any advice given is in that context.
If you are looking at 2d games such as solitaire etc, then any computer is good enough. If you are considering 3d-based games, then the graphics card is probably the most important quality (at least in any modern machine). With that in mind, your 3rd choice would be the best.

That's a fair point. Ultimately I don't want to be limited to just basic 2D games, but am not planning on playing games published in the last 5 years. If it could play Trackmania on the move than that would be great!

[kmac]

Another factor to consider is portability. At this end of the scale they tend to be heavy. The Acer is listed as 2.8kgs. The other two I couldn't easily find the weight meaning they are going to be heavy.

[GheeTsar]

Another factor to consider is portability. At this end of the scale they tend to be heavy. The Acer is listed as 2.8kgs. The other two I couldn't easily find the weight meaning they are going to be heavy.

Yes, another good point although I'm not that bothered if it is a bit heavy as it will mainly be used about the house/transported by car and I can't afford the premium for a lightweight laptop!

[circuitmonkey]

You might also want to consider brand reliability
Dell doing better then Acer, and MSI not even getting a mention

[kmac]

If I was shelling out my own money, I would look at Toshiba, Sony or IBM (now Lenovo)

Have a look here for some bargains

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/sho...CategoryID=404

[usxhe190]

Will you be moving this around the house or out of the house?

[GheeTsar]

Will you be moving this around the house or out of the house?

Mainly within the house (and mainly to be used by my wife), with occasional usage on the train (once a month at most) and when staying away from home.

[circuitmonkey]

If I was shelling out my own money, I would look at Toshiba, Sony or IBM (now Lenovo)

Have a look here for some bargains

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/sho...CategoryID=404

god, I've had to fix far to many Sony laptops! I wouldn't recommend one to my enemy. But that's just my opinion

+1 for lenovo though, I've got a N100 and it's still going strong (we'll minor battery problems)

[usxhe190]

Mainly within the house (and mainly to be used by my wife), with occasional usage on the train (once a month at most) and when staying away from home.

If this is your wife who will be using it the most, I would recommend buying something that can be carried around (rather than gaming)...also with ok battery life.

Would you consider Atom based notebooks or 10inch netbooks? She might like to put it in her handbag.

I think:

HP DM1
Lenovo U150
Acer 1810T
Acer 1410
Dell Studio 14z
Asus UL30A

Atom versions:
HP Mini 311
Toshiba NB305 (Note that this netbook will not be able to watch HD films).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This Mesh notebook has the Mobility HD4650 DDR3:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...UCT&KEY=656957

This is the same notebook without an OS and is cheaper:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...UCT&KEY=647175

The Mobility HD4650 DDR3 should be capable of playing newer games reasonably well at lower resolutions.

The Mobility HD4650 is basically a downclocked desktop HD4670 DDR3.

[GheeTsar]

If this is your wife who will be using it the most, I would recommend buying something that can be carried around (rather than gaming)...also with ok battery life.

Would you consider Atom based notebooks or 10inch netbooks? She might like to put it in her handbag.

I would consider slightly smaller, but I don't think you can get the same performance for the budget, even if the battery life is better. Fitting in a handbag wouldn't be an advatage - it would get lost!

For me I think bang per buck is the most important rather than portability and battery life.

[usxhe190]

I would consider slightly smaller, but I don't think you can get the same performance for the budget, even if the battery life is better. Fitting in a handbag wouldn't be an advatage - it would get lost!

For me I think bang per buck is the most important rather than portability and battery life.

In that case, maybe you can think about the Asus UL80vt

[GheeTsar]

This Mesh notebook has the Mobility HD4650 DDR3:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...UCT&KEY=656957

This is the same notebook without an OS and is cheaper:

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...UCT&KEY=647175

The Mobility HD4650 DDR3 should be capable of playing newer games reasonably well at lower resolutions.

The Mobility HD4650 is basically a downclocked desktop HD4670 DDR3.

Both very nice machines, but a bit too much for the budget I have.