Laptop advice

[Hulkster316]

Have built 3 desktops for myself but are a complete noob when it comes to laptops.
Wanted to get one now to use as mainly for web surfing and media playing but dont want it to crawl.
Would like a dvd-rw and dont want to pay more than £600 if possible.
Could anyone recommend a company or a good place to start looking.
Also what would be the best way to connect to my desktop and to view dvds etc on my lcd tv cheers.

[UHT]

If you are looking for cheap Dell have some offers on their laptops atm. Build quality isnt IBM but it aint terrible.

[junglejim]

I'll second for dell laptops.... I would recommend getting a centrino based laptop (pentium m) as they tend to offer good perfomance at lower temps... therefore less sweaty laps, longer battery life and less noisy fans. The dell inspiron 6000 are generally well received and they are widescreen too.

Regarding connecting to the desktop I would recommend either a crossover network cable otherwise you could set up a wireless router so that you could connect to the desktop wirelessly from the laptop.

Your lcd tv may well have a monitor input which would be the neatest way to watch dvds from the pc otherwise you can use tv out froim your graphics card if it has it (most modern altops have this feature too)

[irishjoe]

If the purse strings are really tight, you could buy an oldish laptop and fit an internal dvd drive.
Dell are doing cheapish laptops at the mo but its already been mentioned.

[Hulkster316]

Cheers for the advice . Really like the look of the 6000 inspiron lovely screen looking at what i guess is the entry level one for £ 519. Only worry is the intel intergrated graphics and only 256mb ram , would this make it sluggish for everyday use like when having lots of windows active ?
Also found this one from ebuyer any good ? or is it better to go the intel route ? Cheers
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=88935

[irishjoe]

Are the socket A laptops not really big and hot?
You should be able to find a Centrino 1.6 for a decent price now...
I've got an old Sony vaio P3-800. One of the really thin ones, it gets quite hot but thats just the Pentium 3...

Hows about this? Here

or this

Cheapest I could find after a quick look...

[killie99]

I bought a Dell 6000 a couple of weeks ago and it's superb, build quality is darn good as well - got it off the Outlet store rather than the regular store and saved an absolute packet. The only problem I have with it is the WUXGA screen can make surfing a bit difficult at times as the text is so small - it's very apparent when on the BBC web pages. I've tried messing with the font sizes in the display properties (currently set to 125%) but it's still not great. Anyone any idea if there is another way to improve it? On the other hand it's fantastic for photoshop editing so I guess it depends what you want to do with it.

[Hulkster316]

Sorry for bumping this to the top of the list but have a couple more questions.
Unfortunetly for my bank account anyway i have decided to get the Dell 9300.
Is it worth paying £85 extra to get a 128mb X300 instead of a 64mb and is it possible to connect it to my home cinema system ? Cheers

[killie99]

It's worth it if you're going to play games as I don't believe it's upgradable if you decide at some time in the future you want more graphic memory. I'm pretty sure the 9300 doesn't have digital audio out or 5.1 out so connecting to your home cinema won't yield you surround sound, although you probably could use an Audigy USB unit to get surround out.

[RIOT]

Are the socket A laptops not really big and hot?

Big .. no not really ... HOT yes very