Before buying PC please ask our advice first!

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Reply 5740

zxh800

Original post by Zorg

She'll be using a stock cooler, so no backplate :smile:

just pushpins

Sorry, what I meant was the I/O shield. Got confused with the terminology.

Reply 5741

Toni-j-W

Hiya, I'm going to med school this autumn and need to get a laptop / netbook to take with me, I've never bought one before and know next to nothing about computers so some advice would be fab :smile:

I'm not a music or gaming fanatic so I just need something basic to work on and maybe watch i-player and use i-tunes on. Also the cheaper the better - I was having a think about the hp mini - gd move or a complete fail?

Reply 5742

Tathrim

Original post by Toni-j-W

Hiya, I'm going to med school this autumn and need to get a laptop / netbook to take with me, I've never bought one before and know next to nothing about computers so some advice would be fab :smile:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=953228 should help, and take a look at http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1683719 for thoughts, you'll find lots of advice in the laptop sub forum as well. :smile:

Reply 5743

cambo211

I need an upgrade for this laptop as it's beginning to piss me off and the DVD drives gone and i've decided i want a desktop :colonhash:

Spoiler

Unfortunately i have bugger all money to spare and as i'm currently using a laptop i have no parts/monitor/keyboard i can salvage so i need everything.

Realistically how much am i looking at spending for a semi decent upgrade?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 5744

Zorg

Original post by cambo211

I need an upgrade for this laptop as it's beginning to piss me off and the DVD drives gone :colonhash:

Spoiler

Laptop upgrade difficult. Bar the RAM and HDD. What are you wanting the extra performance for?

Why does everyone want to upgrade their laptop all of a sudden?

Reply 5745

student777

Hey, I'll be starting med school and I'm looking for a laptop that will last for the whole time I'm there (5 years).
It'll be for everyday use- mainly Office, using the Internet, watching films, listening to music, maybe some occasional Photoshop work. I'd like good battery life and it's got to be reliable.
Money-wise, I'm looking to spend 400-500 pounds, though I suppose if there is a really great machine I could pay a bit more.
Anyone have advice on these laptops?

Packard Bell Easynote TSX66-HR-055UK- this one is expensive though
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-bell-easynote-tsx66-hr-055uk-15-6-laptop-bronze-09862738-pdt.html

Medion Akoya E6221- Haven't heard of this company before
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/technology/computing_and_gaming/121672786_medion_akoya_e6221_intel_core_i32310m_processor_4gb500gb_156_black_laptop.html?hnav=4294966701&source=phd&gclid=ppc&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=new_tech_test

Packard Bell Easynote NS44-HR-033UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Packard-Bell-Easynote-HR-033UK-Notebook/dp/B004TG7S8S

Sony Vaio VPCEB3JOE/WI
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/sony-vaio-vpceb4j0e-wi-cek-white-laptop-08702357-pdt.html?srcid=198&gclid=COeEkOW9_qkCFUFC4QodtihH0A

If these aren't good, can someone please point me in the direction of any better laptops?

Thanks in advance :smile:

Reply 5746

cambo211

Original post by Zorg

Laptop upgrade difficult. Bar the RAM and HDD. What are you wanting the extra performance for?

Why does everyone want to upgrade their laptop all of a sudden?

I don't want to upgrade my laptop just want a computer thats better than that :P

I thought i'd put that in but apparently not.

Reply 5747

Zorg

Original post by cambo211

I don't want to upgrade my laptop just want a computer thats better than that :P

I thought i'd put that in but apparently not.

Ah I see. Well are you willing to build it yourself?

Reply 5748

cambo211

Original post by Zorg

Ah I see. Well are you willing to build it yourself?

I'm certainly willing to give it a shot if it makes it significantly cheaper.

Reply 5749

Sarky.

Ok now its my turn for advice, I'm off to uni in september hopefully, which is in Dundee and I live in Leeds. So obviously there's a huge distance. I'm not sure whether to go for a laptop around £500 which can cope with casual gaming (not going to happen unless AMD Fusion goes more mainstream) or I go for an even smaller build. My current build is here...so yeah my PC is small, but I want something even smaller for uni so I can transport it easier.

Going by this build thread alone and modding the case, I was thinking about the following components:

i3 540
Gigabyte GA-H55-USB3
This miniITX case with a few alterations
Be Quiet! SFX 350W PSU
XFX 5770 single slot.
My current C300
Total price USED = £225, brand new about £280...

It'll all fit...the mod I was thinking is if there's enough room above the 5.25" bay, is to put a 120mm Scythe thin fans, can't remember the name of it. OR maybe two of them either side of the case as a sort of wind tunnel effect. Maybe squeeze in a 1TB hard drive somewhere. Cheap case = light = don't care if it gets damaged.

Yes? No?

Reply 5750

Zorg

Original post by cambo211

I'm certainly willing to give it a shot if it makes it significantly cheaper.

It will, by about £50-£100. For a good gaming PC you should be able to get it done for ~£650. That will be significantly better than your laptop.

What are you planning to use it for?

Reply 5751

Chaz_Hack_Rabbit

Original post by Toni-j-W

Hiya, I'm going to med school this autumn and need to get a laptop / netbook to take with me, I've never bought one before and know next to nothing about computers so some advice would be fab :smile:

Hp mini is a no-no for iplayer unless you get a separate (or built in) HD decoder chip for it - mine has major issues with high quality (>1Gb) video files. You can get the decoder chip from here.
Apart from the iplayer issue, it is an excellent netbook to have for uni - has a super big harddrive for something that size (I have a huge amount of additional storage on my network and my desktop so videos don't stay on it too long) and the battery life (with 1Gb Ram) is something close to 8 hours! Plus it's got built in bluetooth and more ports than you could shake a stick at!

Reply 5752

Psyk

What does everything think about this spec?

https://www.aria.co.uk/WishList/4oVJn8-tjGGxZQgrq7sDJA,,

I think this is about my budget. Don't know much about the CPU coolers, case and power supply, so it would be good if someone could recommend something reasonably quiet for around the same price. I don't plan on overclocking and I'm unlikely to upgrade it much, so that's not an issue. Being quiet is more important, but obviously good enough to keep that system working.

I'm also set on keeping the SSD. I'd rather have that than a more powerful GPU or CPU.

Reply 5753

Psyk

Probably won't bother with that then. Not too fussed about the noise under load, it will be drowned out by the sound of the game.

Thanks, I might consider that. But couldn't that get a bit warm inside? That noise insulation looks like it might insulate more than noise, and surely those fans can't get the same sort of airflow you'd get with faster ones.

Reply 5754

jermaindefoe

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-samsung-b2430l-widescreen-hd-lcd-1920x1080-700001-300cd-m2-5ms-vga-dvi

decent price for a good monitor?

Reply 5755

Psyk

Sounds good, I'll consider it. Kind of depends exactly how much money I have to spare, I won't know for sure until monday.

I'm also tempted by one of these water CPU coolers. Could never be bothered with water cooling before but now you can get all-in-one water cooling systems I might consider it.

But then again, it might be a bit pointless making it that quiet when it's in the same room as my fridge-freezer.