[. . .]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I don't know whether I should buy a laptop or all in one PC/imac and a tablet for university.

What would you recommend. I've had my laptop for 5 years now and it's still going strong but have noticed I don't actually use it anywhere else than my room. I occasionaly take round the house but that is as far as it goes.

If I do buy an imac/all in one PC my main problem will be taking it to and from university I would probably bring a tablet home when I come to visit.

[theandyguthrie]

All in ones are a bit pointless really. You can get laptops with better specs plus portability.

All in ones use laptop hardware. The real debate is laptop vs desktop whether you need portability.

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by . . .)
I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I don't know whether I should buy a laptop or all in one PC/imac and a tablet for university.

What would you recommend. I've had my laptop for 5 years now and it's still going strong but have noticed I don't actually use it anywhere else than my room. I occasionaly take round the house but that is as far as it goes.

If I do buy an imac/all in one PC my main problem will be taking it to and from university I would probably bring a tablet home when I come to visit.

What do you need it for exactly?

[. . .]

(Original post by ANARCHY__)
What do you need it for exactly?

Mainly be used for moderate gaming and moderate photoshop and the usual surfing the internet and writing up notes, coursework and making presentations. I will also be watching films on it so a good screen/monitor would be nice.

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by . . .)
Mainly be used for moderate gaming and moderate photoshop and the usual surfing the internet and writing up notes, coursework and making presentations.

It would depend on what games you'd like to play and whether you envision yourself playing more past the first clutch you buy. Due to this and the image manipulation, I'd rule a tablet straight out. You're now looking at either a laptop or desktop and either an Apple or a PC. I would recommend for you to get a Macbook Air or a decent laptop. The reason I don't advocate the Pro is because you can get Steam on a Mac, allowing you to play games without the disc. This may also be true of Photoshop for which a Mac would probably be optimised. You can quite easily get free and proprietary office software so I wouldn't worry about that for now.

In all honesty, I would recommend a Macbook Air with a student discount. If you post any laptops you find on here with similar or better specs, I can go through that if you like.

Hope that helps.

[. . .]

(Original post by ANARCHY__)
It would depend on what games you'd like to play and whether you envision yourself playing more past the first clutch you buy. Due to this and the image manipulation, I'd rule a tablet straight out. You're now looking at either a laptop or desktop and either an Apple or a PC. I would recommend for you to get a Macbook Air or a decent laptop. The reason I don't advocate the Pro is because you can get Steam on a Mac, allowing you to play games without the disc. This may also be true of Photoshop for which a Mac would probably be optimised. You can quite easily get free and proprietary office software so I wouldn't worry about that for now.

In all honesty, I would recommend a Macbook Air with a student discount. If you post any laptops you find on here with similar or better specs, I can go through that if you like.

Hope that helps.

The screen is a little small for my liking on the macbook air. I want something that is in the range of 15"-21" for screen size.

[Bezaberry]

(Original post by . . .)
I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I don't know whether I should buy a laptop or all in one PC/imac and a tablet for university.

What would you recommend. I've had my laptop for 5 years now and it's still going strong but have noticed I don't actually use it anywhere else than my room. I occasionaly take round the house but that is as far as it goes.

If I do buy an imac/all in one PC my main problem will be taking it to and from university I would probably bring a tablet home when I come to visit.

I had a Laptop and a Desktop PC at Uni, I hardly used the laptop in truth, and ended up giving it to my girlfriend when hers packed up. I'm not a fan of Macs though, so I wouldn't be one to ask between the two as my choice would be PC. Especially for gaming purposes, if it's just light gaming like fm and the like, then a Mac should suffice, if you're on about using it as your main gaming medium for big releases, I'd see which ones are Mac Compatible first.

[. . .]

(Original post by Bezaberry)
I had a Laptop and a Desktop PC at Uni, I hardly used the laptop in truth, and ended up giving it to my girlfriend when hers packed up. I'm not a fan of Macs though, so I wouldn't be one to ask between the two as my choice would be PC. Especially for gaming purposes, if it's just light gaming like fm and the like, then a Mac should suffice, if you're on about using it as your main gaming medium for big releases, I'd see which ones are Mac Compatible first.

The games would be first person shooters, fifa games and gta really. I'm tempted to go for a desktop PC with a good monitor. I'm willing to spend about £800 give or take a £100.

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by . . .)
The screen is a little small for my liking on the macbook air. I want something that is in the range of 15"-21" for screen size.

In which case, I would assess how much the portability is a factor and either get a well specced laptop or build a desktop. An iMac may still be a possibility but they are considerably more expensive than the other two options mentioned.

[jeddows]

(Original post by . . .)
I'm willing to spend about £800 give or take a £100.

The only issue with buying a desktop/all in one AND a tablet is you're splitting your budget over two devices. In other words, if you look at a tablet, it's £330 for the base spec iPad 2, leaving you only £470 to get a decent pc and monitor or all in one Even if you went for the new Nexus 7 which is only £160 for the cheapest one, you've got £640 to spend, which is going to be a bit of a stretch for a good all in one (bearing in mind you want it to last through uni), and if you spent about £400 on a fairly decent desktop, you'd only have £140 to get a good monitor

I was looking at building my own desktop for uni and buying a decent tablet, but the costs just got too much

If it's any help, I've decided to keep my current laptop (possibly up the RAM/HDD or just clean it up tbh) and buy the Microsoft Surface when it come out for portability and the touch screen experience

[Bezaberry]

(Original post by . . .)
The games would be first person shooters, fifa games and gta really. I'm tempted to go for a desktop PC with a good monitor. I'm willing to spend about £800 give or take a £100.

That amount will get you a pretty kick ass PC, so I'd go for that.

[. . .]

(Original post by ANARCHY__)
In which case, I would assess how much the portability is a factor and either get a well specced laptop or build a desktop. An iMac may still be a possibility but they are considerably more expensive than the other two options mentioned.

I think I'll just get a laptop. A PC. Any recommendations?

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by . . .)
I think I'll just get a laptop. A PC. Any recommendations?

Yup sure. I would say the best build in my opinion would be a HP. Some people prefer Lenovo etc but HP is my best bet. In terms of what to get exactly, I couldn't tell you exactly what model but if you show me a few models you've been interested in, I can certainly tell if it's good value for money.

Consider looking elsewhere than Currys or PC World. Scan is pretty decent and sometimes Maplin has a decent deal. By no means rule out the first two but I wouldn't make them the first and only port of call.

[. . .]

(Original post by ANARCHY__)
Yup sure. I would say the best build in my opinion would be a HP. Some people prefer Lenovo etc but HP is my best bet. In terms of what to get exactly, I couldn't tell you exactly what model but if you show me a few models you've been interested in, I can certainly tell if it's good value for money.

Consider looking elsewhere than Currys or PC World. Scan is pretty decent and sometimes Maplin has a decent deal. By no means rule out the first two but I wouldn't make them the first and only port of call.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-a...roductFeatures

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/HP_Pr...ET/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ASUS_...9V/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...02/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...01/version.asp

The acer laptops look like good value for money.

I'm thinking about going for the last one.

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by . . .)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-a...roductFeatures

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/HP_Pr...ET/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ASUS_...9V/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...02/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...01/version.asp

The acer laptops look like good value for money.

I'm thinking about going for the last one.

I would go for the third or the last one.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by . . .)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-a...roductFeatures

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/HP_Pr...ET/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/ASUS_...9V/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...02/version.asp

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_...01/version.asp

The acer laptops look like good value for money.

I'm thinking about going for the last one.

(Original post by ANARCHY__)
I would go for the third or the last one.

Brought to my attention recently

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics...&view=pictures

MEDION® AKOYA® P6815 15.6" Laptop (MD98059)
Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM processor, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT650M graphics, 750 GB hard drive, 6 GB memory, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, Dolby Home Theater® v4, matte 39.6 cm/15.6" HD display
£600 latest ivy bridge as well and a pretty good gaming graphics card there as well.

It will smoke them all spec wise

[ANARCHY__]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
Brought to my attention recently

http://www.medion.com/gb/electronics...&view=pictures

MEDION® AKOYA® P6815 15.6" Laptop (MD98059)
Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM processor, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT650M graphics, 750 GB hard drive, 6 GB memory, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, Dolby Home Theater® v4, matte 39.6 cm/15.6" HD display
£600 latest ivy bridge as well and a pretty good gaming graphics card there as well.

It will smoke them all spec wise

That's incredible for the price.