I'm looking to help a friend get a new laptop and have narrowed down the specs but am unsure on some of the brands out there at the moment. There is a budget of £500.
For my own I looked at the screen size first and this rapidly reduced the numbers available. After a few other considerations I went for an Asus N76VJ.
For my friend he is looking at a 15.6" screen. Since I'll also end up supporting it for him, there are some things I don't like so I'll be guiding him away from them.
Hopefully a few members can shed a little light on some similar models out there and can let me know any strengths and weaknesses that they have please?
From previous experience I do not like HP or Compaq laptops, although his old one is a Compaq, HP have since bought out the firm and it looks like the name has vanished from the market place. Upgrading them is too much like hard work and repairs are expensive. Also the HP PSUs tend to be very expensive to replace and require an unusually high voltage. At least this has been my experience in the past.
I am looking at the following specs to recommend for him:
Core specs:
Additional specs:
Some of the brands I've been looking at:
The Toshiba C855 series looks very similar to my older main laptop (L655D). I have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses (broken keyboard tiles = new keyboard, otherwise very reliable & mostly easy to fix).
For my own I looked at the screen size first and this rapidly reduced the numbers available. After a few other considerations I went for an Asus N76VJ.
For my friend he is looking at a 15.6" screen. Since I'll also end up supporting it for him, there are some things I don't like so I'll be guiding him away from them.
Hopefully a few members can shed a little light on some similar models out there and can let me know any strengths and weaknesses that they have please?
From previous experience I do not like HP or Compaq laptops, although his old one is a Compaq, HP have since bought out the firm and it looks like the name has vanished from the market place. Upgrading them is too much like hard work and repairs are expensive. Also the HP PSUs tend to be very expensive to replace and require an unusually high voltage. At least this has been my experience in the past.
I am looking at the following specs to recommend for him:
Core specs:
- Form factor: Laptop
- Screen size: 15.6"
- Processor: Intel i5 (3210M or 3230M)
- RAM: 6GB or 8GB (I can always upgrade it for him as required)
- Hard drive capacity: 500GB-1TB
- O/S: Windows 8
Additional specs:
- HDMI output (video @1080p)
- Built-in Web cam
- Good battery life (above 3 hours)
- DVD Writer (Blu-Ray would be nice, but not essential)
Some of the brands I've been looking at:
- Acer
- Asus
- Dell
- Fujitsu
- Lenovo
- Samsung
- Toshiba
The Toshiba C855 series looks very similar to my older main laptop (L655D). I have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses (broken keyboard tiles = new keyboard, otherwise very reliable & mostly easy to fix).