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byebyebadman · 2009-06-12, 00:17:31

Just a general question really. Anyone up to date on whats the best specs ect.

I'm looking to spend £400-£450 on a new laptop. It will be for personal use, just general use really. Lot's of movie watching and music listening and internet browsing.

Don't mind the odd bit of virtual dj either , and am thinking about getting traktor and making a go of it, so would I need to consider any particular soundcard specifications? And if possible I wouldn't mind a tv out on it, or at least some way of watching downloaded movies on my tv.

Any suggestions?

kel varnson · 2009-06-12, 02:30:53

macbook

blah · 2009-06-12, 02:35:14

pro

Dolphin Jr. · 2009-06-12, 02:35:31

byebyebadman Wrote:I'm looking to spend £400-£450 on a new laptop.

kel varnson Wrote:macbook

?

A lot of people go with dells
and they offer some pretty compact high spec computers tbh for around that mark

Digital Glasses · 2009-06-12, 02:35:53

kel varnson Wrote:macbook

Ghosts of Venice · 2009-06-12, 02:40:06

kel varnson Wrote:macbook

TheReasonFor · 2009-06-12, 02:43:29

Quote:I'm looking to spend £400-£450 on a new laptop.

danalani · 2009-06-12, 02:46:54

I'd agree with the suggestions of a Macbook because even though it is outside of the budget you've got, if you're going to "make a proper" go of Traktor and want to use it live, you'll want the reliability that comes with it.

Although if I was in your position I'd probably prefer getting something short-term with the money I have, in which case I'd go for an HP just from experience finding them pretty solid and reliable.

Patriark · 2009-06-12, 03:27:07

Acer delivers top notch laptops for a good price at the moment. A Macbook is a PC, so they aren't any more reliable than any other laptops, except perhaps OS X is a bit more secure than Windows. OS X is no problem installing on normal PCs though (after all Macs are normal PCs, just with a different chassis).

Acer are a bargain, except you might want to consider reinstalling any OS because there are quite a few unneccesary programs that are bundled in if you want to optimalise it. Just look out for a laptop with DVI outlet (if that's how you connect to your TV), and read some tests on a hardware site to know you get the best value for the money.

Paying double price for PC in a different casing isn't very smart if you're on a tight budget. If you have shitloads to spend, it's a different story

NonchA · 2009-06-12, 07:09:33

i know that some serato users have dell vostro laptops, it's in your budget and seems reliable

you can buy a macbook later

http://www.dell.com/content/products/cat...l=en&s=bsd

orsea · 2009-06-12, 09:08:19

why don't you wait a bit and buy a macbook

Fifstar · 2009-06-12, 09:16:03

I have a Dell and am pretty satisfied with it. Macbooks are cool, but don't make sense when you're on a budget. Do you guys realize you can get about the same specs from a normal laptop for the money the OP has?

Other than that, buying a laptop is abitch imo. So many different offers and stuff you only notice after you have it in use for a while (for example how loud/warm it gets ... suddenly a macbook sounds appealing again ;)).

Louis Louis · 2009-06-12, 10:21:01

Patriark Wrote:Acer delivers top notch laptops for a good price at the moment. A Macbook is a PC, so they aren't any more reliable than any other laptops, except perhaps OS X is a bit more secure than Windows. OS X is no problem installing on normal PCs though (after all Macs are normal PCs, just with a different chassis).

Acer are a bargain, except you might want to consider reinstalling any OS because there are quite a few unneccesary programs that are bundled in if you want to optimalise it. Just look out for a laptop with DVI outlet (if that's how you connect to your TV), and read some tests on a hardware site to know you get the best value for the money.

Paying double price for PC in a different casing isn't very smart if you're on a tight budget. If you have shitloads to spend, it's a different story

Acers are awful from my experience. They have fan/overheating problems, crash at any time something even seems slightly wrong and if you have any big program running - no matter how big ur RAM is - it'll make you pay for using all its effort. They're evil bastards.

But I got a Macbook after mine, therefore anything compared to it is awful.

Subtract · 2009-06-12, 11:54:57

My gf chucked her Acer out of a window once after a HD failure...

You pay for what you get, you want cheap then get a cheap laptop but dont expect it to do everything you want.

I cant be arsed with the Mac/Pc debate but ive used Macs for the last 9 years and would never ever touch a pc again for work, they just dont cut it and Windows is a pile of shit.

Just use OSX for 5 minutes and you'll see a massive difference

Real Blood · 2009-06-12, 12:01:03

check the sony offers

James Rand · 2009-06-12, 12:52:41

Youth Attack! Wrote:
kel varnson Wrote:macbook

And for the love of god, don't forget to buy applecare.

sexual sportswear · 2009-06-12, 12:54:10

macbook from ebay

side · 2009-06-12, 16:49:56

apple are evil
but you should really just save more money and buy yourself a macbook

SpunkyBackpack · 2009-06-12, 16:52:39

I was looking for the same as you mate and after a bit of internet poking around I just bought one of these...

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/index...15795&pn=1

Seemed the best in terms of value and stuff and god i get bored by computers ive completely lost interest in my own sentence

treehouse of horror · 2009-06-12, 17:00:19

I don't know if anybody has suggested it yet, but you should look into getting a Macbook. Couple of hundred pounds more expensive than a non-cool computer like NERDS use, but they stay good as new for years. I had a Compaq for about 15 months and by the end it was unusabe, taking ten minutes to start up and what-not, serious lag. Got my Macbook in December 2007 and it's currently operating at the same speed as the day I bought it. If you don't want to spend £800 min though, get a second hand one. Like I said, they stand the test of time, so it'd be as good as buying a brand new one, and even with entry level specs you can run seriously processor-hungry programs like Logic and ting. If you want to multitask then you can get 4gb of RAM for about £50 and it's a doddle to install.

Also you'll get the chicks.

L33P33 · 2009-06-12, 18:07:22

Macbooks have a smaller latency is you're using Traktor Scratch I've been told... so think about that before you buy as well.

I'm currently using a Toshiba P200 with Serato and there are no running problems... but try seeing if you can grab a laptop with DDR3 ram... might be hard with that budget, but it'll help run programs a lot faster! The processor isn't so much of a bigge on laptops... so long as its around 2.2-2.4. Also Windows 7 has been proved faster than Vista if you'r e thinking about a PC but you'll need to buy it before march 10' if you want to avoid the 2 hourly shut downs.

Hope that's helped!

Robototron · 2009-06-12, 18:42:22

lol this thread

Don't ever ask for laptops on this forum unless you want a few dozen impressionable young people telling you how "perfect" their Macbook is.

treehouse of horror · 2009-06-13, 11:35:09

Yeah, god forbid you might actually spend hundreds of pounds on a product you end up satisfied with.

Patriark · 2009-06-13, 12:06:50

Good for me that I spent under half the amount on the same computer in a different shell, I highly recommend it. I'm amazed that Apple fundamentalists can't see that what they're doing is paying extra for MARKETING.

A Mac is a PC, every single component is a PC component. Except.. The casing. So if you say it's more stable... Bullshit, buy a different laptop with the same components inside (for half the price), and it will work just as fine.

So if you're on a budget, don't buy a Mac. If you have shitloads of money and don't care how much you pay for a PC, then fine, go ahead. Or if you value image very highly.

But if you read the OP's post, it's quite obvious that a Mac isn't in the range given the budget. Best advice is to read recent tests on hardware sites, and then read how they evaluate different aspects. Only English language hardware site I know of is tomshardware.com, but dunno if there are laptop tests there.

orsea · 2009-06-13, 12:14:31

yeah i tend to laugh in peoples faces who tell me i am stupid for spending so much on my macbook when i could of got another laptop for a lot cheaper and all i can say is that i've had it since about earlier 07 and it still runs at the same speed and not once have i had a problem with it where i've had to take into a apple store.

i think thats £699 well spent if you ask me (got £100 knocked off in selfridges sale)