Which laptop

[AngieMac]

I am looking to buy a new laptop and am totally confused by the jargon. Basically my requirements are surfing, some spreadsheet and database work, skype, multimedia applications, presumably Windows 7 as currently running Windows Vista Business on a Dell Inspiron which is 3 years old and running very slowly despite my best efforts to speed it up, constantly freezes and drives me mad. I have been looking at Sonys, Samsung or Toshiba. Price range up to £700 approx.
Any advice welcome.
Thanks

[Bobinovich]

Unless you really want to spend £700 you can pick up a decent laptop for around £400. My main rules of thumb are to steer clear of Intel Celeron and AMD Sempron processors, and 3 - 4Gb would be my minimum recommended for decent Windows 7 performance. Other than that, for the purposes you're giving, any mid-priced unit will be fine - just get as much bang for your buck as you can justify spending!

If you're planning Skyping then I'd definately go for one with a webcam built in, also if you have a mobile phone with camera / Bluetooth / MP3 playing facilities, then a laptop with Bluetooth capability will allow you to download photos from it, & upload music to it, with relative ease.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/186603 - has both webcam and Bluetooth, as well as a multi-card reader, and supports the current 'N' standard wireless networks to boot. Quite a nice machine.

I will also say that a 3-year old laptop should still run fine but it will depend on the processor and if it's Vista it should have at least 2Gb memory. If your current one fits these criteria and still runs slow then maybe doing a factory restore would do the job, if it has one of those processors and/or less than 2Gb memory then it's more understandable.

Hope that helps.

[Boozeburglar]

Things to consider before narrowing down to brands, etc. :-

Portability. Do you heft yer present one around much?

Screen size, connected to portability of course, is important to decide before really scrutinizing other factors. I can't live with smaller than 17" these days, and I would suggest that is a minimum spec for a widescreen display unless you really want something ultra portable.

For something I would never really heft around, I would look at 19"+. , and that conveniently limits your options too at that price.

Any decent quality machine will do all the things you are needing, so further investigations would really depend on whether you are going to be using the machine on the road much, as then battery life, weight, etc. come into play and it is a case of the more you pay the lighter/longer lifed they get.

Your budget should see you with a top spec machine in the 17" screen arena, or a mid/high spec 19".

Further suggestions once we know if you will be carrying your lump around much.

[AngieMac]

Many thanks for the replies so far. The laptop would be used excusively at home so portability,weight and to an extent battery life are not critically important. Had not really given much thought to screen size, currently using my Dell 15 1/2 inch screen.
There are so many options out there, it's quite a minefield, hence my appeal for opinions from those who know better.

[Boozeburglar]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/199993

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/194798

Lots of good deals around at the moment, if you are still looking.

[EDDIE]

The say the apple mac books are the most reliable laptops better than windows operating systems the only trouble is there expensive and you have to learn a new operating system
I have windows vista on my laptop and its slow my netbook has windows xp it run faster but i think the next time i upgrade i might go for the apple macbooks

[Leanne]

I think the next time i upgrade i might go for the apple macbooks

The best thing I ever did Fastest computer I have ever worked on, and that even includes when I was running Linux based OSs.

There isn't much to learn as far as the OS goes if you are using it for day to day stuff. It's really logical.

[AngieMac]

Thanks again for everyones input. Did think about an applemac but too lazy to learn new system!!
Had a look on ebuyer and thought I had a good deal an a Samsung R780, even got to the paypal stage but was then told that there would be extra postage involved because of the dreaded KW postcode, phoned the company to see if they would play ball but they weren't interested....their loss. Found the same computer but with a better spec on pixmania for less money and free postage so have ordered from them. Should be here early next week.
Next problem - what is the easiest way to transfer all my files and applications to my new computer!!!
Any help, suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Bobinovich]

Files you can backup to a USB drive and move them across, applications really should be reinstalled from the CD's.