HDD speed is largely irrelevant these days. It doesn't make a "big difference", it makes a barely noticeable difference which is why the price point between a 5400 and 7200 drive is negligible. These days it's more to do with the controllers and the cache, given a laptop drive is spinning constantly it's just not an issue.
Core i3 or i5 Laptop, with good build quality - Minecraft, light video editing, imagine editing... e
- Thread starter UKFX
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 8,112
That code has expired now 
Well, this is all very contradicting. People swear by 7,200rpm drives, then others say get a 5,400rpm drive, then others say something about the seek rate or the read/right speed, or the speed of the processor in conjuction with the data rate of the drive. All very confusing, isn't it? Who to believe?
I was concerned about 320GB drives because of recovery partitions. With a few games installed and a music library, it is a concern.
Yes, glossy fingerprint valley of the Dell world. XPS are not so bad I hear, but their support is not good enough that I'd ever want to own one. Inspirons are made out of disposable plastic cups and what amused me yesterday when I had a quick look in a which guide was it saying something about Inspirons had the worst audio ever, whilst the Lenovo Z570 had better audio with a fuller richer round. lol
Really I'd prefer to just order a laptop, which ticks the boxes everywhere. I'm not expected 10/10 - 10/10 - 10/10, etc etc. But more like 7 or 8/10 overall. I'd much rather not source seperate parts and install it, it's just more time and effort. I wjust want a laptop, sit down, use it, for years, very often, without it breaking, whilst performing good, an if it does go wrong, I can chill knowing it'll be fixed by a good team who don't take 3 months to fix it.
If the graphics are integrated, 6GB RAM is important, because 2GB instantly goes missing in some cases. Good sound is nice because... it's nice, obviously. A nice comfortable well made keyboard is always good. No flexing, or at least very little on the keyboard and case.
I actually hate laptops right now.
Oh by the way, as it turns out, I need to eat... been rationing past few days but I need to go shopping tomorrow and I almost choked on air when I received a £40 bill from eBay. So yeah, no rush, pretty much back to square one, an I probably won't be ordering until November now.
Basically, this is what I want:
A good laptop, with very little or no flexing on the case and keyboard. A good keyboard for plenty of typing on. Numeric pad not essential. Good audio pretty important to me, an a decent screen too. Drive, speed not necessarily essential but I may use Fraps or Ddub and Handbrake occassionally (for Minecraft and Desktop recordings). It needs to be able to multitask well. Good battery. Plays Minecraft at comfortable frame rates. The higher the better - without toning the settings down. Decent RAM. b/g/n wireless. Bluetooth not essential but nice. Good design. Reliable. Doesn't burn my legs. From a company with good support and good warranty options with decent prices.
If It can play Minecraft and Sims 3, and tick most boxes, I'm happy. I'm not looking for a powerhouse. And yes, some nights I've spent so much time looking at laptops that I've had dreams about them, or should I call them nightmares?
This is beyond a quest for a happy smiley laptop, but escaping a nightmare of bad choice.
I need something good which will last me many years of frequent use!
I like your description of Dell's Home User Laptops Scrutinize. I lol'd
I was concerned about 320GB drives because of recovery partitions. With a few games installed and a music library, it is a concern.
Yes, glossy fingerprint valley of the Dell world. XPS are not so bad I hear, but their support is not good enough that I'd ever want to own one. Inspirons are made out of disposable plastic cups and what amused me yesterday when I had a quick look in a which guide was it saying something about Inspirons had the worst audio ever, whilst the Lenovo Z570 had better audio with a fuller richer round. lol
Really I'd prefer to just order a laptop, which ticks the boxes everywhere. I'm not expected 10/10 - 10/10 - 10/10, etc etc. But more like 7 or 8/10 overall. I'd much rather not source seperate parts and install it, it's just more time and effort. I wjust want a laptop, sit down, use it, for years, very often, without it breaking, whilst performing good, an if it does go wrong, I can chill knowing it'll be fixed by a good team who don't take 3 months to fix it.
If the graphics are integrated, 6GB RAM is important, because 2GB instantly goes missing in some cases. Good sound is nice because... it's nice, obviously. A nice comfortable well made keyboard is always good. No flexing, or at least very little on the keyboard and case.
I actually hate laptops right now.
Oh by the way, as it turns out, I need to eat... been rationing past few days but I need to go shopping tomorrow and I almost choked on air when I received a £40 bill from eBay. So yeah, no rush, pretty much back to square one, an I probably won't be ordering until November now.
Basically, this is what I want:
A good laptop, with very little or no flexing on the case and keyboard. A good keyboard for plenty of typing on. Numeric pad not essential. Good audio pretty important to me, an a decent screen too. Drive, speed not necessarily essential but I may use Fraps or Ddub and Handbrake occassionally (for Minecraft and Desktop recordings). It needs to be able to multitask well. Good battery. Plays Minecraft at comfortable frame rates. The higher the better - without toning the settings down. Decent RAM. b/g/n wireless. Bluetooth not essential but nice. Good design. Reliable. Doesn't burn my legs. From a company with good support and good warranty options with decent prices.
If It can play Minecraft and Sims 3, and tick most boxes, I'm happy. I'm not looking for a powerhouse. And yes, some nights I've spent so much time looking at laptops that I've had dreams about them, or should I call them nightmares?
This is beyond a quest for a happy smiley laptop, but escaping a nightmare of bad choice.
I need something good which will last me many years of frequent use!
I like your description of Dell's Home User Laptops Scrutinize. I lol'd
Might get worse Lenovo Z570 again lol, with 2410m, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, worse webcam but better keyboard and speakers. Not getting G series because screens are worse, but Z570 seems OK. Hmm... I can't quite believe though that people claiming to use the 2310m or 2410m with Intel HD 3000 graphics saying Minecraft is unplayable. Surely it isn't THAT demanding? ffs! So basically, unless I spend £600 quid, I can't get a Laptop which can play a Java based game! LOLLLLLLL omg. Insane.
5,400 RPM drive it is then. Just as I thought.
5,400 RPM drive it is then. Just as I thought.
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Keep an eye out on ebay for a Dell Vostro 3550. There's none on there in your price range at the moment unfortunately, but in the last month, there were two for sale, both around the £450 mark. I got lucky and bought mine for £415 + £25 postage, practically brand new, not refurb, just a few hours use on it and factory restored. Spec is i5 2410, AMD 6630 and also intel HD3000 switchable, 4GB ram, backlit keyboard, nicely built, minimal flex in keyboard but there is some, and brushed metal lid. Some of them just have the intel HD3000 so make sure it has the AMD 6630 and you'll easily play minecraft.
Full spec:
Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M (2.30GHz) – Sandybridge version
15.6in High Definition LED Display (1366X768) with anti-glare
USB 3 ports
Fingerprint Reader Biometric
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera
LCD Back Cover : Silver
Memory: 4096MB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Hard Drive : 500GB Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm)
Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Power Supply : Vostro 90W AC Adapter
Battery : Primary 6-cell 48W/HR LI-ION
Graphics : AMD Radeon HD 6630M 1GB Graphic
Wireless : Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
Keyboard : Internal Backlit Keyboard
Operating System : Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 BIT) with Recovery DVD
Software : Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or
Outlook
Antivirus : Trend Worry-Free Business Services Multi 15 Month Vostro
Warranty
1 Year Collect and Return
1Yr ProSupport and Next Business Day On-Site Service
Full spec:
Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M (2.30GHz) – Sandybridge version
15.6in High Definition LED Display (1366X768) with anti-glare
USB 3 ports
Fingerprint Reader Biometric
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Camera
LCD Back Cover : Silver
Memory: 4096MB 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Hard Drive : 500GB Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm)
Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Power Supply : Vostro 90W AC Adapter
Battery : Primary 6-cell 48W/HR LI-ION
Graphics : AMD Radeon HD 6630M 1GB Graphic
Wireless : Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
Keyboard : Internal Backlit Keyboard
Operating System : Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 BIT) with Recovery DVD
Software : Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or
Outlook
Antivirus : Trend Worry-Free Business Services Multi 15 Month Vostro
Warranty
1 Year Collect and Return
1Yr ProSupport and Next Business Day On-Site Service
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 8,112
This is an option and you have the benefit of Dell Business support but I wouldn't take this over the Lenovo at the moment. Especially with the 10% discount + 6% quidco codes.
Speccing the lenovo as per my previous post with 1 year warranty, then installing the extra memory yourself gets it in at £370 with the discount code and then 6% quidco back on the pre vat price too so ~£15. Allowing £16 for the memory this really is a bargain.
Shame UKFX can't buy it now.
Re the HD 3000 graphics, they are really poor compared to the latest cards and need an i7 to get their higher benchmark scores. They don't even come close to the A8 integrated chip which is closer to the Nvidia 525m
I don't think it's that good value, considering no Operating System is included. Once an OS is included the price jumps to £570. Thank you for helping though.
Hmm eBay. I don't like eBay, I hope all their staff die. I know, it's a nasty thing to say but any person who works with eBay, or comes up with their great commission ideas deserves to die.
It is a shame I can't purchase now. Were you referring to the Thinkpad e525?
I went shopping this morning and I came out of the supermarket having spent £30... just for food for myself, an I had practically nothing, no wonder why money goes so damn quickly
and that £40 I owe eBay still has me real annoyed.I still can't get my head around why these processors can't handle Java games. What's going on? I also don't get why Lenovo have such a bad range to pick from when it comes to the Ideapad. You can't even customise them! I also find it hilarious that they are selling Laptops with the hugely irrelevant 2330m, the most pointless processor creation from Intel in the history of all processors ever created... ever!
It's true! Why make a processor which is exactly the same, except it has 100mhz more? :\ Money grabbers!I'm glad I didn't get the thinkpad just yet, because I bet you I'd of been ****ed off with the sound lol. Still 3 weeks to pick. Plenty of BF3 and Skyrim coming so I won't go completely insane.
The thing is, aside from me wanting a decent everything, sound, keyboard (preferably chicklet for obvious reasons), is on the one hand, there is a good processor, called the A8-3500m with fantastic integrated graphics, but on the other hand there is a miles better processor called the i3 or i5, which the A8 doesn't compete with, but the integrated graphics chip is so bad, it can barely watch a DVD lol. "HD 3000! *explosive noises*, the best Intel has to offer"... oh no, what an embarrassment. lol
This is actually making me laugh. Ahhh, good times.
I just checked Lenovo website, the Z570 has disappeared it seems. Only Z370 coming up. Strangely the smaller 13.3" (fine by me that size, anywhere from 13.3"-15.6" but prefer 15") Z370, with 2330m and Intel HD 3000 graphics and "industry standard" touch pad lol, still costs £450. :\ LOL
Thanks for helping folks. All of this ****ing about going back and forth between laptops is actually good, it just means when I get down to finally getting one, I know I checked every possibility lol.
Bit of an idiot then really aren't you. Are you looking for good deals or not?
And i thought i was a procrastinator! Ukfx, there are so many systems below £500 that are capable of playing minecraft, but please please do yourself a favour and get dedicated graphics. Integrated tech is great in theory but its simply not good enough yet for anything other that productivity apps.
If u are going to use fraps, then even more of a reason why you need dedicated graphics, fraps slows down your framerates even more. For the same reason i would strongly consider 7200rpm hdds.
You may not like what you are hearing from most of us, but please recognise the fact that you came here for advice and thats all we're giving. I've never owned a dell btw nor purchased from dell outlet.
My laptop is a 4 or 5 yr old Sony Sz 13.3" model with a 8400m GS graphics and still going strong but simply can't deliver the frame rates i need to enjoy the games I currently play (minecraft isnt one of them!). Also bear in mind that yes you are playing Minecraft now but you may wish to play some other game that requires more powerful graphics card options within your expected 4/5 yr ownership expectation.
Incidentally Minecraft requires more oomphh than you may think due to the sheer number of polygons/blocks despite being poor texture quality. There are guides that will help get you better fps if you google.
If u are going to use fraps, then even more of a reason why you need dedicated graphics, fraps slows down your framerates even more. For the same reason i would strongly consider 7200rpm hdds.
You may not like what you are hearing from most of us, but please recognise the fact that you came here for advice and thats all we're giving. I've never owned a dell btw nor purchased from dell outlet.
My laptop is a 4 or 5 yr old Sony Sz 13.3" model with a 8400m GS graphics and still going strong but simply can't deliver the frame rates i need to enjoy the games I currently play (minecraft isnt one of them!). Also bear in mind that yes you are playing Minecraft now but you may wish to play some other game that requires more powerful graphics card options within your expected 4/5 yr ownership expectation.
Incidentally Minecraft requires more oomphh than you may think due to the sheer number of polygons/blocks despite being poor texture quality. There are guides that will help get you better fps if you google.
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I appreciate your compliment
. I am yes, but from who does these systems come from? Returns? Support? Hmm, it just seems like more hassle you see.I do realise how demanding Minecraft is, but it is still a Java game. It'd of been nice for integrated graphics to be able to achieve some playability on these kinds of games.
I know. Dedicated is the way. An I know when it comes to Fraps when the HDD is being bombarded with write operations a faster drive is necessary... but it's not often I'll use it. I'm trying to figure out a good balance for my needs, an that if I don't use something on a regular basis then money and heat < important one there, can be saved.
If the laptop has good speakers, good keyboard, good case, good screen, etc etc all those boxes, then fine, I'll go with older hardware, so long as it doesn't burn my legs if it sits on my lap, an so long as the battery is more than 2 hours. The reason I say this is, is after the first year, that battery is essentially cut down to under 1 hour so I'm limited exclusively to the mains, which isn't great.
You're all providing me with great ideas, I'll admit, and as ever I am truly grateful, but I just want to be able to get the best I can with the least hassle in the process for now and for the future. This laptop is going to be used for like 10+ hours a day, if not more, for years. Bit much, I agree, but it is replacing my computer which took up a football pitch lol.
I'm all ears... or eyes... still, but I don't want any trouble down the line and eBay is trouble, and Dell is trouble too. Maybe not for everyone, but I can see things going south very quickly down those roads.
Sorry for dragging this on for so long folks, but once it's done, it's done. For like... 4+ years, yeah?
^^Thanks
I forgot to mention. The only things I will be playing is Minecraft on max settings, maximised resolution (for example 1366x768), Sims 3 and Sim City 4, maybe a few other ancient games but that's it. No demanding games wil be played. I decided to get rid of the other PC because I barely played games on it. I always found myself on the PS3. BF3, Skyrim. Demon's Souls. All good fun. So I figured... why not just get something to chat on, play Minecraft a hell of a lot on, listen to music and stuff like that. So I doubt 4-5 years down line I'll play anything other than MC still lol. Also, by that time I'll probably have a PSwhatever ^^.
Peace
Peace
Sony do have their Own outlet. Some systems for around £500-£600 there but i doubt you'll match the specs of the dell L502LX systems for similiar money. For clarification, the L502LX machines are XPS 15.
Ultimately you're being a wet fish- we all have concerns about buying new hardware as its a big expense normally and indeed hassle if it doesn't work. However, i'm certain more often than not you'll get a decent machine. Even the most "reliable" brands have manufacturing faults.
Ultimately you're being a wet fish- we all have concerns about buying new hardware as its a big expense normally and indeed hassle if it doesn't work. However, i'm certain more often than not you'll get a decent machine. Even the most "reliable" brands have manufacturing faults.
I appreciate your compliment
Mine was a genuine private sale from someone that bought his in june, used it for about 6 hours, and decided he didn't need it. So it still has a warranty till next june. There was no hassle as such, I just messaged him a few times with questions till I was satisfied. It's turned out to be a bit of a bargain, it's absolutely spotless and pristine. I'm not sure why you're bothered about what commission they get since it's about the only place alongside the various laptop outlets that you'll get what you want at an affordable price.
A wet fish? ^^ Tasteyyy. I'm fine with whatever I get so long as it's decent at most things. Sound needs to be good, keyboard too, screen, all of that, but play Minecraft well. As I said before I don't care if it's last gen stuff now, but not ancient stuff and I understand that even the most reliable brands have problems, which is why the support is important as welll.
Mine was a genuine private sale from someone that bought his in june, used it for about 6 hours, and decided he didn't need it. So it still has a warranty till next june. There was no hassle as such, I just messaged him a few times with questions till I was satisfied. It's turned out to be a bit of a bargain, it's absolutely spotless and pristine. I'm not sure why you're bothered about what commission they get since it's about the only place alongside the various laptop outlets that you'll get what you want at an affordable price.
I don't care about the commission they have to pay for selling stuff on eBay, no.
Spent a fair amount of time today checking various websites. Being both specific and not so specific. Capping the budget around £480 in search filters, the systems I did find were pretty poor. There was an ASUS one with a Core i2310m processor, but 315m graphics, which is... not so great. I doubt Minecraft would run at anymore than 10-15 frames to be honest.
I've come to the conclusion, that unless I get bad speakers and a bad screen on a variety of branded laptops, or a very badly designed, guaranteed to fail, super stress inducing, blood vessel popping, extremely bad support experience Acer, then I'll have to make a heavy compromise. The Thinkpad was a great idea, but the tinny speakers did start to concern me, which is what put me back on my search.
It is a shame that many of these websites don't have 'dedicated video card' selections on them. Some do, but not very many and it's hugely unhelpful. Even if I do use these filters up to a maximum of £500, dedicated video card laptops only bring back one or two, and that dedicated video chip is very poor.
I might go with Core i5 2410m and Intel HD 3000. Gets 30-40fps on windowed mode, or 15-25fps on max lol. Seems better than the entry level cards for these laptops, especially at this sort of price point.
Peace
I've come to the conclusion, that unless I get bad speakers and a bad screen on a variety of branded laptops, or a very badly designed, guaranteed to fail, super stress inducing, blood vessel popping, extremely bad support experience Acer, then I'll have to make a heavy compromise. The Thinkpad was a great idea, but the tinny speakers did start to concern me, which is what put me back on my search.
It is a shame that many of these websites don't have 'dedicated video card' selections on them. Some do, but not very many and it's hugely unhelpful. Even if I do use these filters up to a maximum of £500, dedicated video card laptops only bring back one or two, and that dedicated video chip is very poor.
I might go with Core i5 2410m and Intel HD 3000. Gets 30-40fps on windowed mode, or 15-25fps on max lol. Seems better than the entry level cards for these laptops, especially at this sort of price point.
Peace
For £449.21 (free delivery) you can order yourself the following system: (from outlet)
Dell XPS L702x
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M (2.10GHz, 3MB cache, Dual Core)
250 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (3 DIMMs)
8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
17.3in HD+ WLED True-Life (1600x900) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
Graphics : 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M Graphics Card
Battery : Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
Silver Anodized Aluminum
Wireless: Intel Wireless-N 1000 Card
English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
Back Up Media Not Included
What you get for your money:
- decent specs (will play your games no problem)
- awesome speakers
- decent monitor
- good keyboard
- good build quality
- 1 year warranty
That is a lot of laptop for the money. If I were you I'd go for it. What's more, you can also opt for 3 Year Hardware Support - Next Business Day [add £137.64].
Dell XPS L702x
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M (2.10GHz, 3MB cache, Dual Core)
250 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (3 DIMMs)
8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
17.3in HD+ WLED True-Life (1600x900) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
Graphics : 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 550M Graphics Card
Battery : Primary 6-cell 56W/HR LI-ION
Silver Anodized Aluminum
Wireless: Intel Wireless-N 1000 Card
English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
Back Up Media Not Included
What you get for your money:
- decent specs (will play your games no problem)
- awesome speakers
- decent monitor
- good keyboard
- good build quality
- 1 year warranty
That is a lot of laptop for the money. If I were you I'd go for it. What's more, you can also opt for 3 Year Hardware Support - Next Business Day [add £137.64].