Laptop Vs Desktop Help

ali825

ali825

ali825

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Joined
6 Jul 2006
Posts
485
Location
England, Stafford
HI

The problems that I am having is choosing between a laptop or a desktop as i am going in to my first year of uni.

The reason that I am having a problem is that i use speech recognition software Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 8 and as you can guess it requires a lot of processing power and ram. the specification on a desktop computer are about 2.5ghz P4 and a 1gb of ram, and i am wondering if any one could point me in the direction of a laptop that is equivalent or similar and a price. i do not mind if you don’t put the website name in where you get the information from. I am trying to get a idea of cost and specification to make my choose.

Thx advance, if there are any mistakes in this text i am sorry I am dyslexic so not so good at check, tho did put it though word so tried my best

Ali

x
 
whats the budget? or are you just after the cheapest laptop that will run that software? Do you have any other requirements for the laptop? screen size etc?
 
max £1000 may be a bit more, would you be able to give me some option may be a lowend system for a cheap price medium and a systmen around £1200. i ave no othere reqiremt just want the thing to run dragons natual speaking
 
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not sure if it helps, I'm a big power user, i do a lot of photoshop work and i swapped my desktop for a sony sz1vp laptop (2ghz core duo) and never looked back. games are the problem, i don't really play anymore, so not an issue for me!
 
ali825 said:
{snip}The reason that I am having a problem is that i use speech recognition software Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 8 and as you can guess it requires a lot of processing power and ram. the specification on a desktop computer are about 2.5ghz P4 and a 1gb of ram, and i am wondering if any one could point me in the direction of a laptop that is equivalent or similar and a price{snip}
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lol... Notebooks these days are very capable machines! Looking at the requirements for Dragon Naturally Speaking:
  • Intel® Pentium® III / 500 MHz processor (or equivalent AMD® processor)
  • 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM Recommended)
  • 500 MB free hard disk space
  • CD-ROM drive for installation
Hardly anything to a notebook of today & even 5-years ago :D

£1000 is a nice if not hefty budget for a notebook. For less than that you can get this from OcUK (Link)...
  • Asus AMD Athlon Turion64 MT32 - XP Home (A6KM-Q035H) (LT-097-AS)
    - Athlon Turion 64 Mobile 1.8Ghz
    - 512KB L2 Cache
    - 15.4" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1024x768)
    - 512MB DDR PC2700 DDR333 Memory
    - NVIDIA GeForce GO 7300 256MB Turbo Cache Graphics Accelerator
    - 80GB IDE 4200 rpm Hard Drive
    - Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
    - Intel ProWireless 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
    - Integrated Camera
    - Integrated Speakers
    - Bag/Case Included
    - Microsoft WIndows XP Home SP2 Edition Installed and supplied
    - Weight including battery - 2.85kg
    - £728.44 incl. VAT
  • Asus Intel Centrino Dual Core T2300 1.66Ghz - XP Home (A6JC-Q006H) (LT-100-AS)
    - Intel Core™ Duo Processor T2000 Sequence 1.66Ghz
    - 2MB L2 Cache
    - 15.4" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1280x800)
    - 1024MB DDR2 Memory
    - NVIDIA GeForce GO 7300 256MB Turbo Cache Graphics Accelerator
    - 80GB IDE 5400 rpm Hard Drive
    - Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
    - Intel ProWireless 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
    - Integrated Camera
    - Integrated Speakers
    - Built-in Bluetooth
    - Bag/Case Included
    - Microsoft WIndows XP Home SP2 Edition Installed and supplied
    - Weight including battery - 3.00kg
    - £903.52 incl. VAT
  • Dell Inspiron 9400 Intel Core Duo T2400 - XP Professional (NO7942) (LT-010-DE)
    - Intel Core Duo Processor T2400 1.83Ghz
    - 2MB L2 Cache
    - 17" WXGA+ Widescreen Panel (1440x900)
    - 1024MB DDR2 667MHz Memory (2x512)
    - ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 256MB Hypermemory Graphics Card
    - 100GB SATA 5400rpm Hard Drive
    - Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
    - Internal 56k V.92 Modem
    - Intel Pro WLAN 3945 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps)
    - £880.08 incl. VAT
Those will outperform a '2.5ghz P4 and a 1gb of ram' :cool:
 
For power you will never beat a desktop, and you get more for your money, but a lappy is so mobile and handy

Stelly
 
Stelly said:
For power you will never beat a desktop, and you get more for your money, but a lappy is so mobile and handy

Stelly
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The money bit I agree but, performance wise they can match (except obviously games). This is thanks in part to the MHz war (sort-of) ending, & instead focusing on chip architecture :D
 
hp7909 said:
The money bit I agree but, performance wise they can match (except obviously games). This is thanks in part to the MHz war (sort-of) ending, & instead focusing on chip architecture :D
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True, though the only thing slowing the notebooks down is the slower hard-drives.

Ali, check out the Dell Inspiron 640m - they're fairly cheap for the spec level, and if you're not doing any gaming or anything like that on it, it's probably ideal for you (since you're not paying extra for a dedicated graphics chipset).
 
ali825 said:
if there are any mistakes in this text i am sorry I am dyslexic
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You must've put a reasonable effort in then - your post makes a lot more sense than a lot in this place! :p

For most things, I use a laptop. Dell's are pretty decent - as already said, gaming's about the only thing a laptop can't do particularly well, but I'm sure the portability and convenience outweigh most disadvantages.
 
bigredshark said:
not sure if it helps, I'm a big power user, i do a lot of photoshop work and i swapped my desktop for a sony sz1vp laptop (2ghz core duo) and never looked back. games are the problem, i don't really play anymore, so not an issue for me!
Click to expand...

hi shark or to any one how much is a sony sz1vp laptop, and are they heavy are they?
 
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