Hi there all,
Bit of background first - I've not actually owned a laptop before, I've had various desktops down the years which have all served me well until my latest on (now about 3 years old however) which is a Dell Dimension with the most apalling hardware compatibility issues - there is a reason for this info trust me.
Now my dad did me a bad turn, he got a new laptop and gave me his old one, which is slow and cumbersome but I have to say it is very convenient for surfing the web, downloading emails, chatting online with friends, word processing/spreadsheets etc. Not too much for games but would be nice to play Champ or the Civ/old Fallout games...
So I've basically decided to take the plunge, but in all honesty I don't want to end up paying over the odds for something hideously over-specced that I'll probably never use. I'm loath to go into a shop and ask because retail salespeople aren't my forte but I digress...
I've been looking around the net for various deals and offers and a friend pointed me this way as an impartial and knowledgable source of info on the subject.
So far I've found a lot of hardware that I like, or that looks nice, or that sounds good or is hideously expensive, but I have no idea what I'm looking at.
I guess my questions are:
:are Acer/Asus/Lenovo etc to be trusted as I've not much experience of them and some of their laptops look like a child's toy.
:Apple macbooks? worth it? (I have no allegiance either way)
:are web books a waste of time?
:is it really worth getting anything larger/smaller than a 15 inch screen?
:I've read dell laptops are the business but have had atrocious experiences with Dell's other lines in the past, is it time to forgive and forget?
: oh also, I was looking at the Dell Studio 15 line and they now seem to have a worse spec/fewer options today than on Tuesday? Is this the case?
Sorry for general length and ramble, any help much appreciated
R
Bit of background first - I've not actually owned a laptop before, I've had various desktops down the years which have all served me well until my latest on (now about 3 years old however) which is a Dell Dimension with the most apalling hardware compatibility issues - there is a reason for this info trust me.
Now my dad did me a bad turn, he got a new laptop and gave me his old one, which is slow and cumbersome but I have to say it is very convenient for surfing the web, downloading emails, chatting online with friends, word processing/spreadsheets etc. Not too much for games but would be nice to play Champ or the Civ/old Fallout games...
So I've basically decided to take the plunge, but in all honesty I don't want to end up paying over the odds for something hideously over-specced that I'll probably never use. I'm loath to go into a shop and ask because retail salespeople aren't my forte but I digress...
I've been looking around the net for various deals and offers and a friend pointed me this way as an impartial and knowledgable source of info on the subject.
So far I've found a lot of hardware that I like, or that looks nice, or that sounds good or is hideously expensive, but I have no idea what I'm looking at.
I guess my questions are:
:are Acer/Asus/Lenovo etc to be trusted as I've not much experience of them and some of their laptops look like a child's toy.
:Apple macbooks? worth it? (I have no allegiance either way)
:are web books a waste of time?
:is it really worth getting anything larger/smaller than a 15 inch screen?
:I've read dell laptops are the business but have had atrocious experiences with Dell's other lines in the past, is it time to forgive and forget?
: oh also, I was looking at the Dell Studio 15 line and they now seem to have a worse spec/fewer options today than on Tuesday? Is this the case?
Sorry for general length and ramble, any help much appreciated
R