Looking For A New Laptop

[astral]

I think it is time I replaced my old HP notebook

Core i3 processor sounds good.

Windows 7 Home Pro

4Gb of memory

320 - 500Gb HD

What I cannot get to grips with is the screen definition.

Most of the models I have looked at, do not tell me how many pixels on the screen???

Well not unless I go to the business models at $1400 upwards,

where 1320 x 768 seems the norm.

My current machine has a 1680 x 1050 screen

When I look at friend's machine with 1280 x 1024 everything looks rather clunky.

Nor do I want a "crystal bright" screen with all the reflections,

my old machine has a mat finish on the screen and I prefer it.

What makes/models can you recommend?

Thanks

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Why bother? Your old one sounds ok. Clean install of OS and perhaps a new battery if you need one. Do you actually need an i3 processor and 4GB of RAM?

[DonaldBattles]

I just replaced my HP Laptop. If you are serious about the best, look into Mac Pro 15 or the 17inch screen. You can also install windows and office on it. This is a great leap forward for computing. The Snow Leopard Operating System is ages ahead of Windows 7. When a company builds the hardware and software they tend to be a lot more compatible.

[BB1950]

I just replaced my HP Laptop. If you are serious about the best, look into Mac Pro 15 or the 17inch screen. You can also install windows and office on it. This is a great leap forward for computing. The Snow Leopard Operating System is ages ahead of Windows 7. When a company builds the hardware and software they tend to be a lot more compatible.

Not really.

[BB1950]

Why bother? Your old one sounds ok. Clean install of OS and perhaps a new battery if you need one. Do you actually need an i3 processor and 4GB of RAM?

I didn't see where the OP mentioned anything mentioned about the old HP laptop other than the screen resolution. I just saw a wish list for the new laptop. It's a bit of overkill for a laptop.

Yeah, I do question the need of an i3 processor and 4GB or RAM. Only 64 bit operating systems can access the 4GB of RAM. A 32 bit OS can only access a little over 3GB or RAM. There isn't much software available for the 64 bit systems yet.

I don't see the hard drive requirement as being unreasonable, but I would wait for SSD's to become more popular. They will greatly improve your speed and battery life.The same is true with waiting for USB 3 to become more popular.

Edited November 21, 2010 by BB1950

[tomat]

I would tell you to take a look at some of the 15.6" models from Dell. Their 15.6" models are relatively cheaper than the 14" models and they almost all have 4GB memory, most of the models come in two variations: with/without Windows included. Dell has by miiiiiles the best after sales service in Thailand. They do on-site service for free for 1-year (possible to extend to three years). So just call their service center and within 24 hours one of their technicians will be knocking on your door anywhere in Thailand. I know people from the small islands (e.g. Koh Tao) that have done this, and they come within 24 hours every time.

Here is a couple of links:

http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/notebooks-laptops/dell/15-inch-monitor/

http://www.shop4thai.com/en/category/Computer+Set/Notebook/?brand=116

[mistakurtz]

Really look at mac.

[Digitalbanana]

>What I cannot get to grips with is the screen definition.

Screen definition was important to me as well when I got a new laptop this yr. If you want HD (1080p) expect to pay upwards of 1200$. Most screens come in 1920x1080 these days and it will be hard to find matte screens anymore. I had an old HP laptop and looked briefly at Macs but stuck with HP as they are half the price and I'm familiar with PC's as are all of my colleagues.

[urandom]

I just bought this a few months ago http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/x-series/x201 but the cheap version, the x201i, you can find it at THB28,xxx in Pantip. Best laptop I have ever had (got 2 acers and 1 asus). Build quality is really high standard, keyboard is the best i have ever seen on any laptop, i3 cpu, 12.1" matt screen. very small and light with enough processing power (2 cores/4 threads). read the reviews of his brother the x201, it's the same machine with a better cpu, they all are very positive.

just one thing, if you are a linux user, it comes with a broadcom wireless chipset whose driver is not in the kernel tree and sucks. i just bought a brand new intel 6200 to a guy from thaithinkpad forums, very cheap, works great. if you don't care about linux then you already someone with a spare broadcom chipset just in case

[NHJ]

if i had to change my laptop i would take this model :

MSI CR420 #145441-258 Core i3-370M 2.40GHz 2048MB DDR3 500GB DVD-RW 14inch WXGA GMA HD 2 Yrs. *15700

it's sold at hardware house, you can add an extra two gig of memory, it has a ati 5470 ati gpu, the only problem is as you said the resolution it's only wxga and not sxga+ like yours and my old hp notebook.

it's quite crazy as my laptop is 4 years old and nowadays screen can't match mine...

[Trevor25222]

Really look at mac.

Like the Macbook Pro 13" with Magic Mouse ? Really worth 2X (+) the PC price?

[bobo42]

Yes, I wish they would just list the actual screen dimensions in pixels like they used-to. If you are really concerned with screen resolution, look for the models that say "full HD", usually they will also have 1080p listed somewhere. The screen resolution will be 1920x1080 for these models (verify before you buy), this has kind of become the current de-facto standard for high resolution laptops. Personally, I am quite happy with my 15.4 1600x900 screen though - a couple hundred bucks cheaper than the full hd model and I am fine with it for this screen size.

I didn't see where the OP mentioned anything mentioned about the old HP laptop other than the screen resolution. I just saw a wish list for the new laptop. It's a bit of overkill for a laptop.

Yeah, I do question the need of an i3 processor and 4GB or RAM. Only 64 bit operating systems can access the 4GB of RAM. A 32 bit OS can only access a little over 3GB or RAM. There isn't much software available for the 64 bit systems yet.

I don't see the hard drive requirement as being unreasonable, but I would wait for SSD's to become more popular. They will greatly improve your speed and battery life.The same is true with waiting for USB 3 to become more popular.

64bit processors have been the standard since about 2006, and have been in use by early adopters since about 2004. You should get a 64 bit OS. There are many performance advantages to the 64bit architecture beyond just being able to address more memory. Most legacy software written for 32bit OS' can be run on a 64bit OS. There is a great deal of software available for 64bit systems, in the very near future, it will likely be hard to find software that runs on a 32bit OS.

I agree USB3 might be worth waiting a little bit for. But SSD, probably going to be a while, still a lot of technology barriers there that haven't been worked around yet for those to get cheap and widespread.

I recently bought an i7 with 6GB ram - huge difference over my old core 2 w/ 2GB, so I wouldn't fault anybody for wanting an i3 or 4GB, well worth it IMHO.

On a side-note, I run Linux a great deal of the time, but I was actually pleasantly surprised with Windows 7, don't get me wrong, its still a bloated albatross, but it seems like its actually an improvement this time, rather than being worse - I think I actually prefer it over XP - maybe I'm just getting old.

Edited November 24, 2010 by bobo42