No Separate Graphics Card

[topt]

I need to replace my TGFs laptop and have been looking at what is available for under 20k.

I have seen what appears to be a decent Asus for 16,990 but with "on board" graphics - no separate chip. Can someone please explain what the downsides to this will be. The laptop will mainly be used for webmail, skype, surfing especially You Tube, word documents and looking at photographs.

Also whilst I am at it what is the best option for word and excel without having to buy Office 2010 - she has 2003 on the current laptop but no discs and I am being told no way to transfer. Thanks..

[necronx99]

If you are not playing games shared graphics will make no difference. A smartphone has enough memory to perform the tasks you outline.

Openoffice free from openoffice.org will handle all office files.

[Digitalbanana]

Most shops in Thailand will put whatever software you want on a laptop when you buy. No one I know uses Open Office.

[rakman]

Everything has a graphics chip, some have dedicated memory and some share memory from the motherboard. For gaming, you want the separate graphics card with dedicated memory. This is not usually available on a laptop unless you have a specialized very high end laptop, even then the graphics card is fixed (not changeable) and memory is almost always fixed.

PC's give wider flexibility that's why they're not portable.

[Phil Conners]

Legally the best option you have for Word and Excel is probably OpenOffice/LibreOffice or Google Docs, personally I only use the latter these days for my, granted, limited requirements. We do not discuss illegal options (piracy) on this forum.

If you don't need to play games with advanced graphics or CAD or video editing etc, there are a few very nice laptops in the shops now around 12-14,000 baht without OS. They would do just fine for your usual browsing, email, IM, facebook, youtube, word processing/spreadsheets, simple games like Solitaire, Angry Birds, baloon poppers etc.

[topt]

Legally the best option you have for Word and Excel is probably OpenOffice/LibreOffice or Google Docs, personally I only use the latter these days for my, granted, limited requirements. We do not discuss illegal options (piracy) on this forum.

If you don't need to play games with advanced graphics or CAD or video editing etc, there are a few very nice laptops in the shops now around 12-14,000 baht without OS. They would do just fine for your usual browsing, email, IM, facebook, youtube, word processing/spreadsheets, simple games like Solitaire, Angry Birds, baloon poppers etc.

Thanks for the replies. Needs to be portable so laptop not pc.

To be clear i am not interested in any copy software (will be buying Win 7 Home Premium) but just wondered if there was any other option to retain the office functionality without having to pay a bloated price for a brand new updated version - would appear not? I need to check out Open Office as not looked at it for over 5 years.

Phil where are you seeing reasonable spec laptops at that price? I probably should have said minimum I3 2.3GHZ processor/ BT/HDMI port/ 3 x USB ports and 250GB hard disk/2mb memory minimum preferably 4!

Edited April 5, 2012 by topt

[Phil Conners]

There's a nice Samsung with these specs (2GB though) for ~12k baht in IT city on top floor of Tukcom, and a Lenovo (4GB) for ~13k baht in Banana IT. Both have Intel B950/B960 (2.2/2.3 GHz) CPU's, both HDMI/USB, not sure about BT. I don't think there's much difference between those and an i3-2.3. There are some who claim the B9xx series perform better as it is a newer architecture, see for example this discussion.

As for Office, if you got it with the PC the license are most likely nontransferable. Anyway check out Google Docs. Works for me.

(I've been looking for a new laptop for my daughter recently hence the photos)

[handydog]

if you buy something with a good processor and at least 4 gig of ram there is no reason why you cant image your current system and run it in a virtual machine on the new lap top. No need to buy new licences