Advice on a new laptop

[bobmac]

Hi, any techies got any advice on buying a new wee laptop/ note book?
I will be using it mainly for teaching so dont need a huge one.
Does anyone have one of the 9'' screens and are they any good.
Im thinking about the Acer AOA110-BB for £199.99

Thanks in advance

 

[User 105]

bob, will you be looking to connect a camera up to it and using any of the swing capture\analysis software ?

If so, the netbooks, like this one, might be a bit underpowered.

Also, if you are going do show students their swing a 9" screen may be a little small.

A a basic 15" laptop might be a better option, but will probably cost you another £100-£150.

 

[bobmac]

Good point Westy, hadn't considered the power problem
Got to start looking again now lol

 

[brendy]

Bob, for teaching you could do with a decent sized display, or a second external 20" plus sized screen.
For a good all round machine something like this (click here) would do you perfect, its got a decent screen, processor, ram and more importantly a reasonable video chip in it to keep things smooth when replaying videos.

 

[bobmac]

I'm having second thoughts here. Has anyone got an old laptop they would like to sell which has Windows xp please?

 

[Smiffy]

Just to confirm about the Acer One Bob.
I bought my Missus one from PC World about a month ago.
Was going to get her the one loaded with the Linux operating system but got persuaded to go for the version running windows XP.
It's a lovely little machine, she really enjoys using it...but it takes an absolute age to start up, and shut down again.
A mate of mine has the Linux verion and he's is up and running in 20 seconds or so.
Had I known what I know now I would have either bought her the Linux version, or got her something with a better, (read faster), processor.
But as I say, she's happy with it

 

[Andy]

Whats your budget Bob?

Andy

 

[bobmac]

Whats your budget Bob?

Andy

Was thinking around £200-£250

 

[User 105]

Bob, the other thing to look at is if you are going to use a specific video capture package what it's minimum recommended specs are.

If you get those details then it should make choosing a machine a bit easier.

And the final thing is what type of interface the video camera will use. Could be firewire or USB usually. If it's firewire you need to look for a laptop with a firewire connection or you will need to by an add on card.

For that kind of money I think you are looking at a pre-owned or refurb unit. I don't think there will be any new laptops that will meet your needs in that price range.

Do a google on used laptops and see if anything fits the bill.

You could have a look on e-bay, but you risk getting a lemon.

 

[CrapHacker]

Whats your budget Bob?

Andy

Was thinking around £200-£250

I reckon that's a bit light too.

Either stretch to £350 - £380 ish ( minimum ) or leave it, I'd say.

Having said that, do you need it to be a lappy ? You can get good ol fashioned pcs for a lot less, and a good enough spec and a save a bit.

Or are you thinking of investing in mobile broadband ? Then you can get a FREE lappy

Wahoooo.

 

[JustOne]

Just to confirm about the Acer One Bob.
I bought my Missus one from PC World about a month ago.
Was going to get her the one loaded with the Linux operating system but got persuaded to go for the version running windows XP.
It's a lovely little machine, she really enjoys using it...but it takes an absolute age to start up, and shut down again.
A mate of mine has the Linux verion and he's is up and running in 20 seconds or so.
Had I known what I know now I would have either bought her the Linux version, or got her something with a better, (read faster), processor.
But as I say, she's happy with it

You got an acer laptop from PC world a month ago running windows XP?
I'd guess it was probably windows vista ??

The acer ones are cheap and fine provided you get one with enough RAM - 3gig of ram would be the minimum spec required to run Vista properly in my opinion.

I know people with Acer lappy's that only have 512mb ram and they are slower than death itself!

hope that helps...

 

[CrapHacker]

The baby ones dont have vista if I remember rightly - it's either XP or Linux

I got a 15'' dual core pentium with 2 gig of RAM and it's fine speedwise with vista

If that helps.

 

[Smiffy]

You got an acer laptop from PC world a month ago running windows XP?
I'd guess it was probably windows vista ??

Nope. Defintely XP. The choices were Linux or the above.
Got Vista on my desktop which is fine. Poor little Acer One would explode with Vista on it!!

 

[bobmac]

Thanks for all the help guys and you were right, not enough dosh.
Went laptop shopping yesterday and came home with 2 loaves of bread and a bottle of wine
2 problems. My V1 doesnt run with Vista so that rules out most laptops and my camera has a firewire connection so that ruled out the rest
Time to think again
Thanks anyway for your help

 

[User 105]

Bob, a lot of manufacturers who supply Vista pre-installed will allow you to downgrade to XP at no cost.

Might be worth a check if you found something suitable.

 

[bobmac]

Bob, a lot of manufacturers who supply Vista pre-installed will allow you to downgrade to XP at no cost.

Might be worth a check if you found something suitable.

Dam Westy. I had given up on the laptop and was now looking at a new hifi. Now I'm all confused lol

 

[Cernunnos]

Thanks for all the help guys and you were right, not enough dosh.
Went laptop shopping yesterday and came home with 2 loaves of bread and a bottle of wine
2 problems. My V1 doesnt run with Vista so that rules out most laptops and my camera has a firewire connection so that ruled out the rest
Time to think again
Thanks anyway for your help

You forgot the fish's

 

[RichardSanderson]

Save for a bit longer and buy a macbook.


Once you go mac, you wont go back (you see what i did there?)

 

[M1tch]

Save for a bit longer and buy a macbook.


Once you go mac, you wont go back (you see what i did there?)

mac ant that good

 

[teegirl]

Bobs new lappy problem is now sorted. We went shopping and I got a new lappy,