My laptop is nearly three years old. And in computer terms that's equivalent to it making the trek to the PC Post Office to draw its old age pension. What was a sleek, new machine in the early summer of 2005 has now become a slow, creaking, grumbling former shadow of itself. Much like its owner some might say...
The battery life is such that I get not much more than an hour from it before having to recharge it. When I first got it, I could enjoy more than three hours literally wireless. Of course, part of the problem may be the fact I've installed so many additional programmes on it that it's beginning to slow down. It's memory isn't as sharp as it was as a result - again, much like its owner...
The laptop still works but takes much longer to do even the simplest of tasks. Even switching it on is arduous - I could discuss the human rights issue in China with the woman next door and still the machine would be chuntering into life. And she's 82 and deaf...
So the obvious solution is to buy another one. And laptops are relatively cheap nowadays compared to when they first came out. Around £300 should get me a half decent one but, to be frank, I haven't a Scooby Doo when it comes to these things. If anyone does read this rubbi, er, this blog - and that's debatable - and they can recommend a money for value laptop then I'd be very grateful. Being an aspiring writer (and the book is still available in all good bookshops etc. etc.) I use the laptop mainly for churning out prose for the programme for the once mighty Heart of Midlothian FC. That and surfing the net, watching the odd dvd (some very odd dvds) and trying to work out my rapidly diminishing finances on a spreadsheet.
So I'm not after anything fancy. Just something that does what it can without any fuss, is reasonably reliable, won't let me down and gets through the minimum of work. All together now - much like its owner...
6 comments:
Whilst I'm not sure whether you would like the switch, may I heartily recommend going Mac, and getting a Macbook?
They're best selling laptop in the world at the moment, and for good reason.
4-5hours of battery whilst doing 'proper' stuff, maybe longer if you dim the screen etc.
Very fast CPU, good amount of RAM etc.
Best of all, it runs Mac OS X, not Windows (although if you really, really want to you can install windows, either as a dual-boot, where you hold down a key to choose between XP and OS X at startup, or virtual machine where you run "windows in a window".
They are very cool!
www.apple.com/uk/macbook
If you want to stick with a PC and just want it to do the things you mentioned, the best places to look are PC World, Dixons, Currys and the like - the sell so many PCs and laptops that their prices can't really be beaten too easily. Misco is usually pretty good too, or Dell if you want something really reliable and are prepared to pay a wee bit more for it.
Can't understand for the life of me why anyone would want to stick with windows, but I actually have friends who have Macbooks and only have windows on them. They work excellently as windows laptops (well, as good as Windows can be). Saying that, a macbook does cost more than the average plastic brick Dell will sell (which, in my experience are about as reliable as a 40 year-old lada). It really comes down to how much you're willing to spend.
A Macbook Pro (the model up from the macbook, obviously) is the ultimate in laptops, sleek, fast, pretty, durable, extremely reliable, mega-bright screen, all the goodies...
It does cost £1200 though. You get what you pay.
If you just want a £300 "slaptop", get to Currys and raid the "managers-special" bin (aka the "what-crappy-shite-we're-trying-to-shift-this-week bin"); it'll work for a year or two, maybe even three. Course, it'll be worth £5 two seconds after you walk out the store with it, but that's life.
Or you can pony up the reddies for a macbook which'll keep 75% of it's value 2-3 years later.
Thanks for the comments, fellas - much appreciated.
I'd buy Dell. Whatever you do, don't buy HP - their support is gash. (My day job is supporting a whole load of different PCs, servers, Unix workstations and stuff.)
If you can stand the mindfuck, get a mac. I have one as well as my Dell laptop. These macbook things are ok, but it really depends what you're trying to do.
I've gone with Jock and Steve's advice and bought a Dell. Or it may have been someone called Del as he left in a yellow Reliant Robin, wearing a sheepskin coat and smoking a cigar.
Should I be worried?
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