Advice on buying a new Laptop

[My First Kev]

Im heading down to Cheshire in September to start a university course. So Im thinking it would probaby be a good time to rid myself of my cumbersome and badly ageing desktop and get myself a slinky new laptop. I have a budget of £500 - 600.

Anyone know of any real bargains out there at the minute? Or any companies to avoid?

[RiseAgainst]

Packard Bell. No one i know has been happy with the PB laptop.

Sony Vaio also have a tendency to have a shit battery (under 1 hour life)

[Thee Alex]

If you can stretch to just under £700 I'd recommend going with a MacBook - you can dual boot it with Windows/Linux/whatever you like, there's tonnes of software that I can sort you out with, and they're generally dead good.

[My First Kev]

Originally Posted by Thee Alex

If you can stretch to just under £700 I'd recommend going with a MacBook - you can dual boot it with Windows/Linux/whatever you like, there's tonnes of software that I can sort you out with, and they're generally dead good.

I've always been more of a 'wintel' PC person. I am open to switching sides though. Any big advantages with a MacBook? Last Apple I used was the i-Mac back in high school.

Good Deal?

[Thee Alex]

Originally Posted by My First Kev

I've always been more of a 'wintel' PC person. I am open to switching sides though. Any big advantages with a MacBook? Last Apple I used was the i-Mac back in high school.

Good Deal?

Seems like a pretty good deal, I'd advise checking out John Lewis though as they have a 2 year warranty as standard (instead of Apple's one year one).

I love my Mac because it's so nicely put together, finds wireless connections without breaking a sweat (no delving into numerous settings with OSX), has shed loads of great Open Source software available, and pretty much rules the school. I've owned several PCs in the past and still regularly use my parent's Windows laptops (one running Vista, the other XP) but I would always pick a Mac if presented with the option. The OS is just nicer to use (IMO) and you'll get more productive years out of a Mac than a PC laptop (my last Mac laptop was a 1999 Wallstreet Powerbook which I only stopped using at gigs a year ago....it still works fine). I expect to get at least another 5 years of useful computing out of this machine.

[kj]

Also if you are a student you'll get a huge discount on your stuff if you buy from Apple, like the extended warranty thing which retails for £250... you'll get it for something like £45 and it covers all the components in your machine if anything goes faulty. You'll basically get around £300-400 off if you're buying a macbook pro. You should phone them and find out. It depends on your college/uni though as they all have different agreements.

[Thee Alex]

Originally Posted by kj

Also if you are a student you'll get a huge discount on your stuff if you buy from Apple, like the extended warranty thing which retails for £250... you'll get it for something like £45 and it covers all the components in your machine if anything goes faulty. You'll basically get around £300-400 off if you're buying a macbook pro. You should phone them and find out. It depends on your college/uni though as they all have different agreements.

That's a very good point - the student price is loads lower.

[petpiranha]

My first notebook was the Packard Bell Easynote H5. It had far, far too much horsepower and overheated constantly due to it's poor fan. It still works but I had to replace the laptop casebody, the internal battery, the external battery, the motherboard battery, the hard drive and sit a book under the back mid section so the fan can try to work. I wont be buying PB again.

I replaced it with the new Sony Vaio VGN-NR21M/S. Battery lasts for 3 hours and I've yet to experience any problems with it. I still refuse to buy the PS3 on principle but all the Sony hardware I own works very well.

In saying all that, for music or video editing you'd be mad not to buy a mac laptop. Depending how creative you are going to be with it. For web browsing you'll get a better deal with a windows laptop.

[Rebelius]

Macbook's something like £600 with Higher Education discount. Definitely worth looking into.