Thetownend.com

Afternoon all,

I'm in the market for a new laptop, mainly for Football Manager, the Total War games (if poss, not a deal breaker), looking at the TEF and watching sport online.  Budget of up to £400 (can go a bit above if needed).  I see so many variables such as processor speed, ram size and so on, and not sure what would be best for my needs.

All help (and abuse) gratefully received.

You've got no fans.

I'll need at least one, or the thing will over heat.

just a quick look on PC world they have this on sale 200 quid off
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-p151sa-15-6-laptop-silver-10075604-pdt.html#cat-0

1.5TB storage is a bit overkill, but FM will run a dream on it.

I'll have a look later as I have a friend who's asked me to have a look around too.

Had a look at that HP in PC World today, looks good and decent build quality. Spec is spot on too.

Just don't let them sell you any aftercare....

I am in a similar position I am presnetly leaving work and setting up on my own as a consultant (more on that later!) and need to buy a lap top, main thing would be to run word bit of picture manipulation email etc etc.

The above looks great but a mate who is a computer whizz - he does something I dont understand and probably earns more in a week than I do in a year!, says not to touch HP with a bargepole as they use cheap rubbish components!

Any other opinions - I need to get this sorted by the time the world opens for business on 5th January!

Most of the cheap machines are made with the same basic level of components.

Sony used to be renowned for quality but they recently outsourced production of their machines.

Unless you want to spend a lot, it's all much of a muchness and you're best off just buying the best spec for your budget.

I wouldn't touch HP based on the customer support experiences I've had with them. Whilst this was mainly on the business side of things, if anything you'd expect that to be better given the higher pricing and quantities involved. Dell on the other hand have always been excellent.

I've only ever had to deal with Dell and they're awful, even as a business user with ProSupport.

I find HP support really good. Yes it is a pain getting through, but their next business day parts service is superb. Their procurve equipment is excellent, and we have 7 year old laptops which are still going strong despite all the abuse they get from students.

I've only needed to speak to HP a couple of times but i found them a lot better than Dell

Well that's as clear as mud thanks all  :-[ The conclusion I have reached is that all have good and bad points!

Can anyone suggest anything available for sensible money on Amazon, I have some money to spend on there as the leaving present from existing employer.

I have realised that IT and computers are a foreign language to me!

So I picked up my laptop a few days ago, just got round to setting it all up, and it's running fine, except I get an error message when I log in.

'igfxTray Module has stopped working'

I've tried searching and updating drivers, but to no effect.  I doesn't seem to be effecting the laptop, but if anyone knows how to fix the problem, please let me know.  Cheers.

Google suggests it's something to do with Intel graphics. Either try updating your graphics driver (if you haven't already) or just disable the program from loading on startup (from the start menu type msconfig and find the relevant entry on the startup tab).

I won't start a new thread, but number 1 son if off to uni this year. Wanted to get him a laptop. I guess that he'll be surfing, skyping, word processing and doing whatever else Maths students do!

Any suggestions or recommendations?

Drinking

Porn?

Have a look at the Microsoft Surface, tablet and desktop/laptop all in one.

You can plug in an external monitor, mouse and keyboard in so it can be used as a proper desktop at home.

The new Surface 3 is cheaper than the Pro range and runs full Windows now rather than RT.

Hahaha.. good point - make sure you get him some virus protecton!

Reading lots of reviews and the ASUS UX305 gets lots of good reviews. But it has an Intel Core M processor. Is that bad?

Depends what you want. It's an ultra-portable laptop CPU, so not as powerful as a normal laptop CPU, but there's no need for a fan, the battery lasts longer and it's lighter/thinner. It's also a lot better than previous CPU's designed for the same use.

If it's just for the stuff you listed it will be fine. Though not so fine for anything more graphic and CPU intensive, such as playing games.

Thanks for that jonny72. Seems to get into all of the top 10 reviews. Think I'll go for it.

Where's best places to look online for decent priced laptops now. I need to investigate a new one for the in laws

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