I want to get a Lap top at some stage soon to replace my pc.

Basically it will need to beable to surf the net and play the odd pc game (dawn of war or alike). I'm also hoping to get VAGCOM aswel.

What would be a good spec to go for and a what price range am I looking at?

Really any advice would be great as I'm not in with computer lingo

Ta

Mike

If you have money to burn, look at IBM Thinkpads or Toshiba notebooks If you're on a normal person's budget () check out Dell who seem to make pretty good laptops for very good prices. Spec-wise, I'd say set a budget and get the best spec that you can afford (generally, the bigger the numbers the better ) within that budget. I'm sure someone up-to-date on the latest stuff can give you some rough ideas of figures...

If you're wanting to use VAG-COM, it's cheapest to opt for a serial VAG-COM cable as you can easily and cheaply make yourself up a lead, however most new laptops don't come with serial ports, so you'll be looking at USB VAG-COM cables which are more epensive... Check out www.rosstech.com for official prices for leads and software

Chris

I have a Toshiba notebook. Its great, we use them at work too, they go on planes, get abused and generally have a hard life. Never had a problem with them.

pcpro.co.uk or .com have reviews

cheers guys.

What would really be the lowest spec I should go for (that will be ok for game playing)

Most of the deals you find are a bit stingy on memory (typically 256Mb), then charge you a huge amount for an upgrade (Dell especially). You really need 512Mb to use XP in anger.

I'd buy the cheap machine, then go elsewhere for memory.

Phil

I have a Toshiba notebook. Its great, we use them at work too, they go on planes, get abused and generally have a hard life. Never had a problem with them.

I bought one in January, Equium A60, and I'm really not overly impressed by it. Only use it for the net, e-mailing and tinkering in documents and I find it incredibly slow (almost on par with my old 677Mhz desktop that it replaced).

Ive got a Dell Inspiron 510m, comes with a serial port for VAG COM, Pent 4 upgrade and better screen for under

I bought one in January, Equium A60, and I'm really not overly impressed by it. Only use it for the net, e-mailing and tinkering in documents and I find it incredibly slow (almost on par with my old 677Mhz desktop that it replaced).

More Memory!!!! XP eats the stuff.

Phil

Ive got a Dell Inspiron 510m, comes with a serial port for VAG COM, Pent 4 upgrade and better screen for under

I do, seems to play the ones I have OK but ive not got anything new. AVP is he last game I bought..lol.

I do, seems to play the ones I have OK but ive not got anything new. AVP is he last game I bought..lol.

Cool matey then Warhammer 40K DOW should be fine on it then.

Hmmm I think a look around dells website is in order

I got a P4 2.8gig Dell Inspiron a little while back and its been a good machine really. I don't use it as my main PC so its not loaded up. Came with a gig of RAM though which really helps it, oh, and wireless ready so I can browse whilst watching telly in the lounge.

Downside is the lack of serial port - I never thought of that when I got it, so I can't use VAG com with it. Aside from that it's reliable.

Oh, and its a good folding machine - Compared to my 1.8gig desktop PC, it crunches a lot faster.

With laptops more than anything else it really depends upon what you are going to use it for and how you are going to use it. The one before last I bought I got it wrong (my needs changed) and it was a pain.

If you are doing any sort of work on a laptop the ergonomics are all wrong. If the keyboard is in the right position the screen is too close and if the screen is in the right position the keyboard is too far away (unless you have arms like a chimpanzee). And using the fitted mouse pointer can be a pain compared with a real mouse.

I use a wireless keyboard and mouse and seperate monitor for mine whilst at home. But the pain is then uplugging all the wires (including printer, scanner, network card reader etc). So I got one with a docking station, which is really useful - just press a button and everything is connected or disconnected. The problem is that you will then be limited to the "expensive" brands (Toshiba, IBM or Compaq) as they are the only ones with this facility. (somebody told me that some Dells have this but I looked before I bought and could not see any mention about it on their website)

I ended up with a Compaq and have not regretted it, but I was lucky with a really good deal at Dabs

I dont think my budget is in hat range as they seem to be over the

IMO the most important thing with computers these days is the warranty, I work for a computer manufacturer and listen to lots of people moan about Warrantys all day long. You will find very similar specs and even components inside the machine but what really differs from company to company is their warranty and policies. I got my Mum a new machine recently and it was a Dell because with the upgraded warranty I knew she wouldn't be chasing me all the time to fix it.....

Dont worry about brand names - the dells, IBMs etc whilst well built are overpriced.

Howerver the warranty is important as danbret above says - just make sure the manufacturer you go for isnt a tinpot company

The most important thing you need to go for is a centrino based laptop.

The centrino chipsets have WiFi built in and use the Pentium M chip.

The Pentium M's are Intels most efficient processor ever - they are low on power consumption, so battery life is great, and generate FAR less heat than their normal Pentium counterparts.

A Pentium M 2 Ghz is about the equivalent performance of a standard Pentium 3.6 Ghz.

For your use I would recommend at least 512Mb. 1Gb wount be necessary, but will make a noticable difference in Windows, as you're less likely to have to use Virtual Memory on the slow laptop hard drives.

Hope this helps, shout if you need any more info !

I dont think my budget is in hat range as they seem to be over the

I've got the Dell Inspiron 510m too, it's the cheapest laptop I could find with a serial port. Needed the serial port to program telephone systems but the machine seems quite stable and fairly fast for the

At work we use Acers, Tosh's and Sonys. The Sonys and Tosh's age badly IMHO.

Go with the Acer - really robust and a really good price - they perform well too, not cheap bits like a lot of cheaper laptops.

I've been using a laptop for my work for 5 years. The old 950Mhz P3 Compaq wouldn't cut the mustard running XP Pro & Office 2003 so I upgraded about 3 months ago.

Budget was restricted but my research indicated that Centrino was the way to go. My new HP 1.6 Ghz Centrino has 512Mb RAM, is more powerful than a 3Ghz P4 and will run for up to 4 hours on battery. It's also very slim and produces very little heat.

I got a DVD/CD-Re-Writer combo drive, 40Gig HDD, built-in wifi & 15" TFT screen. No floppy, DVD Writer, card reader, IR or even parallel/serial ports (apart from USB of course (2 of)). It's still a really great laptop though and the omission of these items hasn't bothered me and has allowed me to go for a more powerful machine (and an additional power adapter to keep at home).

Some other guys in the office upgraded 6 months before me and got HP 2.8Ghz P4 laptops. These run very hot, are noisy, much heavier and nearly twice the thickness of mine. They are lucky to get more than 2 hours running time on battery. They do include a floppy drive and of course the nearly obselete parallel /serial ports but who cares.

I didn't want to join the Centrino crowd just for image sake but when I discovered the benefits I was sold.

Good luck on your search

There's a laptop just come up in the For Sale / Wanted section here

I'm no expert, so don't know if that will suit your needs, but maybe worth a look