[karajorma]

Seeing as Christmas didn't prove quite as expensive as I'd been worried about I have some spare cash to buy a laptop. I'm not really too worried about HD space etc so the only real requirements I have are that it's got to be good enough for me to FRED and playtest FS2 on (and has to be able to stay good enough for a couple of years!).

Given that all my computing knowledge is either software or about 3 years out of date, what should I be looking for? Bear in mind that I'm in the UK so American websites are probably of little use to me except as a way to get a name I should then plug into a UK website.

[captain-custard]

i run an acer laptop and its old now in comp terms (2006) and as for specs it a dual core (yohan)1.6ghz and a nvidia 7300 (overclocked to get the most out of mvps in asteroids etc( constant 60fps ) 17" screen 1400x900 res

ive had it 3 years now its stood the test of time 40,000 km 200 street shows , working in dusty humid generally ****ty conditions


so have a look at acer laptop , there usually good value and seem to run  well in my experience  ( ive only had 2 crashes in 3 years when my xp decided that open gl wasnt worth running).....

good luck.............

[Androgeos Exeunt]

...it's got to be good enough for me to FRED and playtest FS2 on...

Well, don't get a Mac, because fred2_open won't run on it except through Boot Camp.

All the best, kara. Hopefully, other people can give better advice than I can.

[captain-custard]

i run an acer laptop and its old now in comp terms (2006) and as for specs  acer 9410 its a dual core (yohan)1.6ghz and a nvidia 7300 (overclocked to get the most out of mvps in asteroids etc( constant 60fps ) 17" screen 1400x900 res

ive had it 3 years now its stood the test of time 40,000 km 200 street shows , working in dusty humid generally ****ty conditions


so have a look at acer laptop , there usually good value and seem to run  well in my experience  ( ive only had 2 crashes in 3 years when my xp decided that open gl wasnt worth running).....


ive also managed to install various systems on it , linux variants and even managed to get mac leopard(intel) working on it the other day , it would be good if you could post your budget then i could maybe point you in a dirtection 
good luck.............

[karajorma]

Budget is basically sub £700, preferably as cheap as I can get that will still allow me to use it for FREDding.

[portej05]

I've got a Dell laptop, (granted, it's currently waiting for a service after an accident), but its been awesome otherwise

[captain-custard]

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_8930G-584G32Bn_Gemstone_Blue_Laptop_LX.AC20X.039/version.asp


i had a quick flick around and although its not in your rule ( £50 more than your budget) but have a look at the rest of the site, then see if you can find it cheaper in the sales.......

[Wired]

ive had it 3 years now its stood the test of time 40,000 km 200 street shows , working in dusty humid generally ****ty conditions

*mumbles*

Me an my brother have only bought ASUS laptops, which have worked fine when they, well work. Let's see.

Laptop 1: Worked fine for six months and then it died, sent it in and after 3 months they replaced it with another machine, different model. Which is still going strong.

Laptop 2: Worked for about a year before it broke, sent it in and after about two months they sent it back. This time it lasted about a month, sent it in again (long wait on repairs). After it returned it lasted for about 15 minutes and then promptly died again, some signs of irritation at this point. Well they repaired it again, too bad it worked like **** and ran at about 80-90 degrees Celsius, so had to sent it in again but this time they replaced it with another machine (new model). After a day or so the OS went critical and I had to reinstall it, aside from the fact that the process took SEVERAL (4-5?) hours and attempts it worked out in the end.

Laptop 3: Worked for few days and then the HD died, sent in and returned after a few weeks. Had to reinstall Vista a few days ago but other than that it seems to work.

So, we haven't had much luck with Asus, I guess they have their 2-year warranties for a reason.

[portej05]

Just seen the GetSmart movie... the bad guys use Macs. Don't get one of those! 

[karajorma]

Okay, apart from the general recommendation for Acer and Dell (which I had already heard from other places) what I really need to know is what to look for in terms of specs. e.g what graphics card, DDR2 or DDR 3, What's the difference between the various intel and AMD processors (All my knowledge of processors related to whether AMD 2600+ was better than the corresponding Pentiums of the time).

It's not that I don't know anything about hardware so much as that my knowledge is badly out of date.

[Jeff Vader]

A relative of mine working at a home appliance and entertainment electronics business establishment warned me that if you have hardware issues with an Acer laptop, their guarantee maintenance sucks deep arse. But if that doesn't bother you, Acer seems to generally have quite decent money/performance ratios on their laptops. And then again, none of my friends and acquaintances with Acer laptops have had issues with their laptops within the first couple of years.

[Nuke]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220348

this is what im using, fs runs ok on it.

[futureshock]

In terms of reliability I recommend a Thinkpad. Not any Lenovo but a Thinkpad. Support ist good and the machines are well-made. If you can find a Thinkpad with an Nvidia or ATI graphics chipset in your pricerange (which is the difficult part) take it.

[karajorma]

So it doesn't really matter which ATI or nVidia graphics card is in the laptop as all modern models will have a reasonably good one?

Cause I've noticed people having all kinds of problems with the X200 and I definitely don't want to pick the dud from this generation.

[colecampbell666]

Budget is basically sub £700, preferably as cheap as I can get that will still allow me to use it for FREDding.

Acer 8930G or HP DV5T. Both come with high screen resolutions and have a 9600GT.

[Dilmah G]

So it doesn't really matter which ATI or nVidia graphics card is in the laptop as all modern models will have a reasonably good one?

Cause I've noticed people having all kinds of problems with the X200 and I definitely don't want to pick the dud from this generation.

Well talking nVidia, you really want something post-6 series, (However 6600 and 6800 still run very well), I'm currently using an nVidia GeForce 7600 GS, and it runs FS beautifully with a decent frame rate, and for a processor, if your going single-core, find something 2.4ghz or over, duo-core and above, stick with 2.4+. For RAM, if you're running XP you only need 2GB to get the best out of the system, going any higher is a waste of money unless you do some serious multi-tasking or run some RAM heavy apps. If you're going for Vista (IMO don't do it) go for around 4GB RAM to run it smoothly. I run 2GB RAM upgraded from XP-Vista and I encounter some performance issues using modern apps/attempting to multi-task. There are times I've caught it eating just over a gig doing nothing

[captain-custard]

as for a graphics card stick with nvidia , on a laptop they seem to last longer and from what i have seen here have less problems running fsopen

like i said mines a 7300 that i have overclocked ( which took about 2 minutes to do and it works fine)

[karajorma]

In the end I found a fairly nice Acer Aspire 6920 within my budget. It's an ATI machine but then I've only ever used ATI machines so I'm quite used to them and I've never even had problems with the dreaded X1600 in my second desktop.

Basically it was the highest specced machine in the shop at that price so I figured I might as well stick with ATI.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Congratulations on your new purchase, kara.

What is wrong with ATI, if I may ask?

[colecampbell666]

In the end I found a fairly nice Acer Aspire 6920 within my budget. It's an ATI machine but then I've only ever used ATI machines so I'm quite used to them and I've never even had problems with the dreaded X1600 in my second desktop.

Basically it was the highest specced machine in the shop at that price so I figured I might as well stick with ATI.

Congrats! You got the smaller (but not weaker) cousin of my laptop!