[Lakes]

well  i'm not realy into pc's but use them.
anyway the 15.4" lap top i have is about 4 years old now. i was looking at getting a new system. but the new ones i tried did not impress me that much. did not seem as fast as what i have. even though the were much more powerfull. also i want a larger top quality monitor.
my Nephew said get a 23" or 25"? Mac desk top, said they are fast. he has a few mac's & i like what he shows me.
what do the rest of you think is best?
thanks for any help or advice

[Surferdude]

There are some computer aces on here Lakes. I'm not one but I'm reasonably competent without being a wizard.
My lap top is a year or so older than yours and still works but gives me grief from time to time.
I bought a Compaq desktop from Harvey Norman.

4gb RAM
1 Tb HD
AMD Athlon II X4 640 processor. 3.0GHz
Windows 7 64bit operating system.
$789 on special. I already had a monitor.
You can get something similar for less through a local computer store but I went with the brand because I've been happy with them in the past.
The thing is super fast compared to the lap tops we have.

I'm more than happy with it.
I think for something equivalent in mac you'd pay close to double.
IMHO macs are for professionals with specific computing needs.

[meehalych]

Lakes
I guess first of all you have to decide the way you are going to use a new laptop (notebook) (you would need more powerful one for games), then you have to decide what amount of money you are ready to spend
 
Is it a PC or Laptop you're going to buy?

[asathorny]

I have to agree with Surferd0000din so far as, whatever you can get in mocrosloth format you will pay at least twice as much for the equivalent for an Mac...

My tower system is a P5B Asus mobo with a 3.3 ghtz processor overclocked to bout 4...  8 Gigs of ram.  When I boot to winders I have the bios set so that memory mappinig allows use of all eight gigs, when I boot to Linux it doesn't matter as the thing is blisteringly fast, which I why I spend the bulk of my time in Linux OS...

My daughter as a very expensive Mac machine, I think I have mentioned it before on here and she claims that it's the dogs kahunas HOWEVER she had to do some work for university doing analytical assessment of some components of blood and the program she needed wouldn't run on a MAc computer with it's Unix OS, so she finished up in my home office/Back bedroom doing the work.  I gleefully reminded her of her superior Mac machine and it's inadequacies    I am a bad dad.

Like surfer I am not a wizard on computers, but I know enough to get by and sort myself out..

I guess the best advice is to get the best that you can afford at the lowest price, talk about stating the bleeding obvious...

Don't Dell do a Ubuntu Linux laptop???? 

Anyhow, good luck with your searching.

[rustynutz]

Lakes....were the new laptops you tried owned by someone or were they demo models at a shop?
These days any new laptop is "bloated" with trial software which really slows things down. This needs to be removed before you have a decent, fast machine.

Heading out for a while, but I'll come back to this thread later.......

[Dazzler]

Hi John .. Don't go a MAC (very poor value for money) Even though they are very solid and beautifully designed!

If you shop around you should be able to get a desktop with a full HD 24" monitor for around $1500 with this sort of specs:-

(2nd Generation) i7 Processor( I personally prefer Intel processor rather than AMD)
8GB of RAM
atleast 1TB hard drive
Minimum of 1GB of video RAM
64 Bit Windows Operating system...

If you want quick  see if they will add a 120GB Solid State Boot Drive for the operating system and for things like Microsoft office and your photo editing programs (should be able to add that in for about $200)

I wish I was up there I'd build you one 

In fact I might try and Build you one at Mwave or Techbuy and send you a link in the next day or two 

[eye30]

It all comes down to one word -----  PRICE.

Depending on what you are willing to pay will determine the spec of the laptop/desktop you buy.

I've been thinking of treating myself to a notebook so I can sit watching the TV and also keep an eye on what is happening on here rather than having to shoot into the other room during ad breaks to see what new posts are on.

I have a Compaq presario desktop running windows XP and is about 10 years old.
But I must say it does what I want it to do, first time every time, and so I'm reluctant to shell out for a new unit while this is still giving first class service.

[asathorny]

Hi John .. Don't go a MAC (very poor value for money) Even though they are very solid and beautifully designed!

If you shop around you should be able to get a desktop with a full HD 24" monitor for around $1500 with this sort of specs:-

(2nd Generation) i7 Processor( I personally prefer Intel processor rather than AMD)
8GB of RAM
atleast 1TB hard drive
Minimum of 1GB of video RAM
64 Bit Windows Operating system...

If you want quick  see if they will add a 120GB Solid State Boot Drive for the operating system and for things like Microsoft office and your photo editing programs (should be able to add that in for about $200)

I wish I was up there I'd build you one 

In fact I might try and Build you one at Mwave or Techbuy and send you a link in the next day or two 

Dazz cuts straight to the meat of it with excellent advice..  I would only add this, if ou or some other close rellie is a student any sort of student (other than small child) check out these prices for essential software such as Office Winders (64bit) for sure, everyone will have to change to 64bit soon so no point buying outdated 32 bit stuff now :-

http://www.software4students.co.uk/

This link is the UK version of software for students, there must be a dot com version, or even an Aussie version.  Most of my software is legitimate student software...

Good on ya Dazz 

[Lakes]

Thanks all for your advice & help, i've got an Asus lap top now on Windows Vista. the one i looked at was new Asus with 17" monitor windows 7.
i think i'll steer clear of the Mac's & take my time. i don't really need a new one this works fine & has never given me a problem once. my Father was asking me to look at a lap top BigW had on a special asked what i thought. i said hard to say but started looking into it. then he asked my younger nephew & he is having a look around for him.
then i started looking as i saw that lap top advertised @ Harvey Norman went and looked.
Thanks Dazz for the spec's and kind offer.
while we are on the subject of PC's what's your views on these Tablet type PC'? as i was saying to my father they might be good for him, he has an old desk top i once owned he must have had that for 10 years he mostly plays cards on it but he is always interested in new things he's only 93  but the boy is sure active was climbing over a two story roof when i seen him the other day, with a 70 year old at the bottom of the ladder not game to climb up.
cheers

[meehalych]

Lakes
Your dad is cool, as my mother (she is 53) knows only how to switch PC on and off and doesn't seem to be willing to study how to work on it, though I bought Samsung notebook for her.

[Dazzler]

Hi John, from my research all tablets have some limitations unless all you do is surf the web and play a few basic games...

Storage is often limited to about 32GB (where most laptops now have atleast 500GB)

You can get a couple including one from asus which would be worth considering that for under $800 include a detachable keyboard that converts it into a mini laptop...

My other reservation with these things is the 10.1" screen size which is a bit hard on even my 54 y/o eyes in some circumstances.. I find even a 15.6 inch widescreen laptop a bit limiting at times after using our main pC with2 larger screens .. 23.6" and 24" 

[Surferdude]

^^^^^

If you are considering the tablet, I'd suggest you get a mini lap top with a 10" screen. The memory is much better. It had a keyboard and can be attached to a larger screen for use at home.
I bought one last year to take overseas and it's really pretty good.

[Lakes]

Hi John, from my research all tablets have some limitations unless all you do is surf the web and play a few basic games...

Storage is often limited to about 32GB (where most laptops now have atleast 500GB)

You can get a couple including one from asus which would be worth considering that for under $800 include a detachable keyboard that converts it into a mini laptop...

My other reservation with these things is the 10.1" screen size which is a bit hard on even my 54 y/o eyes in some circumstances.. I find even a 15.6 inch widescreen laptop a bit limiting at times after using our main pC with2 larger screens .. 23.6" and 24" 

thanks Dazz, i had a quick  look at the tablets today & agree with you.
what  is the resolution of your large screens? i had i think a 20" monitor b4 i switched to the 15.4" lap top seemed small at start but the small screen seems to have more resolution. i have no trouble
what would you say would be the best qualify monitor with the highest resolution?

[Dazzler]

The smaller one of mine has 1920 x 1080 and the 24" is 1920 x 1200 ... You need to go to 21.5" Monitor to get full HD 1920 x 1080 in most brands of Monitor...Try and go LED (most good monitors now are LED) or IPS panel rather than standard LCD

Prices on monitors have come right down... Heaps of Choice now under $200 .. and AOC & BENQ have been getting good reviews lately but Acer, LG and others are good too 

[Lakes]

The smaller one of mine has 1920 x 1080 and the 24" is 1920 x 1200 ... You need to go to 21.5" Monitor to get full HD 1920 x 1080 in most brands of Monitor...Try and go LED (most good monitors now are LED) or IPS panel rather than standard LCD

Prices on monitors have come right down... Heaps of Choice now under $200 .. and AOC & BENQ have been getting good reviews lately but Acer, LG and others are good too 

thanks for that Dazz, i would expect the same # of resolution in both 21" & 23" , 24" would mean the 21" would have the better quality picture. what do you think? do you think the larger monitors would need more dots of resolution to match the smaller monitors picture quality?

[Dazzler]

Hi John,

There is not a lot of difference in price at the moment between say 21.5 and 24" .. I reckon bigger is better and my visitors are really impressed with the quality of picture on both my AOC IPS panel and my 4 y/o ACER LCD panel ..

When you consider how small a 24" panel is compared to a FULL HD 50" TV for example I don't think you would notice much difference between 21.5 & 24" in clarity. You would still want to preview any panel in the flesh before you buy though just to be sure you are happy....

IPS panels are supposed to be the best (I think they can be LCD or LED) but non IPS LED panels are mostly still very bright and sharp... No expert on these but I think "backlit" LED is supposed to be slighly better than "edge lit" LED

But I am sure you would be happy with any of these newer technology "LCD" style panels...

[Lakes]

Hi John,

There is not a lot of difference in price at the moment between say 21.5 and 24" .. I reckon bigger is better and my visitors are really impressed with the quality of picture on both my AOC IPS panel and my 4 y/o ACER LCD panel ..

When you consider how small a 24" panel is compared to a FULL HD 50" TV for example I don't think you would notice much difference between 21.5 & 24" in clarity. You would still want to preview any panel in the flesh before you buy though just to be sure you are happy....

IPS panels are supposed to be the best (I think they can be LCD or LED) but non IPS LED panels are mostly still very bright and sharp... No expert on these but I think "backlit" LED is supposed to be slighly better than "edge lit" LED

But I am sure you would be happy with any of these newer technology "LCD" style panels...

Dazz thanks for all the info, what does IPS stand for? ( my imagination runs wild thinking what it could possibly mean LOL ) i been told the LED is the new girl out? your right about difference between 24" & 50" but as you sit close to a PC & not a 50" TV they need to be good. i think the best Monitor for quality of the screen that i saw would have to be the HP 25" Touch screen, but not sure if i would want a touch screen. but the picture sure was very sharp & clear but could imagine it would be a pain if you had to get it fixed having the components built into the back of screen like an
 Apple.

[neptune]

IPS- In Plane Switching panel...... IPS monitors are the slowest in both response time and input lag

[Phil №❶]

neptune

Do you mean "fastest" 

[neptune]

No...not for IPS

[Dazzler]

IPS- In Plane Switching panel...... IPS monitors are the slowest in both response time and input lag

I love my IPS panel.. I doubt John (lakes) would be a gamer...

Havent noticed any issues with Video

John,

I wouldn't recommend a touch screen.. They can be troublesome.

Some of the all in ones are a bit ugly too...

[2i30s]

Lakes
Your dad is cool, as my mother (she is 53) knows only how to switch PC on and off and doesn't seem to be willing to study how to work on it, though I bought Samsung notebook for her.

i only started using a computer a couple of months before becoming a member on this great forum. 

[meehalych]

i only started using a computer a couple of months before becoming a member on this great forum. 

Excellent job, then 
V.I. Lenin said (at least it is claimed to be his phrase) :"Study, study and study!"
Some thinks he just only tried his pen, though  .

[AlanHo]

I made the mistake a couple of computers ago of getting a gloss monitor - rather than a matt non-reflective one. It looked great in the computer showroom - but was hopeless at home with distracting reflections all the time.

I now use an LG Flatron W2753W 27" monitor which is non reflective and has an excellent quality image. My wife has a 24" Samsung with a matt screen which is also very good. The great thing about a 27" screen is that you can show two very readable windows side-by-side which facilitates cutting and pasting from one window to the other, or having one window showing a sports broadcast while you keep an eye on this forum in a second window simultaneously.  Size really does matter.

[Lakes]

Thanks for the info, always good to know. & thanks Allan for that info about the 27".
has anyone got info on a wireless set-up as i hate having wires everywhere, they also get in the way when cleaning.

2i30s, your a late bloomer, but you sure are a fast learner! i think i got my first pc about two decades ago, they sure have come a long way.

[Dazzler]

Hi John,

Wireness routers have got a lot cheaper lately. I think you can get a reasonable one for under A$100 now. They need to be Wireless "N" (I think 99% are b/g @ n now) Here is a review from Cnet which might help you choose.

http://www.cnet.com.au/top-10-wireless-modemrouters-339288569.htm

Our main PC is wired to the router which makes the connection a bit faster (maybe) and a bit more reliable and we only run our laptops wirelessly.

We have only had 2 wireless routers, a Thompson which worked OK that we got free with a contract on from one of our previous Internet providers and a Belkin N1 (which is quite flash but a bit flaky at times) which I won in a magazine subsription 

[neptune]

I have a desktop set up in the study/office room but also have a Toshiba Satellite laptop which is a wireless setup. The funny thing is that since I have bought the laptop and set it up as wireless, I have not use my desktop puter. I have so much more freedom with the laptop and the fact that I can wander from my front yard to my backyard while still using it is great. So having it on my lap while Im watching TV and surfing the net is a huge bonus...

[Dazzler]

I have to agree Neptune  That reminds me.. If you go a laptop john try and get atleast 4 or 5 hours battery life so you can make the most of a wireless setup

[neptune]

Thats a good reminder Daz.......I have my power cord set up where I watch TV, so that I plug in the laptop while watching telly and keep the battery always top up..

Edit: A good note about battery life as Daz mentioned......I made sure I got one with long life so I could watch movies on four hour plane flights on those airline who dont provide in house entertainment

[Phil №❶]

neptune

So do I, makes a good lap warmer in winter too.