Is this a decent laptop?

ma71lda · Post by **ma71lda** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:50 pm

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilio ... 1-pdt.html

I really need a new laptop and I have around £500 to spend on one.

This looks ok, but I don't really know what to look for as I'm not overly tech minded. I just want something quick. Is the processor any good and does that make the internet faster? I'm just going to use it for surfing the web and playing poker. I'm not really into PC gaming.

Cheers for any advice.

darkm · Post by **darkm** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 11:02 pm

The processor wont make the internet go any faster, that will be down to your internet connection.

If you want it just for websurfing and poker, then its more than enough, probably overkill to be honest, and could buy a cheaper laptop and expect the same result. In my opinion.

mr lugsy · Post by **mr lugsy** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 6:54 am

an i5 processor for under 500 quid is good , i don't think it would run top end games without a decent graphics chip though unless you turned the textures etc down.

i'd be happy with that laptop at that price considering what you want it for ,maybe overkill as stated and you could do what you wanted on a lappy 200 quid cheaper..........but it's i5 and not a crumby dual core so it's got a couple of years before it gets sneered at in any geeky conversations about computers that you ever have.

ma71lda · Post by **ma71lda** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:17 am

Cheers darkm and mr lugsy.

Somehow I won't be having geeky conversations lol!!!!

It seems to tick all the boxes and compared to the dinosaur of a laptop I use at the moment - Dual Core 1.73 GHz, 13.3" TFT screen, 1GB of memory, 120GB HDD. It works....just.

I hope it would be like trading in a Skoda for a Lambo.

My other halfs laptop cost £429 last Christmas and its a lot faster than mine, but the specs are nowhere near as good the laptop I have linked.

Cheers for the heads up guys, I'm 95% certain I'll get it....but I have seen a Dell Inspiron for £369 in Tesco. The only gripe is it runs off an Athlon processor and I'd much rather have Intel i3 or i5. But what do I know!!!

harry2 · Post by **harry2** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:57 am

I only really use mine for poker and internet. You may as well buy a Dell or non marquee name computer. Everyone at work has a brand called Lenova. They are unexpensive, have decent speeds and are very reliable.Your choice at the end of the day.

messiah · Post by **messiah** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 1:06 pm

harry2 wrote:I only really use mine for poker and internet. You may as well buy a Dell or non marquee name computer. Everyone at work has a brand called Lenova. They are unexpensive, have decent speeds and are very reliable.Your choice at the end of the day.

Lenovo bought out the old IBM computer making division, so actually have a decent history behind them

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:21 pm

ma71lda wrote:Cheers darkm and mr lugsy.

Somehow I won't be having geeky conversations lol!!!!

It seems to tick all the boxes and compared to the dinosaur of a laptop I use at the moment - Dual Core 1.73 GHz, 13.3" TFT screen, 1GB of memory, 120GB HDD. It works....just.

I hope it would be like trading in a Skoda for a Lambo.

My other halfs laptop cost £429 last Christmas and its a lot faster than mine, but the specs are nowhere near as good the laptop I have linked.

Cheers for the heads up guys, I'm 95% certain I'll get it....but I have seen a Dell Inspiron for £369 in Tesco. The only gripe is it runs off an Athlon processor and I'd much rather have Intel i3 or i5. But what do I know!!!

If your existing laptop is running slowly, surely it could be cos it's full of shite, malware, spyware, etc. If you reinstalled Windows on it, you might find it's back to its former glory.

ma71lda · Post by **ma71lda** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 8:44 pm

Cheers for the input Harry2 and messiah, I'll check out the Lenovo brand f'sure.

Cardinal, my laptop has had a virus on it before and it took me a while to get rid. How did I get it? My daft missus downloaded/installed an exe file off Facebook. I went mad, but what can you do lol? I currently have Norton as security and I don't download owt, nor do I go on dodgy websites. After a couple of full factory resets I think its on its last legs.

Nows the time for a change, or I could maybe wait til closer to Christmas for the sales, but who's to say there will be anything better and cheaper. One things for sure, a certain female won't be going anywhere near it after breaking a PC and almost breaking this....its only a matter of time before she breaks her own!!!

trayhop123 · Post by **trayhop123** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:31 pm

seriously ,,,,,,,,,,,,, for what you want it for ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, cardinal's answer was spot on

better to pay £50 to some tech geek to clean yours up , than fork out £500 on a higher spec model that most of its muscles will never be used

for what you want it for ,,,,,,,,,,,, why spend any more than you have to?

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:38 pm

If you still have your Windows installation disc, all you need to do is stick it in the drive and when your laptop fires up, press F8/F12/F10 (can't actually remember which one) - when a menu appears asking you what you want to do, go for the "boot disk" option or similar and it should be quite straightforward from then on.

Just make sure to save anything you want to save onto a USB stick or phone (this instruction should really be first).

As you can tell ,I can't remember the exact way to do it, but it's easily googleable.

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 11:44 pm

Forgot to say, any virus or any other shite you have will disappear when you reinstall Windows. I'm no expert, but to my knowledge, there is no virus or any other nastiness that can damage the hardware. Therefore wiping it and starting from scratch will solve all your problems.

All you need to do is to train your bird not to install all those shady Facebook things. This sort of thing can feck you up, regardless of how new your laptop is.

One more thing - don't pay money to Norton or any of that shower. There are plenty of free anti-badness options out there, try AVG or Avast (the free versions of course).

ma71lda · Post by **ma71lda** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:57 am

I know what you are saying Lee and £50 to fix a (sort of) working laptop makes sense, but the money was won on a footy bet. Therefore, I see it as free money and it'll only get frittered away as I don't need anything new....other than one of those funky NES pad coffee tables and somehow I don't think £500 would cover that! Plus, I doubt I'd be allowed one lol.

Thats the thing Cardinal - I don't have a Windows disc and when I reset everything the other half had to download Vista etc and I don't think it installed fully either. My Norton runs out soon and Avast has been recommended to me, but I wouldn't touch AVG with a barge pole - I had it on my computer for a while and everytime it kicked in my computer would virtually grind to a halt.