Laptop advice!

[Kinoko]

I'm looking at finally getting a new laptop after 3 wonderful years of sharing and caring for each other. This one has been like a puppy to me, but with all the art I'm doing these days and with trying to speed up work on kinokofry.com, it is struggling along. I need something with more processor power that can handle large image files without grinding to a halt.

So, I'm in need of some advice! I'm completely broke for the time being so I won't be buying anything right now but I want to have an idea of what I'm looking for and what people have had good experiences with.

My current baby is a Compaq Intel Celeron M (??), 1.30GHz, 224MB of RAM. I barely know what that means.

I want something simple, and the more compact, the better, but about the same size would be nice. One feature I like about this is that it has a card reader on the side which works with my phone's memory card nicely, but I could live without it I suppose. I also need at least 3 USB ports.

Seriously, that's all I need! I have simple needs, but I DO need a decent amount of processor power so that I can work on very very large images with ease as well as having things like email and iTunes going.

So I suppose, do you guys recommend a certain company over others? What's the best -way- to buy? Should I get one online? I need it to be as cheap as possible because I have no job and every cent counts ^_^

Thanks guys!

P.S. Oh, of course I need built in wireless but I'm assuming everything comes with that these days.

[Nikolas]

First of all, since you're doing graphics, shouldn't you want some decent size screen? :-/

Second, you're in Australia this time? Will you buy from Japan? Any links should come from which country?

Third, what programs are you using? I could tell you everything about music, but unless I know, at least what you're using (which is blank knowledge for me, the composer), I can't really help.

I would imagine that a duo core would be nice, and not really expensive. Also 2 GB of RAM, simply because bloody laptops come with Vista nowdays. If you hate Vista (and you have plenty of reasons to), or if your main software does NOT work with Vista, maybe having an CD XP version could help rather nicely. Cause I doubt you can find a laptop with XP, at least I've not found many.

The USB issue could be solved dead easily with a usb hub. A simple google search gave me prices from around $15 (US $).

Card reader, I also imagine that some portable card reader will do nice (what card is it? Which sim card?). USB connection and you're done!

Wireless comes with almost every laptop I've come across, you are right there!

You would also need some hard disk space, right? I mean with art it might be a hard disk space waster. Then again with a USB hard drive you could spend another $150 and get an extre 500 GB. If you don't need speed or streaming things (like audio does), do you?

Online vs shop. Online you get offers. At the shops, me being Greek, I've always managed to save and barter a bit ("Can you add this program?" or "hmmm... in this other shop I found the bigger hard driver for the x ammount", etc). It is a competative market and a sweet girl who knows what she wants might get something better. Online you do need to trust the website. I mean www.buyfromusthebestlaptopsintheworld.com seems a bit weird... . And delivery will up the price slightly.

Dell are reputable and do indeed work, but then again they are more pricey than anything else really! Other companies which make laptops: Toshiba, Sony, HP, Apple (yes, if you want a Mac that is), etc.

As an indication for a price (if I remember correctly), an entry level laptop is around £400 (around $800 (US $)). And I'm sure you can get monthly payments, or credit card payments, which helps towards the costs.

[Kinoko]

Thanks Nik!

Right, well I don't know whether I'll be buying from Japan or Australia, it depends on what my options turn out to be.

The software I'm using... I mean, currently, it's usually Paint Shop Pro working on 600dpi images, along with various others like email, browser, etc. But the whole thing is that I'd like to get a lot more memory so that I have the option of using other programs if I feel like suddenly playing with Photoshop or Illustrator or whatever. I guess I want as much memory as I can without getting too expensive.

I know I could get a card reader and USB hub... but I would prefer not to if I can avoid it. I like to keep things simple if I can and I hate having seperate add-ons if I can avoid them. It's why I like my laptop so much, it's so many things at once to me all in the one.

I already have an external HD (500GB) so that's cool! I currently have a 37.2GB HD in this thing and I find that's about enough because I keep most stuff on my external.

At any one time, I always have my tablet plugged in as well as my scanner, and I would keep the external HD plugged in if able, so that's why I like at least 3 USB ports.

The screen doesn't really bother me to be honest. I find it doesn't make a huge difference, but the laptop being bigger and heavier would bother me more. I want to remain fairly mobile!

Yick. I forgot about Vista. I really don't want that... if I can I'd prefer a laptop with XP and if not, I'll freaking buy XP if I have to. My current laptop has XP, can I just use the same install disks again?

[EldKatt]

Zepto sells laptops without an OS. When I did my laptop-buying research a few months ago they seemed to be about the only company that does this (except for a rumor that Dell might do it if you ask nicely). They're highly configurable (Dell-style) and seem pretty solid (I'm nothing but happy with mine as of yet, but that doesn't say a lot given how new it is). I suggest you check it out.

[Mozesh]

I bought my current laptop last September, was looking for the best for the cheapest. Got me an Acer Aspire 5920. It's a pretty heavy duty laptop, can run any program and the latest games. Unfortunately I don't see this thing still alive in 5 years. It broke within 3 months after purchase, which was a factory error... after three months for no reason. Also it doesn't feel sturdy enough for me, the lid cracks sometimes when opening or closing.

So yeah, if you're a person who has trouble NOT breaking things get something that is decently build. Also, ALWAYS go to a store to check out a laptop. I wouldn't advice just buying it online without having it in your hands once. Unless you're familiar with it some other way, friends or whatever.
When in the store see what fits you best.

But yeah you said you wanted to cheap, then go for cheap. Toshiba seems to have fairly cheap laptops which seems decent. My mom bought a toshiba a few weeks ago, thing works like a charm.

Also, if you get a laptop with vista, uninstall all the crap that they install with it. This laptop ran with 1gig of memory taken by vista and Acer's programs. After cleaning this baby out it runs fine at 600mb. So clean your laptop of all this crap, and if you can get one without an OS or install windows XP.

[Kinoko]

I'll probably have to wait until I'm in Australia anyway but yeah, I appreciate the help, guys!

[Stupot]

You still in Japan... if so, go to Akihabara.  I bought one there for 18,000 yen which was great value.  It was only a little thing, but it was great for my needs.  You'd be after something bigger and more powerful but still might be worth looking into.

[Makeout Patrol]

I use a macbook pro. Not exactly cheap, but it will be at least a few weeks before you can think of anything you wish it did differently, and pretty soon you'll realize that there are ways to get it to do most of those things the way you want. Boot Camp is fantastic; it's just like running windows on any other laptop, except you have OS X as well. It's not the second coming of christ like you'll hear some people say, but I have very few complaints.

[Eigen]

HP Pavillion series. I have it and most of my friends have it. It's a really good laptop and it shouldn't be very expensive. I don't know how much exactly as I bought myself a used one.

[Evil]

I'd actually recommend against the HP Pavilion.

I paid a lot for mine and it's a piece of trash. Slow, somewhat unreliable, horrible battery life even with the best batteries they offer. They're not that cheap, BUT the screen is gigantic. Perfect for working with PS or Illustrator.

[Questionable]

Do you have a budget?