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what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: August 29th, 2015, 6:24 pm
by Gnomemage
there are just so many out there. Dell, asus, apple, samsung, acer, HP, lenovo literally no idea what to choose.

btw i prefer to buy my pcs outside of UK. the VAT made it at least 15% more expensive than buying it oversea

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: August 29th, 2015, 10:47 pm
by spotify95
Gnomemage wrote:there are just so many out there. Dell, asus, apple, samsung, acer, HP, lenovo literally no idea what to choose.

btw i prefer to buy my pcs outside of UK. the VAT made it at least 15% more expensive than buying it oversea

It depends on what you need it for - but in my experience HPs have been good and reliable. Toshiba is pretty good too.

I would seriously avoid Acer because my laptop is an Acer and has had nothing but trouble, Blue Screen of Death, no system restore, backup function failing, overheating issues etc. The i5-480M processor and the Aspire 5742s are known for problems.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 2nd, 2015, 12:34 am
by pinkteddyx64
Gnomemage wrote:there are just so many out there. Dell, asus, apple, samsung, acer, HP, lenovo literally no idea what to choose.

btw i prefer to buy my pcs outside of UK. the VAT made it at least 15% more expensive than buying it oversea

But buying from some overseas places are more expensive than here. :rolleyes:

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 3rd, 2015, 2:36 pm
by Gnomemage
spotify95 wrote:
Gnomemage wrote:there are just so many out there. Dell, asus, apple, samsung, acer, HP, lenovo literally no idea what to choose.

btw i prefer to buy my pcs outside of UK. the VAT made it at least 15% more expensive than buying it oversea

It depends on what you need it for - but in my experience HPs have been good and reliable. Toshiba is pretty good too.

I would seriously avoid Acer because my laptop is an Acer and has had nothing but trouble, Blue Screen of Death, no system restore, backup function failing, overheating issues etc. The i5-480M processor and the Aspire 5742s are known for problems.


Acer used to be good during the 90s. But they have failed to innovate and they are terrible now i agree.

I am using a HP laptop now and its pretty trash, slow and laggish, but i think it has more to do with me picking a cheap laptop.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 3rd, 2015, 7:51 pm
by spotify95
Gnomemage wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
Gnomemage wrote:there are just so many out there. Dell, asus, apple, samsung, acer, HP, lenovo literally no idea what to choose.

btw i prefer to buy my pcs outside of UK. the VAT made it at least 15% more expensive than buying it oversea

It depends on what you need it for - but in my experience HPs have been good and reliable. Toshiba is pretty good too.

I would seriously avoid Acer because my laptop is an Acer and has had nothing but trouble, Blue Screen of Death, no system restore, backup function failing, overheating issues etc. The i5-480M processor and the Aspire 5742s are known for problems.


Acer used to be good during the 90s. But they have failed to innovate and they are terrible now i agree.

I am using a HP laptop now and its pretty trash, slow and laggish, but i think it has more to do with me picking a cheap laptop.


It's probably down to the specs of the laptop. What sort of processor does it have and what is the clock speed? How much RAM does it have?

For example, I have a HP laptop with Windows 8.1 on it, it has 6GB of RAM but only a dual core AMD-E2 processor at 1.7GHz. My friend I know had a HP laptop, also with Windows 8.1, and although it has 8GB RAM (only 2GB more), the processor is an Intel i5 3230M which is a dual core (but with 4 threads) at 2.6GHz, with Turbo Boost kicking it up to 3.2 GHz. So my friends HP laptop is a lot faster (even faster than my Acer with 6GB RAM and an i5 480M at 2.67 GHz) thanks to the processor.

In fact the HP at 1.7GHz is not much faster than our old Packard Bell which runs Windows XP, has just 1GB RAM and has a dual core at 1.6GHz.

Hence proof that processing power is very important in a computer.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 2nd, 2015, 10:25 am
by AngryJellyfish
I bought a IROPRO Windows 8 tablet from Amazon, ridiculously high spec for the price, and the only negative things I have to say about it are that the power cable is really short (not much of an issue, as I usually charge it when not using it, and the battery life is amazing), and that the instruction manual was in nonsensical Engrish (but who reads those anyway, if anything it gave me a good laugh). Bought it because I wanted something that could handle HD anime video files without me having to re-encode them into MP4, and could run Media Player Classic with the CCCP codec pack installed. It manages that perfectly!

As for laptops and desktops, I usually go with HP. Their stuff tends to be really well built, fewer cheap parts than other reasonably-priced brands.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 2nd, 2015, 1:53 pm
by pinkteddyx64
My HP laptop I got in 2007 died in mid-2011 after a well known fault with the graphics card! :doh2:

Shame really as when I upgraded it to Windows 7, it ran beautifully on that laptop. :(

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 2nd, 2015, 2:26 pm
by spotify95
My new HP laptop runs very well on Windows 10, it is very fast, though that's to be expected with an intel i7 processor.

The only issue I'm having is how on earth I'm supposed to dual boot it with Windows 7.

My previous laptop, an Acer Aspire (which I am using now to access university documents), cooks itself pretty quickly and runs very hot. It has windows 7.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 2nd, 2015, 2:36 pm
by pinkteddyx64
spotify95 wrote:My new HP laptop runs very well on Windows 10, it is very fast, though that's to be expected with an intel i7 processor.

The only issue I'm having is how on earth I'm supposed to dual boot it with Windows 7.

My previous laptop, an Acer Aspire (which I am using now to access university documents), cooks itself pretty quickly and runs very hot. It has windows 7.

Windows 10 supposedly has a feature that sends instructions to the hardware to use its cooling features more. Maybe try upgrading to Windows 10 on it? Or wait for the forthcoming Windows 10.1 and upgrade to that?

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 15th, 2015, 9:41 pm
by spotify95
spotify95 wrote:
Gnomemage wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
Gnomemage wrote:there are just so many out there. Dell, asus, apple, samsung, acer, HP, lenovo literally no idea what to choose.

btw i prefer to buy my pcs outside of UK. the VAT made it at least 15% more expensive than buying it oversea

It depends on what you need it for - but in my experience HPs have been good and reliable. Toshiba is pretty good too.

I would seriously avoid Acer because my laptop is an Acer and has had nothing but trouble, Blue Screen of Death, no system restore, backup function failing, overheating issues etc. The i5-480M processor and the Aspire 5742s are known for problems.


Acer used to be good during the 90s. But they have failed to innovate and they are terrible now i agree.

I am using a HP laptop now and its pretty trash, slow and laggish, but i think it has more to do with me picking a cheap laptop.


It's probably down to the specs of the laptop. What sort of processor does it have and what is the clock speed? How much RAM does it have?

For example, I have a HP laptop with Windows 8.1 on it, it has 6GB of RAM but only a dual core AMD-E2 processor at 1.7GHz. My friend I know had a HP laptop, also with Windows 8.1, and although it has 8GB RAM (only 2GB more), the processor is an Intel i5 3230M which is a dual core (but with 4 threads) at 2.6GHz, with Turbo Boost kicking it up to 3.2 GHz. So my friends HP laptop is a lot faster (even faster than my Acer with 6GB RAM and an i5 480M at 2.67 GHz) thanks to the processor.

In fact the HP at 1.7GHz is not much faster than our old Packard Bell which runs Windows XP, has just 1GB RAM and has a dual core at 1.6GHz.

Hence proof that processing power is very important in a computer.

Quoting my own post, I know, but my new HP with Windows 10 and an intel i7-4510U and 8GB RAM absolutely flies along! And it keeps very cool too.

Further, despite the battery being smaller in my new HP, it actually lasts longer than the original Acer battery (I have since upgraded to a 9 cell and it is similar to the HP), and is more power efficient.

Plus, my second monitor now works on the HP now that I have bought a HDMI to VGA adaptor.

@pinkteddyx64 As for the Acer - that's certainly not being upgraded to windows 10 - if you look on Google you'll see that the 5742s have heating problems in general.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 16th, 2015, 12:52 am
by pinkteddyx64
@spotify95 Maybe Windows 10.1 when its released? ;)

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 4:32 pm
by spotify95
pinkteddyx64 wrote:@spotify95 Maybe Windows 10.1 when its released? ;)

Nope, because certain programs that I have installed have compatibility issues with windows 10, and I doubt that Microsoft will do anything about that.

Also, the Acer Aspire will likely be retired once I have got the HP set up the way I want it, i.e. dual booted and with all of my programs installed.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 4:38 pm
by pinkteddyx64
I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 5:20 pm
by spotify95
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 5:27 pm
by pinkteddyx64
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!

But just to take it off your hands? :p

I'd definitely upgrade it to Windows 10.1 as I have very little software that's an old version being used, I use Office 2013, and the oldest software I've got installed is Paint Shop Pro 7. (Which dates from September 2000!!!! :eek:)

All on Windows 8.1 but I'm sure Paint Shop Pro 7 would work with Windows 10.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 6:41 pm
by Zak
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 6:48 pm
by spotify95
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!

But just to take it off your hands? :p

I'd definitely upgrade it to Windows 10.1 as I have very little software that's an old version being used, I use Office 2013, and the oldest software I've got installed is Paint Shop Pro 7. (Which dates from September 2000!!!! :eek:)

All on Windows 8.1 but I'm sure Paint Shop Pro 7 would work with Windows 10.

Nah, I'd rather keep it as a spare - in case I can't get dual booting set up on my windows 10 laptop. Then, I'd be able to run my windows 7 programs.

One day in the future, I will take the thing apart and put some new thermal paste in - though that will be when I am happy with the windows 10 HP and have everything backed up. :)

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: December 18th, 2015, 6:51 pm
by spotify95
Zak wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

That's a nice idea, but I wouldn't just bin a laptop - I still have my old Packard Bell laptop from 2007, and that runs Windows XP! I took that apart and put a new fan and thermal paste in, and that runs fine now :)

Hopefully your computer will be fine for a while longer - also it depends on what OS you're using. If it is windows 7 or newer, then it's definitely worth keeping. But XP has has support removed, and chances are so will Vista shortly - the only reason why I am keeping my XP laptop is for really old software that won't even run on windows 7.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 9th, 2017, 11:58 pm
by pinkteddyx64
spotify95 wrote:
Zak wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

That's a nice idea, but I wouldn't just bin a laptop - I still have my old Packard Bell laptop from 2007, and that runs Windows XP! I took that apart and put a new fan and thermal paste in, and that runs fine now :)

Hopefully your computer will be fine for a while longer - also it depends on what OS you're using. If it is windows 7 or newer, then it's definitely worth keeping. But XP has has support removed, and chances are so will Vista shortly - the only reason why I am keeping my XP laptop is for really old software that won't even run on windows 7.

Does that Packard Bell laptop have a 'Windows Vista Capable' sticker on it?

And support for Windows Vista ended last April! :D

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 1:49 pm
by spotify95
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
Zak wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

That's a nice idea, but I wouldn't just bin a laptop - I still have my old Packard Bell laptop from 2007, and that runs Windows XP! I took that apart and put a new fan and thermal paste in, and that runs fine now :)

Hopefully your computer will be fine for a while longer - also it depends on what OS you're using. If it is windows 7 or newer, then it's definitely worth keeping. But XP has has support removed, and chances are so will Vista shortly - the only reason why I am keeping my XP laptop is for really old software that won't even run on windows 7.

Does that Packard Bell laptop have a 'Windows Vista Capable' sticker on it?

And support for Windows Vista ended last April! :D


Yes, it does claim to be Vista capable, though considering how resource intensive Vista was, and the specifications if the laptop, I highly doubt that it would have ran Vista well, if at all. I doubt it will run anything better than Windows XP.

Though anyways, I just use the Packard Bell for old XP programs, nothing else.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 2:34 pm
by pinkteddyx64
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
Zak wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

That's a nice idea, but I wouldn't just bin a laptop - I still have my old Packard Bell laptop from 2007, and that runs Windows XP! I took that apart and put a new fan and thermal paste in, and that runs fine now :)

Hopefully your computer will be fine for a while longer - also it depends on what OS you're using. If it is windows 7 or newer, then it's definitely worth keeping. But XP has has support removed, and chances are so will Vista shortly - the only reason why I am keeping my XP laptop is for really old software that won't even run on windows 7.

Does that Packard Bell laptop have a 'Windows Vista Capable' sticker on it?

And support for Windows Vista ended last April! :D


Yes, it does claim to be Vista capable, though considering how resource intensive Vista was, and the specifications if the laptop, I highly doubt that it would have ran Vista well, if at all. I doubt it will run anything better than Windows XP.

Though anyways, I just use the Packard Bell for old XP programs, nothing else.

At least Windows 7 was less resource intensive so chances are Windows 7 would have ran okay on it.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 2:46 pm
by spotify95
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
Zak wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

That's a nice idea, but I wouldn't just bin a laptop - I still have my old Packard Bell laptop from 2007, and that runs Windows XP! I took that apart and put a new fan and thermal paste in, and that runs fine now :)

Hopefully your computer will be fine for a while longer - also it depends on what OS you're using. If it is windows 7 or newer, then it's definitely worth keeping. But XP has has support removed, and chances are so will Vista shortly - the only reason why I am keeping my XP laptop is for really old software that won't even run on windows 7.

Does that Packard Bell laptop have a 'Windows Vista Capable' sticker on it?

And support for Windows Vista ended last April! :D


Yes, it does claim to be Vista capable, though considering how resource intensive Vista was, and the specifications if the laptop, I highly doubt that it would have ran Vista well, if at all. I doubt it will run anything better than Windows XP.

Though anyways, I just use the Packard Bell for old XP programs, nothing else.

At least Windows 7 was less resource intensive so chances are Windows 7 would have ran okay on it.


System requirements for Windows 7 are the same as Vista, 8, 10 etc i.e. 1GB RAM , 1GHz CPU etc.

The machine only has 1GB RAM so Windows would require the vast majority of the installed RAM in order to work. And an old Core 2 Duo at 1.6GHz isn't the best CPU either. Plus, the graphics are likely integrated and not the best. (Edit: Graphics are Intel GMA950, which is utter crap.)

It would be best staying on Windows XP to be honest.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 2:50 pm
by pinkteddyx64
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
Zak wrote:
spotify95 wrote:
pinkteddyx64 wrote:I could buy it off you if you don't want it anymore! :ohyes: :D

I don't think there's much that you could do with it either, to be honest!


Or I would take it off you rather than you just bin it, and keep it as a standby in case mine dies suddenly like I've been
talking about in PM with you. Would pay the Postage charges to you of course. But please give Ted first option for it as
he asked first. :)

That's a nice idea, but I wouldn't just bin a laptop - I still have my old Packard Bell laptop from 2007, and that runs Windows XP! I took that apart and put a new fan and thermal paste in, and that runs fine now :)

Hopefully your computer will be fine for a while longer - also it depends on what OS you're using. If it is windows 7 or newer, then it's definitely worth keeping. But XP has has support removed, and chances are so will Vista shortly - the only reason why I am keeping my XP laptop is for really old software that won't even run on windows 7.

Does that Packard Bell laptop have a 'Windows Vista Capable' sticker on it?

And support for Windows Vista ended last April! :D


Yes, it does claim to be Vista capable, though considering how resource intensive Vista was, and the specifications if the laptop, I highly doubt that it would have ran Vista well, if at all. I doubt it will run anything better than Windows XP.

Though anyways, I just use the Packard Bell for old XP programs, nothing else.

At least Windows 7 was less resource intensive so chances are Windows 7 would have ran okay on it.


System requirements for Windows 7 are the same as Vista, 8, 10 etc i.e. 1GB RAM , 1GHz CPU etc.

The machine only has 1GB RAM so Windows would require the vast majority of the installed RAM in order to work. And an old Core 2 Duo at 1.6GHz isn't the best CPU either. Plus, the graphics are likely integrated and not the best.

It would be best staying on Windows XP to be honest.

My now dead HP laptop which had an AMD Turion processor, 2GB of RAM and Windows Vista preinstalled always kept getting low memory warnings despite only using it for light tasks such as Microsoft Office, but once Windows 7 was on it, even with the full Aero interface turned on, it ran a bit quicker.

Re: what brand of laptop/tablet do you prefer and why

Posted: September 10th, 2017, 4:06 pm
by JessPlaysGames
I use HP :)