by jra » Thu Jun 28, 2018 6:26 am
Trapper John wrote:If money isn't an object, not that they need to be any more expensive than branded lines, get one made to your own specs by
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk.
You can pick everything yourself or they'd be happy to advise you on everything, just tell them what you want it for and they'll do the rest. If I had the time and inclination I build my own, it's not that hard but I prefer to have them do it because they test it before release and I've got comeback if anything goes wrong.
I've had a gaming PC made by them in the past, a desk top and a laptop and they've all been brilliant. Don't be put off by their nerdy looking website, they deal with everyone from novices to top spec gamers and graphic designers.
One bit of advice I will give you if you go the high street way is don't be swayed by huge capacity hard drives, some offer terabytes of storage and you don't need it. No-one should be storing huge amounts of data on their daily use computer hard drive it's unsafe both in terms of data protection and hard drive crashes.250 gigabytes maximum is more than you'll ever need to run a machine at opitimum, store everything you want to keep on a seperate drive. Also when you want to scrub your machine thoroughly, which everyone should do at least once a month, it takes far less time.
BIB1. Unless you're really into gaming.
BIB2. You'd realistically only scrub your machine that often if you have something to hide.
McAz wrote:Mine is the first one on that page but with the specs of the second one - in other word, a 9360 (the latest is 9370) but with Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - I paid around £1400 3 or 4 months ago.
Most people don't need a laptop anywhere near that high a spec.
McAz wrote:Dimples wrote:Never heard of them.
It seems like a bit of an unnecessary step to remove USB ports.
Why would you recommend this particular laptop then?
USB ports are old and very much slower - and are now unnecessary.I bought my XPS because I wanted something powerful (mine is an i7), very light and small. I produce music and graphics and I wanted to do that without changing machines. Plus it blows away a Macbook but at much less cost component for component.
But still being included on many laptops, including Microsoft Surface Pro. Dimples wants it simple, not too complicated and USB is going to be around for a while yet.
Unless you're really into video games, intensive graphics programs and need to copy huge amounts of data between devices, a bog standard £300-400 laptop will be OK.
Intel i3 dual/quad core processor.
1 tb+ hard drive.
4gb+ RAM.
DVD/CD writer.
15.6" screen.
At least one USB 3+ port.
Unless you are keeping up with the Jones's, the above will IMO do for most people. Less sought after by thieves/muggers if you're out and about with it.
SSD drives are still early technology, so hold back on those for a couple of years, as storage amount per £ is still pretty high.
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7432279As for Apple, anything you buy new will be way overpriced for what you get. Buy their stuff if you want to have a status symbol. My bog standard bridge camera for example is going to piss over any laptop/tablet/mobile phone camera for images, let alone using a DSLR. In other words, buy the right equipment for the job.
[quote="Trapper John"]If money isn't an object, not that they need to be any more expensive than branded lines, get one made to your own specs by https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk.
You can pick everything yourself or they'd be happy to advise you on everything, just tell them what you want it for and they'll do the rest. If I had the time and inclination I build my own, it's not that hard but I prefer to have them do it because they test it before release and I've got comeback if anything goes wrong.
I've had a gaming PC made by them in the past, a desk top and a laptop and they've all been brilliant. Don't be put off by their nerdy looking website, they deal with everyone from novices to top spec gamers and graphic designers.
[b]One bit of advice I will give you if you go the high street way is don't be swayed by huge capacity hard drives, some offer terabytes of storage and you don't need it. No-one should be storing huge amounts of data on their daily use computer hard drive it's unsafe both in terms of data protection and hard drive crashes.[/b]
[b]250 gigabytes maximum is more than you'll ever need to run a machine at opitimum, store everything you want to keep on a seperate drive. Also when you want to scrub your machine thoroughly, which everyone should do at least once a month, it takes far less time.[/b][/quote]
BIB1. Unless you're really into gaming.
BIB2. You'd realistically only scrub your machine that often if you have something to hide.
[quote="McAz"][quote="Dimples"]Is the one you have, shown here on this page I was looking at earlier?
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/laptops-macbooks/view-all-laptops-macbooks/dell/solid-state-drive-ssd/intel-core-i7/_/N-a8fZ1z0fe06Z1yzv4bdZ1z13ua0[/quote]
Mine is the first one on that page but with the specs of the second one - in other word, a 9360 (the latest is 9370) but with Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD - I paid around £1400 3 or 4 months ago.[/quote]
Most people don't need a laptop anywhere near that high a spec.
[quote="McAz"][quote="Dimples"][quote="McAz"][quote="Dimples"][quote="McAz"]I had a Macbook - now I have this and I've never looked back.
[url]http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/dell-xps-13[/url][/quote]
No USB ports? :ooer:[/quote]
It has Type C (Thunderbolt) ports - even better. If you have some old USB devices small adopters are as cheap as chips.
[url]https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ailun-Adapter-MacBook-ChromeBook-Devices/dp/B01MYPX7Y8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527453035&sr=8-3&keywords=type+c+to+usb[/url][/quote]
Never heard of them. :gigglesnshit:
It seems like a bit of an unnecessary step to remove USB ports.
Why would you recommend this particular laptop then?[/quote]
[b]USB ports are old and very much slower - and are now unnecessary.[/b]
I bought my XPS because I wanted something powerful (mine is an i7), very light and small. I produce music and graphics and I wanted to do that without changing machines. Plus it blows away a Macbook but at much less cost component for component.[/quote]
But still being included on many laptops, including Microsoft Surface Pro. Dimples wants it simple, not too complicated and USB is going to be around for a while yet.
Unless you're really into video games, intensive graphics programs and need to copy huge amounts of data between devices, a bog standard £300-400 laptop will be OK.
Intel i3 dual/quad core processor.
1 tb+ hard drive.
4gb+ RAM.
DVD/CD writer.
15.6" screen.
At least one USB 3+ port.
Unless you are keeping up with the Jones's, the above will IMO do for most people. Less sought after by thieves/muggers if you're out and about with it.
SSD drives are still early technology, so hold back on those for a couple of years, as storage amount per £ is still pretty high.
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7432279
As for Apple, anything you buy new will be way overpriced for what you get. Buy their stuff if you want to have a status symbol. My bog standard bridge camera for example is going to piss over any laptop/tablet/mobile phone camera for images, let alone using a DSLR. In other words, buy the right equipment for the job.