At this point, I'm looking to get another laptop, so won't have that issue...I don't want to keep updating a PC, everything becomes obsolete so quickly!
[Reply]

I used to always like Acer laptops, but recently the specs haven't that great for their price, and the screen resolutions have not been brilliant for the size of LCDs. They are still a good price and fairly reliable though.

But currently I would recommend HP laptops. They have better keyboards, screens and specs for the price compared to most others at the moment.

My Mum had to buy a new laptop last month and I did a lot of searching and looking in stores for her, and finally bought a new HP laptop and it is a great spec for the price. AMD Turion II 2.3GHz dual core CPU, 17" 1600x900 screen, ATI Radeon 4530 512MB GPU, 320GB HDD, Lightscribe DVD-RW, 4GB ram, 1.3MP Webcam, HDMI, Firewire, Bluetooth, WiFi, Windows Vista 64-bit with free upgrade to Win 7 64bit. Costing about £560. The model was a Pavilion DV7-2110sa, which is now replaced with the DV7-3020sa.

A higher up model in the same range adds a blu-ray drive and cost about £670.

Normally I would avoid AMD CPUs in laptops and go for Intel Core 2 Duo, but I've been impressed with these new Turion II processors and they are more than a match for the mobile Intel ones.

Regarding HP/Compaq. I've used many over the years and they have always been really well made and solid. In the past though they have always been more business like that home entertainment in design, but these new ones are very nice. Great screens, lovely piano black glossy cases with metallic inside. Nice keyboards and touch controls above for volume etc. The specs are also great for the price.

I've got an AsRock motherboard in my emulation PC and have been very happy with it. Great specs for the price. I bought it after my old main system's Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard died after 3 years use, and had all the parts (ram, CPU, GPU etc) from the dead system and decided to resurrect them with a new motherboard, and that system is now my new emulation system. Surprisingly too, for a ASRock board costing under half of the original Asus one it replaced, it actually had some better specs, allowing for much better overclocking, full bandwidth for ram when all 4 sockets are in use, and generally an all round very nice motherboard. Only having 4 SATA sockets is a bit of a limitation, and only 2 PCI slots, but as it has everything already built into the motherboard I can always use one of the PCI slots for an extra SATA card if needed.

I've also used AsRock motherboard to replace dead ones in a few systems I've repaired and not had any returned.

ASRock did used to be very budget originally, but in the last few years they have really stepped up their game and now produce some nice boards at the lower half of the price range.
[Reply]

I also have a compaq laptop similar spec to one harrison mentions not quite as good but it was only £425. I bought the last one in stock and i havent seen this exact set up anywhere else. A quick word of warning about the free upgrade to win 7 its not completeley free hp charge £20 odd quid to ship it, and considering the bloke in the shop told me i would only have to pay £5 for shipping it was a bit anoying.
[Reply]

That is true about the Win 7 upgrade. I think it was £27 or something. And you have to go through loads of steps online to verify you are the owner of the laptop and visit a company's site outside of HP to order the upgrade disc and pay the cost.

A bit annoying, but it is still cheaper than buying a full commercial Win 7 upgrade.
[Reply]

True it is still an ok deal and i think there are some hardware companys that are charging more. I just feel the whole win 7 upgrade has been a bit misleading i still dont fully understand the process, but i think im going to bite the bullet and pay the £27 quid. Oh i also forgot to mention in my first thread if battrery life is important regards to purchasing laptop the compaq one that ive got only has two hours life wich i think us a bit poor but i only run i of the mains.
[Reply]

These laptops are meant to be desktop replacements though so battery life is never going to be brilliant. Best battery life is the current wave of Atom powered networks, but with small screens and relatively slow CPUs they are only good for internet, email and light office use really.
[Reply]

Yep I love the HP, the one I'm typing on now is a HP, and have to say the keyboard is tops. No wear on any of the keys, they sit at a nice height and don't jump out at you and you dont need to smash them to get it to register a press. I think I'm going to stick with HP...just need to decide which one! I have 2000 AUD (£1113.87 ) to play with....
[Reply]

Awe! With that kind of budget you should be able to get a nice one. I've seen great specced ones for aroun £800-900 which include decent dedicated 1GB gaming graphics cards, 4GB ram, Win 7, 18" screens, and blu-ray drives. So you should be able to get a very decent HP laptop.
[Reply]

Here's hoping...the problem is, the shops in Aus never usually carry many of a particular brand, which makes it annyoing! So I'm gonna hold off...atm I'm still hoping that I get a full refund. It seems that they are going to be bitches about it though
[Reply]

Can't you order online? Even from HP themselves?
[Reply]