AKICOLJ - phones, laptops &c

[wellinghall]

I am thinking of replacing:
- my mobile phone (around seven years old, very basic even by the standards of the time I bought it, and with a failing battery)
- our laptop (two years old, hard drive filling up, DVD drive broken so I'm currently using an external one).

I still don't use my mobile a great deal, but more than I used to. I don't need the latest and greatest model, but I am a bit envious when I see phones that can handle more than just voice and text!

Latop: I don't do any gaming or video editing, or indeed anything that's very processor intensive, but I need a reasonably sized hard drive for photos and music. I might want to get both a reasonably large desktop replacement, and a netbook.

So - any recommendations? Any anti-recommendations? Advice on make / model / spec / network / anything else would all be appreciated.

Thanks!

Comments

[gurthaew.livejournal.com]

I have just got a Packard Bell PAV80 netbook. As you have the external DVD drive already, there's no need to buy a laptop with one in it. The netbook cost £199 at Fleece-Me World but quite a lot of the software is additional, e.g. Symantec security, Micro$oft Orifice etc. It's got a 160Gb HDD in and is fully WiFi ready. It's noy the smallest/lightest or best for battery life.

I have decided to go portable with a cheap netbook and to rebuild a desktop for use at home. I had to replace the cooling fan on my Sony Vaio laptop and it took me about 5 hours, and I still have two screws left over. With a desktop, that would have been under 30 minutes.

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

HTC Desire - probably the hd model. Ask Gaya what she thinks of hers.

[segh.livejournal.com]

That gets my vote too.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Can't help much on phones since I just use what I am given by work (Blackberry Curve - excellent for email as it has a QWERTY keyboard, but poor for browsing because of the small screen and poor for apps).

The second generation Intel Core i3 and i5 chips are fantastic for laptops (so are the i7, but you might not need anything as high end). They are sometimes referred to as 'Sandybridge'. The way to tell them apart from the first generation is that the Intel Inside sticker on the first generation has a 'peel-away' effect while the stick on the second generation chips has a 'split-open' effect. That, and the model numbers on the second generation chips are four digits rather than three:
http://www.sandybridgelaptops.net/how-to-find-sandy-bridge-laptops-in-the-store

Every review I've seen has said that Sandybridge is the way to go. It's definitely worth avoiding first generation Core i3 / i5 /i7 laptops still being sold at original prices by high street stores. The Sony shop in Plymouth didn't know the difference until I educated them (I'm like that...)

What's the budget for the laptop? Or the laptop / netbook combination? Have you considered a tablet instead of a netbook - might be better for some purposes - might not be so much for others - ? Definitely a desktop replacement? Not a desktop + netbook / tablety combo? Or a smaller laptop attached to a monitor and keyboard when you're at home, but more portable when you're on the move?

Only other general advice I'd go for is something that reviews often overlook - build quality of the case. Cheaper laptops feel cheap and plasticky, even if the actual specs and performance are good. (On this note, I've been impressed with the new Lenovo ThinkPad T410 I use for work - very solid feeling). I'm not saying you should necessarily go to the extreme of paying double for the best case you can get (which I think is the Apple MacBook Pro, but as I say it's way overpriced unless you really value the look and feel) but you might be glad of paying a bit extra for your laptop over a cheaper but similarly specced model.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

I've had two Samsung mobile phones in succession and have been very happy with them - the first a regular phone, the current one a basic smartphone. The smartphone cost about £100 and I was able to get a very good PAYG deal on it via O2: whenever I top up, I get free texts and Internet for a month. This is absolutely ideal for me, since I only use it for Internet access on short trips such as concerts. The real joy of Samsung is the battery life. Batteries seem to last longer in Samsung mobiles than in anyone else's.

As for the laptop, if you want to save money, get something reconditioned; you'll get a good machine for about a quarter the price you'd pay for a new one. That's how I got my Dell. I could never have afforded something so light otherwise.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Hints and tips on buying a reconditioned laptop from Ser Gregor Clegane 'The Mountain that Rides':
http://www.conanstevens.com/computer-hints-fixes-and-tips/computer-hints-fixes-and-tips/how-to-recondition-a-2nd-hand-laptop-computer.html

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Our young one had a very basic/cheap Samsung phone recently the keyboard toggly button thingy fell apart into 3 pieces not long after she got it.

Meanwhile, I've been happy with Nokias phonewise.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this so I don't have to!

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

If you are interested, since the laptop is not all that old - I would probably be able to repair it, and fit a larger hdd. I did that for sally_maria, and she now has lots of space for photographs and vids.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

2 family members happy with our newish HP laptops. I have been entirely happy with the service received from Virgin Mobile across several types of non-contract (inc bundles & pure PAYG) and lots of phones ordered from them over the years. My partner likes his smartphone thingy and uses it for a lot of things so it has been better value than I orginally thought, and hasn't complained about Orange but you would have to email him directly to ask him what make and model the phone is. I think the battery runs out a bit quickly but he doesn't agree. HTH?

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

After the recent data protection fail, I would avoid anything produced by Apple...

[asklepia.livejournal.com]

Re the phone - if you do a lot of texting, then a Qwerty keyboard is nice, otherwise go with something very basic and cheap.

For the laptop - it's hard to get anything with less than 300GB storage these days, and you can get a terabyte of external drive with USB connection for under $100 (forty pounds?), so that isn't an issue. You will need a reasonable chip and 2GB RAM to run Windows 7, not sure about the latest Mac and Linux requirements. After that, frankly, it's a case of working out what size screen you want and how much weight you are prepared to lug around.

Good luck, I hope you find something you like.