Friend looking to buy

[ellspeedy]

My mate is looking to buy a new laptop and obviously i recomended here!

His max budget would be £600

He would want for general use - browsing, office and some casual gaming with these games mentioned in particular:

football manager

Tropico 4 (system reqs below)
Minimum Required: • Operating System: Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Vista / 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core CPU
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• HDD: 5 GB free hard disk space
• Graphics: Shader Model 3.0 (Geforce 6600 or higher, Radeon X1600-Series), 256 MB, DirectX 9.0c
Recommended:

• Operating System: Windows Vista / 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• Processor: 2 GHz Quad Core CPU
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• HDD: 5 GB free hard disk space
• Graphics: Shader Model 3.0 (Geforce 8800 or higher, Radeon HD4000-Series or higher), 512 MB, DirectX 9.0c

Tropico 4 will also support NVIDIA's FXAA technology on both console and Windows PC, which offers advanced anti-aliasing features with a minimal effect on system performance.


Wants a 15" screen with a 500gb HDD and 4gb ram (would he need to go up to 8gb?)


Just wondering what sort of specs you guys would recomend?
Would he need a dedicated graphics card or would integrated be adaquete?
What sort of CPU would be decent for his price range? Is i3 ok? Or bump up to i5?
As i said top budget is £600 but anything cheaper would be good!


He has been looking at a Sony Vaio which comes in at £500 and has i5, 4gb ram, 640gb hdd and integrated graphics card.

I have been saying that PCS may be better but am not too clued up on lower end gear so some advice will be helpfull

 

[Buzz]

I have 2 close friends who own a sony vaio. I have never experienced a more hassled fixing computer. For a start his EXACT model will not show up on ANY Sony web site so finding drivers was almost impossible.
The FN function and the splash screen wouldnt work soon as it was formatted and again finding the correct drivers and install method was a pain. So many silly things. I personally would NEVER get a sony vaio after my experience with their comps.

Just my personal 2 cents on the Sony.

Id go for something like below far quicker.

Chassis & Display
Genesis III: 15.6" Glossy HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-2450M (2.50GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 2.0 (UMA) OR 2 x USB 3.0 & 1 x USB 2.0 PORTS (GT 630M)
Battery
Genesis Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £587.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/GenesisIII/

 

[ellspeedy]

Iv allways thought (never had personal experience though) that sony vaios would be decent, and havnt really done any research into them!

Thanks for the spec buzz, looks pretty decent, he asked this morning about a blu ray drive but i said he may aswell use his ps3 for bluray and save £60-£70 on the laptop!

What are other views on sony vaios? He seems fairly adament about getting one so we have to try and convince him otherwise!

 

[Buzz]

They are decent when they work I guess
One of them the HDD broke and he had to replace it. The other the USB ports broke.

They got virus (as ya do) and as I said the after care from Sony I was very surprised at. To not be able to find their exact model. I even mailed Sony to find out and when I sent them the Model number they came back saying no such model.

So I took a pic of the back of the lappy and sent them and I got back a reply saying, please bring it back to shop where purchased. Lol.

For me, I have fixed many comps and those Sony Vaio I will always remember as being very annoying and time consuming. Also over priced.

With a budget of 600 quid you dont really have ALL that much leeway is the thing. If he wants one thing he may have to compromise on something else.

 

[ellspeedy]

With the above posted spec Buzz, what would the performance decrease be in lowering it to the i3?

 

[Buzz]

Well its what, 30£ cheaper. Thats kinda how I would look at it.

One is 2.30Ghz the other is 2.50Ghz.

Both Dual Core. You wouldnt notice a huge difference between the i3 and i5 doing things like browsing, or text editing or anything like that. Even a lot of new games you wouldnt notice a massive difference.

Where you would notice a speed increase between the both would be the likes of say photoshop or editing multiple files in Adobe Flash or things like that.

i3 is a good solid Cpu but as you are well aware it is the lower end of the scale but saying that the scale from i3 - i5 -i7 is pretty good from bottom to top anyway, and again if your concerned on price, then the i3 would certainly provide decent poke for buck

Tropico 4 (system reqs below)
Minimum Required: • Operating System: Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Vista / 7 (32 or 64-bit)
• Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core CPU

One is 2.30Ghz the other is 2.50Ghz.

So for what your pall wants and price range he will be safe with either the i3 or i5. the i5 will give 30£ worth of extra give tho IMO