Dell has the PCPro recommendation at the moment.
The Sonys look good but a specced up one starts getting pretty dear.

btw make sure you phone them up to order as you can easily get free delivery as I did last month (£57) maybe even more on a £1500 laptop.

[Edited by father_jack - 12/4/2001 5:12:48 PM]

 

I am looking for a new PC and have decided to buy a laptop, but which one?

Budget upto £1500

Current favourite is Sony VAIO PCGFX405

What else should i look at.

Thanks

Simon.

 

Vaio's are nice. Thin and sweet.

Dell Latitudes, or the brick of an Inspiron. How about a Compaq Armada?

H

 

Will allways stick with dell's. The parts are easily available whenn I break them

Andy

 

Dell for me every time!!!

 

Don't touch the Sony Vaios. Nothing but trouble IMHO

 

Try www.dell.co.uk/discount, as you get 5% discount for ordering on-line. Adds up to a few pounds saving if you are buying an expensive one.

I'm looking at the same thing at the moment. The biggest decision is if you are going to carry it a lot. If it's just for convenience then you can put up with the larger (luggable) ones like the Dell Inspiron range, but if you are a regular traveller, and not too worried about ultimate performance, then look for a lightweight (portable) model, that's easy on the shoulder blades.

 

Try IBM good reliable machines etc maybe not as cheap as a dell but good service etc afterwards. Or Toshiba pretty good as long as your not in North America.

but if you want for more games than work horse stuff dont really know

 

http://www.compaq.co.uk/products/notebooks/evo/matrix.stm

or

http://www.auctions.compaq.co.uk/

 

I use the FX405 at home, it's great, large 15" screen, AMD processor, 256MB standard (although I've upgraded to 512), the only thing wrong with this model is that max resolution is 1024 by 768 (I like higher res screens) and the battery life is not great, most I've had out of it is one hour. There are extended life batteries for this model though and the multiport will take a second battery so the battery life can be extended to 4+ hours. This model also has a CR-RW/DVD combo drive. So there are no extra's to lug around with you. I use a PCMCIA Sony memory stick read/writer which works in any laptop, so I don't need to lug a floppy drive around.

I also use a Compaq Evo N600c at work, there are various options, I should have been delivered the top of the range version with SXGA screen 1200 by 1600, but instead I was delivered the next model down which only has 1024 by 768. I also speced 512MB RAM (which was deliverd). These only have 14" screens, so compared to the Vaio it all depends on what you want to use it for. Having said that, the Compaq is very light and has very good battery life as standard. But, my Evo only came with a normal CD-ROM, but I think (but I'm not entirely sure) you can get the same combo drive as in the Vaio.

If I had a choice? Not sure really, both are great laptops.

If screen size is priority then the Vaio.
If portability is priority then the Compaq (maybe), but there might be the odd extra drive to lug about.

It is a tough choice. I'm happy with both. It's difficult to benchmark each model against each other, at work I use intensive SQL Server apps, the Compaq copes well, at home I only use it for digital photography, MP3, internet and email (hence choice of 15" screen), and similarly the Vaio copes well. Also. I use XP Home at home and Win2K at work, these OS's are difficult to compare against each other.

Hope this helps. I've probably confuse more than anything

db

ps Sony keyboads are much better than Compaq, the Ctrl key in in the right place and the keys are much more tactile, the ketboard feels bigger as well.

 

just got the sony vaio for work,no probs so far,tidy bit of kit,good screen.

so much choice isnt there?

steve

 

Thanks for all the advice so far,

still can't make my mind up.

simon.

 

Compaq, good build quality and reliable.

 

Dad's just bought this Dell Inspiron, its the cheapest one they do but still very powerful and light. It is however very big as he paid extra for the 14" screen. Nice touch though, and I love doing exactly what I'm doing now, sitting here in bed surfing with a CD on and my headphones in