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[GiglameshDespair]

I'm going to university at last, and I want a good laptop. I'm doing a computer science course, so I want a good laptop - one that i could program on, if need be. The thing is, i've never used a laptop before, and I've never owned one. Any ideas what would be good?

I don't want an apple product. Never liked apple, and I'd prefer something I with windows 7 or 8.
Probs 8gb of ram
1.8Ghz processor
Probably an intel core
decent graphics card, I'm a computer gaming nerd.

I'm a Brit, by the way. Probably a maximum of around 500 quid.
Help me, bay12ers!

[acetech09]

"I'm going to university at last, and I want a good laptop."

Laptop recommendations? Sure!

"I don't want an apple product. Never liked apple, and I'd prefer something I with windows 7 or 8. "

Sorry. You lost me.  . I know almost nothing about modern windows laptops, because nearly every one I've ever used had been so crappy that I don't even consider them anymore. Plastic just doesn't make a good computer case. Plus the miserable trackpads. Best decision I think I ever made was to pick up a MacBook Pro about 3 years ago at the Stanford apple store. Huge investment but I was about to take some CompSci courses there and my previous old laptop wouldn't cut it. It's survived some amazing falls, is still working great, and has outlasted both windows laptops that a few of my friends bought at roughly the same time. Yes, it was $1600, but I'm almost certain that it would outlast most windows machines by a factor of three, at least.

I would recommend HP, but my friend's HP that he bought a few months ago had some cooling issue that needed it to be sent back to the factory. And my cousin's dell laptop shattered when it fell about 2 feet onto a tile floor. I might just have cursed friends but I've had very little positive experience with windows laptops recently.

[Vector]

Toshiba is pretty boss.  My late-run shitty Vista-box is still going strong six years later, being almost continuously used through that time.

[freeformschooler]

Toshiba is pretty boss.  My late-run shitty Vista-box is still going strong six years later, being almost continuously used through that time.

So true. For what you pay, you aren't getting as much raw power as another brand, but it'll last a long time.

[acetech09]

Just a note - my reply is in heart just a 'make sure you invest in something good' rather than a 'buy apple even though you don't like it' post. It kinda came out that way when writing it.

[Tellemurius]

Just a note - my reply is in heart just a 'make sure you invest in something good' rather than a 'buy apple even though you don't like it' post. It kinda came out that way when writing it.

I doubt most of us going to Uni could afford a macbook and for that budget its not going to happen (though its really good for something like battery life and doing heavy media editing but man its a bitch to fix).

edit: i cant post links from work but for a few good online sites for UK shopping i would try PC world or (if you have more loot to throw) OverclockersUK.

PC World has an ASUS K55VD-SX909H for sale 450 quid
15.6in screen
i3 running at 2.3Ghz
6gb of ram
geforce 610m
500gb hard drive

HP ENVY m-6-1232ea for 550 quid
more expensive but comes with a little faster i5 at 2.6Ghz and the graphics card is a AMD 7670m which is extremely much better than that 610.

[gigaraptor487]

+1 toshiba. I am on one in the UK and it was £400, and while it may be bad for gaming it does have reasonable compile times. This was 2 years ago so you will find better toshibas.

Whatever you do, don't buy an acer. My brother has one and they are awful in both performance and specs for money IMO and my toshiba outperforms it even though it is an i3 and his is an i5.

Good Luck!

[Kashyyk]

I'm also a software engineer, so here goes. My current set up is a crappy little £200 Compaq, which I use as a glorified notepad and typewriter. It can run Microsoft Visual Studio (what I need for my course) and that's about it. I also have an approx £800 desktop for all my gaming and any really power hungry uni work.

[GiglameshDespair]

Thanks for the comments, guys. I got the Lenovo g700 for £500 (ouch.)

i5 core at 2.6 ghz
8 gb of ram
1 TB of memory
gt720 integrated graphics card with 1 gb

i won't have a desktop at uni, at least for the start, so I need a decent laptop that can service all my needs.

[MorleyDev]

It really depends what you want. If you want something to take to-and-from University for lectures, then a smaller laptop is better and you can sacrifice some performance. If you want something that can be ported to and from home and your university accommodation, but not really to lectures, then you could look at getting a bigger laptop that can act as a desktop replacement.

I went with an XPS 17 two years ago (which is definitely the latter, being a 17'' monstrosity) and it's still a very decent desktop replacement.