In the market for a Laptop, any advice?

[RandBlade]

The amount I use my Laptop now for work I'm tempted to upgrade to a new one (from the old hand-me-down I'm currently using). As silly as it sounds, one of the main reasons I want to upgrade is to get one with an in-built Numpad, my current one frustratingly doesn't have it and this is an absolute deal-breaker for me.

Ideally not wanting to spend too much, saw a good one at Tesco's (Supermarket) for £349 and I was thinking about that price. Can't find the model online, this is similar but oddly the one in-store was cheaper and 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD: http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.210-6691.aspx

But seen this one online which looks awesome and not actually a ridiculous amount more: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/241725

To be used mostly for work, not gaming.

Any advice?

[Ominous Gamer]

The Sony is obviously better, but what programs do you use for work? Sony, from what I've seen, have always put a heavy price on their style, and you can almost always get an identical machine (hardware wise), from somewhere else, for a good percentage less.

If this truely is a strictly work machine, I would focus less on large harddrives and multicore/high clock speeds, and more on screen size and drive speed.

[RandBlade]

I only really use 4/5 programs for work normally
Excel
VPN + NetSupport
Firefox
Word
Windows Live Sync in the background (will be replaced with Mesh I think its called I guess when I can be bothered to upgrade/they turn Sync off soon).

Since I don't play games currently on my Laptop, I think just the low RAM and lack of keypad are the only pet hates of my current one.

[Wraith]

What's the size of the documents you handle with Excel and Word?

If you pretty much only deal with small things, I'd say just go cheap. I have no idea what Live Sync costs a system, though.

[Khendraja'aro]

However, Sony does have good hardware. Something to consider.

[Draco]

I'd recommend the Lenovo Thinkpad range.

[Timbuk2]

Yeh my bank issues us with the Lenovo Thinkpads.

Was given the X61 in January. It's a slick piece of kit, but smaller than most laptops so I don't know if the slightly smaller keys and smaller screen would be a prob for Rand.

The nipple-mouse annoys some people too, though I don't mind it. Work issues us with cordless rodents anyway, and docking stations with full screens and keyboards when in the office.

[Kazuha Vinland]

There are just now popping up laptops featuring the new AMD Zacate technology. The characteristics are super cheap machines with long battery life and good performing integrated graphics. The only trade-off being that CPU performance is not all that much (better than Atom, almost on par with CULV). It should fit remarkably well for your needs, though.

Here is a Toshiba Satellite sold in Canada for 379$. 15.6" and it got a numpad. You would probably be better off waiting a little while until they get to the UK too, as they're right around the corner.

Edit: And here is a review of an early Zacate adopter, describing the pros quite well. The cons are mainly directed at it being a typical, well... HP. ^^

[Flixy]

I'd recommend the Lenovo Thinkpad range.

I was very pleased with my previous ThinkPad, though it was not very cheap. Very durable!

[Kazuha Vinland]

ThinkPads are indeed extremely durable, even if they do have that old fashioned work environment look and are slightly stiff at offering different hardware combinations. For instance getting an E350 processor in a 15" Lenovo is not something I'll expect from them. Still, great machines.

[Aimless]

ThinkPads are indeed extremely durable, even if they do have that old fashioned work environment look and are slightly stiff at offering different hardware combinations. For instance getting an E350 processor in a 15" Lenovo is not something I'll expect from them. Still, great machines.

Well, let's not forget the x120e around the corner



RB, could it work if you just added an external numpad or an external keyboard with a numpad?

[Kazuha Vinland]

I know, that's my exact point! They will make a product or two featuring it where they think it'll apply the most, but at the same time it would be unusual of them to mix elements like E-350 and a 15.6" screen and a numpad. =/

[Aimless]

Hmmm I think it's similar to how you can't easily find an atom processor in a 15" laptop

[Kazuha Vinland]

Intel Atom is artificially limited to 11.6" displays (earlier it was 10.1"). Intel has actually set a lot of limitations in the agreement that have to be signed by those wanting to produce models using Atom. Maybe it is to decrease the competition against their own CULV-processors, which are also low wattage but more powerful and often found in 13-15" models at a way steeper price point. Either way those limitations pose as quite the deal breaker now that AMD launches similarly priced units as the Atom with better performance and no artificial limits (as I'm aware off).

[RandBlade]

RB, could it work if you just added an external numpad or an external keyboard with a numpad?

Not really.

I have an external keyboard I use when in the office, so not too bothered then. The main problem is NetSupport.

I dial-in to take control of other machines at multiple other locations many times a day, when I do that though NetSupport changes my Caps Lock, Num Lock etc to match what they use. Which means all of a sudden I'm typing and instead of letters I'm getting a series of numbers on the right-hand-side of my keyboard. Or when I'm docked and using a proper keyboard num-lock is off because I turned it off earlier in the day. Or someone at work tries to type and complains why their numerical password isn't working because I'd been logged in remotely and turned NumLock off without turning it back on again (seriously, some people are that thick they don't check).

I want a Laptop I can just use wherever I am without that hassle, without having to mess with cables etc - I need one with more than 1GB of RAM I think, but the numpad may be an even higher priority for me, otherwise I'd just upgrade my RAM.