Best Laptop advice

[comfortably numb]

I’m going to liveaboard from next spring and I’m looking for a laptop that will best suit my needs. I’ve read up on previous threads on this subject and particularly one from about a year ago and have picked up some useful information.

 

However, if some of you would be so kind as to advise me, I have listed below my requirements and main uses.

 

Budget £500-£700 (the lower end if possible). I’d love a Mac-book but out of my range I’m afraid.

 

Uses – Internet browsing, forums, emails, Skype calls to friends overseas, downloading to ipod.

 

I’m not bothered about playing modern memory gobbling computer games, large screens, video editing, playing CD/DVD’s.

 

The consensus on here seems to be that Netbooks are better for battery life but I think they’d be too small and fiddly for me, although I’m going to try out some in the shops this week to see.

 

I’m happy to spend extra on a spare battery pack, 12 converter etc.

 

We’ll be CC’ing for about 5 months a year and spending the other 7 in a marina with shoreline and Wi-Fi.

 

My biggest concern is a slow internet speed as I don’t want to spend ages waiting for pages to load. Does the processor speed have anything to do with this because I’ve also read on here that the more powerful the processor is the more battery it uses. I realise that other factors are relevant as well such as signal strength etc.

 

On that subject, whilst CC’ing I presume the internet signal strength and availability will much depend upon where I am cruising or moored up. Is there any feature or specification I should need on the computer I should look for which will help with both signal strength and speed of the internet?

 

I’m a real technophobe and struggle with the terminology so please be gentle!

 

Neil

[routrax]

It might be worth considering a tablet instead of a laptop if that's all you need it for.

 

I'd look at the Asus transformer range, link, it seems to cover your needs and is very cheap and has a crazy long battery life!

 

There is also the iPad if you want to spend more (for less).

 

You have enough in your budget to get a cheap laptop for the tasks the tablet can't do, but if it's just net, mail and skype a tablet will cover it.

 

Cheers

Steve

Edited December 30, 2012 by routrax

[bespin]

Or the microsoft surface tablet, though I am a convert to the ipad it just works and the apps are good

[Chagall]

If you are a technophobe, and think a tablet would suit then definitely go for the iPad, because as bespin said...it just works!

 

the iPad has convinced my brother in law to go for a MacBook and he was a die hard "will never buy an Apple!"

 

consider a second-hand MacBook? even not new, in my opinion, they beat a new PC

[by'eck]

Don't spend a lot of money on a high spec popular brand. Choose one with an easy to use touchpad and keyboard with a screen size to suit you. Battery life will always be worse than manufacturers claim so don't let it be too much of a deciding factor since it will only get worse. Buy an inexpensive universal 12 volt car adapter as well.

 

Don't spend more than £350-£400. You can get an Acer for that price especially if you shop online.

 

With the money saved buy another sooner rather than later to access the latest technology as it appears.

 

Any current laptop will almost certainly have all the facilities you require but just confirm it has WiFi, webcam and microphone. If not the latter, you can buy a neat inexpensive USB one from Maplins. Ditto for external mouse if you can't get on with touchpad. On that note one with two or more USB sockets is helpful.

[Kwacker]

Just bought my wife an ipad Retina (ipad 2 from £329) for Christmas.

Her computing requirements are much the same as yours, but additionally typing up texts .. so far so good, she loves it and a bluetooth keyboard is always a future possibility.

By coincidence, we also have obtained the Apple TV gizmo (£99) allowing use of the TV to mirror the ipad display, absolutely brilliant for BBC iplayer etc. and so simple to use.

I use a high-end HP laptop, but I'm starting to eye-up the ipad, who needs a DVD drive anymore, and the battery life on the ipad is 8 - 10 hours, the best my HP can manage is 3.5 hours ... I don't think I'll be a Windows user for much longer.

We tried the ipad connected to the web via my Galaxy S2 and it worked like a dream.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Kwacker

[FidoDido]

Agree - go on ebay and get a s/H macbook. Any of them from the past 4 years or so will be fine. I'd then spend another £50 or so on maxing out the memory (and possibly put in a solid state drive). They go on ebay from about 250 up.

 

I've used macs for the past 25 years. My wife is using a 2006 macbook pro - its run every day for 6 years. Show me a PC laptop that will give you that sort of longevity. Its still absolutely fine for doing anything other than high performance games (ideal, so the son doesn't use it!)..

 

The Unibody ones are very robust. (They have black keys, vs the silver keys before this). Easy to replace memory and hard drive (or buy me a beer and I'll do it for you).

 

oh, forgot to say.. I'd go for a metal one, rather than a white or black plastic one.. More robust, run cooler, look nicer, generally better spec.

[Paul C]

I'd personally be looking at a reasonable Netbook (or maybe a Chromebook if all you do is definitely 100% just internet stuff). The bonus being, you keep a significant proportion of your budget in the bank.

[Rebotco]

For better battery life and convenience, I'd definitely suggest you consider a Tablet computer which will do all you want. The iPad does what it does better than others, but an Android can do considerably more and at a fraction of the price. A laptop will do more than you want, but lower battery life, bulkier and less conveniently than a Tablet.

I have recently bought this TABLET at under £200 and its most impressive with WiFi, 3G, Dual Core CPU, USB, Bluetooth etc etc. Highly recommended.

[AMModels]

Agree - go on ebay and get a s/H macbook. Any of them from the past 4 years or so will be fine. I'd then spend another £50 or so on maxing out the memory (and possibly put in a solid state drive). They go on ebay from about 250 up.

 

I've used macs for the past 25 years. My wife is using a 2006 macbook pro - its run every day for 6 years. Show me a PC laptop that will give you that sort of longevity. Its still absolutely fine for doing anything other than high performance games (ideal, so the son doesn't use it!)..

 

The Unibody ones are very robust. (They have black keys, vs the silver keys before this). Easy to replace memory and hard drive (or buy me a beer and I'll do it for you).

 

oh, forgot to say.. I'd go for a metal one, rather than a white or black plastic one.. More robust, run cooler, look nicer, generally better spec.

 

Got an early acer from 2004 that still runs daily doing all the thing the OP asked for, if they want to pay extra for a name then go for anything apple related always worth an extra 40-50% on top of a PC/Laptop price.

 

For what the OP asked for then any modern laptop will be fine and you dont need to pay an extra grand for a load of guff youll never use 'but hey its an apple/mac/ithingy so it must be good'

 

 

Apple, triumph of marketing over value.

 

 

I'd personally be looking at a reasonable Netbook (or maybe a Chromebook if all you do is definitely 100% just internet stuff). The bonus being, you keep a significant proportion of your budget in the bank.

 

Chrome book is an excellent suggestion, does everything it needs to and costs less

[Rebotco]

Whoops duplicated!

 

 

Edited December 30, 2012 by Rebotco

[Guest]

Acer Aspire - knocked dropped and spilt on and still running 2 years on.

 

Ideal for boating.

[Québec]

PC Advisor's Top 5 laptops for under £600

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/laptop/3214583/group-test-whats-the-best-budget-laptop/

Acer Aspires at No. 5 and No. 1

 

On board I use an iPad

OH uses an Asus Transformer (both excellent battery life)

Internet connection via 3 Mifi dongle.

[Kwacker]

Got an early acer from 2004 that still runs daily doing all the thing the OP asked for, if they want to pay extra for a name then go for anything apple related always worth an extra 40-50% on top of a PC/Laptop price.

 

For what the OP asked for then any modern laptop will be fine and you dont need to pay an extra grand for a load of guff youll never use 'but hey its an apple/mac/ithingy so it must be good'

 

Apple, triumph of marketing over value.

 

 

 

 

Chrome book is an excellent suggestion, does everything it needs to and costs less

As a recent convert to Apple I'd say a triumph of quality and design over compromise.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Kwacker

[Doug_]

Get an iPad, best thing I ever did. Having used PCs since before the era of Win 95, I dabbled with Macs at work in the 90s and always promised myself one - one day.Battery life's awesome compared to laptop/ netbooks. I can do everything I did on the netbook without paying Microsoft licence fees using Apps that are free or very cheap.

Word processing, spreadsheets etc. The benefits are enormous.I bought a Wifi and 4G model. With a 3 sim card installed I can get the Internet at home or on the boat, in the car - fantastic sat nav mapping, it is faster using 3G than my broadband at home. Use the Cloud for storage, Dropbox or even Apple iCloud. Just bought an Epson wifi printer so I can now print as well.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Doug_

[bizzard]

''Toshiba Setalight'' and its still working.

[routrax]

A slippery slope = owning an apple product.

 

Having said that, I've spent a couple of grand on apple stuff in the past, it's great for kids, but even they see past the shiny shiny and want a product with more substance in the end.

 

My daughter hates her macbook, and had me replace her iPhone with an Android phone. She still likes her iPad, but prefers my google nexus 7.

 

There is one thing that apple does better than anyone else, and that's marketing.

[Richard T]

Just check that the charger will work with a modified sine wave inverter. I use a variety of laptops for work - some will some won't charge!! Current HP one does and is a good machine to work with - runs 'Etch a Sketch' - sorry AutoCad and Photoshop with no problems plus usual other bits and pieces.

[AMModels]

As a recent convert to Apple I'd say a triumph of quality and design over compromise.

 

See you believe the marketing

 

Get an iPad, best thing I ever did. Having used PCs since before the era of Win 95, I dabbled with Macs at work in the 90s and always promised myself one - one day.Battery life's awesome compared to laptop/ netbooks. I can do everything I did on the netbook without paying Microsoft licence fees using Apps that are free or very cheap.

Word processing, spreadsheets etc. The benefits are enormous.I bought a Wifi and 4G model. With a 3 sim card installed I can get the Internet at home or on the boat, in the car - fantastic sat nav mapping, it is faster using 3G than my broadband at home. Use the Cloud for storage, Dropbox or even Apple iCloud. Just bought an Epson wifi printer so I can now print as well.

 

Chromebook for their apps and no licences and a mahoooooosive saving over the marketing costs inherent in an apple

[routrax]

Chromebook for their apps and no licences and a mahoooooosive saving over the marketing costs inherent in an apple

 

The Samsung one looks good with 6.5hrs on the battery, any idea what the internal storage is?

The chromebook site doesn't say.

[Guest]

The Samsung one looks good with 6.5hrs on the battery, any idea what the internal storage is?

The chromebook site doesn't say.

 

16GB??

 

 

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/chrome-os-devices/XE303C12-A01US

[routrax]

16GB??

 

 

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/chrome-os-devices/XE303C12-A01US

 

Ah, I was looking via google.

 

16gb is pitiful, not viable without a decent land line connection.

[Nemysys]

As mentioned in some of the other replies, I would go for a 3G Ipad.

 

I have both an ipad and a net book.

Can't remember the last time the NetBook was switched on.

 

I also have the logitech solar keyboard for the ipad which helps tremendously when writing emails etc.

 

Personal choice though.

[Kristian]

My best advice, stay away from any laptop with "Windows 8".

[comfortably numb]

Many thanks for you helpful replies to my OP.

 

Unfortunately I forgot to mention this very important use that I need it for and can’t believe I forgot to mention it (must have been too much festive beer/wine consumption ).

 

I shall be helping to do the accounts for my sons business, and I plan to do much of it remotely if possible so I will need to either access his desktop PC remotely using something like that ‘Go to my PC’ and/or exchange files & documents either by email or from a ‘cloud’.

 

This will include emailing Excel spreadsheets from time to time which I will need to work on, so would an Apple device be compatible for using Excel?

 

Also I will need a computer device that will enable me to have the basic Sage accounts software on it (Sage Instant Accounts). I don't think I'd need a printer because this could be done from my son's desktop.

 

I don’t know how relevant this is and whether it changes things much and sorry I didn’t mention this earlier.

I’ve had few specific replies about what a computer /device needs in order to help with connecting to the internet so do I presume that any modern device together with a decent 3g package will be sufficient for the optimum coverage and speed?

 

 

Neil