Laptop Buying Guide

Contents

Operating system

It doesn’t matter so much nowadays, since so much of what we do is through a browser, but…

Windows 7 is what I run on our desktop and mini laptop computers and is very good indeed. Easily the best operating system I've ever used. The 64 bit version can address more than 4Gb of memory but is likely to be less compatible with older software, scanners etc.

Windows Vista and XP still work well enough on older machines. More memory really helps if Vista seems slow.

Linux is reliable and fine for basic surfing etc but can get a bit challenging when you have to do anything under the bonnet. But the web is largely run on Linux.

Tablets and smartphones mostly run on Apple's iOS or Google's Android.

Suppliers

Dell are big and usually efficient. Their low headline prices soon rise quite a bit when you add in decent warranties and technical support. I got my laptop from their outlet site (returned machines) for an excellent discount.  Their prices seem to go up and down over time more than most.

John Lewis are the epitome of quality and tend to offer more in the headline price, eg 2 years warranty. They also have knowledgeable staff. They offer a 90 day technical support service with laptops for free then it’s their store IT staff who provide free support indefinitely – I’m assured they could talk you through a Windows re-install. Do get the unlimited technical support confirmed in writing.

PC World are useful for checking out what’s available but they do tend to have a few “who?” brands such as Advent and Packard Bell.

There are loads of other suppliers. The trick is finding out which ones are good value and will still be around in a few years.  If considering a new one I always put their name into Google with words such as "problem". My desktop came from PCSpecialist who have a good configurator. I upped the memory and disk size but went down a level with the processor. That saved so much that I got our new desktop and mini laptop machines for £600 the pair.

For smartphones and tablets Apple are big, also Samsung and there are plenty more competing for attention.

Support and maintenance

For some devices it's basically a matter of hoping it lasts well and replacing it when it breaks. For computers what you really need is someone who’ll fix the machine for the first few years and give you technical support (eg if Windows will not start or you get a nasty virus) indefinitely. There’s a tendency for suppliers to duck out of support obligations now – some will offer reasonable hardware warranties but will not be interested in helping if the machine is unusable because of a software fault (eg Windows needs re-installing).

So make sure, before you buy, that you know:

• How long they’ll fix physical faults and whether they come to you or you ship to them (if the latter it’s useful if they’re relatively local)
• What happens when Windows misbehaves – how much the technical support call costs per minute, where it’s based and how long does it last? What about viruses and setting up wifi?
• If you’re buying with a short hardware warranty period can your local computer repair shop fix faults?

Basically, ask yourself “what happens if the hardware and/or Windows goes crunch – next month, next year and after 3+ years?” And do I get a Windows/recovery CD?

Options for technical support include:

• Technically aware friends or family (often a limited resource in terms of time and patience – do remember to show appreciation via bottles of wine etc)
• Local experts offering help
  
• Extended support warranties from whoever you bought from (don’t assume product warranties cover technical support – they usually don’t)
• Support from BT, Dell, the Geek Squad (Carphone Warehouse) etc.  These will typically offer an annual fee or else charge per fix, often taking charge of your computer remotely.
  

Software

On a computer, apart from the operating system you need security plus an office suite (word processing etc) then something for images, sound, video or whatever, according to taste.

For security you can pay for Kaspersky, Norton etc (does your existing subscription cover multiple PCs?) or else use a collection of free security software items, eg Microsoft Security Essentials with the Windows Firewall.

For word processing, spreadsheets and presentations there’s always the free Open Office. It’s a little slow at times but pretty good and can read and save in  Microsoft formats. Or Microsoft’s Office 2010 is around £85 at amazon uk for Word, Excel and Powerpoint (but not Outlook) for up to 3 computers. It’s a pity my favourite, Office 2003, is no longer available.

For images the FastStone Image Viewer (free for personal use) is amazingly good and does some editing too. Photoshop Elements is wonderful for any sort of image processing.

Laptops

They get better and cheaper month by month and you often have to spend more to get real speed, big screens or miniaturisation. Make sure there are plenty of connectors, eg 3 USB is better than 2. Processors, hard disks and memory are largely a matter of what you spend. I think spending more on a bigger disk and more memory and stepping down to a less expensive processor is most effective. Make sure you’ve got an Ethernet network port. Wifi capability is essential, with wireless n more desirable than g. Bluetooth can also be useful for connecting to phones and other gadgets. HDMI is good for connecting to a TV.

Battery power is a real issue with laptops. Few seem to last more than 2-3 hours away from the mains and the batteries don’t seem to last many years. Some people say you’ll get years more from your laptop battery if you take it out any time you don’t need to work on battery power - I also read it's better to store Lithium Ion batteries part discharged.

As of October 2011 reasonable basic Windows 7 laptops start around £350 (more with decent warranties) but you really do need to do the research to see what will suit you. An interesting development is that mini laptops (with no CD/DVD drive but bigger screens than netbooks) have got much cheaper recently. We've got a little Dell with an 11.6" screen - much better than a netbook but very portable. 13.3" laptops also give a good balance between usability and portability. AMD's Fusion/Vision platform gives good graphics performance and battery life and Intel are always forging ahead. Basically both are providing chips that can run a small laptop at useful speeds for a long time. We've got an external CD/DVD drive that is mostly left on a shelf.

A CD/DVD writer is a must nowadays for your main machine, although external USB hard disks are better for routine backups than burning occasional data CDs or DVDs.

You can easily top £1000 for fancier laptops but that’s not necessary if you don’t do anything too demanding.  They get faster so relentlessly over time that any new machine will be pretty good beside a really expensive one from 3 years ago.

Netbooks

This category is set to disappear. A little while ago small laptops cost a fortune, then netbooks came along, Pretty cheap, a bit crippled (slow, single processor, no DVD drive, starter version of Windows 7). They are very, very portable but the 10.1" (max) screens and tiny font size makes them a bit unsuitable for general purpose use. Not as convenient as a tablet, not big enough to use as a real computer.

I think the small laptops with rather larger screens (eg 11.6 or 13.3", lots more pixels) will make netbooks last year's phenomenon before long. If I think about what computer type gadgets I'd like to cover all situations it would be desktop PC, mini laptop, smartphone and maybe a good, cheap 7" tablet (doesn't exist yet).

Desktops

If you want more flexibility and power and are happy for your main computer to stay in one place a desktop definitely gives you a lot more speed and power for the money than a laptop – but beware power consumption. If you use a computer a lot then the extra speed, bigger screen and better keyboard and mouse of a desktop makes a laptop seem a very crude alternative.

One big advantage is that it’s much easier and cheaper to recover from hardware problems with a desktop, eg if the screen dies just get another one – they keep getting bigger and cheaper. Although I hope my squarish screen doesn't die - the wide-screen ones that are compulsory now are not as good unless you want to use your computer for watching films.

You can also use specialised desktops as media centres, although I prefer a dedicated PVR – much cheaper and simpler to use too.

There is a new generation of small desktops that are a compromise between desktops and laptops. The HP Slimline range works well in a small tower case and the Dell Studio Hybrid is very tiny indeed – although it mainly uses laptop components and is therefore a bit slow and expensive. PC Specialist do some interesting low power desktops and the Acer Revo is a super-slim design.

Tablets

They are flying off the shelves, led by the iPad. I have used one of those quite a bit, browsing the web from an apartment in Venice. Great screen, neat package, but for me a tablet just doesn't do a lot compared with a real computer, eg a mini laptop. It has nothing close to the slickness of multi-tabbed browsing on a real computer (tablets nearly all run phone operating systems). The touch interface is intuitive but far too crude for anything like delicate photo editing. And typing is a pain - the on-screen keyboard takes up far too much of the small (netbook sized) screen. And yet they cost a lot and have hardly any storage - nowhere near enough for our music and photos, let alone videos. And the top selling iPad doesn't even do Flash, which rules out a surprising amount on the web - live traffic displays, video clips etc. But nobody has come up with a credible iPad competitor and they are all so amazingly overpriced. Maybe the amazon Kindle Fire will change all that but don't hold your breath - it's looking rather like another semi-crippled device aimed at making you pay for content from a limited, controlled market.

For now I'm happy to let others overpay for early tablets and use either my smartphone or mini laptop. This is one craze I'm happy to watch from the sidelines.

Smartphones

These are small computers that can do an amazing amount. Apple really got this market buzzing with its very popular and accomplished iPhone. Then HTC, Samsung and others got going with Android smartphones, which are gaining market share rapidly. The trouble for me was that they were so expensive - £400+ for a SIM free phone or else a lengthy, expensive contract with a 'free' phone. Then my son switched to a new Samsung Galaxy S2 (gorgeous big screen, very fast). His HTC Hero (a top end phone in 2009) was still fine and he got it unlocked and gave it to me. I just needed a new battery and a SIM. That's it on the right, with a Venice canal as wallpaper.

I did the research and found O2 spinoff giffgaff. It's perfect for a SIM free Android phone - you can stay on Pay As You Go and use wifi for internet connections. Or for £10 for a month you get unlimited internet on the move, unlimited texts and 250 minutes talk time. At the end of the month you can revert to PAYG (eg if abroad on holiday) or pay for another month - very flexible.

So now I can use Google maps on the move or check anything (incl. Flash content) via the web browser or apps. When there's no decent signal I can still play Angry Birds or read a brilliant selection of articles via the Guardian app (you can download them via wifi before leaving, pictures and all). Because you may have no signal when you need a map the most I also tend, before a trip, to put detailed maps (screenscraped on our desktop) on the phone as pictures.

So now I'd be ever so reluctant to ever get tied in to a contract to get a 'free' smartphone. I think that with average luck it is so much cheaper to just buy a SIM free smartphone then go with giffgaff or similar. Reasonable smartphones (eg Wildfire S, 320x480 3.2" screen like my HTC Hero) seem to start at around £150 SIM free (Oct 2011) and a little past the 200 mark you get much better screens, eg Motorola Defy. Then you just pay giffgaff £10pm for internet etc and you will soon be ahead of people tied into contracts. If you get an older model for free that's even better.

I still find a smartphone screen rather limited for internet browsing and a tablet would be useful. A 7" £120 wifi only tablet with a good screen would be ideal - doesn't yet exist.