Need recommendations for new computer

[Ozor Mox]

OK I'll try to keep this short and non-boring! Basically, I now have:

- 4 year old desktop, average by today's standards
- 6 year old laptop, outdated by today's standards, also with physical faults such as USB ports and touchpad

Options I have for new computer(s):

1. New high spec laptop to replace desktop and laptop, and keep monitor/speakers/keyboard/mouse etc. to plug in when at home. Advantage is that it will provide every function (as in, be a desktop replacement). Disadvantages are that I get less for the money and it will be very big and probably have low battery life so maybe not really that useful as a laptop.

2. New middle-ranged laptop to replace my current laptop and keep the desktop. Trouble is, almost any half-decent laptop I buy now will be better than my current desktop, rendering it a bit useless in terms of spec.

3. New high spec desktop to replace current desktop. Save money as compared to the equivalent laptop, and spend the rest of the money on something like an eeePC or other netbook for a highly portable laptop.

My budget will be around £1000. I need help here guys, there are just too many options! I also do not want to buy a computer with Windows pre-installed, nor really Mac OS X. No operating system is fine, as is Ubuntu pre-installed. If you have input or have recently bought new computers I'd like to know what you think. Thanks. :)

[Raouf]

OK I'll try to keep this short and non-boring! Basically, I now have:

- 4 year old desktop, average by today's standards
- 6 year old laptop, outdated by today's standards, also with physical faults such as USB ports and touchpad



Assuming that 4 years old has more than 256 Rams so it can be running ubuntu fine

The other one can of course run xubuntu

Dell now ships XPS and Studio notebook with Ubuntu Linux 8.04 factory installed (http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2764)

[Ozor Mox]

Yeah they both run Ubuntu without too much trouble.

[brunovecchi]

I'd go with option 3; get a high-end desktop and a budget netbook. You could also try to sell both your desktop and laptop and maybe you could get both a desktop and a medium-spec laptop.

[tuxsheadache]

I think you should build / buy a high end desktop and get a netbook =D
You should be able to get a pretty decent desktop for that money.

[Ozor Mox]

Thanks, looks like option 3 is doing well! So would you agree that getting a high-end laptop isn't a very good idea? It is better to get something portable, not a gigantic screen, and a good battery life, and have a desktop for the high-end craziness?

[brunovecchi]

Well, it really depends a lot on what your use will be. In my particular case, I only need portability for really basic tasks (the ones that netbooks do without hassle), hard work is done at home so that's why I'd choose a really good desktop computer. It will last many years more than a laptop because:


They are harder to break
hardware upgrades are easier and cheaper
you get higher specs for the same money

[Ozor Mox]

Yeah good point. I've thought hard about what I'd use a laptop for and mostly it's for non-intensive tasks. It would be nice to play the odd game on it, but then pretty much any laptop I buy now would be much better than my current laptop, and would probably have no trouble handling the FOSS games I play.

I also saw that I can get a computer twice as powerful for £700 as a desktop, as I can for a £1000 laptop!

If I went for the good desktop option, do you have any recommendations for netbooks, or is a standard laptop a better choice?

[Ozor Mox]

Giant bump!

Is there somewhere I can go to check the compatibility of a new computer with Ubuntu? The ones I am looking at can be bought with no operating system, so I avoid buying a licence for an OS I'm not going to use, but I'd like to make sure they don't have any hardware that will cause Ubuntu to have a fit.

Also, do you think the processor in the regular version of the laptop is powerful enough compared with the rest of it, or is the pro version a better option? I haven't bought a new computer in almost 5 years, I'm a bit out of touch with computer specs!

These are the computers:

Desktop (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=pc&c=all&r=NTT)
Laptop (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=nb&c=all&r=X15)

[bradthewanderer]

Acer's Apire One is really good for a netbook, but if you are going to do any real typing you might want to get Hp's mini 1010r it has a huge keyboard by netbook standards. The Acer runs about $300 and the Hp runs about $350. Hope this helps.

[billgoldberg]

Option 3 for sure.

[Ozor Mox]

Thanks for the replies but may I please direct your attention to post number 9 by me, thank you :)

[liquidfunk]

I would recommend mine, from here: -


http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&kc=D4X42002&l=en&oc=D014208&rbc=D014208&s=bsd

Mines the Vostro 400, and I have an Nvidia 9600GT Alpha dog card.

[Reb]

I realize you already made your decision, but I was in a pretty similar situation recently.
I had about USD2500 to spend on a new computer to replace an ailing laptop (about 3 years old) and possibly also replace a once high-end desktop (about 4 1/2 years old). I ended up getting a Dell Studio 17, nominally a laptop computer, which is appropriate for taking to/from work but certainly not for using on-the-move or anywhere besides a desk, really. It's well specced and readily able to pick up on the tasks the other computers are getting too slow to handle. This came with a "free"-ish netbook (with Ubuntu!) which I'll be able to use as a portable.