OK, looking at either a Dell or Toshiba Laptop? Need it to be XP Pro, 512MB RAM (would prefer 1GB) & 1.6GHz+ But do i go AMD Turion64 Dual Core or Intel Core Duo/Dual Core? Going to run VMWare, MS Virtual PC & Testing software on. Price range max is £620 ex VAT Any views or ideas please, cheers in advance
I would recommend you to take the toshiba , because you'll need to buy a fire extinguisher with a Dell laptop, as their batteries overheat very fast. (Dell laptop explodes at Japanese conference ). But on the other hand, machines from Dell are not that expensive.
Well, that depends. If you want to use your laptop for travelling, you would need a very long battery life. But if have your laptop connected into the wall socket all the time, then you would need more speed. I have an Acer Travelmate 8204. I can choose between the powerschemes AC power, entertainment and word processing. This is now included in almost any new Acer model I know. EDIT: If you would buy an Acer laptop, you can extend the warranty for a price lower than any other laptop manufacturer.
I've heard good things about Fujitsu, and HP also has some nice, solid units. Right now, Toshiba seems to have very poor customer support, not to mention poor lifespans on their products.
That's not-so anymore, Dell recalled the faulty batteries and the problem should be solved as it was a while back now. (not that long but with the speed things move at in the world of technology I would think the problem has been sorted) Plus Sony are ridiculously expensive! The same spec laptop as mine from Sony would easily cost £1500 - I paid just £800 for mine, Sony's products have always been overpriced and on that basis I wouldn't recommend them. I have an Acer Aspire 5672WLMi-166 (full name - specs are in the 'My Computer' section) and it's excellent! Acer make great laptops for the money and are definitely worth considering. Also if you hadn't specified XP Pro then I'd have recommended a Macbook - they're small, powerful and the battery life is incredible! You can now run XP on them but why would you tarnish a Macbook by putting an inferior OS on it