sten_super
Brain Surgeon
Need some advice from the NSC sages. I am looking to get a new home PC and also could do with a laptop for work, and was wondering about the best/cheapest way to go about it.
I need:
Something for home - which means Office365 compatible and the ability to play a few games via Steam. Nothing too cutting edge, say Football Manager and Skyrim, although that in itself would mean a dedicated graphics card rather than integrated chipset. Little 'un on the way which means much less time for gaming so can't see that I'll particularly need anything too future-proofed.
Something for work - laptop able to run Office365.
All of which I'm trying to achieve on the smallest possible budget. £750 is probably absolute limit (and that's going to talk some serious persuading effort!), cheaper would be better.
My question is, is it worth trying to get a laptop with dedicated graphics card within that budget and kill two birds with one stone, or would I be better off getting a cheapie laptop and using whatever's left to either replace or upgrade the existing desktop? The current desktop is about 7 years old, and was a very good gaming machine when I bought it (c£2k) so could be upgraded if required, although it is noisy as hell (due to the proliferation of fans) and difficult to move around or clean and I'd prefer to replace it if I can.
For example, yesterday I saw one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/620997-acer-aspire-v7-581pg-ultrabook-nx-m9wek-007
reconditioned available from laptops direct for £550, but unfortunately now it's gone.
Alternatively, http://www.ebuyer.com/579678-asus-x552cl-laptop-x552cl-sx047h seems to tick most of my boxes, for under £500.
I don't need a CD/DVD drive and am ambivalent about the idea of touchscreens (have a Nexus 7 tablet so not likely to use it much for tablet-type purposes other than the standard Windows 8 interface I suppose). Also hard-drive space is not a major concern as I have a couple of powered external HDDs that I use at home with the existing machine. I know bugger all about laptops (haven't owned one for 10 years) so any advice on makers to go for or avoid gratefully received.
Thanks.
I need:
Something for home - which means Office365 compatible and the ability to play a few games via Steam. Nothing too cutting edge, say Football Manager and Skyrim, although that in itself would mean a dedicated graphics card rather than integrated chipset. Little 'un on the way which means much less time for gaming so can't see that I'll particularly need anything too future-proofed.
Something for work - laptop able to run Office365.
All of which I'm trying to achieve on the smallest possible budget. £750 is probably absolute limit (and that's going to talk some serious persuading effort!), cheaper would be better.
My question is, is it worth trying to get a laptop with dedicated graphics card within that budget and kill two birds with one stone, or would I be better off getting a cheapie laptop and using whatever's left to either replace or upgrade the existing desktop? The current desktop is about 7 years old, and was a very good gaming machine when I bought it (c£2k) so could be upgraded if required, although it is noisy as hell (due to the proliferation of fans) and difficult to move around or clean and I'd prefer to replace it if I can.
For example, yesterday I saw one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/620997-acer-aspire-v7-581pg-ultrabook-nx-m9wek-007
reconditioned available from laptops direct for £550, but unfortunately now it's gone.
Alternatively, http://www.ebuyer.com/579678-asus-x552cl-laptop-x552cl-sx047h seems to tick most of my boxes, for under £500.
I don't need a CD/DVD drive and am ambivalent about the idea of touchscreens (have a Nexus 7 tablet so not likely to use it much for tablet-type purposes other than the standard Windows 8 interface I suppose). Also hard-drive space is not a major concern as I have a couple of powered external HDDs that I use at home with the existing machine. I know bugger all about laptops (haven't owned one for 10 years) so any advice on makers to go for or avoid gratefully received.
Thanks.
