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Buying a new laptop


veloman

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Am considering the above purchase. Due to a rather expensive re=spray and renovation to one of my bikes, there is currently an adverse variance on the Expenditure Budget …. so price will be important. But what should I look out for . what is desirable, memory , processors etc. I am rather ignorant about computers . Advice welcome please. 

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I'm guessing people are going to ask you what are you using it for and how are you using it.

Are you streaming and gaming whilst designing in 3D whilst hosting a video conference whilst trading bitcoin whilst mixing some music and editing some CGI for the movies? Or are you mostly reading VT of an evening and sending a couple of e-mails?

Are you using it sat in the same place with it connected to a bigger screen and keyboard? or are you cycling to Costa to pretend to write a novel? 

We're in the process of doing the same, my missus wants to upgrade from a Kindle, so we're going to PC World to see what looks nice for £200.

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No not used for gaming at all. Mainly surfing internet and a bit of Microsoft Office. What is the difference between a laptop and Chromebook please? (cycling to Costa !!!!)

Edited by veloman
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4 hours ago, veloman said:

No not used for gaming at all. Mainly surfing internet and a bit of Microsoft Office. What is the difference between a laptop and Chromebook please? (cycling to Costa !!!!) 

You won't be able to install a full version of Microsoft office on it as you work exclusively from Chrome. What you can do though is use Googles alternative on the web, it works very well. You can also use Microsofts web-based versions of Office that you get in their free tier. Another way if the chromebook allows you to install android apps you can use Microsoft office apps from Google Play.

To get a feel for it, go to https://drive.google.com and start testing the office functionality in there before you buy. Upload a few of your old docs and see if they display correctly.

If you can use your current computer with chrome to do what you want, you can use a Chromebook.

Edited by Tegis
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7 hours ago, veloman said:

No not used for gaming at all. Mainly surfing internet and a bit of Microsoft Office. What is the difference between a laptop and Chromebook please? (cycling to Costa !!!!)

If you need to use Office files (rather than the Google equivalents), you can install the Word and / or Excel Android apps on a CHromebook.

I'd strongly recommend the Chromebook has a touch screen. It doesn't need it, but works MUCH better with it.

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Hmm was going to be posting about this very thing, will try to be a little more specific

I am trading Forex from the cab (it's going very well hopefully to swap the amount of time doing both over time) so need at least a 12.3" screen for charts etc.

I need to be able to load up MT4 app at least. Will be using web, twit and fb a lot too.

Was looking at Surface Pro type thing but if I can save some money for better then all is good, over to you guys

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48 minutes ago, LancsVillan said:

Hmm was going to be posting about this very thing, will try to be a little more specific

I am trading Forex from the cab (it's going very well hopefully to swap the amount of time doing both over time) so need at least a 12.3" screen for charts etc.

I need to be able to load up MT4 app at least. Will be using web, twit and fb a lot too.

Was looking at Surface Pro type thing but if I can save some money for better then all is good, over to you guys

How about a refurb, I use this model at work and it's great.

 

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2 hours ago, LancsVillan said:

Hmm was going to be posting about this very thing, will try to be a little more specific

I am trading Forex from the cab (it's going very well hopefully to swap the amount of time doing both over time) so need at least a 12.3" screen for charts etc.

I need to be able to load up MT4 app at least. Will be using web, twit and fb a lot too.

Was looking at Surface Pro type thing but if I can save some money for better then all is good, over to you guys

Chromebook. The Acer 15" is nice, so is the 13" (and it'll be cheap on Amazon for Black Friday). Both flip so you can use them as tablets.

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20 hours ago, limpid said:

Chromebook. The Acer 15" is nice, so is the 13" (and it'll be cheap on Amazon for Black Friday). Both flip so you can use them as tablets.

Looking around and getting an MT4 app isn't easy, though if the browser is decent I guess I could simply use that. Getting on a bit these days so 15" is probably better for my eyes ;)

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2 minutes ago, LancsVillan said:

Looking around and getting an MT4 app isn't easy, though if the browser is decent I guess I could simply use that. Getting on a bit these days so 15" is probably better for my eyes ;)

I don't understand. MetaTrader4 is an Android app. You just install it.

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1 hour ago, LancsVillan said:

Oops my bad, for some reason I thought it a diff O/S /embarassed/ ?

It's ChromeOS which on current machines can install Android apps from the play store. Some can install Linux apps too, but that's not what you're after.

Buy one online and play for a bit. You can send it back if you don't like it (after wiping obvs).

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5 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I will probably get abuse from the tech squad now, but I bought a Dell XPS 13 for basic stuff in life, and it's very very good IMO. Excellent for travelling and a fantastic screen. 

Will consider Chrome book for my next lap though. 

Did you get it with Linux pre-installed? The first XPS13 was my daily driver for a couple of years. Asus C302 is my daily at the moment.

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37 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

No it's a windows thing for me. I couldn't find the start button on Linux ?

Do you know that the start button was copied from a Linux window manager?

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