Laptop advice needed!

[diver 1]

I am going self employed as from next week and have realised I will definitely need a laptop mainly for report writing, emails and reviewing and copying DVD video footage.

I need something that is quite robust as I work outdoors / from a boat or vehicle quite often and something that will have a 15” or bigger screen, dvd writer, large hard drive, wireless connectivity and good battery life.

I have a budget of around £400 and I don’t need any software.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received as I know nothing about computers!

So far I have been recommended Acer, Asus, Eclipse, Compaq and HP machines.. are these any good?

[harryboy22002]

Originally Posted by diver 1

I am going self employed as from next week and have realised I will definitely need a laptop mainly for report writing, emails and reviewing and copying DVD video footage.

I need something that is quite robust as I work outdoors / from a boat or vehicle quite often and something that will have a 15” or bigger screen, dvd writer, large hard drive, wireless connectivity and good battery life.

I have a budget of around £400 and I don’t need any software.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received as I know nothing about computers!

So far I have been recommended Acer, Asus, Eclipse, Compaq and HP machines.. are these any good?

would stick with dell,,,............

[Starovich]

to be perfectly honest no Laptops are are designed for rib use for £400.
You can get "rugged laptops" from about £1000, still a good dousing will kill it.

Salt water and laptops are bad companions.

For £400 you will get a £400 laptop, Sony, HP, DELL, Acer, Compaq, Toshiba are all similar in performance and build. more to the point is what deals you can find at the time you are looking.

Dont expect to get 10 hours of battery life if you are editing videos /burning DVD's.

You trade off Battery life for performance, but no problem with getting a step up transformer 12v > 240v if you cant find a 12 v adapter for it, these start about £30.

Best thing is to shop around at your budget and see what's out there, most laptops at your price point from major vendors will do what you ask. There are few lemons nowadays from ther big boys, it gets more of a difficult choice when you are looking at the high end machines (£2000 - £4000)

[jyasaki]

Panasonic and IBM both make (or made) ruggedized laptops, but you're probably going to go about 4x overbudget.


jky

[jezza2011]

Hi I have a IBM thinkpad W510 that has a solid state HDD. so when i dropped it off the sofa today I was very happy it didnt destroy the disk drive.

ALso has a good screen and cd/dvd writer

[NeilH]

Whatever brand you buy you will need a really robust routine for backing it up (which you stick to) - at least then you will only lose a day's work if it falls overboard!
HTH
Neil

[Cookee]

Originally Posted by jezza2011

Hi I have a IBM thinkpad W510 that has a solid state HDD.

I'll take one at £400!

[Damien.]

Take a look on here;

A wide range of Panasonic Toughbooks Laptops, Parts and Accessories, for all Toughbooks models

Cracking laptops, have one myself and by Christ it gets a hiding, still going strong.

The chap sells reconditioned units for an absolute steal !