So, you might want...

OS: Windows 7 would be my personal choice. Windows 8 is horrible and 10 is very very new

Processor: for Office and browsing even an i3 is good enough, clock speed anything over 2GHz should see you right. "Par" would be something like an i5 running at 2.5GHz.

Memory: the more the better - this will impact performance more than the processor. You can get away with 4GB, I personally wouldn't go below 8Gb but that's just me

Hard drive: choice between SATA/oldskool and SSD. SSD (solid state disk) is much faster - your machine will start up and run much quicker - but tend to be smaller. My main box has a hybrid: 1Tb SATA (=slow, large storage) and 128Gb SSD (=fast, small storage - has the operating system and stuff it makes a difference to have on fast storage on, everything else like Program Files and iTunes and media etc all go on the slower disk since it's still quite fast enough for all that).

WiFi: you want at least 802.11n and ideally 802.11ac - don't get something that's only 802.11b and 802.11g is quite slow these days as well. Don't worry if you don't know what that means, just look for "n" or "ac" at the end :-)

USB: ideally USB3.0 ports but honestly USB2.0 is plenty good enough for most people unless you're running high throughput peripherals/constantly transferring a lot of data to external drives

So for me a "par" spec might be something like:

- Processor: i5 @2.5GHz
- RAM: 8GB
- Disk: 512Gb SSD or SSD/SATA hybrid
- Wifi: 802.11n (ideally 802.11ac)
- at least two USB ports and ideally four
- any box with the above will have decent enough graphics unless you're a hardcore gamer or 3D designer which I'm not sure you are - so don't worry about the graphics card or audio card, whatever you get will do

Posted By: Old Man on August 10th 2015 at 19:57:00

Message Thread

Hello! Any advice on a Wrath laptop? I'd like a new one (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:12:34
- You can get very good deals if (General Chat) - Jester, Aug 10, 19:50:13
  - here is one place (General Chat) - Jester, Aug 10, 19:57:23
  - Thanks for your reply Jester. I appreciate it (although I'm now a bit more scared!) (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:57:18
    - A good refurb is a great buy (n/m) (General Chat) - Old Man, Aug 10, 19:58:32
- Apple Mac Air Pro from the Apple geeks (n/m) (General Chat) - Jumbo1, Aug 10, 19:23:28
  - I was in the Edinburgh Bonds today looking at laptops and getting totally baffled (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:46:27
    - The Apples look gorgeous (General Chat) - Old Man, Aug 10, 19:49:46
      - she's a teacher, they are well rich cos they buy all work clothes from charity shops innit (n/m) (General Chat) - Jumbo1, Aug 10, 20:33:33
  - ?850 - ?1000 should sort you out nicely (General Chat) - Jumbo1, Aug 10, 19:25:24
- Start by deciding an OS and a budget (n/m) (General Chat) - Jester, Aug 10, 19:21:16
  - OS? I'm guessing operating system? Is that like windows? (n/m) (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:49:30
  - Then have a cup of tea and a biscuit. (n/m) (General Chat) - norway, Aug 10, 19:24:50
    - Gin, man. Gin. (n/m) (General Chat) - Old Man, Aug 10, 19:57:21
    - Very good advice. I knew this was the place to come. (n/m) (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:50:07
- PS the smaller/lighter the better (n/m) (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:14:39
  - I bought a Toshiba (General Chat) - emmaroyds, Aug 10, 19:24:36
  - What's your budget? (General Chat) - Worzel Scrimmage, Aug 10, 19:23:29
    - That's good advice Worz. It's defo a basic one I want and I'd prefer a PC than Mac (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 19:43:19
      - So, you might want... (General Chat) - Old Man, Aug 10, 19:57:00
      - You might consider a refurb (General Chat) - Old Man, Aug 10, 19:49:20
        
        Thanks OM - really helpful reply. I will take your advice. (General Chat) - Bravo win or die, Aug 10, 20:01:53
        
        Yup - agree - posted similar above (n/m) (General Chat) - Jester, Aug 10, 19:56:23

Reply to Message

In order to add a post to the WotB Message Board you must be a registered WotB user.

If you are not yet registered then please visit the registration page. You should ensure that their browser is setup to accept cookies.