[jayjay23]

Hi there good people of the internet. I am hoping to find an answer as to which laptop is the best buy for my needs... but I am a bit stuck and don't know how to proceed!

Here are the two laptops I have narrowed down to:

Price £349

Windows 8

AMD Dual-Core E2-1800 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 7340 Graphics
- 1.7 GHz
- 523/680 MHz
- 1 MB cache memory

6 GB
DDR3
8 GB maximum expandable memory

750 GB
SATA
5400 rpm

1 x USB 2.0
2 x USB 3.0

Bluetooth 4.0

VGA
HDMI

Full size tiled white keyboard with integrated numeric keypad
Multi-touch touchpad

Li-Ion
6 cell
Up to 6 hours battery life

http://www.pcworld.c...056577-pdt.html

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and this...

£365

Windows 7 Home Premium

15.6" Asus X54C-SX282V, LED
Intel i3 2350M 2.30GHz,
750GB SATA 7200rpm
6GB DDR3
Graphic Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 3000

2 x USB 2.0 port(s)

VGA
HDMI

Battery 4Cells 2600 mAh 37 Whrs

http://www.scan.co.u...drw-w7hp-64bit-

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So how do I decide?

I am guessing that the Intel machine is the better processor? But it is lacking the USB 3.0 and Bluetooth features. And of course is WIN7 instead of 8. But having said that I am used to using windows 7 and don't know if there will be teething issues with WIN8 like there were with Vista. But then again, is win8 and USB 3.0 worth having to future proof myself a bit more or am I better off with the WIN 7 machine and better processor.

My main requirement is to be able to use photoshop and browse the web, including streaming video. Which is my best bet for a fast and smooth performance? How different will the performances be? And how do the graphics compare? Are they both integrated? I know they are not great but my budget was aiming to be less than £300 ideally, so I am maxed out here at the £350 mark...

Many thanks!

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Off the top, the things that jump out at me are:
>Windows 8 machine:
*2 USB3 ports is good, but why did they ever supply a USB2 port??? USB2 is on its way out and a USB3 port will accept a USB2 plug.
*1.7 GHz processor is way too slow for today's applications. Don't do it. Save your money until you can get a processor 2.5 minimally, higher is better. If you are serious about Photoshop and are going to do some in-depth, serious work, don't get a laptop. Way too limited resources. If you are just going to do an odd photo retouch, etc. there are excellent programs for a fraction of the price that will run much better on a laptop. Walk away from this unit.

Windows 7 machine:
*Don't stress over Windows7 vs Windows8; W7 will do everything W8 will do, and you can always upgrade if you just can't live without it. There are no major platform improvements in W8, and unless you get a touchscreen you are going to find the "Metro" screen very frustrating.
*Why, oh Why, did they provide USB2 ports?? USB2 is headed for the ash dump and they are probably using up what remaining hardware stock they have. Other than that, this is the better of the two machines. My opinion? Walk away from it. Believe me, there are new units coming up all the time in your pricing level and you will eventually find one that you will really like.
As far as video is concerned, all these mid to low range units have integrated video; only high-end machines will have a separate video card, and there are few of those.

[ranchhand3]

Off the top, the things that jump out at me are:
>Windows 8 machine:
*2 USB3 ports is good, but why did they ever supply a USB2 port??? USB2 is on its way out and a USB3 port will accept a USB2 plug.
*1.7 GHz processor is way too slow for today's applications. Don't do it. Save your money until you can get a processor 2.5 minimally, higher is better. If you are serious about Photoshop and are going to do some in-depth, serious work, don't get a laptop. Way too limited resources. If you are just going to do an odd photo retouch, etc. there are excellent programs for a fraction of the price that will run much better on a laptop. Walk away from this unit.

Windows 7 machine:
*Don't stress over Windows7 vs Windows8; W7 will do everything W8 will do, and you can always upgrade if you just can't live without it. There are no major platform improvements in W8, and unless you get a touchscreen you are going to find the "Metro" screen very frustrating.
*Why, oh Why, did they provide USB2 ports?? USB2 is headed for the ash dump and they are probably using up what remaining hardware stock they have. Other than that, this is the better of the two machines. My opinion? Walk away from it. Believe me, there are new units coming up all the time in your pricing level and you will eventually find one that you will really like.
As far as video is concerned, all these mid to low range units have integrated video; only high-end machines will have a separate video card, and there are few of those.

[jayjay23]

I bought the Intel i3 and it works a charm.

[RebelGamer137]

I would go with the Windows 7 laptop but I really dislike Windows 8 myself.