Hello
I am from Tolga and am interested in a laptop computer to play videos I recorded on the hard drive through a TV tuner card. I use VLC media player to play the videos that are sometimes about 4GB per hour of recording. It seems to take a fair bit of processing power or RAM because on my current computer it sometimes stalls and has a buffer underrun. It often stalls when I open another program. Sometimes I also play back the videos at double normal speed to save time. You can do this with VLC and still understand what is being said. However, there is more chance of it stalling then. I mainly intend to play videos on the laptop computer as my current computer has a duel tuner card. However, I am still thinking of connecting a tuner card to the laptop to record some programs.
I saw some laptop computers that appear to be good value for money. I am wondering what you think and if you can get something that is similar as I could also be interested in buying one through you.
I have briefly summarized each machine below if you do not get time to view the link. If you do not see the link until after the listing has ended, you can still view the details of the item by scrolling down the page. If any of the links do not work, go to
http://www.ebay.com.au/ and paste the item number into the search box at the top of the page.
Some of them are listed as Core2DUO and i3. I am not sure if that has much of an advantage for me?
There is a Toshiba Satellite PRO L500 DualCore with 2.2GHz, 4GBb RAM 320Gb hard drive and 15" screen for $550. See
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Toshiba-Satellite-PRO-L500-2-2GHz-4GB-15-Win7-Laptop-/300447433270?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item45f4100236Item number: 300447433270
Compared to the two Acer ones below, it has a slightly bigger processor but it does not have an i3.
The Acer Intel DualCore has 2.13GHz, 4Gb RAM, 320Gb hard drive, i3, 64 bit processor and 15.6" screen for $678.00.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-Acer-Intel-DualCore-4Gb-Ram-320Gb-Win7-15-6-Laptop-/200494745112?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item2eae6b0618Item number: 200494745112
The Acer Aspire 5740 Core i3 has 2.13GHz, 2Gb RAM, 320Gb hard drive, i3, 64 bit processor and 15.6" screen for $688.00. See
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Acer-Aspire-5740-Core-i3-2GB-320GB-15-6-HDMI-Windows-7_W0QQitemZ160455405914QQcategoryZ177QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BPSSI%252BSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BUCK%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D170508807081%252B170508807081%26po%3D%26ps%3D63Item number: 160455405914
Lenovo G550 DualCore with 2.2GHz, 3Gb RAM, 500Gb hard drive and a 15" screen for $600.
It only has 3Gb of RAM but a larger hard drive than the other two. However, it may not cost much to increase the RAM to 4Gb. It does not have an i3 like the one above. However, the processor is bigger. See
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-Lenovo-G550-DualCore-2-2GHz-3G-500GB-15-Windows-7-/200497423927?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item2eae93e637Item number: 200497423927
Acer Intel DualCore, Core2 DUO, with 2.2GHz, 4Gb RAM, 320Gb hard drive, 512MB nVIDIA G105M GAMING GRAPHICS and a 15.6" screen for $600.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-Acer-Intel-DualCore-4Gb-Ram-320Gb-Win7-15-6-Laptop-/200495901955?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item2eae7cad03Item number: 200495901955
ASUS CORE 2 DUO with 2.2GHz, 4Gb RAM, 320Gb BLU-RAY hard drive, 15.6" screen and ATi GAMING for $700.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ASUS-CORE-2-DUO-2-2GHz-4GB-320GB-BLU-RAY-15-ATi-GAMING-/170512802838?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item27b35ae416Item number: 170512802838
Toshiba Satellite PRO L500 T4400 with 2.2GHz, DualCore, 4Gb RAM, 320Gb hard drive and a 15" screen for $600.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Toshiba-Satellite-PRO-L500-T4400-4GB-15-Win7-Laptop_W0QQitemZ110559991026QQcategoryZ177QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BPSSI%252BSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BUCK%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D290449336513%252B290449336513%26po%3D%26ps%3D63Item number: 110559991026
All the above computers are new and have Windows 7. It would probably be better if they had Windows XP because I have that on my other computers and it may run better. However, the two below have Win XP PRO. Could they work better?
HP Compaq CORE 2 DUO 2.0GHz 4GB 320GB hard drive 15.6" screen for $700
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-HP-Compaq-CORE-2-DUO-2-0GHz-4GB-320GB-15-6-XP-PRO-/200494988698?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item2eae6ebd9aItem number: 200494988698
TOSHIBA Satellite Core2 DUO, 2.2GHz,. 4G RAM, 320G hard drive, 15" screen for $650
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-TOSHIBA-Satellite-Core2-DUO-2-2GHz-4G-320G-15-WIN7-/170512307283?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item27b3535453Item number: 170512307283
Which one do you think is the best to get if any or do you know of any others that are better value for money which would be good for playing videos?
PS. On another matter, do you know anyone that could help me make up some electronic projects that could greatly benefit the community. There is more information at
http://www.advantagein.com/electronics/Your help is appreciated
Regards Richard.
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