Need a new Laptop

[MartinT]

We use Dell servers and they're excellent. Our biggest beast is the Exchange e-mail server with 8 CPU cores and 16GB RAM. It is noisy, though!

[Jonboy]

Thanks for all the help, its a toss up between the Lenovo G550 2958 and a Dell 15 inspiron both with 4gb of Ram, just got to persued her who must be obeyed that i need to spent the top end of my budget

[MartinT]

Good luck!

[hifi_dave]

I've recommended the Toshiba "specials" to a few people who only want basic functionality, and they've all been very pleased with them. Tesco do them sometimes around the same price, but of course with John Lewis you get the extra warranty - worth looking at Jon.

Otherwise, at work we've recently moved from Dell to HP - not for any real reason other than cost, but the HPs have proven to be very reliable so far. To be honest, every manufacturer will have its glowing recommendations and disastrous experiences - if you're selling millions of boxes a year, something is bound to go wrong sometimes, but by and large any of the well known brands should be fine.

Alex,
Any idea how to brighten the screen on my Toshiba I bought yesterday. Diving into the monitor menu appears to show that it is on the brightest setting but it is rather dull unless in a dark room. The Dell sitting right next to it is sparkling and clear in comparison....

[Ali Tait]

Is it on battery or mains?

[hifi_dave]

It's running on mains.

I'd better add that I'm a computer numpty.

[Alex_UK]

Dave - is there a Function (might be Fn) button, and then a brightness + and brightness - on one of the Function Keys? (A little sun symbol) (on my Sony it is hold Fn and then press F5(-) F6(+) but others may vary) - not sure if this will help, but it should enable you to check it is set on maximum.

[Ali Tait]

Ok,sometimes they run with a darker screen on battery.Alex's suggestion seems a good one.

[hifi_dave]

Alex,
That's another choccie biscuit I owe you. The FN brings up a whole host of useful buttons and one was 'brightness'.

Hip hooray....

and thank you Ali.

[Alex_UK]

Excellent!