I am getting myself a new phone, mp3 player and laptop for Christmas.
Please advise me the best of each to go for.
My main reason for acquiring the laptop will be for downloading tv programmes, films and music and for watching late-night Shane Warne.
I want an mp3 player that’s easy to navigate / use and has a shit load of storage space without being the size of a toaster as well as being fairly robust and capable of surviving me dropping it when I’m locked.
What you don’t want is an Ipod because they’re proprietary bastards and you can’t move music from one computer to another - not ideal for a young man with music in both Wexford and Dublin I’d wager.
I’d find it very hard to recommend anything other than an Archos player. These guys don’t have a big reputation but I’ve had two of their players now and I have to say they’re second to none. My original players was the first jukebox type thing to come out (just before the ipod) - 6 gigs I think it was and big as golly bar. I had a couple of other brands since then but reverted to Archos for my last purchase (about 3 years ago) when I got an Archos Gmini XS 200 and it’s a cracking player. Holds 20 Gigs nice and small, intuitive menu and just never breaks.
Problem is most of your usage is probably on foot I’m guessing so probably no need to get one that’s video-based and you’re looking for something small. I can’t find a current Archos product that does that - they only make video based stuff these days.
I’m suggesting you won’t need a video one because they’re more useful on public transport and stuff when you’re sitting down and looking at the player. A video isn’t much use on your walk to work because you’ll be celeb spotting and can’t be staring at a screen all the time.
When you start adding video playback then you lose loads on size. If you want a small player it needs to be audio only. If you want a video player it will be bulky enough.
I can’t imagine many people would recommend that to you because it’s a couple of years old now and they’re not that fashionable a brand. I can’t fault it though and I haven’t had a single problem with mine. It’s also very good value at 180. There aren’t that many more audio players out there anymore. The market seems to have gone for:
very small players with small capacities (1GB - 6GB) like the IPOD Nano and the latest Creatives etc.
bulkier players with video screens for movie playback as well.
Not many left that match the functionality of the original Ipod for example.
My 1st Gen iPod got smashed a few years ago during an altercation (what sort of idiot keeps it in the back pocket anyway?) and I was never pushed on replacing it until recently when a lad from work was in the US on holidays and with the USD being raped at the moment, it only came to around 185 for an 80GB jobbie. I have around 4000 songs on it at the moment, a few pictures, and next up is the prawn. So I’d definitely recommend it, especially on the basis of getting one cheap in the US - most of us have a radio on the mobile these days so the lack of a radio on the iPod isn’t an issue IMO.
I work off a Dell Inspiron 1300 at home - I had no interest in graphics cards, so if you’re planning on watching a lot of TV, or playing games, obviously a decent card will push the price up a bit. Not sure if I have an 80GB hard drive or a 160GB but whatever it is I haven’t come remotely close to filling it yet. Can’t fault Dell though, and despite people having the odd horror story, I’ve never had a problem with my laptop.
I’ve an I-Audio. It’s maybe a wee bit chunky but grand for the inside pocket of a suit/coat. It’s 60GB which is loads for me and I’ve had no issues with it. It’s very easy to get music on, just drag and drop. I’d recommend it. Was 400 a year ago. Will presumably be less now.
I think two of my housemates have Dell laptops. Not sure about the specs but they’re pretty new. Having used both I wouldn’t be inclined to buy a Dell.
Those Cowon I-Audio are nice players alright. I don’t know how easy they are to come by now though because like Creative and Archos and everyone else they’ve moved into smaller flash based players and then video players. Think they have an I Audio I7 though which holds about 16GB which is big enough for plenty of music but not huge.
I like the interface and everything of the iPod but because you can’t move files from the iPod to the computer I’d never get one.
On a laptop I’d have no problems with a Dell. Realistically you’re using it 95% for web browsing so get the cheapest laptop out there. You don’t need high specs for that. A reasonably big hard drive is helpful for storing music/videos but it doens’t need to be excessive.
I’d say you’d really be wanting 16GB at the very minimum. 20GB would be better and when you get up to 80GB and that sort of specs that would be ample room for video files too.
Tell me anything you need the laptop for. I’m guessing it’s just Internet browsing really in which case just buy the cheapest Dell on there. You don’t need anything else. The only change I’d make is to increase the memory.
So go to Dell, choose notebooks, choose home, choose the cheapest one, choose customise, go to the memory section and choose 2,000 MB of memory. Then buy the thing - about 550 Euro. You don’t need or want anything else I’d say.
On MP3 players tell us if you want video or not. Much as I dislike iPods the new iPod Touch looks cracking. It’s bulky though like all video players are.
I’ll go and buy a Dell one then. I’ll need it for 3/4 things - internet browsing, music/tv show downloading and a bit of Shane Warne / Willie Thorne. I remember talk about a wireless router before. I suppose I’ll need one of them. Do you get them in all good hardware stores? Or in mediocre and bad ones too? Can you get routers online?
As for mp3 players; I don’t really want/need video. I just want something with plenty of space for my considerable music collection, that’s easy to navigate, will quickly get up off the turf when I drop it on the ground instead of rolling around and trying to get me sent off and isn’t as heavy as the birds Jugs tries to pull in Copper’s. If it looks pretty then that’s a bonus.
Your laptop will come with a wireless card installed on it. So once you have a wireless router for your broadband then you just connect into that. i.e. if Jugs already bought a wireless router then that sends a wireless signal around the gaff and you can pick that up from your new laptop. But if he just connects via a cable to the modem then you’ve either got to share the cable with jugs or buy a router so you can share the modem.
Essentially all you need is an Internet connection and some hard disk space. If you think you’re going to amass huge quantities of video and audio then it might be worth upgrading the size of the hard disk - you can get another 80GB on there which is probably no harm.
If you don’t want video on your mp3 player then I’d have a look at that Archos one that I linked to above. Does everything you need and it’s nice and small. Not the most celebrated player out there but you’d be doing well to find a better one for that price and that crams that amount of storage space into a small player.
