[leachio]

PC advice please! We are thinking of leaving our current home comp for our parents when we come over mid 2007 and my OH fancies buying a laptop. In SIMPLE terms please what technical things does it need to have to enable us to use broadband, email, msn, skpe (when I figure it out) and webcam back to UK? Rams & MB/GB they all mean nothing to me. Also when we buy a webcam does it have to have anythin fancy too?

I have read threads about slow broadband connections etc over in NZ but we shall attempt to conquer that when we arrive.

Thanks Amanda, Dan, Jack & Ella :)

[NeilV]

Simple as it gets... ANYTHING that you buy from new now will easily support all the things you are talking about. :)

Your internet connection is the highest limitation factor in getting skype/msn etc. to work, and any usb cam will function to give picture, though spending more money here might end up giving you a better picture [less "skipping"] BUT it will still be dependant on the speed you connect with, rather than the PC/notebook you use :nice1

[pinkpiggy]

Hi Amanda

You should have a look at this thead that OH replied to - hopefully this will go someway towards helping you.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7332

[StevieD]

Yes, modern machines are very powerful. £400 is giving pretty good value laptops now.

As Neil said, it is down to the connection as to your quality, but the machine will cope better if you are doing photograph work/video/music if you have a better specification.

Just remember, the higher the megabytes/gigabytes, the faster and more powerful it is, also more expensive.

[TFR]

as above really. £400-500 will buy you a new laptop to do everything you list above as, to be honest, what you need it for is very basic, not like your wanting to use it for architectural design, for example where it needs to number crunch very quickly!

Re all the MB/RAM numbers etc - as a golden rule the bigger the numbers, the faster it will work and the more memory it has!

Some laptops have webcams already built into them, others don't and you'll have to buy a camera/mic which clips on top of it (cost £20-£80 ish) if you want to skype for example.

Hope this helps...

[leachio]

Thanks to all, helpfull advice as usual

Round of applause to all :clap :clap :clap

Amanda :)

[StevieD]

:) Welcome