Purchase Recommendations

[thehattrack]

Hello,

I was wondering whether anybody would be able to help me get something sorted in my head?

I am looking to buy a new PC that is lightweight, able to play films and play some games (pretty much just Football Manager and maybe one or two more). Because I want it to be easily transportable I thought about getting a tablet or notebook but after going to look at them I saw that these dont have disk drives. I know you can buy external drives (and I wouldnt mind needing to do this and using it when needed) but would a tablet/notebook be capable of playing DVDs and games?

Are tablets and notebooks basically just oversized smartphones or can they actually do anything? Looking at iPads (not really because I ever thought of getting one) they basically just seem to be able to a) go on the internet b) run a few aps. Is this right or can they do more?

Also should I be distinguishing between notbooks and tablets? My understanding was basically that you have
-desktops for home use
-semiportable laptops which are still quite large but pretty much as good as PCs
-notebooks which look like laptops but smaller but dont actually do much apart from typing and access to the internet
-tablets which are notebooks without a lid

Is this correct?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Sorry for being an idiot

Cheers

 

[foothead]

Sounds like you're referring to netbooks, not notebooks. A notebook is just another word for a standard sized laptop.

It really sounds like you need a proper laptop. Netbooks are designed for little more than browsing the net (hence the name) and tablets are nothing more than toys.

You're in the UK, so I cannot really help you find a specific model, but you should look at ~13 inch laptops. They do exist, and they're usually vastly superior to netbooks. Make sure they have anything besides intel graphics if you want to do any gaming. Pretty much any AMD or nvidia graphics chip will be better.

If you end up with one without an optical drive, you can always use your desktop to rip the DVDs to the hard drive, then transfer them to the laptop. I've already done this for my entire collection, blu-rays included. I use a programs called makemkv for blu-rays, and a program called handbrake for DVDs. This is especially useful if you use media center as a DVR as I do.

 

[thehattrack]

Cheers mate, much appreciated

 

[IAntDemo]

What foothead said was correct and great advice, altho I think you're better of with a laptop like foot said, and you'll be playing games and running films so make sure the air on the laptop is good.

How to find out about the air flow? just google review of the laptop you are looking at and search for air flow or something.. it will help pick one out.. always review what you buy before looking at it.. something I learnt along time ago