New Laptop?

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pocquet

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Jon
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Hi Guys,

I am in the market for a new laptop as mine is getting long in the tooth and not doing what I want it do do any longer.

I have had laptops for a while now but I prefer desktop for expansion and upgrade purposes. Sadly I have no room for a desktop PC other than to lock myself away from the other half, something I am unwilling to do.

I have £1000 to spend on a new laptop. Naturally I want photo editing ability but I also play games so I want it to have decent specs for that.

Sadly while I do know allot about PC's I have fallen out of the loop regarding them and the new hardware boggles me a little bit especially when it comes to desktop vs mobile hardware.

Can any one give me some advise on a laptop or small desktop solution that can be used on a sofa and where to buy from?

I want as large a screen as possible and physical size and weight of the laptop dosnt matter as it will be used on a lap tray type thing and rarely moved.

Thanks

Jon
 
I personally went for a Dell from their outlet store. Full HD 17" screen does the job for me and is my only editing machine. It cost me £880 but would have been about £1500 if I had ordered from the normal site.... well worth a look, just be aware, if you see something you like you better go with it as they don't stay around for too long.
 
Dell Precision. I've got an M6600, i7 QM, 8gb, intel and nvidia quadro gpu (the quadro isnt really a gaming gpu but I only really play Diablo 3 on it as its a work machine but its okay for that), twin hard drives, 17" display. Not sure you'll get one for your budget though.

A "gaming" laptop will be very poor at battery life.
 
For your money, your better off going for quality rather than spec. Most of what the average user will do on a laptop, can be easily served by the bottom end (spec wise) machines.

What's better a barrel of apples, or 2 barrels of rotten apples?
 
Lyonspride said:
For your money, your better off going for quality rather than spec. Most of what the average user will do on a laptop, can be easily served by the bottom end (spec wise) machines.

What's better a barrel of apples, or 2 barrels of rotten apples?
Click to expand...

Hi I Understand what you mean but what would you say is quality.

Do you mean physical build quality?

Im not worried about battery life as I wont be using it out and about.
The only reason I am having to go for a laptop is the size of my house with no room for a desk.
 
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pocquet said:
Hi I Understand what you mean but what would you say is quality.

Do you mean physical build quality?

Im not worried about battery life as I wont be using it out and about.
The only reason I am having to go for a laptop is the size of my house with no room for a desk.
Click to expand...

I mean avoid the temptation to chase high spec, decent brands will be similar in price, don't be tempted by cheap brands offering similar spec for MUCH less. Even the most mindful of people get caught out by chasing specification over quality.
 
On the contrary, as it's just going to be used at home, and be plugged in most of time, I wouldn't care that much about going for a premium brand that's designed to withstand years of abuse in the field if it's just going to live in a living room.

Can get some very good spec machines from MSI etc for good money. Quality won't be up to Lenovo/Apple but it doesn't need to be.
 
mid_gen said:
On the contrary, as it's just going to be used at home, and be plugged in most of time, I wouldn't care that much about going for a premium brand that's designed to withstand years of abuse in the field if it's just going to live in a living room.

Can get some very good spec machines from MSI etc for good money. Quality won't be up to Lenovo/Apple but it doesn't need to be.
Click to expand...

I'm all for cheap alternatives to things, i'm practically a master at it, but there are certain products and items where i'd never skimp and this is one of them.

I could buy a cheap external drive enclosure for my "always on" HDD attached to my home server, but because i'm not there for 9hrs a day, I don't want to come home to find a pile of burning rubble as a result of some cheap Chinese made PSU exploding (seen it happen). I also don't want said drive to fail through overheating, so I end up paying £50 for a fan cooled, branded drive enclosure when I could have bought a cheap one of Ebay for £5.

Each to their own though, I take my IT quite seriously, some people don't need to :)
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies, I spent a hour or so in Pc world last night looking around, I was looking at 17inch screens same as mine. Considering my current laptop is about 3 years old now the only major difference was a 'better' cpu. GFx and memory seemed the same.

To get the upgrade I am really wanting (not needing) I would end up paying way more than budget imo.

I decided in the end to opt for a new decent charger for my current laptop and see if I can upgrade the memory. I know I wont be able to play demanding games but it will suit my needs rather than my wants for the time being until i can get a few more funds or more room.

I got the idea of quality as there was a lenovo branded notebook there that I was looking at. Until i pressed down on the touch pad a little harder than normal and whole top including the keyboard and pad noticeably bent.

Thanks again

Jon
 
pocquet said:
I got the idea of quality as there was a lenovo branded notebook there that I was looking at. Until i pressed down on the touch pad a little harder than normal and whole top including the keyboard and pad noticeably bent.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i'm all for IBM thinkpads, but when they sold out to Lenovo, the quality went down the pan.

From a laptop, built with titanium/magenesium composite that you could throw across the room, drop coffee on and STILL work 15yrs later, to something you might expect to find in PC world, that falls apart and requires a new one 2 years later because all the replacement parts are obsolete.

Love my T41's, i'll miss them if I ever had to replace them..... It's like an old car, anything goes wrong, lift the keyboard and everything's there with easy access. I take the cooling fans out once a year to clean and lubricate them, literally a 5 minute job :D
 
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