Spec me a laptop!

Right, I bought my Dell Inspiron 1525 in Dec 2008.

Nearly 10 formats later, Vista, Windows 7, and tried XP for the last 2 months and it's not playing ball. Slow operation, getting stuck, slow when emails arrive, comrehensively boiling my p*ss.

The spade I promised to put through the screen is coming to it.


So, onwards and forwards: I need a laptop that'll do 2 years and laugh at the media I intend to throw at it. Video cutting & editing, Adobe Premiere, good HD size, excellent processor speed and be happy if I have Photoshop running at the same time, and not get all grumpy and workshy like the work-to-rule POS I currently have.

4 USB sockets, SD card socket as a mimium, 6 USB if availabel and an ability to run an additional screen, but preferably two extra screens.

Under 1k and under 500 if it can be done for that.

Knowledge appreciated

 

I would get a I7 cpu and a 17" screen for that work
Video work is pants on 15" screens since having a 17" for several years

e.g this sort of thing
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-dv7-6c52ea-17-3-laptop-silver-11884687-pdt.html

Do you really need a laptop , you could get a monster desktop PC for 900

 

Nice. I definitely need a laptop, not a PC. I'm assuming that's dual core.

64 bit I see.

I'm on 32 bit atm. What effect will 64 have on speed and generally crunching data, and also on the compatabilty of existing owned software which I'd put on a future machine?

 

32 bit machines are old hat. Only have a 3.something GB RAM limit and will phase out quicker for latest software etc.

64 bit machine will be better for the long term and also allow you to unleash terrabytes of RAM if needed.

Will need to make sure software that you use is 64bit compatible. Ways around stuff though if really stuck.

Gurds

 

worst case install Win7 32 bit or XP if the drivers exist as well and dual boot and have a partition that's visible to both 64bit and 32bit , did that for someone recently. But that was for really old stuff.

Most 32 bit applications will run quite happily under Windows 64

 

I agree on the i7 and 17", plus Win 7 64bit Pro. Future proof then.

Ive not looked on PC World, they do have some bargains sometimes though,

Here, take a look at this Chris, Ebuyer, their the best I think.

Thats the i7 range, 6 and 8gb of ram.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?page=1...at=10&filterca35=Intel+Core+i7&filterca53=8|6

Then here, seems like the 2670QM is a good choice, good bang for buck.

http://ark.intel.com/products/family/59136/2nd-Generation-Intel-Core-i7-Processors/mobile - Intel site for info on Chip

Some benchmarks aswell,

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-2670QM+@+2.20GHz

Gives you a nice comparison. Seems about the best Value for money, keeps up with the new desktop Cpu's aswell.

 

Cracking. Online deals are good where there's a saving to be had. Otherwise I'll be in & out of PC World / Currys, where I can throw it back at them if it causes me the grief my current one has.

All suggestions appreciated.

 

Core i7 (Quad Core processor)
8 Gig RAM
Win 7 64 bit a must
17" monitor preferable, but 15" would be OK I think
Hard drives. Try and find something with two drive bays. You can then use one for the OS, and the other for your data.

 

In addition to above, if you have 2 drive bays you could get a Smallish Solid State Hard drive (ie 64gb) for the OS and some speed hungry apps (Photoshop etc.), then the original manufacturers Hard drive for extra programs that don't really need the large speed gain offered by the SSD.

 

Is this as a machine would arrive out the box, all within the confines of the casing, or is this bespoke hardware addition, post-purchase? As mentioned, this is for a laptop.

 

I'm sure you must be able to buy them with SSD as standard, at a price premium. But what I was referring to would be to purchase an SSD separately and do it post purchase.

My 64GB SSD was around the 50 mark, but usually anything below 1 per GB is a good deal on SSD. Mines in a desktop, but they are 2.5" drives so fit into laptops (providing they have standard drive bays).

If i get a chance i'll have a look.

 

Things to consider.

It's a specification we'd all like and it's the most expensive spec there is in the laptop range.

Fast CPU and Lots of RAM
Docking station for peripherals at home.
Dedicated RAM GFX
HDMI Video out
Dual drive bay
Firewire, Cardbus and SD card I/O

It's going to be a heavy kit too, power supply will be 5A plus and Lithium battery specs should be high too. HP, Dell and Toshiba have these hi end notebooks but they don't come cheap. or the real McCoy you wont have much change from 1500 pounds. We use a nice Toshiba QOSMIO at work and it's worth it, it's a workhorse that performs and everyone likes to use it. It's good for 3 years.

Many late model bargain laptops are ok for editing and encoding media, they are short term investments and expecting over 12 good months usage is bold. So you are still ahead after 3 years.

We also have a Clevo large form factor and it's a bulky beast, cheaper quality, crunches vision easily but has it's quirks too.

 

I've had a look in Currys/PC World earlier and saw an HP that looked ok, though they are getting a bit big.

Question: can you extend a desktop over more than one extra screen? Three would be ideal.

 

You are going to need a laptop with a HD radeon mobilty graphics card which will support eyefinity, that will make it easy. 1 VGA plus 1 HDMI. That should do the trick. Ive not looked into Nvidia laptops for 3 screens.

Yeah, something like a Radeon HD6750M graphics in a laptop would see you right.

There are other options like the Matrox 'triple head to go' adapters. That gets even more expensive though.

 

Well I've had a rifle through PC World and Peter Jones (John Lewis), but I'm still looking through the options.

There is an HP laptop in PC World for 799, with i7, 1TB hard disc, 8MB of RAM and 4 USBs, but it has an 2630QM processor rather than 2670QM. It's knocked down by 400 and it reeks of obsolesence. Pretty wide dimensions also.

John Lewis had a quad core Samsung with a 2675 i7 inside + AMD Radeon HD6750, dedicated 1GB. The actual size of the laptop was good. This one is 999.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/_NP7...ce=ldadwords&gclid=CKK9of_mjK8CFYgifAodrh6D8g

Thoughts appreciated.

 

My dad bought a Dell XPS for Christmas. Came in at 1000 for a 17" screen, i7 and 256 SSD. Its a cracking laptop.

My one bit of advice, Get an SSD. You wont believe how fast they run untill you use one and they DO NOT slow up like a normal HDD.
I have an early SSD in my desktop PC that has been running for 2-3 years now and i can still boot into window and out again in 30-40 seconds. Photoshop still comes up in 5 seconds and i can multitask across 2 screens with about 10 programs open. If you dont want to buy something that is out of date naxt week, Get an SSD.

 

Right ok,

400 off does seem like a hefty sale, must be something wrong with it, maybe an older chipset, I will take a look now.
Im not sure it would be obsolete anytime soon, but would be nice in your mind knowing youve bought something upto date at least. Saying that the actual speed difference from a 2630 to a 2670 is hardly noticable, maybe a few seconds difference when encoding, the 'CPU Passmark' website confirms that.

I will have a look at the Nvidia graphics laptops for you and see what other options we have.

I think any i7 in the 2600-2700m range is going to be pretty darn quick. I hope you can see this pic.



I wish I could give you a little more help. I personally like Dell laptops, but thats another thing.

 

Thanks both, all input appreciated.

Specific known models also great if you know them off-pat.

 

Im about to buy a 15" asus n55sl the i7 quad core, 2gb graphics, 6gb (8gb for 40 more)ram and a 750gb hard dirve for 790 from www.dabs.com

its the best spec for uder 800 i can find unless anyone wants to tell me otherwwise.. ill be using it for multimedia low qual games such as CS:S, cad, and photoshop
mutlitasking is something i do heavily..