Thread: New Laptop

I'm looking at getting a new laptop - does anyone have any suggestions / recommendations?

I think this is something I kind of like: Dell Precision M6500 Mobile Workstation Details | Dell

Just not the price.

Cheers

Also, has anyone had any experience with a custom build service? Thinking I might take the above spec and see what the price come out like.

Again, any recommendations for this service is appreciated.

You could try PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK - OptimusII Laptops, OptimusII Gaming Laptops, Build Your Own OptimusII Laptop

Just rang this up; £1082 inc vat.

Code:

Optimus II: 17.3" Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2820QM (2.30GHz) 8MB Cache

8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

250GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

INTEGRATED GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (AS STANDARD)

2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery - 48.85WH

1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

I've used these people before (custom build pc). There was a small delay in delivery and when it did arrive the os wasn't installed properly so I had to reformat to correct the issue. Saying that, it still works (3 years on) so not all bad

Hi Welshstew
I have been mightily impressed with the acer aspire timeline x. Combination of good value for money, good specs and exceptional battery life (6 hours...really).
Had a bad experience with dell

Hi Welsh,

First as far as dell is concerned. I wouldn't go with them. Their track record of purposely, and knowingly selling damaged goods is why they have a court battle with the US government.

Also 2K euro's for that... Kind of wow... As for custom built; I would make sure the builders know how to tweak it out, otherwise I suggest wait for the price to come down. Coming from experience with tweaking and overclocking; the i7 is great, the bios does typically provide for a good amount of overclocking. But with a different board, and maybe a couple other ordeals; you could make that thing fly 10X faster and produce half the heat. Also with good OS tweaks, you can take that particular machine and have it run twice as fast...
Good luck on your hunt though.

First as far as dell is concerned. I wouldn't go with them. Their track record of purposely, and knowingly selling damaged goods is why they have a court battle with the US government.

Originally Posted by burn1337

My partner, myself and my parents all have Dell laptops and have no complaints at all. As with anything I like to read the reviews from last few months on a product as these reviews are a far better indicator of the product rather than reviews that are a year or two old when it had a few teething issues.

If anything it is Sony that needs to be avoided. Had 2 Sony laptops... both ran into severe troubles and had to be sent back. Even when that was fixed another component failed..

Stew, if you have such a large budget, is there any reason why you are not considering a MacBook Pro?

If anything it is Sony that needs to be avoided. Had 2 Sony laptops... both ran into severe troubles and had to be sent back. Even when that was fixed another component failed..

Originally Posted by Jason

My current laptop is a Sony and we have had no issues, its just coming to end of life and I would like some new gadgetry ;o)
I have also had a Dell desktop which is still going, which my dad uses for his main computer.

Stew, if you have such a large budget, is there any reason why you are not considering a MacBook Pro?

Originally Posted by Jason

That's the issue, I don't have that budget, I liked the spec of the dell but not the price hence looking around and asking for recommendations. The MBP are really nice, but again they are rather pricey.

I just made some tweaks to Frinkkys spec, and added a second screen and it comes out at £1300 inc VAT, which I don't think is too bad.

Code:

Optimus II: 17.3" Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2820QM (2.30GHz) 8MB Cache

8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD500BEKT, SATA 3Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

INTEGRATED GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (AS STANDARD)

2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

INTEGRATED BLUETOOTH ADAPTER

Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery - 48.85WH

1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

IIYAMA E2271HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920X1080 (£139)

As for custom built; I would make sure the builders know how to tweak it out, otherwise I suggest wait for the price to come down. Coming from experience with tweaking and overclocking; the i7 is great, the bios does typically provide for a good amount of overclocking. But with a different board, and maybe a couple other ordeals; you could make that thing fly 10X faster and produce half the heat. Also with good OS tweaks, you can take that particular machine and have it run twice as fast...

Originally Posted by burn1337

I'm not sure I need to overclock, I've never done it in the past and my hardware has always been ok