Can anyone recommend a good desktop replacement laptop,please? I'd like to use quite a few applications at any one time so am looking for something with a good processor. I will not be moving it around so the weight is no issue. I do have, however, quite a number of songs/ pictures/videos to store so the memory is important.
Any opinions would be welcome. Please feel free to point me in the right direction- is there something I should go for/ avoid? My budget is about £1000.
Sorry, no first-hand experience, but I'd look at HP and Dell models.
These any good for you? http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-studio-xps-16?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1
I would avoid Dell for the moment, they are having overheating issues on the E6400, E6500 and some XPS models
http://www.dailytech.com/After+Laptops+Experience+Overheating+Performance+Issues+Dell+Censors+User+Comments/article16986.htm
What is your budget for the laptop, what size screen would you like and do you want/require Blu-Ray?
EDIT Sorry i see your budget is £1000
Acer laptops have always been pretty good, the Acer Aspire 7738G (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 (2.0GHz), Blu-Ray, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, 17 inch widescreen) or the Acer Aspire 8935G (Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 (2.13GHz), Blu-Ray Drive, 4096GB RAM, 18" Widescreen, 500GB HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium) may suit your needs
I'm a big fan Asus for laptops and they seem to have one for every requirement. :)
I usually go for Dell laptops. You just know what you're getting (although admittedly the problems reported above are worrying).
Acer, otoh, I've found to be poor on support if you do hit a problem.
I have been using Dell laptops for about 15 years and have lugged them to most corners of the world without event. We have three generations running in the house, the oldest is 10, the newest 8 months. Presently I am using a Studio 1737 as a desktop. Advise 17" if you want to see much of a document. I find 15" a pain especially at high resolution. This time I went for dual drive, because it was on offer. This turned out to be a real life saver recently when the boot record corrupted (my fault I think). All the real time backups were on the second drive. It did need a windows repair factory restore, first though. This was my first PC crash in almost 30 years. I chose the T9400 Core 2 Duo (2.53 GHz, 1066 FSB) in a media system, rather than a higher power gaming configuration, basically because of price and because I am not a gamer.
The surprise benefits have been the esata port, which really flies for external backup, and the HDMI port for large screen HD BBC iPlayer. I have to run a 12 pic panorama photoshop merge to get the CPU remotely busy. There is a big heat pipe from the CPU to the outlet fins. The fan hardly runs and is cool and quiet. With 4G memory, 1920x 1200 display, Centrino, and three year in-home warranty, including evening and Saturday attendance, I think I shelled £957 last March. That did include a 10% (£106) voucher code, and a new year bundle offer. Both are more common after Christmas.
On the negative side the Blueray drive died day five and the speakers crackled day one. Dell turned out in a couple of days and changed the drive, the motherboard the speaker/sound module and the hinge cover fascia with media control buttons. This left the blueray slot eject button inoperable. Dell re-attended and fitted another hinge cover fascia with media control buttons, with no result. My diagnosis was a drive firmware/BIOS conflict. I escalated through tech support and requested a replacement system. With little prevarication, and a great deal of courtesy they sent me a new system with instruction to call when I had finished data transfer to have the old one collected.
The in-home warranty has been really first class. The techs that have attended and the telephone support folks have been very, very good. So I recommend the 3 year at-home warranty, with evening and saturday time slots and a max 5 day response. I think it cost me £40 extra to upgrade from 1 year collect and return, though that was a two for three year offer. Next day is also available.
You may think it strange that I still recommend Dell. My take is that once every 15 years I get a problem and what counts is does the vendor put his hand up and fix it.
Ouch - £1000 on a laptop! Macs can be worth it because they don't go out of date very quickly and the software is designed with speed in mind, but laptop PC's have cr*p components in and are out of date in a couple of years. Unless you plan on doing video-editing, graphics or music (get a mac) or games (get a desktop) you could save about half your money and get something that is 85% as good as what you would get for £1000.
Also when you get your laptop it will come with LOADS of programs and useless virus scanners and crud like that. You reeeeeaaaaally want to wipe it and start afresh or you will wonder why the laptop you just spent a fortune on runs so damn slowly.
Quote from: Monk on Dec 05, 2009, 12:52:15
I'd like to use quite a few applications at any one time so am looking for something with a good processor..
Ah...good luck. They perform half as well on a laptop than a desktop because they can't dissipate any heat and have had to be redesigned. My advice is don't spend a fortune. If you actually look at some £400 laptops and some £800 laptops you can see a few extra MHz here and there but worth £400? Up to you I suppose.
One a less killjoy note - tesco online had some decent laptops going and ebuyer always have a couple of star deals going on branded laptops like Acer and Asus.
Thank you to everybody who took time to reply to my post. I'm trying to take everything in now... and hope to get something in the new year. Have a great Xmas.
And you. :xmas7: