Houlbt

ok... so I've got a decent budget, that does not mean I have to spend all of it though. I've been looking at a few different machines and I really cannot filter them so I was hoping I would be able to get a little input from the the wealth of techies I know exist on scoobynet.

So... where to begin.

I'm after a laptop with a good sized screen, 15" min and high resolution for when I am doing work stuff. It also has to be able to run an external monitor in a dual screen capacity.

Ultra portability is not crucial, but I would like to be able to take it with me on the odd occasion I travel - for this reason I had kind of gone off things like the Qosmio - unless someone wants to tell me they are amazing in every other area.

I want to be able to play strategy games on it when I'm not working so would like it to cut the mustard in that department.

I would like something with a decent warranty/customer support

DVD writer I think


I had looked at the Q20 Qosmio from Toshiba, I've also looked at some of the IBMs and have also wondered about the ACER ferrari jobbies?

IBM's are pricey... but are indestructible and the screems seem good.
Toshiba QOSMIO.. looks nice but is huge.. probably too big
ACER.. know little about this brand but they seem to be getting good reviews, the AMD Turion processor... any one know anything about this) - also looks lovely in carbon fibre


Any pointers would be great... thanks.

EddScott

Our ACER at work as just died lasted about 2 years and after attempting to speak to customer support I gave up. We've had 2 ACERS over the years and both have been complete poo.

Dell have always been 100% reliable for us. One of the Inspirons screens stopped working and an engineer arrived following lunchtime and replaced it.

Personally, even if money wasn't an option I wouldn't spend £3000 on a laptop. If one part breaks, thats the lot down the shoot. Personally I'd buy a cheap lappy for day to day stuff and build myself a decent home rig with the rest.

edit - if you want something that can handle games too the Dell range of lappys seem pretty good. Just make sure you get 2 yr next day repair or something similar. I'm sure Dell have their nockers but we've bought about 10 machines over the last few years and all have been spot on.

Houlbt

thanks Ed.... and have to agree if it was my call, but work will buy me a laptop pretty much to my spec... I don't think they would go for a cheap laptop and a home pc even if it worked out cheaper!! Also to be fair I only want a lappy in my flat in London as it's not the biggest.

In the office we've always used IBM's and they have been bombproof, but they are pricey.

ACER... yep not convinced myself, just liked the look of the ferrari 4000 thingy and isn't a bad price. - see below

http://www.notebookreview.com/price/...ay=priceDetail

I agree £3k is overkill... but that's the budget. Personally want to spend about £2k as it all comes out of my P&L ... thus ultimately my bonus at yr end.

HankScorpio

I'm still using a 6 year old sony, had a hdd replaced under warranty in year 1 but never missed a beat since.

3 grand and I'd be spec'ing up a new one...

EddScott

Check out the Dell XPS 10M (think thats it)

Works out about £1800ish - 3 yr next day, 2+GHZ Intel CPU, 2GB memory, 17" screen, 256 6800 graphics card (Won't struggle to play new released games on max settings) etc etc.

Looks quite cool too. Rather eat my own shoes than buy another ACER. One way of choosing an off the shelf computer is to ring thier technical support first. If you can't get through or after 20 mins your speaking to jonny foreigner I wouldn't bother.

(having said that Dell use foreign call centres but I think their support is UK based but with 3 yrs NBD that shouldn't be an issue)

Danny B

http://www.apple.com/powerbook/index17.html

doug2507

iTrader: (6)

Got to agree on the Acer. Bought mine just over a year ago. HDD failed just inside the warranty time but since i was abroad i ended up being about a week outside the warranty taking it back so ended up costing £132 for a new drive inc. labour. P1ssed off to the max cause it was full of work stuff, expensive software ("aquired") and mp3's. Ive now sent an email to a company to see if my data can be recovered but i think it'll cost too much for what its worth.

Personally, i'd go for an alienware 51m extreme for that money. Or a G4 mac. Both parents have them and never seem to have any issues/bugs etc.

Father Jack Hackett

Yeah, get the Powerbook. At least go and look at one in the flesh before you make your decision ...

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I just got an ancient P3 Compaq, Win 2K and 256 meg of ram, its great, bunged a wireless card in it, dont think I would get much more out of it even if I spent 3 grand on one, considering what you want out of one, half your budget would provide a really good machine, you can get a basic laptop for 400/500 quid, my work one was about a grand, HP and its well rapid.

Danny B

What did you buy in the end?

DrEvil

http://www.alienware.com/