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Toshiba Satellite Pro P500 i7-720QM/4GB/1TB/18.4"HD/WinHP

You got my Little Brothers laptop they tend to have a issue of overheating and the battery wears out fast when it aren't on charge that much they just love to be plugged in those buggers. =).
 
whatboutbob said:
Unless you're going to be working on it / gaming / other cpu intensive activities I personally wouldn't be inclined to spend >$1k, but to each their own. The battery and screen are going to die on you anyway after a few years - but perhaps that's just my experience with Dells. ;)
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Yeah, I think it might be hard to find a laptop that could not handle music/videos. Or eeepc has no problem with this sort of stuff.
 

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TheBrownDog said:
Unless you work for the government, in which case you can salary sacrifice it.:cool:
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I don't work for the govt and can still sal sac my laptop.

I just pay for it, give them the receipt, state that its for work purposes and they take it out of my next gross pay and deposit the same amount into my bank account on the same day.

My wife works for the govt and if she wants to get one she has to get her area manager to state its for work purposes. All i have to do is tell my company it is and they believe me.

You also have to keep an hours log with the govt for the first 30 days or something like that (not like you can't fudge it though)
 
weevil said:
Yeah, I think it might be hard to find a laptop that could not handle music/videos. Or eeepc has no problem with this sort of stuff.
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True. What becomes apparent is there's no perfect notebook. Unless you want to spend $3K+ then you're going to have to sacrifice something.

Ours will be a desktop replacement, so battery life isn't a priority. Like wab says, it might be wise to boost up the RAM. Mind you, I quite like the look of the Dell Studio XPS.
 
The Flying Belgian said:
True. What becomes apparent is there's no perfect notebook. Unless you want to spend $3K+ then you're going to have to sacrifice something.

Ours will be a desktop replacement, so battery life isn't a priority. Like wab says, it might be wise to boost up the RAM. Mind you, I quite like the look of the Dell Studio XPS.
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Hot tip then: remove the battery from it so you don't kill it. They do come in handy on occasion.
 
How does this look from Dell?

Dell Studio 17

Intel® Core™ i5-460M (2.53GHz, 2Core/4Threads, turbo up to 2.8GHz, 3MB cache)
Windows(R) 7 Home Premium 64bit
17.3” High Definition+ WLED (1600x900) Display
6GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM(1x2GB + 1x4GB)
1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive (2x500GB)
DVD+/-RW
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650
Digital TV Tuner
 
The Flying Belgian said:
True. What becomes apparent is there's no perfect notebook. Unless you want to spend $3K+ then you're going to have to sacrifice something.

Ours will be a desktop replacement, so battery life isn't a priority. Like wab says, it might be wise to boost up the RAM. Mind you, I quite like the look of the Dell Studio XPS.
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Yeah what I'm saying is that a $350 laptop would be capable of doing what you want.
 
weevil said:
Yeah what I'm saying is that a $350 laptop would be capable of doing what you want.
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Yeah, I'd personally be looking around the $700-$900 mark for the uses Belgo's outlined. If you don't need a decent-sized screen then a $400 netbook would do the job, but to each their own.
 
Understand what you guys are saying.

While a desktop replacement is the main consideration, there's also the possibility it'll be used for a bit of GIS processing in the next few years (depending on what happens with me career-wise), so I'd prefer a half-decent graphics card and a decent screen. What I'm saying is I'm trying to future proof myself a bit, rather than having to buy a new laptop a year down the line because this one isn't cutting it. Not an easy decision.

Looking at it a different way, any brands to avoid? Acer seem to cop a pasting and I've had bad experiences with HP.
 

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The Flying Belgian said:
Understand what you guys are saying.

While a desktop replacement is the main consideration, there's also the possibility it'll be used for a bit of GIS processing in the next few years (depending on what happens with me career-wise), so I'd prefer a half-decent graphics card and a decent screen. What I'm saying is I'm trying to future proof myself a bit, rather than having to buy a new laptop a year down the line because this one isn't cutting it. Not an easy decision.

Looking at it a different way, any brands to avoid? Acer seem to cop a pasting and I've had bad experiences with HP.
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Makes sense.

In broad strokes I tend to agree with these overall rankings. I think HP's pegged some ground back, but if you want quality and reliability I'd stick with the first three (after apple). It only takes one bad experience to ruin one's impression of a brand, and I've had 3 with Dell (all work laptops).
 
I would say i5 would be worth a little extra over the i3 to future proof it just a little. Depends when you see yourself making your next purchase really. As long as your not doing anything too intensive on the pc, i don't think the average joe would notice a lot of difference in performance. But you might be able to keep it going for a little bit longer before you feel the need for the next upgrade.
 
chopperduck said:
I would say i5 would be worth a little extra over the i3 to future proof it just a little. Depends when you see yourself making your next purchase really. As long as your not doing anything too intensive on the pc, i don't think the average joe would notice a lot of difference in performance. But you might be able to keep it going for a little bit longer before you feel the need for the next upgrade.
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From my very basic understanding (having done a little reading today) they're pretty much the same, only the i5 has a "turbo boost" thingy.
 
It is possible, as i mentioned i don't think there is a huge difference between them, the big gap is between the i5 and i7. really depends on how long you want it to last and what your using it for. If it's just basic media/net/office type stuff, it probably wouldn't be worth the extra money. By the time you get the benefit out of getting the i5 over the i3, your probably sick of the thing and want a new one anyway.

I can't say im overly up to date with intel CPU's, i recently rebuilt my desktop in August and went with an AMD chip.
 
The Flying Belgian said:
From my very basic understanding (having done a little reading today) they're pretty much the same, only the i5 has a "turbo boost" thingy.
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Nah, it's definitely a more powerful CPU. i7 > i5 > i3
 
The Flying Belgian said:
Appreciate the help guys.

Another question. Is there a great difference between Intel's i3 & i5 processors? I suppose what I mean is: is it worth the money?
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Massive difference. The cheapest of the i3's can be beaten by a decent Core 2 Duo system (previous generation cpu). The i3's don't support many of the features the i5's do, and likewise the i5's don't support many of the i7 features. The i5's are designed to be the middle ground. If you do go with that dell you listed, upgrade from the i5-460M to the i5-520M at least. There's a couple of key features the 500 series support that those below don't.

As for the memory, 8Gb is the max any of those CPU/chipsets will support, so if you can afford it now, you're better off to grab the matched pair from the factory and start with 8Gb. Saves you arseing around in the future, and the cost difference should be in the order of $50-100.
 
Things have gone on for a while so I'm only now looking at purchasing a new laptop. After a lot of researching I'd love to buy a Asus as they sound like they're soild machines with good support. However, the lure of a Dell XPS 15 is proving too strong. For a tick under $1600 I can get:

Intel® Core™ i5-460M
Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit
Microsoft® Office Home and Business 2010
3-Yr Warranty
15.6 HD (1366x768)
8GB Dual-channel 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x 4G)
640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 420M
9 Cell Primary Battery
JBL 2.1 Speakers w/- sub-woofer
USB 3.0 port

Time for anyone to offer an alternative. :D Part of me would like to avoid Dell for the ordinary after-sales service, but I think that it might be too good to pass up.
 
Asus n53jq is upgradable to 16Gb of memory & packs an i7 CPU + 1Gb graphics, HD etc for $1499 :thumbsu:

Same machine, same price, different supplier, much better description.
 
Thanks Haggis, I saw that machine at umart, but thought that adding on Office H&B to that was going to set me back $1850+. The Lapyking deal is better, but would still require an extra outlay. All moot as I order the Dell yesterday morning. Dropped back down to the 6-cell battery, but otherwise ordered as described above for $1530.
 
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