Question:
Hello,
I have up to £1800 to spend on a decent laptop for my work which must last me 5 years before renewal. i.e. be reasonably future proof. Would someone with more knowledge direct me to the best specification (best value) available which needs to take account of the following:
Professional use:
Computer Aided Design
Animation
Video Editing
Plus all the usual wireless connectivity, dvd writer, long battery life, etc.
I have been impressed by how helpful everyone is on this forum re the cheapest etc, hopefully this will extend to the high end products as well.......many thanks Mark
Answers:
Are you sure you want to do that kind of stuff on a laptop?
If so, you need the top of the range Core Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a large, fast hard drive.
I'll come back with some reccomendations later
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there are core2 duo macbook pros out soon - might be worth a look
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Hi yes, am using a high end pc but want to move between locations etc and retain ability to work on my projects. If you can get back to me with specification and any advice it would be appreciated.....
best wishes Mark
Answers:
Hi yes, am using a high end pc but want to move between locations etc and retain ability to work on my projects. If you can get back to me with specification and any advice it would be appreciated.....
best wishes Mark
Okies, give me a bit of time to look around for you.
I run one of the cheapest on the market but still know a good spec when I see it
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For your business use. It looks like you may be better off with a Mac.
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>which must last me 5 years before renewal<
Hard to future proof that far out, since 4-core CPU will be in the frame by then. Some suggestions -
Rock Xtreme CTX
Evesham Quest Nemesis
Something from AlienWare?
Dell XPS M1710
Answers:
No laptop will last 5 years in this market. You're betting going for something around £1200 which will last for 3 years then you can sell it for £700 and then buy the next thing in 3 years with the £700 plus the extra £600 you saved giving you 2 laptops in 6 years at the same price as one laptop for 5 years which will date within 3.
As for what you should go for, i'll say now that i am the biggest mac fan in the world and would recomend them to anyone. I've already ordered two of the new macbook pros and they are awesome. If you want power and performance to run graphical editing/animation etc then you wont be disapointed with an Apple. What sort of programs do you need to run? If its things like Final Cut HD and Motion etc then the macbook is perfect. Although it sounds like you are already using a powerful desktop to run these things.
What do you want the laptop to do? Working on projects on the road sounds like you dont need all out power as you wont be away from your desk for long. So thats why i say get two £1200 laptops over 6 years rather than an £1800 laptop for 5 years.
Answers:
It's only been nearly 25 years since the first IBM PC appeared in the UK, which had as much as much as 64 MB of memory, a 4.77 MHz processor, and one (or at significant additional expense, two) 180 KB diskette drives. No hard disk. And a green screen. Oh, and it cost well over £1K.
And you're expecting a laptop to last five years and be future-proof? Unlikely... (Try to find the specifications of a five-year-old laptop and see what you think of them! And of the operating system which was 'state of the art' then! )
John
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And of the operating system which was 'state of the art' then! )
John
Windows XP.
Desktop clock speeds were approaching 2ghz, having 1GB of memory was not too rare if you needed it...........
As for laptops, Pentium 3 Mobile 1.2ghz or the early P4 Mobile 1.5 +
Sorry what's your point?
Answers:
I think you're a couple of months' early in saying "Windows XP", since that didn't come out until October 2001. Still current was Windows ME, not one of Microsoft's best offerings...
Yes, 64 kB was the memory size - well spotted!
I'm sorry you didn't get my point, because it was remarkable similar to that of earlier contributors...
John
Answers:
I think you're a couple of months' early in saying "Windows XP", since that didn't come out until October 2001. Still current was Windows ME, not one of Microsoft's best offerings...
Yeah, but Windows ME wasnt "state of the art" at that time, everyone knew it was a crock of sh*t by then.
Lets be pedantic like you; you could get Windows XP this time 5 years ago if you wanted to run Beta
Answers:
Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. There is a commercial reason why I dont want a Mac which I cant go into now. I take on board seriously your comments about future proofing and think the option of renewal after 3 years but opting for a cheaper model is probably sensible.
Thanks KILTY, -would still appreciate the opinions on the best spec available for a high end laptop from you or another forum member....
thanks Mark
Answers:
It's only been nearly 25 years since the first IBM PC appeared in the UK, which had as much as much as 64 MB of memory, a 4.77 MHz processor, and one (or at significant additional expense, two) 180 KB diskette drives. No hard disk. And a green screen. Oh, and it cost well over £1K.
And you're expecting a laptop to last five years and be future-proof? Unlikely... (Try to find the specifications of a five-year-old laptop and see what you think of them! And of the operating system which was 'state of the art' then! )
John
64MB - you getting your megs and kilos confused?
Answers:
No laptop will last 5 years in this market. You're betting going for something around £1200 which will last for 3 years then you can sell it for £700 and then buy the next thing in 3 years with the £700 plus the extra £600 you saved giving you 2 laptops in 6 years at the same price as one laptop for 5 years which will date within 3.
I agree that no Laptop will lst 5 years (if you want to keep on top of things) but no way are you going to get £700 in 3 years time for a Laptop that cost £1200 today.
Hell, for £700 in 3 years you'd likely get a better and much faster laptop than the £1200 one including of course full warranties and Windows Vista etc.
Maybe you'll get £400 but even then you'd struggle.....
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Have a look at
it is a pretty high spec and configurable to be higher
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Have a look at
it is a pretty high spec and configurable to be higher
You couldn't go wrong buying Alienware. They are reknowned for the quality and performance of their computers.
Dell certainly don't have the same reputation.
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I wouldnt be looking at the likes of AMD, especially the 64 or FX as they would get too hot in a laptop.
I'd be looking at the top end Dell Latitude machines because they are rock solid as far as build quality goes and the performance of them looks rather good if you get a decent dedicated graphics chip. Don't worry if they don't come with enough RAM, it is cheap and amazingly easy to fit.
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don't think the dells would have enough juice in them to fulfill the requirements
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Think you are underestimating the power that Intel Core Duo processors actually have, and the heat that AMD 64 will produce in a laptop.
Know which I'd rather have.