Desktop replacement - which lappy to choose?

MrMatty

MrMatty

MrMatty

Associate
Joined
14 Mar 2010
Posts
11
Hello All,

OK, so I've been considering ditching my 4 year old home-built desktop PC in favour of a shiny new laptop for sometime, but tonight has finally made up my mind, as it looks as though the hdd on it has given up the ghost.

Anyway, the idea I've had is to get myself a laptop, docking station and widescreen monitor, so that I have the flexibility to have it docked - essentially as a desktop - or to undock it and be able to go anywhere in my house with the thing.

Problem is, I know very little about PCs nowadays, as I haven't been keeping up with all things PC since I built my desktop 4 years ago.

Essentially, I will be using the lappy for most things apart from gaming (I have a PS3 for this). I want something reasonably powerful and quick, with plenty of ram and a half decent sized hdd.

Just want to gauge people's thoughts on makes of lappy, the configuration that best suits my needs, just generally what people would get in my shoes, etc.

If possible, I'd like to get everything, including a new monitor and docking station, for under a grand. But I can go a bit higher if required.

All suggestions welcome.

Thanks,

MrMatty
 
Well, it comes down to a few questions -

How much power do you really need if you aren't gaming (or in other words, are you doing video or photo editing or similar)

Do you really want the docking station, they're very much a business laptop thing and not many consumer machines have manufacturer ones available (there are various third party USB based ones around but I wouldn't myself).

IF you do want the docking station and don't need massive power then I'm a big fan of Dell's Latitude E series which are very business focused (styling included) but have excellent build quality and are really great machines. If you want a fast one though it'll push your budget.

If you can do without the docking station I imagine a Dell studio 15 or similar with a 23" Dell screen and some accessories would suit very nicely, doesn't have the build quality of the Latitudes but it's good for a consumer machine.
 
Thanks for responding, bigredshark.

I don't need huge amounts of power as I won't be doing video or music editing with it. But at the same time, I don't want something that is going to hang if I have a load of Windows open, music playing, etc., etc...

I'm surprised they aren't many options docking-wise unless you opt for a business-style machine, as this seems like a bit of a gap in the market. To me at least. Am I the only person who wants to use their laptop as a desktop on occasion, without having to mess around plugging in a load of wires each time I want to use a proper mouse and external keyboad?

I will have a look at the Dell Latitude. I did have one of these - albeit a very old one - until recently through work, but have since got a hp EliteBook which is a very nice piece of kit.

Cheers,

MrMatty
 
If you're not looking for ultimate power then I'd look for a decent dual core processor, 4GB of RAM and leave enough cash to upgrade to an SSD if you can afford it, it really makes a huge difference in my opinion, I don't think I'd go back to a normal hard drive myself now.
 
Im replacing my home PC, 3.4Ghz P4.. with a 1.6Ghz i7 (quad core). Dell Studio 15... Total price is £690 with i7-720QM, 4GB 1333Mhz ram, 1080p HD screen (15.6"), backlit keyboard, 320gb @ 7,200rpm, ATi 1GB hd 5470 gpu.
 
dimo said:
Im replacing my home PC, 3.4Ghz P4.. with a 1.6Ghz i7 (quad core). Dell Studio 15... Total price is £690 with i7-720QM, 4GB 1333Mhz ram, 1080p HD screen (15.6"), backlit keyboard, 320gb @ 7,200rpm, ATi 1GB hd 5470 gpu.
Click to expand...

Just ordered the same 3 weeks ago (only just got it, dell were absolutely shocking at handling the order and their only apology was a 10% off my next order voucher, as if I'll ever use that...) Just getting it installed now but it doesn't feel as powerful as I'd hoped. So used to my i7 920 :(
 
Never read much on SSDs, bigredshark. What are the real plus points of using them? Are they a lot quicker and more reliable than a mechanical HDD?

Just had a quick look at the prices of SSDs and nearly fell off my chair! Is the idea to get a small-ish one, like a 128 gigger (for c.£400!), to run Windows and your progs off, and then use another drive for storing music, films, etc.?

As I said when in my intial post, I am new to all this after taking my eye off the PC ball...

Thanks for any advice offered.

MrMatty
 
I had a Dell D820 with a Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM and a 64GB SSD. I used a docking station to connect it to two monitors, a keyboard and a mouse, so that I could use it as a desktop at my desk, and then take it with me when I went to work. With the SSD, it felt faster and more responsive than my Core 2 Quad, 16GB RAM desktop machine; in fact, the only time I booted the desktop was when I wanted to game.

A laptop such as this can be picked up second hand for as little as £300, so you could put a huge SSD in there and still come in way under your budget. I suppose it really depends on how you feel about going down the second hand route, but it's certainly one worth considering.
 
It's just stunningly quick, I think today for normal desktop applications you're better off with a SSD than a faster processor or more RAM, the difference is really noticeable launching apps and at boot time (which for me at least, matters in a laptop). They also less likely to break in a laptop and very slightly lower power consumption but it's the speed you buy it for. I got a 160GB Intel one for around £300, yes you need an external drive for video and the like (not so bad for me as all my media stays on a NAS rather than on my laptop) but 160GB does for all my apps and a heap of my most listened to music...
 
Anyone got any comments/experience of the Dell Studio XPS 16?

I've read a couple of reviews and it comes out well.

Depending on spec, you can get them for anything between 879 and 1,229 quid.

Just wondering what others think of it?

MrMatty
 
I'd get a Studio 15 instead. Unless you're going to game a lot.. or unless money's REALLY not an issue. My Studio 15 - i7-720QM, 4GB 1333Mhz ram, 1080p screen, 320GB 7,200rpm, 1GB Ati 5470hd, backlit keyboard, 15.6" screen = £690..
 
Hello dimo,

Is it safe to assume that Dell's prices jump around all over the place from one week to the next?

I tried spec-ing a similar set up to yours, but the price was a lot higher than the £690 you indicated.

All I can think is that you bought at a time when Dell had some kind of offer on. Am I right?

And what are the main differences between a standard Studio and a Studio XPS? Is it mainly cosmetic?

Thanks,

MrMatty
 
MrMatty said:
Hello dimo,

Is it safe to assume that Dell's prices jump around all over the place from one week to the next?

I tried spec-ing a similar set up to yours, but the price was a lot higher than the £690 you indicated.

All I can think is that you bought at a time when Dell had some kind of offer on. Am I right?

And what are the main differences between a standard Studio and a Studio XPS? Is it mainly cosmetic?

Thanks,

MrMatty
Click to expand...

Dell prices fluctuate every week. Someone else on this board claimed by as much as 60% week on week.
 
Dell price changes are crazy, very good if you get on the right end of them.

I just picked up an Asus N61Jq - £1,100 with: 16.1" 1366 x 768 screem i7 720QM CPU, 4gb DDR3, 640GB HDD, multitouch track pad, ATI HD 5730 1gb graphics card, Blu Ray player, Windows 7 HP 64 bit.

It's a fair whack more than the Dell's when on offer, but the I was hoping to do a little gaming too. For a desktop replacement I think the size is ideal, but it is missing a backlit keyboard. Also comes with a 2 year warranty (Asus support, I've found to be a lot better than Dell's - it's all over the place since they moved from Ireland - phone based only, and no English call centres, a lot of being passed around with little progress).

I also think Sony are doing some nice no-nonsense laptops. The CW2 is a great spec (14" screen, i3 CPU, GeForce 330M graphics, 4gb RAM) for £699 and from John Lewis you get a 2 year warranty with it. Also consider the Sony E series, less graphical oomph, but 16" 1080p screen and Blu Ray drive for £799.
 
I'm using a Dell Latitude E6500 as my main machine.

You can swap the DVD drive for a second hard disk which I have done to use RAID, and it has an ESATA port on the unit.

Its a great machine.
 
Bigredshark - do you think an SSD is a better invest over upgrading an i3 to an i5 520?

I had 2x SSD's in my desktop and din't notice much difference in speed compare to my Samsung F3 I got now. Also there small size is a problem.

I'm thinking og getting a kobalt over a dell because I don't need windows and may get 2 x hdd instead of a DVD drive, can't remember the last time I used a DVD anyway, but I guess there will a time when I will need one and wish I got one instead of second HDD.
 
Dell clearly have a very strange business model.

If I thought the price I was going to pay for one of their machines would be there or there abouts for the next few months, then I'd be more than happy to give them over £1,000 of my cash for one of their machines right now. But if there's the possibility of prices being cut massively next week, especially as the prices look "high" at the moment, then I will either wait in case they fall or go buy another manufacturer's product.

It really is a nonsense...

MrMatty
 
Dell outlet is a good place to get machines.

But I would agree, its impossible to get the same price twice on the Dell site.
 
Can anyone tell me the reason why the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 820QM (1.73Ghz, 8MB cache) is deemed better than the Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 520M(2.40GHz,3MB cache)?

The speed of the latter (2.40GHz) appears to be quicker than the former (1.73Ghz), but it has significantly less cache. What are the positives/negatives of GHz and cache?

When I built my current (broken) PC a few years back, it was all about the GHz, but this seems no longer to be the case...

Any insight welcome!

Thanks,

MrMatty
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom