Spec my girlfriend a £1000 laptop!

[Banano]

Equating ubuntu with a mac is somewhat disingenuous on your part.

I don't know about you but I generally don't watch movies when I'm working. Should I feel the need to however - horror of horrors! I can do it in windows without switching OS!

The OP specifically mentioned that he was very keen to avoid POS laptops that will be grinding and juddering after 3 years. 3 years is fairly long lifespan even for a desktop, let alone a lappy. I don't see anything but a mac running well after that length of time tbh.

 

[LordSplodge]

Another vote for the 13" MacBook Pro. Probably the best build quality and battery life you are going to get for £1000.

EDIT: An it will run Windows fine if you only want to run Windows.

 

[LordSplodge]

I don't see anything but a mac running well after that length of time tbh.

Seconded. My MacBook is three years old and the battery still lasts over four hours, it isn't any slower than it was when I purchased it (and I expect it to get faster when I install Snow Leopard) and aside from a warranty repair by Apple for a small plastic crack* the build quality is excellent.




* Obviously this isn't a problem on the all aluminum MacBook Pro.

 

[TheVoice]

Equating ubuntu with a mac is somewhat disingenuous on your part.

I don't know about you but I generally don't watch movies when I'm working. Should I feel the need to however - horror of horrors! I can do it in windows without switching OS!

With that being the case, why should she ever bother switching from Windows then? My point is that she'd end up having to create, set-up and maintain two desktop environments, which seems like more hassle than it's worth. Not saying it isn't possible, but it'd surely be easier to just use one OS for everything than see-saw between two depending on what specific task you're doing.

 

[Banano]

You're baffling yourself by getting hung up on OS and dual boots. That isn't really the issue - the quality of the hardware is the primary concern. Macbooks are good quality and reliable. She can use windows and never touch OSX if that's what she wants.

 

[JonJ678]

Equating ubuntu with a mac is somewhat disingenuous on your part.

In what sense? They are both unix based systems designed to be as user friendly as possible.

I agree that it's hardware that matters here. That macbook's aren't as terrifyingly overpriced as they used to be, I think they're worth looking at. Obviously don't buy any upgrades from them or the cost argument changes.

I'll be getting a laptop in September for the next year of uni, it'll probably be a macbook running debian.

 

[LordSplodge]

I'll be getting a laptop in September for the next year of uni, it'll probably be a macbook running debian.

That's like buying a Bentley and running it on chip fat!

 

[TheVoice]

You're baffling yourself by getting hung up on OS and dual boots. That isn't really the issue - the quality of the hardware is the primary concern. Macbooks are good quality and reliable. She can use windows and never touch OSX if that's what she wants.

I'm not baffling myself at all, I just don't see the point in buying a Mac only to run Windows on it. You can get a much better specced Dell Studio XPS 13 for the same money as the base MBP, with comparable build quality too. The main thing in the MacBook's favour is battery life, but from what I've seen battery life on MacBooks isn't as impressive on Windows as it is on OSX anyway.

 

[Voxination]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=959&catid=1236

OCUK custom laptop range, should be something there to fit the needs .

 

[Xelene]

I'm not baffling myself at all, I just don't see the point in buying a Mac only to run Windows on it. You can get a much better specced Dell Studio XPS 13 for the same money as the base MBP, with comparable build quality too. The main thing in the MacBook's favour is battery life, but from what I've seen battery life on MacBooks isn't as impressive on Windows as it is on OSX anyway.

The build quality is not comparable. The HP business lines and Lenovo's are of comparable build quality. The Dells (and this includes the XPS line) are nowhere near the same.

 

[fishfishfish]

SPSS is now called PASW Statistics and it's available for Mac OS X.

Personally, I'd get one of the new MacBooks. I have an XPS but the new MacBooks are much nicer.

 

[Super Tigers]

If she still has her student email account, then get a Macbook with Higher education discount and free three-year applecare warranty. Big saving, great warranty and plenty of cash spare from your £1000.

 

[Izi]

i would put top end sony laptops in the same build quality category as macs, and are similary priced.

 

[dirtybeatfreak]

Dell laptops are pretty much the best value for money, and they have an excellent warranty service so I'd highly recommend browsing their range to see what suites your needs. forum.notebookreview.com is an excellent resource for more information

man speaks the truth!

 

[Yurihyuga]

personally I have had 2 Toshiba laptops one lasted 3 years before my brother stepped on it -.-(it was still like brand new before that) cause he left it on the floor, I claimed house insurance on it. The replacement, 4 years and still runs fine, no slowness etc.

Then theres OCUK's custom range.

 

[Begbie]

Thought bought an Acer?

Mines was £550 and is great

 

[Farore]

Hey,

Basically my girlfriend will be starting here Masters very soon and we need to replace her ageing current laptop.

Now in the past we have had a lot of problems with laptops, ranging from slow, laggy and unable to play 720/1080 content to laptop chargers constantly breaking (her current laptop a HP, shes replaced the charger 3 times in 2 years)

It needs to be quick and last around 3-4 years without trouble. Preferably able to install Windows 7 or come with Windows 7.

Thanks.

Why do you want to be spending £1000? You can get something decent for a lot less than that.

If it's going to be for her work, I strongly recommend that you make her back up all her work on an external drive.

Regards,

Farore

 

[DoubleCheese]

I recently bought a Dell Studio 17 from that high street shop with men in purple shirts for £449. Specced with Vista Home Premium, 2.1Ghz C2D, 3Gb RAM, 250Gb HDD...worth a look?