Which Professional Portable Laptop? Multimedia desktop replacement

[lloydsj]

Hi,

Basically I want a laptop to replace my desktop pc. My desktop is currently a 2.4ghz p4, 1 gig ram, 6800 gfx card. The reason for my change is that I barely ever play games on it anymore, and it just takes up loads of space. I only seem to use my desktop for internet, music and video nowadays. A laptop would be much more useful to me, and save a lot of space.

Now for requirements...
* Portable... i want something that is easily portable.. not a massive big thing like some of the gamers laptops.
* Good resolution... 1024 * 768 minimum.. ideally higher
* 512mb+ RAM or more
* Decent enough processor (pentium preferred)... ideally something that wont just fall over and die when I introduce Windows Vista to it.
* 60gig HDD minimum, although i will be getting a NAS drive too.
* GFX card that will allow me to play some half decent games, obviously im not expecting it to play BF2 at full res... but it would be nice to handle some games from time to time. Im getting an xbox360 anyways... so wont be using it for gaming too much.
* Decent audio and video outputs to plug into my hi-fi and tv would be good.
* Professional looking. I dont want some cheap looking thing. It needs to be a bit of a corporate workhorse of a laptop.

I've been having a look at some of the Dells and some of the IBM thinkpads, both seem really well built.

Budget = about a grand (ideally less)... could spend a bit more if needed.

Idea's appreciated.
Cheers.

 

[PapaLaz.uk]

Sorry, didnt see the bit about big gaming laptops

 

[lloydsj]

No Probs. Anyone got any suggestions on models on the Dells/Thinkpads/anything else?

 

[lloydsj]

ok.

Anyone know of any forums that I would be better asking this question on? I guess there are not many laptop people here.

 

[Conrad11]

The more you pay the better you get generally .

Personally, I wouldnt go for the brands like Dell or IBM.......I would go for maybe Acer.....or the likes of, because you can generally get better pcs at lower prices...

 

[phykell]

My preference is for HP/Compaq. I've had a few now including the N610c and currently the NC6000 and I've also used the NC8000. If you want to buy new you'll have to pay rather more for a business class laptop but the corresponding increase in quality is worth it. My favourite was the N610c as it was lightweight but extremely sturdy. The NC6000 performs better because of its faster processor, etc. but I do think they took a slightly backward step with regards to the case design. Anyway, that said, you can buy these second-hand and unlike some of the "other" brands on the market, they are designed to last and survive mobile use. These particular notepads have 3 year business class warranties which means they'll pick them up and return them to you within a few days. That might not sound particularly important but it shows the confidence the manufacturer has in its product line, and of course the online support, and commitment to providing driver updates, etc. has to be excellent.

OK, my NC6000 is a 14" screen running at SXGA+ (1400x1050) which is bright and sharp. It has a Pentium M 1.8GHz processor with 1GB RAM and is quicker than my desktop PC. It has built-in bluetooth and wireless G (the built-in aerial is excellent) and performs as well as my N610c did with the latest MIMO PCMCIA wireless network card. The keyboard is excellent and it has an ATi Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics card which apparently will run at least some games OK though if you're looking for a "gaming business-class laptop" I think you'll have to really look around if there even is such a thing. An NC6000 will cost around £600 second-hand and will come with a couple of years' warranty - great value

Other alternatives that I've heard good things about are the IBM T42 and HP's NC6120 which is effectively the replacement model for the NC6000 and has an even slimmer, lighter case design. Dell are supposed to offer good value too but personally I would stick to IBM or HP/Compaq. There are many other brands too but most of them I wouldn't bother with because there absolutely *is* a difference in quality between the likes of HP/Compaq and other brands. Other brands might appear to offer better value and to an extent they probably do, but certainly on the second-hand market it's well worth paying the extra for the better support and build-quality of HP/Compaq, IBM, etc.

 

[deSade]

I got myself an Asus A6Ja notebook for just over a grand on the Tottenham Court Road last Monday & have to say I'm delighted with it so far:

Intel Centrino Duo T2300
15.4" WXGA @ 1280 x 800
1024 mb DDR2
ATI Mobility X1600 256mb (dedicated)
100 GB HDD
DVD Combo drive
Windows XP
Built in Wireless, etc.

Gaming wise, I've only played LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth & Rainbow Six: Raven Shield on it so far - but they have played with no probs at all.

 

[deSade]

Dell are supposed to offer good value too but personally I would stick to IBM or HP/Compaq. There are many other brands too but most of them I wouldn't bother with because there absolutely *is* a difference in quality between the likes of HP/Compaq and other brands. Other brands might appear to offer better value and to an extent they probably do, but certainly on the second-hand market it's well worth paying the extra for the better support and build-quality of HP/Compaq, IBM, etc.

Not sure I'd agree with writing off all other manufacturers in this way - I've read/seen as many dodgy reviews of the likes of HP/Compaq as any other maker.

And decent support isn't just limited to them. For instance, Asus notebooks offer 2 years guarentee as standard.

 

[phykell]

Not sure I'd agree with writing off all other manufacturers in this way - I've read/seen as many dodgy reviews of the likes of HP/Compaq as any other maker.

I'm not writing them all off, I'm just saying that from experience, I wouldn't bother with other brands because HP/Compaq and IBM are so good. I've dealt with other laptops before, and they just aren't up to the standards of IBM and HP but this is a huge generalisation of course and admittedly only within the limitations of my experience can I say that HP/IBM are the best. However, don't take my word for it, most major IT consultancies use HP and IBM or similar and believe that says a great deal. It just so happens my personal experience bears this out

And decent support isn't just limited to them. For instance, Asus notebooks offer 2 years guarentee as standard.

Of course not but HP/Compaq and IBM offer 3 year guarantees as standard and they have on-line (MSN-style) support and unmatched web-site support for forums, patches, drivers, etc. I doubt the likes of Acer or Dell even come close to the level of user fora that HP have for example.

The Asus laptop you have is probably excellent but I doubt it's the sort of thing that Accenture and Capgemini will be rolling out to their staff as replacements "corporate workhorses". That said, I invariably use Asus myself for motherboards and don't really consider other manufacturers as Asus have always been so good I've never needed to consider others. That's the same reason why I choose Crucial for memory, Antec for PSUs, Dells for rack servers and Seagate for hard drives. You tend to stick with manufacturers that haven't let you down I guess.

 

[PeterNem]

Of course not but HP/Compaq and IBM offer 3 year guarantees as standard and they have on-line (MSN-style) support and unmatched web-site support for forums, patches, drivers, etc. I doubt the likes of Acer or Dell even come close to the level of user fora that HP have for example.

I beleive I'm correct in saying that in the UK at least, all of Accenture's consulting and solutions workforce have Dell laptops.