Why are laptops so ugly?

[Tommy B]

If you want to spend in the region of £2000 on a power-laptop, why are they are all hideous?

Can you not buy one with the looks of Kiera Knightly but the fighting skills of Bruce Lee on steroids?

Surely there must be a make out there that do "average non-geeky" looking laptops which, under the bonnet, actually pack a hell of a punch?

I mean XPS, Alienware... Yes, very powerful, but I'm completely put off by how 'pimped out of the box' they are. I guess it's not my sort of thing. I'd prefer to have something that looks like a MacBook Pro, where people think it looks nice but don't realise how damn powerful it actually is.

Cheers,

 

[Tommy B]

I think the Rock Laptops are decent looking due to the slimness. They also pack a huge punch of power too.

Absolutely perfect. I've never heard of them before but the prices seem reasonable and the design is nice too. "xtreme ctx pro/thinnest 17" gaming notebook on steroids" caught my eye

Whilst we're on this subject, which is better:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 2.16GHz
1GB DDR2 667MHz (512MB x2)

[OR]

Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2.00GHz
2GB DDR2 667MHz (1GB x2)

If you like the look of the Macbook Pros (and they are powerful enough) then why don't you just get one of them? Or do you just want a gaming laptop? In which case have a tour of all the major manufacturers and see what customisation options they offer. Savrow are fairly small but their laptops are usually quite understated.

From what I understand, there is a programme called Bootcamp that can run Windows and Windows games. However, even the most expensive Macbook only has an X1600 graphics card, which won't exactly cut it. Whilst I do hardly any gaming any more, if I'm going to buy a really powerful laptop I might as well get into it again.

 

[Tommy B]

Personally, i like to have the extra RAM. Im not sure if everyone would agree, but having dual core aswell as 2GB Ram is benefitial.

I went for a 1.86GHz C2D and 2GB Ram in my laptop.

Rock are a very good brand btw..they make top end laptops.

This for a desktop replacement?

Yeah, but also for Uni when I start next September/October. As long as it will be better than my current system (64 3500+ X1900XT 1GB Ram etc) then I'll be happy. I also don't think I'll buy it until June or July so hopefully by then Rock will offer Direct X10/ HD-DVD laptops.

The thing is my music library is about 80GB now so I might be looking for a safe, secure external HD too.

 

[Tommy B]

yeah bootcamp is nice. but you will be limited gfx wise. look for laptop barebones and get building lol

handy laptop building linky

Having built my current PC I've had nothing but problems. Perhaps I was unlucky with the particular hardware combinations, but it caused me a lot of stress and in the end my dad (doctor) got one of his patients, who presumably does it for a living, to look at it. I built it fine and initially there were no problems, but after a while it started going wrong. Needless to say, I don't really want to go through the stress again and I'd be much happier paying out for one.

 

[Tommy B]

Yeah, this will definately be a replacement.
They come with 7950GTX's (i think) and also give you the freedom to add a second HDD.

Your budget £2000?

£1700 tops. Although Ideally I'd spend £1500, which will get:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2.00GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 Go GTX 512MB
WSXGA+ X-Glass rock logo
2GB DDR2 667MHz (1GB x2)
100GB 7200rpm SATA
8x +/- Dual Layer DVD Writer
Windows XP Home (Free Vista Upgrade)

Now that to me looks very nice. Not sure about the processor though. Hopefully by the time I buy the thing in July those specs will be much, much better.

 

[Tommy B]

Bare in mind, thats C2D (much faster than previous).

Why not try and ge the 2.16GHz as its got a 4MB Cache.

That Processor is TOP end btw.

Ah. I didn't notice that. I suppose the 4MB cache is a must, but is it worth sacrificing the ram for?

 

[Tommy B]

Hmm. So £1700 is about max?

For just under you could get the higher processor.

Although, it is not needed. As the other one has a 2MB Cache IIRC.

I could get the 4MB cache one AND the 2GB of ram for £1700. I don't even know why I'm thinking about this now because I wont be buying it for a long time yet

Still, does anyone care to speculate on what will be available in July for the same price?

 

[Tommy B]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of all that Ferrari stuff. Vodafone had a load of crazy deals a few years back.

And anyway, if I were rich I'd get the Porsche 911 Turbo