Laptop for an Architect student

thegloriousend

Hey guys, just looking for recommendations on a laptop. I have about 1000E to spend and require enough speed to run autocad programs with ease. A good graphics and memory card would also be required. Any ideas? thanks

thegloriousend

How does this sound:

Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)
2.0 mega pixel Camera & Tuxedo Black for CCFL Display
15.4¿ UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) CCFL Display (220nits) with TrueLife™
Biometric Fingerprint Reader with BLACK accent
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

This is a dell pc I customised on thier website increasing the processor speed and the graphics card. The price comes out at 1050euro and sounds like great value to me. I also used the uk site as opposed to the irish one making a huge saving on the exchange rate (i am fortunate to have a belfast address).
So what do we reckon? is this a decent laptop? I also have the possibility of making the screen 'widesceen' and making the battery 9cell

Another option with a different computer would give me the choice of a 512mb geforce nivida graphics card? would this be a wise investment, or would the 256 suffice?

AlmightyCushion

It depends on what the card actually is. It may be 512MB but it could still be a crap card.

The screen should already be widescreen, the option is probably for a higher resolution.

The 9 cell battery will add to the weight but it will increase battery life significantly. I'd say go for it.

thegloriousend

cheers for the reply. The graphics card would be a geforce nivida like the 256 but the price goes up a fair bit - just wondering if I can get away with the 256 for what I need, which is autocad, photoshop and google sketchup. I'll take your word with the widescreen so.
The problem with the 9 cell is that it is not designed for this computer and will stick out 3cm. I need it to fit in my rucksack however.. saying that it probably will fit being a 15inch laptop

AlmightyCushion

What model number is it though? For example the one you have linked to above is an 8600gt. The 8600gt should be more than enough for your needs.

Ah yes, I forgot about that. It will stick out a bit but it should fit in a laptop bag fine.