Help choosing a laptop please (top-of-range)

Mr. Flibble

I'm looking for a PC (non-mac unfortunately) laptop, 15-16" high res display - used for software development mainly. I know shag all about PC laptops. Can anyone give me tips please. I'm looking for the best performance for under €5k, and somewhat portable.

Would SSD be advisable? Do Dell have decent laptops these days? Sonywise, the most expensive 15" I could find on their site was sub €1K. Do Sony have any high performance laptops?

Voodu Child

Mr. Flibble wrote: »

Do Dell have decent laptops these days?

The Precision M4400 (15") would probably be their only 15" model that falls into the category you're looking at. It's on the business section.

Do Sony have any high performance laptops?

Not really, most of their models are pitched at entertainment users.

Effluo

Also i wouldn't get anything from dell as they're a complete ripoff!

If i were you i'd post a thread similar to this one but in the Building & Upgrading section of the boards.

Also you really have to give a wee bit more info for what it would be used for.

The guys there will tell you what kind of specifications you need to run your programs...

Mr. Flibble

It'll have heavy hard drive access (big sql databases running on it & compiling apps). Don't need major graphics capabilities (apart from high res). Apart from that I want it as fast as possible.

I guess I'm asking, where can I buy the best speced 15"-16" laptop these days.

Effluo wrote: »

Also i wouldn't get anything from dell as they're a complete ripoff!

If i were you i'd post a thread similar to this one but in the Building & Upgrading section of the boards.

Also you really have to give a wee bit more info for what it would be used for.

The guys there will tell you what kind of specifications you need to run your programs...

Effluo

Well here's one with a solid state drive(&a quality screen)....
http://elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1622439&productID=S5855418

But in fact i don't really know what you need for that.
The guys on the building & upgrading are great for that!

or maybe you could check up tomshardware.com

Mr. Flibble

Thanks Effluo. It's a bit bigger than I want though.

MackPaddy

Well I have to second the m4400.I just picked up one for software development.I needed something portable without sacrificing much power,so I invested in a 3ghz dual core m4400 with 4gb ram,and 512 graphics card.I have to say its one of the best laptops ive ever used.I can run virtual box,dev ide,image editors concurrently as if they were the only app running.The backlit keyboard is a great feature worth getting too imo.

Its no beauty,but I actually like the clean professional look of it.

Mr. Flibble

Thanks Mack. Looks like there are two contenders now. The Dell m4400 and the HP EliteBook 8530w.

awhir

if u want a laptop that will last u awhile and wont fall apart go for an ibm