Good High spec'd laptop (1500 - 2000 budget)

AIR-AUSSIE

Looking for a laptop with high spec - 8gb memory, 2.8+ Ghz processor, good graphics card.

Does anyone advise me on what would the best make would be? I've been looking at DELL but I'm not sure if they're overpriced.

I won't be getting it til end of October when Win7 comes out.

Cheers any help would be appreciated.

Jaybl

The Windows 7 tokens are out now I am pretty sure. Well Dell are offering them.

J_E

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-DV7T-C2D-2-8GHz-8GB-640GB-17-WSXGA-LAPTOP-NOTEBOOK_W0QQitemZ270422014432QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_comp_laptop?hash=item3ef66879e0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Something along this spec yeah?

Voodu Child

Look at the Clevo range. They are much higher-end than most other laptops on the market. They make some good gaming laptops, usually with options for high-end CPUs and GPUs. Most of the current range support quadcores (Q9000, Q9100, Q9200, QX9300).

They are barebones machines, meaning the ODM supplies the chassis, motherboard, GPU etc, and then the retailer customizes the laptop with your choice of CPU, hard-drive, ram etc. They can be bought from Kobaltcomputers.co.uk, novatech.co.uk, rockdirect, etc

Overclockers have the best prices at the moment probably. Take that 17" model here and you will do a lot of upgrading before you hit your €2000 limit.

I would get one of those, and pick up an ES Q9200 from ebay (ive seen them for under €200). Thats a 2.3GHz quad-core, you won't get much better in terms of laptop performance.

AIR-AUSSIE

Jaybl wrote: »

The Windows 7 tokens are out now I am pretty sure. Well Dell are offering them.

I won't be getting it either way til then anyway.

AIR-AUSSIE

Cydoniac wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-DV7T-C2D-2-8GHz-8GB-640GB-17-WSXGA-LAPTOP-NOTEBOOK_W0QQitemZ270422014432QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_comp_laptop?hash=item3ef66879e0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Something along this spec yeah?

Yes something along them lines. Although I'd prob prefer something smaller / more portable. I was thinking of something a bit smaller then a 17" - say a 15.4" or something of a similar size to the DELL Studio XPS 13. I'm looking for decent mobility with it. Don't want to be hoarding a 'desktop replacement' around with me. What type of weight should I try to look for if I want reasonable portablablity?

Voodu Child wrote: »

Look at the Clevo range. They are much higher-end than most other laptops on the market. They make some good gaming laptops, usually with options for high-end CPUs and GPUs. Most of the current range support quadcores (Q9000, Q9100, Q9200, QX9300).

They are barebones machines, meaning the ODM supplies the chassis, motherboard, GPU etc, and then the retailer customizes the laptop with your choice of CPU, hard-drive, ram etc. They can be bought from Kobaltcomputers.co.uk, novatech.co.uk, rockdirect, etc

Overclockers have the best prices at the moment probably. Take that 17" model here and you will do a lot of upgrading before you hit your €2000 limit.

I would get one of those, and pick up an ES Q9200 from ebay (ive seen them for under €200). Thats a 2.3GHz quad-core, you won't get much better in terms of laptop performance.

Cheers thanks for the links. I'll look into them.

I am not necessarily looking for a gaming laptop - its more for high performance while running engineering applications.

What sort of processor should I be aiming for?

gillo_100

If its for some serious engineering stuff should maybe look at the likes of Dell Precision Laptops, they're laptop workstations. So they are built with the intention of running CAD programs and the like.
Only available through the business section of the dell website they come from 14-17 inch. Latitude are also pretty good just a step down from the precision but again with business in mind.

Might also look at lenovo think its thier W series are their high end workstation laptops, they are meant to be quite good.

I think other manufacturers will have similar products but maybe try go through the business side of their site as it is usually companies purchasing workstations.

AIR-AUSSIE

I customised this HP laptop on the US HP website. It seems you can't customise on the irish one. It looks savage. especially with windows 7 having multi touch compatibility.

Anyone know if there would be some way to get this in Ireland? Or would I have to pay through my teeth for it?

majiktripp

While its a nice tablet laptop, its not particularly "high-Spec". What exactly is it you need the laptop for?

Tea_Bag

take a look at Kobalt computers. they have a really great laptop called the nexus.

www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/nexus_overview.php

leninbenjamin

Tea_Bag wrote: »

take a look at Kobalt computers. they have a really great laptop called the nexus.

www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/nexus_overview.php

Kobalt are pretty heavy though, that 15'' would be about the weight of your average 17''.

Basically OP you're gonna struggle to get that kind of performance in a laptop that would be relatively mobile, anything i've seen with that kind of spec you're looking for is 3kg+, which is not nice to be carrying around everywhere you go.

With that budget though you could build/buy yourself a fairly nice desktop for performance, with enough money left over for a midrange laptop. It all just depends on how important the mobility is to you.

AIR-AUSSIE

majiktripp wrote: »

While its a nice tablet laptop, its not particularly "high-Spec". What exactly is it you need the laptop for?

Well its as 'high spec' as I have managed to find as of yet. Why do you say it is not particularly high spec? I don't know too which processor / graphics card I should look at. As I'm not familiar with the types used in notebooks.

Could you show me an example of a laptop you'd consider high spec. Do you mean something more along the lines of a desktop replacement? I'm looking for a fairly small laptop no bigger then 15.4". At the moment the DELL Studio XPS 13 and the HP tablet above, if I can find somewhere to buy it. I'm not sure if I really wanna buy a DELL, I feel I'm edging for that laptop more for its looks almost. Although would like to give the HP tablet a try with win7. It also seems relatively portable.

I'd be using it for PhD work which could vary from CAD work to FEM analysis to Revit and other forms of structure modelling and processing data. I also would be looking to have a notebook which could do a great deal of multi-tasking.

leninbenjamin

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

I'd be using it for PhD work which could vary from CAD work to FEM analysis to Revit and other forms of structure modelling and processing data. I also would be looking to have a notebook which could do a great deal of multi-tasking.

FEM? forget all looks, appearances and mobility, just go for raw power. Something like a studio 13 would have you sitting on your ass waiting for ages for things to process. the graphics card would struggle with large CAD scenes. A portable desktop along the lines of the Kobalt will make you happier in the long run imo if you really are going to be working with these things a lot.

AIR-AUSSIE

leninbenjamin wrote: »

FEM? forget all looks, appearances and mobility, just go for raw power. Something like a studio 13 would have you sitting on your ass waiting for ages for things to process. the graphics card would struggle with large CAD scenes. A portable desktop along the lines of the Kobalt will make you happier in the long run imo if you really are going to be working with these things a lot.

Right then maybe I should forget about being able to do everything on my laptop. I may have a desktop available for the processor intensive stuff.

So if I just had a notebook for lighter computing. Would it still be worth my while getting 8gb memory etc. or would it make enough of a difference speedwise for the money?

majiktripp

Definately still worth getting the 8gb , if you can afford it that is. Still expensive to aget single 4gb DDR2 sticks of ram to make up the 2x4GB = 8GB, however 2x2gb's giving 4gb total is much more affordable.
On tablet laptops, there are two kinds, capacitive and resistive. ie. one reacts to a tablet pen, the other reacts to finger tips. I have a IBM X41 tablet laptop. Never / rarely use the tablet feature. Unless you really really need it, put the money to a better more high end 13" model laptop as recommended.
If you can get away with using a desktop for the more high end computing, I would go that route as parts will be cheaper and overall a higher spec system will cost less than the laptop equivalent.

leninbenjamin

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Right then maybe I should forget about being able to do everything on my laptop. I may have a desktop available for the processor intensive stuff.

So if I just had a notebook for lighter computing. Would it still be worth my while getting 8gb memory etc. or would it make enough of a difference speedwise for the money?

just curious, from reading it sounds like you're about to embark on a PhD and this will be the hardware from the funds? I know quite a few people doing PhDs, in computer science and engineering. Most of them have a fairly powerful desktop sitting in their lab that they simply control remotely using VNC or similar if they are working at home using a bog standard laptop.

It's one possibility anyway if you think you're going to be doing very CPU intensive stuff. A budget of €2000 say could be split €1500 on the desktop and €500 for the laptop. That would allow you to get a fairly high end desktop with one of the newer CPU platforms in it, and a laptop more than capable of general purpose use. It would give you both power and mobility, but of course that all depends on you having a internet connection though.

If not, can't go wrong with the Kobalt really. I've never had any personal experience with them myself, but they seem to be the best bang for the buck among the high end stuff at the moment.

As for the 8GB in the laptop, i don't think it's worth it if it doesn't have a high end CPU. Certainly wouldn't put 8 in a tablet.

AIR-AUSSIE

majiktripp wrote: »

Definately still worth getting the 8gb , if you can afford it that is. Still expensive to aget single 4gb DDR2 sticks of ram to make up the 2x4GB = 8GB, however 2x2gb's giving 4gb total is much more affordable.
On tablet laptops, there are two kinds, capacitive and resistive. ie. one reacts to a tablet pen, the other reacts to finger tips. I have a IBM X41 tablet laptop. Never / rarely use the tablet feature. Unless you really really need it, put the money to a better more high end 13" model laptop as recommended.
If you can get away with using a desktop for the more high end computing, I would go that route as parts will be cheaper and overall a higher spec system will cost less than the laptop equivalent.

The reason I was interested in a tablet was that from what I read Windows 7 seems to have integrated touchscreen natively into the OS without there software. So it could be used more for tasks such as internet etc rather then purely taking notes etc.

leninbenjamin wrote: »

just curious, from reading it sounds like you're about to embark on a PhD and this will be the hardware from the funds? I know quite a few people doing PhDs, in computer science and engineering. Most of them have a fairly powerful desktop sitting in their lab that they simply control remotely using VNC or similar if they are working at home using a bog standard laptop.

It's one possibility anyway if you think you're going to be doing very CPU intensive stuff. A budget of €2000 say could be split €1500 on the desktop and €500 for the laptop. That would allow you to get a fairly high end desktop with one of the newer CPU platforms in it, and a laptop more than capable of general purpose use. It would give you both power and mobility, but of course that all depends on you having a internet connection though.

If not, can't go wrong with the Kobalt really. I've never had any personal experience with them myself, but they seem to be the best bang for the buck among the high end stuff at the moment.

As for the 8GB in the laptop, i don't think it's worth it if it doesn't have a high end CPU. Certainly wouldn't put 8 in a tablet.

Yes your right, my funding is 1500 I think. According to my supervisor I would share a desktop to do the main FEM work (not confirmed for def), as there is only one license and was planning to buy a high-end notebook for CAD and other modelling. So if I do have this other desktop available already I would then have the funding for notebook of my own.

Could explain what you mean by high end CPU? Is that the motherboard or processor or what? I'm not really too familiar with computer hardware setups. I don't really know which processor i should be thinking of.

gillo_100

Here is a nice specced Dell precision 14.1", should weigh no more than 2.3kg.
Just to say also going to 8GB of ram from 4 cost extra 450 on this, I'd advse you to try talk to your supervisor or maybe someone else who uses the same software to check is its necessary, especially considering you will be doing some stuff on desktop.

Some other things to think of most colleges have access to some High performance computing, where users submit jobs to nodes on a supercomputer, might want to see if you will have that available, in which case you can run your simulations on that. Still goning to need a decent machine for yourself to post process results but caoul dbe helpful.

The other thing someone mentioned VNC, I know XP has a Remote Desktop Connection Wizard which I find works great, gives complete control as tough you were sitting at your desktop. However, due to college proxies I can't access my computer in college from outside of college, so this may be an issue for you also. I tried VNC and one or two others also but couldn't get them to work either.

AIR-AUSSIE

gillo_100 wrote: »

Here is a nice specced Dell precision 14.1", should weigh no more than 2.3kg.
Just to say also going to 8GB of ram from 4 cost extra 450 on this, I'd advse you to try talk to your supervisor or maybe someone else who uses the same software to check is its necessary, especially considering you will be doing some stuff on desktop.

Some other things to think of most colleges have access to some High performance computing, where users submit jobs to nodes on a supercomputer, might want to see if you will have that available, in which case you can run your simulations on that. Still goning to need a decent machine for yourself to post process results but caoul dbe helpful.

The other thing someone mentioned VNC, I know XP has a Remote Desktop Connection Wizard which I find works great, gives complete control as tough you were sitting at your desktop. However, due to college proxies I can't access my computer in college from outside of college, so this may be an issue for you also. I tried VNC and one or two others also but couldn't get them to work either.

Yea I was looking at that model seems good. i will have to check reviews. I will have to find out about how I'll be running model simulations etc.

Does anyone know a store where I could get a higher spec HP tablet then the one offered on their website? Would like to price one similiar to one I posted previously fdrom their US website. You can't seem to customise HP notebooks on the irish website which I find annoying.

leninbenjamin

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Yes your right, my funding is 1500 I think. According to my supervisor I would share a desktop to do the main FEM work (not confirmed for def), as there is only one license and was planning to buy a high-end notebook for CAD and other modelling. So if I do have this other desktop available already I would then have the funding for notebook of my own.

ah fair enough, sounds so like you'll have a purpose built machine there for the heavy stuff. That's not unusual, you might be logging into it remotely though to test you're work though, might be worth finding out what the story is.

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Could explain what you mean by high end CPU? Is that the motherboard or processor or what? I'm not really too familiar with computer hardware setups. I don't really know which processor i should be thinking of.

CPU is the central processing unit, you're processor. To my knowledge FEM and CAD would be pretty heavy on it, so it's where i'd spend most of money on.

the upper end would be intel's i7 platform at the moment (which require the LGA1366 motherboard platform). These are in very few laptops at the moment, i think maybe on or two might have them but they'll be exceptionally heavy, hot and over your budget. but you could build a desktop with one in it for you're budget.

In terms of a laptop, find out if possible whether the type of apps you'll be using would be optimised for quad core. if you're working with older versions of Revit and AutoCAD say, they wont be optimised for quad core so a high end 9000 Core2Duo would probably be best bet to get (a T9600 should be within budget). Look for a decent Graphics card too in them, 512MB dedicated memory min.

Something like the Dell Precision M4400 might be a decent laptop to get. You wont get as much bang for your buck as with other brands, but they seem a fair bit lighter than the Kobalt Nexus which seems important to you.

Don't get a tablet imo. Almost all of them have a high end screen with mid to low end hardware inside. Waste of money for your line of work imo.

Don't worry about HardDrive or RAM when you're buying, you can always upgrade these after yourself (although i guess you'd better check with the college's policy). Given your budget anyway, getting 8GB RAM in a laptop will take a fair chunk out of it, so i wouldn't bother unless i was absolutely sure i'd be working with large CAD/Revit projects that needed it.

AIR-AUSSIE

leninbenjamin wrote: »

CPU is the central processing unit, you're processor. To my knowledge FEM and CAD would be pretty heavy on it, so it's where i'd spend most of money on.

So a CPU is the processor? As you explain below?

leninbenjamin wrote: »

the upper end would be intel's i7 platform at the moment (which require the LGA1366 motherboard platform). These are in very few laptops at the moment, i think maybe on or two might have them but they'll be exceptionally heavy, hot and over your budget. but you could build a desktop with one in it for you're budget.

In terms of a laptop, find out if possible whether the type of apps you'll be using would be optimised for quad core. if you're working with older versions of Revit and AutoCAD say, they wont be optimised for quad core so a high end 9000 Core2Duo would probably be best bet to get (a T9600 should be within budget). Look for a decent Graphics card too in them, 512MB dedicated memory min.

Something like the Dell Precision M4400 might be a decent laptop to get. You wont get as much bang for your buck as with other brands, but they seem a fair bit lighter than the Kobalt Nexus which seems important to you.

Yea the Precisions look good.

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Don't worry about HardDrive or RAM when you're buying, you can always upgrade these after yourself (although i guess you'd better check with the college's policy). Given your budget anyway, getting 8GB RAM in a laptop will take a fair chunk out of it, so i wouldn't bother unless i was absolutely sure i'd be working with large CAD/Revit projects that needed it.

Yea I wasn't too worried about the hard drive (i have an external anyway) but as there are only two memory slots, if I get 4GB memory initally (x2 2GB) and wanna upgrade to 8GB I would need x2 4GB memory. And I would then be left with two 2GB memory that would be useless to me...

Below are two of precision notebooks - the larger 15.4" Precision M4400 and the 14" M2400. I've printed it so you can see the possible choices for processor, graphics card etc. What would be the best processor & graphics card to go with in your opinion?

The M4400 has a larger selection for processors and graphics card. It seems the only advantage of the M2400 over the M4400 is its size/weight. But would there be that much of a difference size wise?

AIR-AUSSIE

Looking around a 8GB memory kit upgrade from crucial.com would cost 393.65 which would work out alot cheaper going that way. http://www.crucial.com/eu/store/listparts.aspx?model=Precision%20M4400

Maybe I could get the base memory on the unit and then upgrade if necessary.

leninbenjamin

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

So a CPU is the processor? As you explain below?

yup.

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Yea the Precisions look good.

Yeah, they seem OK. They are Dell so they are slightly overpriced and wouldn't have the worlds greatest build quality, but they should do the job comfortably.

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Yea I wasn't too worried about the hard drive (i have an external anyway) but as there are only two memory slots, if I get 4GB memory initally (x2 2GB) and wanna upgrade to 8GB I would need x2 4GB memory. And I would then be left with two 2GB memory that would be useless to me...

it's still cheaper to buy 2X4GB from a 3rd party (from the likes of komplett or that) than get it off Dell. Plus you could always just sell the 2X2 sticks although you wont get much for them.

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Below are two of precision notebooks - the larger 15.4" Precision M4400 and the 14" M2400. I've printed it so you can see the possible choices for processor, graphics card etc. What would be the best processor & graphics card to go with in your opinion?

The M4400 has a larger selection for processors and graphics card. It seems the only advantage of the M2400 over the M4400 is its size/weight. But would there be that much of a difference size wise?

the 9800 (in the 4200) the one to go for in that lineup, the downside being your restricted to a 256MB Graphics card.

in terms of the graphics card i haven't a clue. Those are all Quadros, and i know very little about the Quadro line, but the 512 are definitly better than the 256 by a considerable margin. As for the 770m vs. 1700m, they are very similar. I'm not sure the 1700 is worth to price increase.

in terms of size; well, it's very much personal preference. I'm not bothered by the dimensions as such, but it's weight that impacts me. The difference between the two models is about 0.5KG, just under. For me, i'd take the weight hit to get the larger screen and better graphics card, but it's entirely up to you and what you think it'll get used for. There doesn't seem to be any major strength or weakness in either that pops out to me, though again, i don't know a huge amount either line.

Voodu Child

leninbenjamin wrote: »

A portable desktop along the lines of the Kobalt will make you happier in the long run imo if you really are going to be working with these things a lot.

The Kobalt range that has been mentioned a few times are the Clevo laptops as mentioned in my post above. Ive compared around and overclockers.co.uk seem to be the cheapest re-sellers, several hundred cheaper than Kobalt even. Take the base M860TU (15.4") and throw a Q9000 (2GHz quadcore) in it, and you are still under £1200 (€1400). Fantastic value (has a GTX260M), and that lowly quadcore should perform better than any Core2Duo provided the application is multithreaded.

AIR-AUSSIE

leninbenjamin wrote: »

yup.



Yeah, they seem OK. They are Dell so they are slightly overpriced and wouldn't have the worlds greatest build quality, but they should do the job comfortably.

Out of interest, what would you go for to get better build quality and to be less overpriced, or do you have to make a compromise on either?

I'm currently using a DELL Latitude D600 which has a 15.4" screen. Its nice n small enough although I would I like something slightly smaller if I could. But then again if getter smaller (down to a 14"/13" screen) will mean I will sacrifice on performance I think I'd lean to stay with a 15.4" screen. And you're right a screen smaller then 15.4" might be annoying.

AIR-AUSSIE

Voodu Child wrote: »

The Kobalt range that has been mentioned a few times are the Clevo laptops as mentioned in my post above. Ive compared around and overclockers.co.uk seem to be the cheapest re-sellers, several hundred cheaper than Kobalt even. Take the base M860TU (15.4") and throw a Q9000 (2GHz quadcore) in it, and you are still under £1200 (€1400). Fantastic value (has a GTX260M), and that lowly quadcore should perform better than any Core2Duo provided the application is multithreaded.

OK so I'd buy the laptop "barebones" and have to add in the processor and memory? Would there be anything else I'd have to add in?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-004-CV

Voodu Child

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

OK so I'd buy the laptop "barebones" and have to add in the processor and memory? Would there be anything else I'd have to add in?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-004-CV

If you buy it barebones, you'd need to buy the CPU, ram, hard-drive, DVD drive, and any wireless/bluetooth modules you wanted.

You'd only do that if you already had those parts, or had a good deal on them (a lot of enthusiasts buy cheap engineering sample (ES) CPUs from asia).

Otherwise, it would be better/cheaper to buy it pre-made from them: link. That will give you everything you need, HDD, CPU, drives, wireless, etc.

Google Sager/Clevo and you will find a lot of info about the brand, they are well regarded. I listed some other retailers on the first page if you want to compare prices and models, they all give them their own name but the system is the same. Some come with the OS, others will let you buy your own OS. At the moment, its one of few 15" systems on the market that support quadcores, so is a good option for those who need serious computing power.

AIR-AUSSIE

Voodu Child wrote: »

If you buy it barebones, you'd need to buy the CPU, ram, hard-drive, DVD drive, and any wireless/bluetooth modules you wanted.

You'd only do that if you already had those parts, or had a good deal on them (a lot of enthusiasts buy cheap engineering sample (ES) CPUs from asia).

Otherwise, it would be better/cheaper to buy it pre-made from them: link. That will give you everything you need, HDD, CPU, drives, wireless, etc.

Google Sager/Clevo and you will find a lot of info about the brand, they are well regarded. I listed some other retailers on the first page if you want to compare prices and models, they all give them their own name but the system is the same. Some come with the OS, others will let you buy your own OS. At the moment, its one of few 15" systems on the market that support quadcores, so is a good option for those who need serious computing power.

Something I'll look into but that laptop you linked to says it has an approx weight of 5.6kg??? Sounds like a bit much. Or does that depend on what you put into it?

Voodu Child

Thats a typo, the 17" model weighs that. The 15.4" weighs around 3.2Kg. That is kind of normal for a 15", heavier than a slim/light designer machine but nothing too bad.

Pete4779

I have the Studio XPS 13 with 8GB of DDR3 (1066) and the P9600 2.66Ghz Dualcore. It's quite excellent performance wise, and TBH I couldn't find any comparable laptop in a 13" size with those specs. I just checked it there again, and it seems the price has gone insane for 8GB of RAM - around €900 extra. Dell had some deal going on and in a small window of around 4 days I think the price dropped hugely for the extra RAM (went to €190 or so from around €600 at the time) so I got the system, with thinner screen, etc., for €1340 with the coupon and employer discount.

I wouldn't pay the 2k they are looking for it now though, but it was a steal at the time!

AIR-AUSSIE

Pete4779 wrote: »

I have the Studio XPS 13 with 8GB of DDR3 (1066) and the P9600 2.66Ghz Dualcore. It's quite excellent performance wise, and TBH I couldn't find any comparable laptop in a 13" size with those specs. I just checked it there again, and it seems the price has gone insane for 8GB of RAM - around €900 extra. Dell had some deal going on and in a small window of around 4 days I think the price dropped hugely for the extra RAM (went to €190 or so from around €600 at the time) so I got the system, with thinner screen, etc., for €1340 with the coupon and employer discount.

I wouldn't pay the 2k they are looking for it now though, but it was a steal at the time!

Jesus you got it for cheap. I prob would buy 8GB memory from somewhere else and stick it in if I did I'd say.

How is the screen? Is too small? Any heat problems that it seems to be infamous for? Is there anything wrong with it that annoys you with it?

leninbenjamin

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

How is the screen? Is too small? Any heat problems that it seems to be infamous for? Is there anything wrong with it that annoys you with it?

a lot of Dell's have a tendency to run hot. That's the biggest problem with them imo, particularly the upper end stuff. They save money by sticking in cheap cooling solutions, so it's something to be aware of. Most of the problems i've seen in Dell's (mainly in friends and family's laptops, mine have been grand) could probably all be related to heat.

Pete4779

Yeah it runs quite hot, especially if you are gaming. For performance estimates, it will run Fallout 3 on Low settings at 1280x800 smoothly, and the 8GB of RAM allows pretty quick switching between the games and desktop.

When not using the Hybrid/SLI video, it's fine. The SLI switching can take place while running and only takes a few seconds, so no rebooting. It's an excellent laptop but really the performance and specs are what sold it along with the price. The keys and design are great but tend to attract grime, or else I have just got filthy greasy hands. Battery life is ~ 2.5-3 hrs, which is ok but they don't sell the 9-cell battery here unfortunately. EDIT: actually I just checked, now they do for €148.50. Apparently it gives 5-5.5 hrs.

AIR-AUSSIE

Think I'm edging towards the Dell Precision M2400 at the moment. What are the chances that DELL will increase the choices of graphics card for this model? or are the graphics card choices dependent on the size of notebook?

Pete4779

AIR-AUSSIE wrote: »

Think I'm edging towards the Dell Precision M2400 at the moment. What are the chances that DELL will increase the choices of graphics card for this model? or are the graphics card choices dependent on the size of notebook?

It's difficult to find a product release schedule for Dell, compared to Apple. But, when they release a model, then tend to stick with the specs for ~ 18 months or so. In some areas, there may be minor changes depending on hardware availability, like the change from the SLI 8800GTX cards to 9800 cards for the 1730 series; but overall cost is the same as is performance within 5-10%. This is for the big notebooks (17") that are desktop replacements.

If the machine has been out for > 12 months I would be inclined to wait. If it's a model introduced within 2009 it's unlikely to get an upgrade. They tend to have deals instead to drop the price as their inventories vary.

basically, if they have a good deal it's worth going for, as they might have a higher price a few months later, with no change in spec or even a reduced spec (no more 2.66 chips in the XPS 13 for example).

AIR-AUSSIE

Pete4779 wrote: »

It's difficult to find a product release schedule for Dell, compared to Apple. But, when they release a model, then tend to stick with the specs for ~ 18 months or so. In some areas, there may be minor changes depending on hardware availability, like the change from the SLI 8800GTX cards to 9800 cards for the 1730 series; but overall cost is the same as is performance within 5-10%. This is for the big notebooks (17") that are desktop replacements.

If the machine has been out for > 12 months I would be inclined to wait. If it's a model introduced within 2009 it's unlikely to get an upgrade. They tend to have deals instead to drop the price as their inventories vary.

basically, if they have a good deal it's worth going for, as they might have a higher price a few months later, with no change in spec or even a reduced spec (no more 2.66 chips in the XPS 13 for example).

So how long hav the XPS studio 13 and precision M2400 out? do you know?

Sephiroth_dude

If you have'nt already give these lads a look over www.rockdirect.co.uk .

duckysauce

whats the warranty like on site?

Overheal

Place your wallet in a safe, fireproof container before continuing, as it may spontaneously combust:

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

duckysauce

Overheal wrote: »

Place your wallet in a safe, fireproof container before continuing, as it may spontaneously combust:

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

what are they good or bad , dont get your post ?

Overheal

ever heard of burning a hole in your wallet?

I'd love one of their Talon desktops actually.

Sephiroth_dude

Overheal wrote: »

Place your wallet in a safe, fireproof container before continuing, as it may spontaneously combust:

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

I think I just came in my pants :pac:

Fernicia

I haven't read many of the previous posts so I apologize if I repeat anything that's been said, but as far as laptops go these days there are 4 important components you need to take into consideration:

1. The Processor
You said you needed it to run CAD programs, as far as I'm aware the most recent programs (eg. Auto-CAD) support parallel processing which means that choosing say, a 2.5GHz Quad Core processor would be twice as fast as a 2.5GHz Dual Core processor.
But when you're talking about video games, close to zero games support processing with more than 2 cores, which means that getting a Quad Core processor will not make absolutely no improvement to performance, it may lower it because of the extra heat the two idle cores will give off.

2. RAM
The difference between 4GB and 8GB of RAM (on 64bit Win) is extremely small. You'll likely see less than a 10-15% boost in speed when running Auto-CAD and even smaller in video games.
I wouldn't pay more than €100 for the extra 4GB unless you intend to run a number of demanding non-graphic intensive applications at the same time.

3. GPU
I don't have any experience with Auto-CAD (Sorry for assuming that's the only program you'll use :P ) so I don't know how much that would rely on your graphics card, but if you want to play the latest games, this is what you need to be spending your yo-yos on.
Here's a link to a high-end graphics card benchmark tested on various new games.
To get something like the nVidia GeForce GTX 280, expect to pay around >€300.


4. Storage Drive
This is a no-brainer, just buy however much you think you'll need for what you need to store. External Hard Drives are very cheap nowadays too. I picked up a 500GB one in PC World for €70.
I wouldn't worry about the RPM of the laptops hard drive, it won't affect performance of CAD programs or even gaming (assuming you get the 2GB of RAM or greater) as you'll have all the data you need on the RAM already so it won't need to talk to the HDD except when loading a game map or program.

Hope this helps!

Tea_Bag

Overheal wrote: »

Place your wallet in a safe, fireproof container before continuing, as it may spontaneously combust:

http://www.falcon-nw.com/

i skipped a few accessories, so my Mack V only came to $12,300.72. mmm. my paint job did cost somewhere around $1300 i guess...

now which bank is easiest to rob... twice?

btw, i too, just came in my pants.

Pete4779

Fernicia wrote: »

2. RAM
The difference between 4GB and 8GB of RAM (on 64bit Win) is extremely small. You'll likely see less than a 10-15% boost in speed when running Auto-CAD and even smaller in video games.

I disagree on this. 8GB allows minimal use of the page file when you are working, so loading a 2GB video file into RAM is not a problem, while having Photoshop, etc., running in the background. There is also a big difference in gaming as I mentioned above as you can task switch easily. RAM is the single biggest factor in the responsiveness of a system, and should be as big as you can afford. It makes a bigger difference than CPU in a lot of areas.

3. GPU
I don't have any experience with Auto-CAD ...To get something like the nVidia GeForce GTX 280, expect to pay around >€300.

There is no small portable laptop with anything like a GTX280, they are only in desktop replacement notebooks 17" size, so you will be losing greatly on portability and battery. Many CAD type programs require discrete video RAM, but don't necessarily go near DX10 which is more for games.

4. Storage Drive
This is a no-brainer, just buy however much you think you'll need for what you need to store.

I would recommend finding out how much you need to store and then double it. Get the laptop with a 500GB drive minimum, the difference in cost is tiny. Also, when working with large files, it makes a VERY big difference using a high quality 7200RPM drive over a 5400RPM drive; it's obvious when you turn on a laptop and right through to doing everything.

Fernicia

Pete4779 wrote: »

I disagree on this. 8GB allows minimal use of the page file when you are working, so loading a 2GB video file into RAM is not a problem, while having Photoshop, etc., running in the background. There is also a big difference in gaming as I mentioned above as you can task switch easily. RAM is the single biggest factor in the responsiveness of a system, and should be as big as you can afford. It makes a bigger difference than CPU in a lot of areas.

Once you get past 4GB, anything after that will be pretty unnoticeable. Plus if you look at the big laptop distributors you'll find that the upgrade (from 4GB to 8GB) costs in the region of €700-€1000. Definitely not worth it unless you want to play Crysis whilst photoshop applies hundreds of scripts to hundreds of photos and Auto-CAD compiles your multiple gigabyte files. At least for the price it is now, you'd be pouring your money down the drain, not to mention RAM is one of the only laptop components that can be easily upgraded after it's sent to you.

There is no small portable laptop with anything like a GTX280, they are only in desktop replacement notebooks 17" size, so you will be losing greatly on portability and battery. Many CAD type programs require discrete video RAM, but don't necessarily go near DX10 which is more for games.

Yeah the only laptops I've seen with GTX280 have been 17". I forgot about the whole portability issue. Sager have a new 15" model with a GTX 260, but I urge you to only spend the money on such a high end graphics card if you are going to play the most recent graphics intensive games on full settings in high resolutions.
You easily get away with a much cheaper mid-range graphics card if you only want to play games like Left 4 Dead, COD4 or Fallout 3.

I would recommend finding out how much you need to store and then double it. Get the laptop with a 500GB drive minimum, the difference in cost is tiny. Also, when working with large files, it makes a VERY big difference using a high quality 7200RPM drive over a 5400RPM drive; it's obvious when you turn on a laptop and right through to doing everything.

Yeah the RPM will determine loading times mainly. I was giving advice more from a gamer's perspective as that's the part that will effect your experience the least.
Again, there seems to be a huge price jump when you get over 500GB of HDD space, but if you need it I can't fault you.

AIR-AUSSIE

Reviews of the DELL Precision M2400 are bad. And as far as i can see they don't have a HDMI output which I would like.

Yea I was planning on getting a laptop with 2 - 4 GB RAM then upgrading if I felt I needed it.

Could anyone recommend a laptop preferably with 14" screen with similar capabilities to the Dell Precision M2400?

Cheers for the help guys.