HP Laptop

1qTour

I'm getting a laptop for work but it has to be a HP laptop.

It will be used for web development/design so IDE's, Photoshop, Browsers, DB client etc. Also will be running VB/PHP scripts to process large amounts of data from databases and text files (sometimes these will run in the background). As well as other day to day applications, office etc.

I have a flexible(ish) budget of 1200 Eur. So for the above what would you recommend. I know a little about specs and that but as I will be using it quite a bit for the next few years so I want to make a good decision on it.

hp laptops

What do you reckon?

Cheers in advance

Torqay

From what I can see, HP's Irish web shop only has sandy bridge laptops on offer. Better wait until they upgrade their range to Ivy Bridge models. Komplett has a Pavilion G7, 17.3, Ivy Core i5, HD7670M GPU, 4 GB RAM for €699, nothing to write home about.

With your budget, you should have no trouble finding a 3rd gen Core i7 quad, GT 650M and 8 GB RAM.

Why it has to be HP is beyond me, the G-series build quality is cr@p and the D-series is ridiculously overpriced.

digitaldr

Torqay wrote: »

Why it has to be HP is beyond me, the G-series build quality is cr@p and the D-series is ridiculously overpriced.

Probably work are paying for it and only have an account with HP?

Torqay

digitaldr wrote: »

Probably work are paying for it and only have an account with HP?

Why don't they get business laptops then with proper support? But an EliteBook will easily double the budget.

Overheal

The G-series is budgetary.

D-series is more for multimedia and such. Actually quite good. As is the M series. The features highlighted therein are things like simplepass fingerprint readers, backlit keyboards and 2.1 beats audio. They're nice to have but for business probably not the key selling point.

The Envy series is even better. Look at those. CPU wise based on prescribed use I reccomend the AMD A10 CPU it has an onboard HD 7660G graphics card and many programs like Adobe Photoshop have coding that takes advantage of AMD hardware acceleration features. Alternatively of course it would be comparable in most cisrumstanves to an Ivy bridge i5 or in some other cases the 3rd gen i5. For databases and all honestly I'd look at whatever is highest clocked, and probably thats going to be a 3rd gen i7. So long as you're sure it has a discrete GPU or at the minimum Intel HD 4000 graphics your photoshop and all should be decent.

Not sure about their business models, but you aren't really doing CAD or simulation. Otherwise the last time I looked at Dell Precision, they were quite handsome, easy to maintain and access the hardware, with Nvidia Quaddro and AMD Firepro professional graphics. Over your budget though, so not worth getting your appetite sated for.

Torqay

Sorry, Overheal, but with a budget over a grand I wouldn't even think of AMD. They have absolutely nothing to offer that could possibly hold a candle to any Intel Core i7 3xxxQM, which are well within the budget (for example this Full HD 17.3" ASUS with a Core i7 3610QM, 6GB RAM and a GT 630M HDD for 940 yoyos at komplett).

1qTour

digitaldr wrote: »

Probably work are paying for it and only have an account with HP?

Something like that and also I think replaceable parts, upgrades and maintenance. Cant influence the fact that it has to be hp, unfortunately.

1qTour

Forgot its probably going to be ex vat also. Dont need OS or software either.

Thanks for all the replies. I spent some time reading about sandy and ivy and it seems that there is not a huge jump of speeds? Maybe better power consumption. Not as much as whats expected next year. I'm gonna spend a good while brushing up on some knowledge about this stuff, I should probably know at least part of it anyways. Never got too much into the hardware side of things.

I will post up the one I am thinking of going for and see what you all think.

Overheal

Torqay wrote: »

Sorry, Overheal, but with a budget over a grand I wouldn't even think of AMD. They have absolutely nothing to offer that could possibly hold a candle to any Intel Core i7 3xxxQM, which are well within the budget (for example this Full HD 17.3" ASUS with a Core i7 3610QM, 6GB RAM and a GT 630M HDD for 940 yoyos at komplett).

As I basically said in my post.

For databases [in] all honestly I'd look at whatever is highest clocked, and probably thats going to be a 3rd gen i7. So long as you're sure it has a discrete GPU or at the minimum Intel HD 4000 graphics your photoshop and all should be decent.

Top market CPU right now is the Intel Core i7-3960X, 6 cores, 12 threads.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html?&3dmark06cpu=1&64bit=0&archive=0&benchmark_values=&cb11=1&cinebench10_m=1&cinebench10_s=1&codename=0&condensed=0&cores=1&cpu_fullname=1&daysold=0&deskornote=2&dhrystone=0&dx=&fsb=0&l2cache=1&l3cache=1&mhz=1&month=&or=&search=&series=0&showBars=1&showCount=1&sort=&superpi1m=1&superpi2m=0&superpi32m=1&sysmark2004se=0&tdp=1&technology=0&threads=1&truecrypt_aes=0&truecrypt_serpent=0&truecrypt_twofish=0&turbo_mhz=1&type=&whetstone=0&winrar=0&wprime_1024=1&wprime_32=1&x264_pass1=0&x264_pass2=0

HelpWithIT

I've dealt with HP employee's laptops before....firstly if your employer is insisting on HP Laptops then they should be buying it for you..sounds like your boss is on a HP bonus!!! I've sorted out HP employee's laptops before cos the HP's I.T answer to every problem is to reimage the laptop!!! Sounds too Indisn tech support to me...either way..if your emloyer is so bothered that it had to be HP..then make sure he buys it for you

Overheal

I remember trying to solve technical issues before I just learned how to reimage the OS. You know how much time I've saved myself? Lots.

Torqay

Overheal wrote: »

I remember trying to solve technical issues before I just learned how to reimage the OS. You know how much time I've saved myself? Lots.

Drive Snapshot and Symantec Ghost are pure gold.