Buying a new Laptop

Ultimate Warrior

I'm lokoing at buying a new laptop for Multimedia.
Internet
Music
Movies
Photoshop (just small bits)

I was looking at the Toshiba Core i7 Laptop - L855-149

It's currently selling for €849.
Looks like a handy machine (but has windows 8 but I suppose i'll have to get used that eventually)

What do you all think???

areyawell

Link?

Ultimate Warrior

Here

http://www.harveynorman.ie/toshiba-core-i7-laptop-l855-149.html

Dubwat

I am NOT a computer expert but the link you provided said the €849 laptop had an i7, 6GB RAM, 750Gb hard drive, 2 GB dedicated Graphics cards.

Currys are doing a sale and have this 15inch laptop for €500
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056839007 (main sales thread)
http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/156-widescreen-laptop-HP/312622/301 (laptop link)
it's an i5, 6Gb RAM, 1Tb hard drive, upto 1.65Gb for graphics.

They seem similar enough - is the i7 worth €350 more than an i5? (I'm not a computer expert)

fwiw, here's a link to optimising your computer for photoshop.
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-performance-photoshop-cs4-cs5.html

Dubwat

I'm thinking about a new laptop myself, hence my interest in this thread Saw this further down in the list of threads...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056836181 (original thread)
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/15+-+15.9+inch/65682/Acer+Aspire+V3-571G-736b8G50Makk.article (the laptop mentioned in the thread)

€800+shipping from Germany
15inch, i7, 8Gb RAM, 500Gb hard drive (5400rpm), 2GB Graphics,

Peregrine

Dubwat wrote: »

I am NOT a computer expert but the link you provided said the €849 laptop had an i7, 6GB RAM, 750Gb hard drive, 2 GB dedicated Graphics cards.

Currys are doing a sale and have this 15inch laptop for €500

it's an i5, 6Gb RAM, 1Tb hard drive, upto 1.65Gb for graphics.

They seem similar enough - is the i7 worth €350 more than an i5? (I'm not a computer expert)
[/url]

The Toshiba has dedicated graphics memory while the HP uses the system memory (up to 1.65 GB from it)

The processor and the graphics cards are the 2 big differences but 849 might still be a bit too much to pay for that

marco_polo

Toshiba has a pretty decent gaming card so probably a waste paying for it if not needed.

if you want the i7 then this z580 would probably be just as good for your needs and only around 710 ish, but a cheaper i5 laptop would probably be just as adequate th.

http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_Z580_1292738.html

Dinarius

I'm considering buying a laptop from PCSpecialist. It's for image capture and Photoshop editing as well as admin.

I have to have Firewire (for camera connectivity) and I'd like Firewire 800. This model comes with it as standard.

Link to the machine is here> https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexIII-17/

My spec below....

Any views on the spec appreciated.... Thanks. D.

Chassis & DisplayOmega: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)Processor (CPU)Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB CacheMemory (RAM)16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)Graphics Card2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670MX - 3.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 112nd Graphics CardNONEMemory - 1st Hard Disk180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)2nd Hard DiskNONE3rd Hard DiskNONERAIDNONE1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)Memory Card ReaderInternal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)Thermal PasteSTANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLINGSound CardIntel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone JackNetwork FacilitiesGIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTHUSB Options3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARDFirewire1 X 1394b FIREWIRE PORTBatteryOmega Supreme Series 78.44WH Lithium Ion BatteryPower Lead & Adaptor1 x UK Power Lead & 300W AC AdaptorOperating SystemGenuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)





















Warranty3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)Home InstallationNONEDead Pixel Guarantee1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)Insurance1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & TheftData RecoveryNONEDelivery2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (£19)Build TimeStandard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working daysPricing Information
Price (excluding VAT)£1,498.33Price£1,798.00

Dinarius

I've amended the spec slightly. I'd love a MacBook Pro purely for the weight issue, but a comparable spec would be about €3k.

Any comments on this spec much appreciated!

D.


Chassis & Display
Omega: 17.3" Gloss 90% Gamut Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670MX - 3.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394b FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Omega Supreme Series 78.44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 300W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (£19)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,802.00 including VAT and delivery.

Media999

Id go with a 17" Vortex with 7970m and an extra 1tb Drive. Battery will last a lot longer and all games can be played on Ultra. You obviously would be needing a big drive for storing games aswell. Also matte screen instead of glossy definitely. Also a laptop coller stand as ive recently bought one and wondered how i ever did without it.

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
2 x AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery
Vortex Elite 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,800 mAh/89.21WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 300W AC Adaptor

Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Laptop Cooling Stands
Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Ultra-Quiet Laptop Cooler, upto 17.3 inch (£32)

£1,588.00 inc VAT

Dinarius

Media999,

Many thanks for the reply.

I should have said what this machine will be used for.

1. Camera connectivity. I need to be able to shoot directly to camera. For this I need Firewire. As far as I can see, only the Omega Supreme offers Firewire 800 in PC Specialist's range. (As an aside, if MacBook Pros weren't obscenely overpriced, I'd probably buy one and connect using the Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter, but that's another story) I know that 1394a is available in the Vortex.

2. Editing in Photoshop. Some of the files are very large and I need a lot of grunt to move them around. Hence the high spec. But, I also need the better gamut that the gloss screen offers.

3. I have absolutely no interest in gaming! But, thanks for bringing it up.

I'll go back and have a look at the Vortex again. PCSpecialist told me that the Firewire is soldered to the board, so they can't swap 1394a out for 1394b, unfortunately.

Thanks again.

D.

Dinarius

Media999,

Just specced a Vortex. The 15" comes with the option of a wide gamut matt display, which the 17" doesn't appear to. So, I've chosen that. Also, it's more portable for location work. (All image editing back home is done on a desktop.)

I've chosen a 180Gb SSD. I don't need an extra drive. Very little is stored on my laptops, except admin.

It really comes down to living with Firewire 1394a or not. :rolleyes: If I can, this machine is a no-brainer at the price.

Appreciate any feedback. (Also, if you know of laptops that have PCMCIA card slots or Firewire sockets, let me know! Thanks.)

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" AUO Matte 95% Gamut Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3740QM (2.70GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Standard Edition 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Laptop Cooling Stands
Zalman ZM-NC2500 Plus Ultra-Quiet Laptop Cooler, upto 17.3 inch (£32)
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,438.00 including VAT and delivery.

Media999

I know nothing about Firewire but mine just has a 1394 IEEE connection on it.

If your not interested in gaming that would change the game altogether. Is portability a factor? These wouldnt be the most portable of laptops.

Dinarius

Media999 wrote: »

I know nothing about Firewire but mine just has a 1394 IEEE connection on it.

If your not interested in gaming that would change the game altogether. Is portability a factor? These wouldnt be the most portable of laptops.

I have to move a lot of gear on location. In truth, the laptop would be the lightest bit. Lights, full camera bag, tripod, would each be heavier.

My existing laptop is Firewire 400, so I'm used to the speed it offers.

That wide gamut matte screen on the Vortex is, arguably, better than the one on the Omega Supreme, for my purposes.

Tending more and more towards the Vortex now....;) The computing equivalent of a Porsche, for about 2/3 the cost of a MacBook Pro - and the MBP would still not come close in terms of performance!

D.

ps. If someone makes a laptop that has Firewire 800 AND a PCMCIA card slot (for my Firewire card) i.e. belt and braces, I'll bite their hand off!

Media999

Someone said to me it looks like a businessmans laptop and goes like a rocket. perfect description of a Vortex 3 with high spec. Weightwise its about on par with a Dell i have here. Its as heavy as any other laptop really.

Defo go for a vortex rather than Omega.

Is there no other Firewire adapters? USB 3.0 to Firewire maybe? Vortex is all USB 3.0

Dinarius

Media999 wrote: »

Someone said to me it looks like a businessmans laptop and goes like a rocket. perfect description of a Vortex 3 with high spec. Weightwise its about on par with a Dell i have here. Its as heavy as any other laptop really.

Defo go for a vortex rather than Omega.

Is there no other Firewire adapters? USB 3.0 to Firewire maybe? Vortex is all USB 3.0

I've seen FireWire to USB adapters on the web. Apparently, they're not to be trusted and can fry camera and/or computer.

Is USB 3.0 backward compatible? I.e. Will, for example, my USB 2.0 mouse work with 3.0?

I think I'll probably go for the Vortex as specced above, unless someone tells me something I've missed. A lot cheaper than the Omega, (& much cheaper than the Mac) and a Porsche compared to the MacBook Pro's Audi!

There may come a day when I have to buy a Mac for connectivity reasons, but that can wait.

D.

Media999

Yeah its backward compatible alright. Shouldnt be a problem.