Business "Pro" laptop recommendations

dnme

Hi folks,

I have a friend who has asked me for a new computer recommendation.

He is a mature self employed gentleman who does a bit of freelance accountancy. For years he has used bulky tower / monitor computer setups.

I have now advised him to go down the route of a laptop combined with a separate 24-27" monitor, keyboard and mouse. I've done this myself in recent years and love the configuration. It gives me the best of both worlds, portability and desktop and I know it'll suit him.

What I'm looking for now is a recommendation for a good reliable professional / pro book. Personally I use a HP Probook 4730s. It's great, reliable, came with the pro warranty and spec geared towards business. I'd love to recommend something like that but it's a model that's long since expired.

Guideline requirements as follows
- Professional grade
- Windows 7
- i5 Processor
- 4-8GB Ram
- 256GB SSD
- 17" TFT

As always, he'd be looking fo as much value as he can get so cost does matter. Any recommendations or suggestions you can make would be greatly appreciated.

looking_around

max budget?
battery life?

gctest50

Something with a docking station is nice, saves all the unplugging of cables

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044068/review-dell-s-wireless-dock-d5000-really-does-free-your-laptop-from-cables.html

Torqay

If he really wants a 17" business-grade laptop, the choices are limited. Neither Dell's Latititude nor Lenovo's ThinkPad T are available with a 17" displays only the HP ProBook (470 GO). Or one of the insanely expensive designer workstations (Dell Precision, HP EliteBook and the likes) but that surely is an overkill for an accountant.

If he doesn't mind a 15" laptop, a Dell Latitude 6530 or Lenovo ThinkPad T530 with a Core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD cost around €1,500.

dnme

Thanks for the replies. In the end we have decided on a HP Probook 470
http://www.hpshop.ie/laptops-tablets/hp-probook-470-H0V07EA.html

I myself have the Probook 4730s. I bought it secondhand and have it 3 years now. It's still in mint condition, the battery is still performing brilliantly and it is just built well. It looks and feels like high quality.

Torqay

You might want to install a decent SSD. Use the original HDD with a caddy as xternal storage.

dnme

Torqay wrote: »

You might want to install a decent SSD. Use the original HDD with a caddy as xternal storage.

Yea I did that with mine a few years back. It makes a huge difference. I'm gonna let my buddy buy the thing and get over the initial price shock first. He'll probably be more than happy with the performance of that laptop with a 5400rpm disk. In a year or two we can look at an upgrade to an SSD and I can do the install from scratch for him.