Hi everyone I am looking to buy a laptop but I'm in a bit of a muddle as to what I should be looking at. I have several requirements and seem to be having real trouble finding something that will do the job. I have two options: 1. Spend a bundle and buy a laptop that will do the replacement of a desktop PC as well as the laptop portable advantages. 2. Spend a reasonable amount on a laptop and build a desktop PC as well. If I buy option 1. it will be used for hours at a time seriously number crunching. Then it would be taken home at night and used for design and emailing etc. If I buy option 2. I would carry it with me but it would mainly be used in the evenings for email, designing etc. The machine will be used in a business so I am looking at prices ex vat and it will be used from everything from Photoshop and Dreamweaver work to video capture and encoding (if I buy the high end laptop). The idea is that I can pack up the laptop at the end of the day and bring it home to do some design work etc.so I am looking for something relatively powerful even if I buy the 'lesser' machine. I am looking for a big screen with high resolution, 18.4" 1920x1080 ideally, that will allow me to use Photoshop with many toolbars open without everything getting too crowded. I am more inclined to go for option 1 as it works out cheaper to buy a highly specified laptop than a 'basic' laptop with decent specs and a dedicated desktop machine, but the costs are very steep and if it ever goes wrong I have in effect lost two machines at once (daytime and night time machine). Useful specs: CPU with some oomph behind it...unfortuantely I'm unfamiliar with laptop/desktop cpu comparisons...I would like performance to be at least as good as the C2D 6750s that I run on my desktop machines. 4GB RAM 500GB HDD Firewire is a necessity GB Lan is a necessity eSATA is a necessity (copying over USB2 is awful by comparison, especially when working with video files). Good quality screen is important with accurate colour reproduction, it will be colour profiled every two weeks. Quality components, from a reputable company with a good backup service and people to talk to if there is a problem. I am willing to pay extra for the customer service, not just pay the cheapest possible to box shippers without knowledge or a good reputation. I have spent the last 24 hours looking and looking and I feel like I'm doing this so any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! So far I have looked at: Scan computers - very little available. Overclockers UK - a greater range...the MSI seem to be highly rated but are out of stock and the custom builds don't meet my requirements. EBuyer - generally underpowered. Comet - had trouble finding everything I wanted on one. Curreys/Dixons/PC World...ha ha, no chance I'm buying from there...everything I could find was underpowered for the price anyway. Novatech - interesting custom build machines...prices are horrendous for the top end machines (I suppose they would be really), not sure what the reputation on the custom build machines is like. Alienware/Dell...after an absolute fiasco in the past with Dells tech support I wouldn't buy from them. Any recommendations ot suggestions as to what I should get, places to buy them from, recommendations on mobile CPUs to buy would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks in advance!
