Hi bit, I am calling on your collective expertise to guide me through getting a Laptop for University. First off let me point out that I have my reasons for getting a laptop rather than a desktop, and having had a desktop at uni already I found it far too constricting! Right a bit of background, I am starting a Computer Animation course at Portsmouth this September and I will need a laptop for taking into lessons, for a spot of cafe poker, and lastly to take to my girlfriends Uni in Sussex every other weekend. But most importantly to plug into a nice big monitor in my room to do all my work on! I'm looking for a bit of future proofing as well as I tend to want to upgrade any piece of hardware as soon as something new comes out! My budget is about £900 but could stretch if the laptop is good enough Basic Specs I am looking for is: MUST be a MAX of 13" laptop with a nice res screen (1280x800 min) Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (or core i5 if its poss) atleast 4Gb of ram decent battery life 3-4 hours minimum a dedicated graphics card (none of the intel integrated ****!) anything other than that like a back lit keyboard, webcam, other fancy things, are a bonus to me. So far all i Have come up with is : Alienware M11x Core i5 2Gb Ram 250Gb 7200rpm HDD Good Battery Life 11" Screen Dedicated 1Gb Nvidia 335m graphics £849 (do you get any student discounts?) MacBook Pro 13" Core 2 Duo 4Gb Ram 320Gb HDD Great Battery life **** Glossy screen dedicated (just about) graphics card £999 (or £850 with student discount + a free iPod Touch another £110 off?) Dell Studio XPS M1340 specs are basically the 13" MacBook Pro Worse battery life better non gloss screen but its a dell! £899.99 (do you get any student discounts?) Are there any other choices that I am missing out? Cheers for any help.
How about an Acer? Looks good to me... http://www.cleverboxes.com/Product/8-LX.PTB02.015 - £820.73 Inc VAT 13.3", I5 2.26GHz, 4GB Ram, 640GB HD, 512mb HD 5470, 8hr+ battery life, and all fancy extras... First one I found so shop around and you may be able to get it cheaper. *EDIT* http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=48211&tid=frooct -£769.79 Inc VAT You also qualify for free delivery from CCL...
What about Sony/Lenovo? Those are the brands that pop into my head when on the look for a small laptop... Also what's with the discrete graphics? And what's wrong with Dell? You aren't really going to build your own laptop any time soon, so it's a safe bet not to even try looking elsewhere but at the biggest manufacturers...
yea but the alien ware has cooool vents and grilles!!!!!! I'm not that enthused by owning any type of dell and less so an alienware! But the m11x is basically a unique laptop that has no competitors and its very keenly priced so I'm very interested in it. Both me and my dad have had countless acers and they just fall apart immediately! Bu the one you linked to looks like a tidy little laptop and very cheap!!!! Sony is a little overpriced for what I am trying to get atm, I would love one of their mid spec 13.3" laptops as they have a good build quality, awesome screens and specs, but they are just so overpriced! As for the discrete graphics I do alot of gaming at the moment (not ideal on a laptop i know), I would love to get some hardware acceleration for CS4/5, and i am looking to power a 24/27" Dell IPS monitor as well so need a little grunt!
For a carry-around laptop I'd much rather drop the spec requirements than the build quality. But to each their own.
How about the HP dm1z (11.6") or dm3z (13.3")? Both have at least 6 hours of battery life, wireless N, a screen resolution of 1366x768, and can even get an upgrade for a 128GB SSD. They both have an AMD Athlon II Neo (top spec of a dual core 1.5ghz), but I don't know anything about it. They have discrete graphics cards, with the 11" getting a Radeon 4225 and the 13" getting a 5430. Best of all, the 11" tops out at $964 with the SSD, the 4225, bluetooth/wireless N, and 5gb of RAM. The 13" is $1064 with the SSD, the 5450, bluetooth/wireless N, and 4gb of RAM. If it wasn't for that processor (that I suspect isn't too amazing) they would be great laptops for the price.
You are going to want to shoot the keyboard after the first ten minutes on a 11" The Acer's does look nice, but personally I have had nothing but trouble with those, and their Support. (or lack thereof) As Jipa said, go for build quality rather than specs. A poorly made laptop will only last about 2 years if you are lucky. You have a better chance to have it working after 3+ years, if you go for the better build. A mac pro is a good example but Sony and Lenovo has good reputation in that as well.
I do agree with the comments about build quality for sure, but all computers have a shelf life anyway based on their specs. Its only got to last 3 years (5 if he is doing a masters). A laptop with slightly higher specs may be better for his course and be more beneficial. Tough call, I've never owned a laptop but have heard plenty of horror stories though. I still stick to the one I linked though - seems decent and spend the excess cash on an external HD to back up all your uni work on!
