Yo,

I'm entering the buyers market for a new high performance laptop & currently doing some deep research what will get me the most bang for my buck.  I've found a few somewhat decent articles on 2010 reviews, but I also wanted to hear from you guys. 

What is the 'go to' website for PC/laptop reviews, which I should already be aware of & utilizing?  Also, do you have any specific laptop suggestions?  It's primary use will be business project management & network management.  I'll also use it for amatur graphic design and maybe WoW.  I care about speed & ability to multi task way more than how awesome the gaming graphics are.

Thank you in advance!

First of all choose on a display size and resolution first and whether you want to take this laptop to places (weight/battery) or you will be using it as a desktop replacement, this will narrow the selection down a bit depending on what you're looking for.

Second decide which features are an absolute must (DVD Burner/ Wireless N/ >xGB RAM?). And choose some kind of a price range you're willing to spend.

Once you have some idea on that you can start looking at individual reviews or ask people to make recommendations. Without it there's just too much to make a proper choice from.


EDIT: Don't let your choice depend on brand too much. I can give you horror stories as well as customers loving the same product for all of the big manufacturers. Everybody makes crappy and nice models. And what djdannyp said.

As long as you don't get Acer. There build quality is crap, and there warranty service is even worse.

I have a notebook and a netbook. The notebook has 2/3 USB ports working, keys come off and the lid is basically now glued together.

However, the netbook is great.

Use something like Dabs or Insight which have really decent laptop selectors to narrow it down by the specs.

Then you can Google for reviews of the models you find.

Also try Youtube & CNet....they often have videos of unboxings or of the models running, that can give you a better idea than pictures

dell have got some great offers on i7 laptops at the minute

edit:
or at least they did last week. can't see the £200+ off offer anymore
still quite a few good deals

Take a look at that thread : http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=886782

my personal repply is a few pages in, nickname bero2.1 there.
It's what I strongly believe.

for those lazy people like me (and also thinking why not just repost rather than link )

quote:

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Hello,

I'm pretty new here (read a lot of the threads and news but just signed up to answer this thread).
Working in both consumer and corporate markets, I totally agree on what has been mentioned earlier about the consumer vs. business laptop, and would like to add a few things:

All major brands will have their own technology, Lenovo Thinkpads have their roll cage, and spill proof keyboards, HP's EliteBook will have their hard drive protection etc.
The thing is, that these technology are not put into the consumer level notebooks. The reason is simple; people want the cheapest computers possible, so it's impossible to offer that without impacting quality.

Business laptops (from all brands really, Dell Vostros, Lenovo Thinkpads, Hp EliteBooks, Toshiba Tecras) are made to be a lot more solid.
They integrate each company's technologies and allow them to last longer while also having some more power efficient processors.

A few years ago, the price difference between a consumer and a business laptop was huge (over 500 or 600$ for the same configuration), making it a hard choice to make.
Nowadays, the price gap has gone down in major way, and the 200 or 300$ price difference is basically the price of an extended warranty that I highly recommend when buying a consumer market laptop.

A lot of people will state that their old HP or Toshiba's lasted them over 10 years without a problem. Keep in mind that this was 10 years ago.
The laptops then cost a fortune to produce, quality was higher and the specs were so minimal that there was barely any modules that could break.
Today, a simple laptop has a webcam, microphone, SD card reader, WiFi, CD/DVD burner as a base model, all cramped up, making all of the small pieces not only turning faster, but also being produced a lot cheaper.

My advice is exactly what I did: get a business laptop, spend the 200$ difference (in my case it was 150$) and get a laptop that will truly last you longer.
Keep in mind that having a business notebook, as mentioned previously will also give you better and faster technical support in case anything happens.

That is my two cents.
A proud Thinkpad T400 owner.

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quote:

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Originally posted by toddy
for those lazy people like me (and also thinking why not just repost rather than link )

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Menthix, you make an extremely valid point.  Due to the amount of variety in the market, it's pointless for me to ask for suggestions without providing the simple details you listed above. 

albert, thank you for that link. Your post & the others in the thread provide some good feedback.

-Something more towards a "business laptop"
-Brands mean nothing to me.
-17 Inch Screen.
-capable of 1280 x 960 resolution.
-It will see it's fair share of traveling I need it to be reliable & efficient while 'seeing the world'.   
-Build in wireless card is a plus.
-Decent battery life, although I'm not sure what a 'decent battery life' is now days.... I'll say... 4-5 hours. Where does that rank?
-DVD burner is a must. Blue-ray reader would be nice.
-At least 2-3 USB ports.
-500gb Hard Drive
-3gb ram
-

A 17" screen makes it no longer a "laptop" and more into the category of portable desktop. They are HUGE and not feesable for frequent travel.

A laptop with a 17" screen will also have a much HIGHER resolution then 1280x960, My 13" Macbook Pro has a resolution of 1280x800, The 15" Macbook Pro has a resolution of 1440x900 and the 17" version having a resolution of 1920x1200. Most PC laptops are going to have similar resolutions these days.

I'll throw out my honest recommendation, A 15" Macbook Pro would do you well, you can get a refurbished model pretty cheap. My 13" Macbook Pro (the current unibody model) that I've had for about a year and change now still holds about 4 to 5 hours of battery life and despite my pretty solid use of it both around home and at work (out and about doing IT consulting), it still looks like new. It's amazing how well it works. It also runs Windows 7 like a champ.

My brothers 17Inch Screen is excellent for the likes of films or editing. However, try carrying it around school/work all day...

It depends what you are really going for. 17" is a mobile desktop replacement more than a laptop, meaning it's not really supposed to move, but if the need happens, it is possible.

My personal recommendation is to get a 15" screen for 3 reasons:
1- a 17", if used as a primary screen is a little small
2- 15" will get you a cheaper computer for the same specs
3- batteries will usually not last on such a big screen machine

And then add a 22" or 24" monitor as a dual screen at home, so if you're not moving it a lot, you got a good wide screen to use, and when you do need to move it, you got a standard sized/weight laptop that's easy to carry.


On a side note, I was checking Lenovo.ca right now, and they have huge sales on t410 and t510 (one if their highest series laptop that include a roll-cage, spill-proof keyboard, hard drive airbag protection, really worth it). If you end up using the laptop as a desktop replacement and think a dual monitor is a good idea, i highly recommend that series to you; it's what I got, and by experience in both consumer and professional products (from HP G60 to HP Elitebooks, I can tell you it's the best built  machine I've seen to this day).

edit1 : I'll add a picture of two of my workstation at home, will get you an idea.

edit2 : the pics

full workstation

On the left is my media desktop pc, on the right my work laptop.

the dual screen with laptop I was talking to you about, added with a 24" samsung P2310.


I got the advanced minidock that comes with an extra charger, so when i come home i just plug it in, charges and goes to full desktop automatically, when i leave i press the eject button and i'm running on my laptop. I can even add an extra screen (for a total of 3) by VGA. Of course, adding a mouse and a keyboard makes you even more comfortable.


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for the record, if you do chose to go with a T series, you also have switchable graphics, so you have the motherboard integrated Intel graphic card, and the more powerful one (the new T series come with a nvidia GPU). So if you want more battery life, you run the intel one since it takes less energy, when you want to play or are at home on multiple screen, you run the Nvidia one. My battery (9 cell) goes up to 10 hours with the intel one when i am on the road.

quote:

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Originally posted by wj
My 13" Macbook Pro (the current unibody model) that I've had for about a year and change now still holds about 4 to 5 hours of battery life and despite my pretty solid use of it both around home and at work (out and about doing IT consulting), it still looks like new. It's amazing how well it works. It also runs Windows 7 like a champ.

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Using a Dell Studio 15 right now, quite satisfied.

Intel i7
4GB DDR3
512MB dedicated graphics
320GBs HD
Wireless N
HDMI port

Price is pretty good, I got it for $1099CAD for Boxing Day, and it's still the cheapest I can find.

Dell's laptops are quite competitive nonetheless
.

quote:

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Originally posted by albert
2- 15" will get you a cheaper computer for the same specs

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chrissy
As long as you don't get Acer. There build quality is crap, and there warranty service is even worse.

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