Laptop recommendations

MrBump

I know you said laptop, but I can't shake the thought that for your budget you'll get an awesome tower/monitor set up... Sure you can't find the space?  Laptops are rubbish.

Nitefly

d8m said:

I'd never though about touchscreen laptops before as I never thought it would be something I'd need and it's always another thing that can go wrong.


Windows 10 is much nicer with a touch-screen.  I didn't think I'd want one, but I wouldn't be without it now.

ThePrettyDamned

You could probably get an amazing 17 inch laptop if you're not fussed o  portability. The extra size gives space for gubbins. 

Something like this? https://m.johnlewis.com/hp-omen-15-5001na-laptop-intel-core-i7-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-15-6-inch-full-hd-touch-screen-black/p/1763177

Or, if you wanted a tower, small towers can be excellent and you'll get more power for the money (if you want it, of course) and the advantages of a good sized screen. 

d8m

After doing some more looking it does seem the the dell Inspiron15 7000 might be the best choice afterall

• Decent Screen
• 256GB SSD
• 16GB RAM
• latest intel CPU (7500U)

Sure its not built aswell as a macbook but the specs seem a good return on investment.

Dell have them for 899 shipping in 12-20 working days.

PC world have one available now for 949.


hmmmm

Bygone_Tones

Dell XPS 13

Those detachable touchscreens look cool, but do you really need that feature on a laptop? I think I read somewhere they drain your laptop hardware more, and obviously you pay extra. So I went without the touch screen, and have not regretted it, it's not something I feel is missing. A bigger screen would be nice, but was over my budget.

Sporky

d8m said:

After doing some more looking it does seem the the dell Inspiron15 7000 might be the best choice afterall

Most people at work have Inspirons - they're very plasticcy.

Axe_meister

OK I'm biased (I work for DellEMC), but have been recently given a Dell M5510.
What a beast. 15" touch screen, True 4K (not the 1800p most "4k Laptops" are), quad core I7,16GB Memory and a Quadro M1000M GPU. a costly beast to be sure though.
 

Danny1969

Dell M5510,  like most Dell Precisions workstations is a nice machine, the Inspirons nowadays are generally awful.

You gotta take it machine by machine but very generally the Precisions are top of the tree, Latitudes below and then the Vostro's and Inspirons at the bottom for build quality

Sporky

Axe_meister said:

OK I'm biased (I work for DellEMC), but have been recently given a Dell M5510.
What a beast. 15" touch screen, True 4K

Is it not actually UHD - 3840x2160?

"True 4K" isn't very meaningful, but the Dells aren't DCI 4K, which is 4096x2160.

That said I have the full HD Precision 5510 and it's very nice. Only niggles are the teeny Return key and the lack of dedicated home, end, page up and page down keys (which I use a lot).

ThePrettyDamned

Actually, it can be worth looking at older workstation laptops. You lose modern fancy screens quite often, but you could hook it up to a proper one and get a proper beast laptop for not many pounds. The Dell Precision range is the one I found most. 

Sambostar

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7500U+@+2.70GHz&id=2863
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-6500U+@+2.50GHz&id=2607
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-2600+%40+3.40GHz&id=1

I made a decision purely based on this and got the used Dell workstation with the I7 2600 (2011 Tech) for 200 quid.  Thing is the graphics card is integrated, although you can upgrade it, I'm not really sure how CPUbenchmark score the CPU's either or a lot about computers, but I seem to remember modern top end I5's being better than 2nd generation Sandy Bridge  I7's.

digitalscream

Sambostar said:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-7500U+@+2.70GHz&id=2863
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-6500U+@+2.50GHz&id=2607
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-2600+%40+3.40GHz&id=1

I made a decision purely based on this and got the used Dell workstation with the I7 2600 (2011 Tech) for 200 quid.  Thing is the graphics card is integrated, although you can upgrade it, I'm not really sure how CPUbenchmark score the CPU's either or a lot about computers, but I seem to remember modern top end I5's being better than 2nd generation Sandy Bridge  I7's.

The i7 2600k is actually significantly not-as-good as later-generation i7 CPUs...the only reason it wins those benchmarks is that the laptop i7 CPUs have half as many cores.

In the majority of use cases, you wouldn't even notice. I have a quad-core 6th-gen i7 @ 3.4GHz in my desktop and a dual-core 4th-gen i7 @ 2.1GHz in my laptop; under normal desktop usage, the laptop actually "feels" more responsive even though it's got less than half the horsepower. Even using Reaper, it's not noticeably any different from my desktop.

Of course, when gaming, the desktop is miles ahead.

Strangefan

My surface pro 4 is brilliant, really really quick and can be realistically used as a tablet and laptop,  plus I can play loads of decent games on it, I have the I5 but you can also get the i7 etc the screen and speakers are also top notch. 

d8m

MrBump said:

I know you said laptop, but I can't shake the thought that for your budget you'll get an awesome tower/monitor set up... Sure you can't find the space?  Laptops are rubbish.

Space is the only real reason I'm looking for a laptop to be honest, If I had the space Id keep the home office setup but the  2nd room will eventually become babies room.

Plan is to get a laptop that can be packed away and use dining table as a desk!

Strangefan said:

My surface pro 4 is brilliant, really really quick and can be realistically used as a tablet and laptop,  plus I can play loads of decent games on it, I have the I5 but you can also get the i7 etc the screen and speakers are also top notch. 

Looked at one of these and they do seem pretty nifty, doesnt seem like it could be a full laptop replacement though?

Strangefan

d8m said:

MrBump said:

I know you said laptop, but I can't shake the thought that for your budget you'll get an awesome tower/monitor set up... Sure you can't find the space?  Laptops are rubbish.

Space is the only real reason I'm looking for a laptop to be honest, If I had the space Id keep the home office setup but the  2nd room will eventually become babies room.

Plan is to get a laptop that can be packed away and use dining table as a desk!

Strangefan said:

My surface pro 4 is brilliant, really really quick and can be realistically used as a tablet and laptop,  plus I can play loads of decent games on it, I have the I5 but you can also get the i7 etc the screen and speakers are also top notch. 

Looked at one of these and they do seem pretty nifty, doesnt seem like it could be a full laptop replacement though?

I thought that till I used one, I replaced my MacBook Air and it's so much nicer,  it can totally replace a laptop, but you do need the keyboard cover for that, but that in its self is great backlit n all and decent spacing. 

d8m

I was looking at the surface book but  i still cant shake the fact that i might not be a proper laptop replacement.

If I was going to stretch the budget this could be a better choice than a macbook, some xps model seem to have a problem with wifi though. Plus of this one is Ive had a go on one instore so know what I'm getting for my money.

I am having a hardtime laying down the cash on something without seeing it in person first which is why im hesitant about ordering a yoga etc.

Going purely on things I can try before buying this list comes down do:

Dell XPS 13
Surface book
Macbook Pro

Unless I change tactic and just go cheap and cheerful.

Danny1969

My pic of the above would be the Macbook Pro. A Dell Precision would be a good equal in terms of performance and quality but it would cost just as much but wouldn't hold it's value as well. 

What ever you get don't touch anything that doesn't have the option of a  3 year warranty. 

Bygone_Tones

d8m

Danny1969 said:

My pic of the above would be the Macbook Pro. A Dell Precision would be a good equal in terms of performance and quality but it would cost just as much but wouldn't hold it's value as well. 

What ever you get don't touch anything that doesn't have the option of a  3 year warranty. 

local Istore offer a 3 year warranty free, extremely tempted to pop into town after work and pick one up.

Dongles will be a pain but the only things i would plug in would be usbs and ipod on occasion.
Can always get a cheap usb sd card reader.

It seems the more I read about each option the more problems keep appearing.

Getting bored of shopping now so I think ill just bite the bullet and get it done.

Bygone_Tones

get the XPS