Where to buy a laptop from?

[cprowe]

Hi, i've been recommended by a friend to come here as he said it's good for advice on buying.

I'm a web designer (primarily use Photoshop) and am looking to buy a laptop, I've got a budget of around £1.5k but have no idea where to buy from. I hear so many contradicting opinions and suggestions so I'm a little stuck on who is actually going to provide with me a good performing, reliable and efficient laptop.

The main one I've looked at quite a bit is;

overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-004-OE&groupid=959&catid=1236&subcat=[/url] (with the SSD and CPU upgrade)

But then I saw the thread(s) regarding Overclockers on here which put me off a bit, so basically i'm after suggestions from people for either places to buy from or individual laptops I can look at.

Edit:

What is important to you?
Performance, as stated above I'll mainly be using Photoshop, meaning sometimes i'll be using big files with a lot of layers etc, I want it to run smoothly.

What size screen do you want?
15 - 17" ideally.

Will it be mainly plugged into the mains during use, or is battery life important?
Although a majority of the time it'll be plugged into the mains, would be ideal if it didn't have a very short battery life.

Will you use it for gaming / 3D?
Perhaps the odd game but in general no.

How much hard drive space are you hoping for?
Not going to need huge amounts, got the main PC and external HD for any downloads etc. Quite like the idea of SSD perhaps?

Is weight an issue for transportation. Or is the idea of just being able to easily move it around the house the main issue.
Weight isn't really an issue, it won't be out and about a great deal. Providing it doesn't weight a tonne a slightly heavier than normal laptop isn't a problem.

Thanks in advance!
Chris

[cptwhite_uk]

Might be best to direct your question is the small form factors and portables sub-forum:

http://forums.hexus.net/small-form-factor-portables/

What is important to you?
What size screen do you want?
Will it be mainly plugged into the mains during use, or is battery life important?
Will you use it for gaming / 3D?
How much hard drive space are you hoping for?
Is weight an issue for transportation. Or is the idea of just being able to easily move it around the house the main issue.

You need to prioritise your needs / wants and list them here before anyone can offer any solutions.

[cprowe]

Ah sorry didn't see that sub-forum, if a mod could move it to that forum be appreciated thanks! Updated the original post with the additional details, thanks cptwhite!

[cptwhite_uk]

From those comments I'd say you want:

17"+widescreen 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 (HD) resolution
Solid State Hard Drive for fast file access time (80Gb minimum)
LED based, high quality screen for accurate and uniform colour (are IPS / MVA / PVA screens available for laptops?)
High end processor, preferably a high spec dual core (doubt a quad would add much to photoshop)
Solid integrated graphics to maximise battery life, but capable of basic gaming and HD playpack (added bonus). Not sure if discrete is needed and what to look for here but you should start comparing at:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/

I did a quick consultation with the above website and it suggested these:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Purchas...0.html#results

The top dog being this beast: http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,...9303416,00.htm

^ Utter monster of a laptop, but it's a Sony, great high quality, high res screen. Only thing that puts me off it is it's glossy reflection, personally that alone would stop me buying it, but it might not be an issue for you.

Few points:

You might struggle to find your 'ideal' laptop. I suspect you will have buy a SSD seperately and install yourself.
You're looking for a high-spec processor, and mid-range graphics, HD4330 territory I reckon (but get other opinions here, you might want to go nVidia for CUDA support for photoshop)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at the Lenovo W500 as it has very good high resolution screen:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...k.11683.0.html

If you can stretch to the Lenovo W700 it is worth a look too:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4638

You can configure it and buy straight it from Lenovo:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...LAID=416495177

It has excellent reviews:

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/lapt...quad-core.aspx

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/lapt...kpad-w700.aspx

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4638

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...k.15275.0.html

You can also get cashback from Quidco which should save you some more money.