Laptop for my Brother

[Biscuit]

Hey guys,

I just posted on C-T-Fs Llano thread however i thought i would put it out to question to see if anyone knows of any great deals at the moment (as a student he may be in more of a rush than i anticipate).

Basically he wants a normal size laptop (13-16") with a bit of grunt and some basic graphics processing. I would say a discreet card however the lines between discreet and on-board seem to have faded a little nowerdays and hes not looking for anything more than say a 4670. Battery life isnt vital however i suspect he would appreciate it if it lasted a couple of hours. No particular bonus in 'style' and there isn't a fixed budget but i would say as much less than a grand as possible.

[Biscuit]

Not a single suggestion?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

On of these laptops should do the job:

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...codes-coupons/

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...deals-coupons/

Regarding the GPUs I would be looking at either the Mobility Radeon HD5650 or the more powerful GeForce GT540M.

I will have a look around to see if there is laptop with a more powerful GPU for under £1000.

Edit!!

You can get cashback too:

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/dell/

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/dell_sm...dium_business/

The XPS17 seems to have decent GPUs too:

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...-evalue-codes/

[jimbouk]

Busy day at the office Is he anti-apple? If not then they do a reasonable student discount. If he's thinking about lugging it to uni then weight and battery life might be worth bumping up the want list, I was glad of a reasonable battery life when I was a student as you couldn't always sit near a socket.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There is also the Vostro 3450 and 3550 too:

http://www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/...al-comparison/

The Mobility Radeon HD6630M should be similar in performance to an HD5650M AFAIK.

The Vostro 3450 looks a good mix of performance and portability IMHO:

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/vostro-3450/pd

[usxhe190]

What is the price??

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the price??

Less than a £1000.

[usxhe190]

Less than a £1000.

Wow you have so much choices for that price!

Unless your brother is a gamer, I would spend the money on a good case with solid keyboard

Lenovo Thinkpad T series are pretty good

Apple is also good as long as you get a discount.

Asus if you really need graphics performance.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This laptop has the Mobility Radeon HD5870M:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/156-m...webcam-w7hp-64

This is one of the fastest mobile GPUs ATM:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mob...0.23073.0.html

[Biscuit]

I wouldnt say he is anti apple but i think quite a bit of his maths/statistics software is windows based and to be quite honest, just because the top end of the budget is £1000 it doesnt mean it needs to hit it. If the extra money was really worth it then fair enough but with apple, i dont think it is.

The dell vostro seem to be on the mark i reckon il run some of the ideas past him and get back to yall. Thanks!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You need to check whether going for a higher clocked dual core is more useful than going for a lower clocked quad core.

[Repressor]

You need to check whether going for a higher clocked dual core is more useful than going for a lower clocked quad core.

Most professional maths/stats software used in academia is generally highly optimised for a large number of threads. MATLAB.. Maple...etc.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Most professional maths/stats software used in academia is generally highly optimised for a large number of threads. MATLAB.. Maple...etc.

I was thinking about some of those packages TBH but Biscuit needs to tell us what packages his brother is using and what versions.

[Biscuit]

righty ho il ask the question

[ik9000]

The dell XPS range have a decent screen and a v good warranty re acceptable dead pixels (ie not many permitted). If he doesn't want Apple MacBook Pro then they would be a v good place to start as CAT suggests.

I also think you get more welly with the Dell over the Apples and for lower cost.

My shortlist would be (in no particular order) Apple, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and fortunately this entirely agrees with the suggestions below

Personally I would not be tempted by any of the following: Acer, HP, Packard Bell, Toshiba, Sony Vaio, Mesh

[Biscuit]

XPS i5 might be better looking at the current prices. Whats wrong with HP :/

still waiting for a reply from my bro on the software.