I realise that this is going to boil down largely to personal preferences,
but I'd appreciate suggestions please.

In many years of PC usage I've never owned a laptop. But I'd now like to
treat myself to a reliable, high spec, i7 model. Apart from top end
performance, large RAM and HD, other factors that come immediately to mind
are an impressive screen and that it should be as easy to use as possible.
(For laptops, that last one is probably hard: the main reasons I've never
had one is that I'm useless without my mouse!)

I would have considered a 'netbook', as internet capability and
portability are also important requirements. But I understand that
category wouldn't cover my high performance spec (which I need in
particular for video and DVD authoring.)

If I'm OT for this group, my apologies. Perhaps someone could point me to
a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice please?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Terry Pinnell wrote:
> I realise that this is going to boil down largely to personal
> preferences, but I'd appreciate suggestions please.
>
> In many years of PC usage I've never owned a laptop. But I'd now like
> to treat myself to a reliable, high spec, i7 model. Apart from top end
> performance, large RAM and HD, other factors that come immediately to
> mind are an impressive screen and that it should be as easy to use as
> possible. (For laptops, that last one is probably hard: the main
> reasons I've never had one is that I'm useless without my mouse!)
>
> I would have considered a 'netbook', as internet capability and
> portability are also important requirements. But I understand that
> category wouldn't cover my high performance spec (which I need in
> particular for video and DVD authoring.)
>
> If I'm OT for this group, my apologies. Perhaps someone could point
> me to a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice
> please?

Well my first laptop was back in '84, and I have bought dozens since
then. The mass majority of them still work too. And I don't care for
desktops too much because they are generally large, noisy, and energy
hungry. But that is just me.

And why are you limiting your choice to just one laptop? Yes I have
three netbooks too and they are great for simple tasks like email and
browsing the Internet. Also they are small and light. I even grabbed one
for a two month trip and I was really curious if I would be annoyed to
no end by the end of it. And I was really surprised, I wasn't annoyed at
all. I could see lots of people using them as their only computer. They
even work well connected to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

You asked about reliable. And I don't know anybody who could answer that
truthfully until the test of time has taken its toll on a given model.
By then, you are probably not interested in older machines anymore. So
you see the problem here? And while some brag about some manufactures
and bad mouth others, the truth is they all have their great models and
their not so great models.

And I don't know much about high end laptops except for my five
Alienware gaming laptops. And while I have done some DVD authoring on a
netbook before, I wouldn't recommend it. Anyway these high end machines
comes in at a price (in more ways than one). As any high power machine
probably will never make it in the high reliability category. As these
portable Little Suzy Bake Ovens stresses the chips and PCB to their
limits. And if you can get 5 years of trouble free service out of one,
you were lucky.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

On 27/11/2011 7:36 AM, Terry Pinnell wrote:
> I realise that this is going to boil down largely to personal preferences,
> but I'd appreciate suggestions please.
>
> In many years of PC usage I've never owned a laptop. But I'd now like to
> treat myself to a reliable, high spec, i7 model. Apart from top end
> performance, large RAM and HD, other factors that come immediately to mind
> are an impressive screen and that it should be as hateasy to use as possible.
> (For laptops, that last one is probably hard: the main reasons I've never
> had one is that I'm useless without my mouse!)
>
> I would have considered a 'netbook', as internet capability and
> portability are also important requirements. But I understand that
> category wouldn't cover my high performance spec (which I need in
> particular for video and DVD authoring.)
>
> If I'm OT for this group, my apologies. Perhaps someone could point me to
> a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice please?
>

How much money do you want to spend on this laptop?

Are you going to use this laptop at home only (or most of the time or
will you pack it around a lot? If you pack it around a lot you may find
that a 15 inch is a bit heavy and slightly bulky and you may regret not
getting that tiny looking 14 inch model...

Have you decided on a screen size and resolution? A 17 inch laptop is
not rally a "laptop". Text on a 14" 1920 x 1080 HD panel can be pretty
difficult to read. If you want to connect or use Intel's WIDI to stream
to your large HD plasma/LCD tv 1920 x 1020 is a must.

I find that there are several compromises to be made when purchasing a
laptop and it is hard to recommend because everybody has different needs
and preferences.

That being said, personally I think that the ThinkPad T520 or W520 are
probably two of the best lapto

On 27/11/2011 9:36 AM, John John MVP wrote:

Sorry, the send button got hit before I was done..

How much money do you want to spend on this laptop?

Are you going to use this laptop at home only (or most of the time or
will you pack it around a lot? If you pack it around a lot you may find
that a 15 inch is a bit heavy and slightly bulky and you may regret not
getting that tiny looking 14 inch model...

Have you decided on a screen size and resolution? A 17 inch laptop is
not rally a "laptop". Text on a 14" 1920 x 1080 HD panel can be pretty
difficult to read. If you want to connect or use Intel's WIDI to stream
to your large HD plasma/LCD tv 1920 x 1020 is a must.

I find that there are several compromises to be made when purchasing a
laptop and it is hard to recommend because everybody has different needs
and preferences.

That being said, personally I think that the ThinkPad T520 or W520 are
probably two of the best laptops out there. If multimedia is your thing
then the Toshiba Qosmio or HP Envy are excellent choices. If you want
bang for the buck while still having a good powerful machine then the
Dell XPS 15 — L502X is a good choice. I just got one of these to use in
my living room (1920 x 1080), I'm happy with the purchase but I do find
text a bit small on this HD panel. I got mine with the backlit
keyboard, I find this to be a very nice option when using the laptop in
dimly lit areas.

John

On 27/11/2011 9:48 AM, John John MVP wrote:

Note typo, HD resolution is 1920 x 1080...


> On 27/11/2011 9:36 AM, John John MVP wrote:
>
> Sorry, the send button got hit before I was done..
>
> How much money do you want to spend on this laptop?
>
> Are you going to use this laptop at home only (or most of the time or
> will you pack it around a lot? If you pack it around a lot you may find
> that a 15 inch is a bit heavy and slightly bulky and you may regret not
> getting that tiny looking 14 inch model...
>
> Have you decided on a screen size and resolution? A 17 inch laptop is
> not rally a "laptop". Text on a 14" 1920 x 1080 HD panel can be pretty
> difficult to read. If you want to connect or use Intel's WIDI to stream
> to your large HD plasma/LCD tv 1920 x 1020 is a must.
>
> I find that there are several compromises to be made when purchasing a
> laptop and it is hard to recommend because everybody has different needs
> and preferences.
>
> That being said, personally I think that the ThinkPad T520 or W520 are
> probably two of the best laptops out there. If multimedia is your thing
> then the Toshiba Qosmio or HP Envy are excellent choices. If you want
> bang for the buck while still having a good powerful machine then the
> Dell XPS 15 — L502X is a good choice. I just got one of these to use in
> my living room (1920 x 1080), I'm happy with the purchase but I do find
> text a bit small on this HD panel. I got mine with the backlit keyboard,
> I find this to be a very nice option when using the laptop in dimly lit
> areas.
>
> John

"Terry Pinnell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> Perhaps someone could point me to
> a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice please?

Replies on line may so far be less useful than printed magazine
reviews and comparisons, probably best about a decade
ago when laptops seemed new. Such reviews suggest a list of
typical features e.g.
display quality
keyboard (touch typing)
battery life
and the user can then add his personal requirements and rerank
these features in the order that suits his needs best. (New laptops
now include features like Wi-Fi that were formerly add-ons: this
means old features like display quality and keyboard feel become
more important to a shopping decision, not less.)
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On 11/27/2011 10:27 AM, Don Phillipson wrote:
> "Terry Pinnell"<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Replies on line may so far be less useful than printed magazine
> reviews and comparisons, probably best about a decade
> ago when laptops seemed new...

Well... I have a slight problem with that. As printed magazines rarely
ever gives an advertiser a bad review. And my beef with them for decades
are that they have been way too biased for my tastes. Sure they can be
helpful for the reasons that you had stated.

But replies online has no such restrictions. So as model Z has nothing
but problems and has been in and out of the shop for months. And you
find a high percentage of replies saying basically the same thing. Then
it would probably be best to stay away from that one.

Reading magazines for decades, it would be a totally rare find to read a
magazine telling you about such matters. Since doing so would only burn
bridges and would be bad for business. As they generally always make
everything sound too good for one reason or another.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo 2GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 7

On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:36:28 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:

> I realise that this is going to boil down largely to personal
> preferences, but I'd appreciate suggestions please.
>
> In many years of PC usage I've never owned a laptop. But I'd now like to
> treat myself to a reliable, high spec, i7 model. Apart from top end
> performance, large RAM and HD, other factors that come immediately to
> mind are an impressive screen and that it should be as easy to use as
> possible. (For laptops, that last one is probably hard: the main reasons
> I've never had one is that I'm useless without my mouse!)
>
> I would have considered a 'netbook', as internet capability and
> portability are also important requirements. But I understand that
> category wouldn't cover my high performance spec (which I need in
> particular for video and DVD authoring.)
>
> If I'm OT for this group, my apologies. Perhaps someone could point me
> to a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice please?

First, forget any type of netbook. They are not designed for, nor do
they have the specs, to do what you want to do. I would consider
researching notebooks designed for gamers as games overall are the most
demanding of hardware. Do Internet searches for "best" gaming computers,
notebooks, laptops, etc. reviews. Also, see what the computer gaming
magazines have to say. Just be prepared to pay through the nose. That
type of performance doesn't come cheap.

As far as the mouse: a small USB one designed for a notebook works quite
well.

Stef

On 11/27/2011 11:31 AM, Stefan Patric wrote:
> On Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:36:28 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:
>
> First, forget any type of netbook. They are not designed for, nor do
> they have the specs, to do what you want to do. I would consider
> researching notebooks designed for gamers as games overall are the most
> demanding of hardware. Do Internet searches for "best" gaming computers,
> notebooks, laptops, etc. reviews. Also, see what the computer gaming
> magazines have to say. Just be prepared to pay through the nose. That
> type of performance doesn't come cheap.
>
> As far as the mouse: a small USB one designed for a notebook works quite
> well.
>
> Stef

Are you too in the belief that one all purpose computer which does it
all is the way to go? Maybe it is just me, but that would be so limiting
to me. As I don't want to wait for reboots after an update or anything.
So the more computers the better is my motto.

So what do you single computers users do when the OS becomes corrupt? Or
the motherboard fails? Or the hard drive refuses to spin up? Or the
power supply fails? The monitor stops working? So what do you guys do?

And if that isn't bad enough, I have one laptop running in another room
recording all of the Star Wars episodes right now. It is also converting
in real time storing it in WMV format which hits the CPU pretty hard. No
problem if it isn't doing anything else, but would be if I was also
playing games on it too. Also being in WMV format, I can stream it to
any other computer while it is in the process of recording at the same time.

I also like having at least two of each model. This makes it very easy
to troubleshoot if it is software or hardware. Plus you have spare parts
if it hardware. So you can just swap parts until it is working again and
you don't have to buy part after part until you find the right one.

Like these Gateway M465 models. I actually have six of them. I have
three docking stations for them and popping one in the docking station
is virtually as easy as changing a DVD disc or something. Plus they work
independently if needed too. These things used are dirt cheap on eBay
and way too many to meet the demand since they are flooding the market
for years since they have been coming off of corporate leases. Some of
them look like they were never used too.

Those M465 don't work too well as a gaming machine though. But I have
five Alienware machines for those tasks. Yup dups here too. While they
are good for virtually any task you want to throw at them. I don't use
them for any task. As they are not cheap and generally only have a
finite lifespan. And wasting it on tasks that other computers and even
my netbooks can do too just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I am not sure I would steer Terry to focus on a gaming machine. Sure
gaming machines have tons of power to do virtually anything. Although if
they have a weak spot, as they are generally heavy on the GPU power and
the CPU power is secondary. Although what Terry is doing, needs more CPU
power and the GPU is secondary. Which actually would actually save Terry
a few bucks.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0
Centrino Core2 Duo 2GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 7

Terry Pinnell wrote:
> I realise that this is going to boil down largely to personal preferences,
> but I'd appreciate suggestions please.
>
> In many years of PC usage I've never owned a laptop. But I'd now like to
> treat myself to a reliable, high spec, i7 model. Apart from top end
> performance, large RAM and HD, other factors that come immediately to mind
> are an impressive screen and that it should be as easy to use as possible.
> (For laptops, that last one is probably hard: the main reasons I've never
> had one is that I'm useless without my mouse!)
>
> I would have considered a 'netbook', as internet capability and
> portability are also important requirements. But I understand that
> category wouldn't cover my high performance spec (which I need in
> particular for video and DVD authoring.)
>
> If I'm OT for this group, my apologies. Perhaps someone could point me to
> a group or forum where I'm likely to get objective advice please?
>

What I'm doubting, is you could ever have enough horsepower in
the laptop, to keep you satisfied.

If I check a "boutique" laptop like this Alienware, the fastest processor is a 55 watt one...
I think the XM means the multiplier is unlocked, for overclocking.
Not something you're likely to want to do, in a laptop, due
to cooling issues.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m18x/pd.aspx

"Intel Core i7 2960XM 2.7GHz (3.7GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)"

In a desktop, you could have this 2600K for a lot less money.

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA1155 95W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

With all cores flat out, they run at the base rate. So the desktop
one would be 3.4/2.7 = 1.26x that laptop. (Turbo is for lighter loads.)

On the "regular" web sites, you could look in the business section,
for a "Mobile Workstation", to get the 2960XM as an option. When
I tried to configure one that way, the price was higher than the Alienware.

You can find other firms, that will customize a laptop in a more
imaginative way. For example, the Eurocom Racer model. That
got the price down to about 2/3 of an HP Mobile Workstation
(because it's not using OpenGL certified graphics for CAD work).
The graphics in the Racer are modular, and use an MXM module.
That's how they can plug in the graphics option, when building
the machine.

http://www.eurocom.com/products/show...p_replace2.cfm

(Picture of an MXM module. Not generally available for sale "on the street".)

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/scree...GT_MXM_3.0.jpg

Companies like Eurocom, don't make the basic machine. An "ODM"
like Clevo makes the platform (in this case, in a modular
way), and then the OEM Eurocom, builds the final product
by installing what you order. It's like Clevo builds
the "barebones" machine, and Eurocom plug in CPU, RAM, graphics.

The Eurocom one, uses a 180W AC adapter, while the HP Mobile
Workstation I was looking at, had 200W and 230W adapters. Just
to give you some idea, how much hotter these are, than a 65W laptop.
When the graphics on those things, aren't cranking DirectX games
or doing OpenGL certified CAD engineering designs, they draw a lot
less power than their max power rating, so it's not like a 230W
laptop, draws 230W all the time. Probably closer to 50W at idle.
It draws the 230W when you're playing Crysis. Or a lesser number
when editing/rendering video. It really depends on whether any of your
software uses GPGPU computing (stream processors inside GPU), as to
whether a high end graphics solution would really make sense.

*******

In the "it must be a joke" department, there was an April 2011 announcement
of a laptop with dual processors in it (two sockets). But the hardware
configuration is too outlandish to be real. I couldn't find this on
their web site. Price starts at $8000. I bet the keyboard is
too hot to touch.

http://www.techpowerup.com/143390/Eu...-Solution.html

There's enough cooling in this picture, to run that kind of
hardware. But only one hard drive is visible. This is a
Eurocom (Clevo) from 2009. This one weighs 12 pounds.
No mention of battery life. You're likely "tethered" all
the time. The exhaust goes out the back.

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/09-03-05/m188_2.jpg

Maybe that's the trick. If they didn't have a battery,
there'd be more room for other hardware.

Paul