Laptop Advice please

[cguil_uk]

At last!!! I can now afford a decent Laptop - thanks to me selling my house

Can anyone recommend any 17" laptop please, that has done well in the reviews?

I am an amateur genealogist and photographer - I use programmes that take up a lot of resources and I often use several programmes at the same time - Multitasking is important.
A lot of work is done on line via these programmes - Family Tree Maker especially.

I would like to be-able to play Cd's DVD's and Blu Ray disks on it. Read Write is important as is having a card reader and lots of USB ports. Good Graphics Card is also important as I enjoy playing on-line games occasionally i.e. Runescape & The Settlers On-line.

My Budget is £1.5K but I would like to keep costs to a minimum.

I am giving my PC, shown below, to my nephew. The Laptop will be it's replacement, so I am looking for something to replace and better than what I had.

What is the difference between i5 and i7 processors please - re: my request for info on laptops?

I am getting a lap top to replace my PC listed below.

 

[muckshifter]

I merged your two posts to save confusion.

 

[cguil_uk]

Anyone have any knowledge of this lap top please - good or bad?
Toshiba Satellite P870-102

 

[muckshifter]

Toshiba are, to me, a very good brand name, you can do worse.

I have never used a laptop, however, the specifications of this one are excellent. I personally wouldn't expect it to play ANY high res games fluidly. It should have no problems with the rest of your criteria.

Laptops and games, sorry, to me they just don't mix it. The big "problem" is the graphics "card", Laptops traditionally use, as this one does, integrated graphic which tend to rely sharing resources, such as ram, to cut down on space, power consumption & heat. A good gaming graphics card gives off a bloody lot of heat and needs stupid cooling.

do a search via Mr Google on the game playing capabilities.

 

[EvanDavis]

Anyone have any knowledge of this lap top please - good or bad?
Toshiba Satellite P870-102

That's a nice Laptop. Although I would get it off the Toshiba website rather than John Lewis. You will save yourself a few £££@s there.

Have you checked out Asus yet ? They make great laptops, and for the sam sort of spec as the Toshiba they are quite a bit cheaper and allow for customization.

http://www.asuslaptop.co.uk/

 

[cguil_uk]

TY Guys

Another one for you - what is your opinion of Novatech please?

RE:
Business Lap Tops
Elite Optima 2640 V2

Gaming Laptops
Elite Extreme 2760 V2
Elite Extreme 3720

TIA

 

[floppybootstomp]

Novatech are a good company, this forum has heard nothing but good about Novatech. You can speak to a real person on the phone and they will honour warranties.

The Elite Extreme 3720 is probably as good as it gets for 'Gaming' laptops (bit of an oxymoron, those 2 words together, but still). Go for it.

When you get your new machine please do me a favour, load up Crysis 1 and 2, or just one of them, and let me know how it performs.

 

[cguil_uk]

Novatech are a good company, this forum has heard nothing but good about Novatech. You can speak to a real person on the phone and they will honour warranties.

The Elite Extreme 3720 is probably as good as it gets for 'Gaming' laptops (bit of an oxymoron, those 2 words together, but still). Go for it.

When you get your new machine please do me a favour, load up Crysis 1 and 2, or just one of them, and let me know how it performs.

TY Will the Elite Optima 2640 V2 Business MC run games or would it be worthwhile upgrading some of the specs. Part of the problem is that these mc come without software installed - adding extra expense.

 

[Anon_F]

Novatech are very good.
You could always ring them & tell them what you want etc.
But for 1.5K you should get a very good laptop for the price!

 

[floppybootstomp]

TY Will the Elite Optima 2640 V2 Business MC run games or would it be worthwhile upgrading some of the specs. Part of the problem is that these mc come without software installed - adding extra expense.

Hey! Since when did a person purchase a business machine to play games?

If you insist on using a laptop to play games then you want the best spec you can afford. So I'll just repeat what I said in my earlier post.

By the time you've messed about upgrading the office machine you'll probably spend just as much anyway.

Adding Win 7 home to the laptop adds £90.00 to the price making it £1420.00 which is still within your budget.

So what other software do you need?

 

[cguil_uk]

Hey! Since when did a person purchase a business machine to play games?

If you insist on using a laptop to play games then you want the best spec you can afford. So I'll just repeat what I said in my earlier post.

By the time you've messed about upgrading the office machine you'll probably spend just as much anyway.

Adding Win 7 home to the laptop adds £90.00 to the price making it £1420.00 which is still within your budget.

So what other software do you need?

Thanks M8 I have gone for the business MC since I am not actually a regular game player and what games I do play tend to be MMORPG such as runescape and settlers on-line. I am not over keen on blood and gore type of games etc. It is also cheaper. Thanks for your help guys.

BTW I have gone for Win 7 premium as it will allow me to run some XP software I have

 

[floppybootstomp]

Okey-doke. Enjoy your new machine

If you get time, post back here and let us all know what you think of it.

 

[cguil_uk]

I need an all in one Wireless Printer for my new Laptop please. HP is a good manufacture apparently.

My Current AiO (printer, scanner and copier) is the Canon MP470, but this is going and I need something to replace it using wireless.

Advice on make or model please?

Bearing in mind that I am an amateur photographer - photo quality is important.

TiA.

 

[Abarbarian]

I need an all in one Wireless Printer for my new Laptop please. HP is a good manufacture apparently.

My Current AiO (printer, scanner and copier) is the Canon MP470, but this is going and I need something to replace it using wireless.

Advice on make or model please?

Bearing in mind that I am an amateur photographer - photo quality is important.

TiA.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/best_printers

Above is a pretty fair site for reviews.

Always look into ink replacement costs aswell as print quality.