Laptop Suggestions

[MarkBarbieri]

I've been away from home all week and have been using my laptop. It's a 3 year old cheapie Gateway. I'm starting to think that it might be worth investing in something better before my next trip. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'd like it to have a large, accurate screen. I want it to be very small and lightweight. It needs to be durable because I'm not particularly careful. I want it to be lightning fast with gobs of memory. I'd like really long battery life. I also want it have an AVCHD (h.264) decoder so that it can play back video I shoot. I'd like it to be cheap, but I'm willing to pay up to a couple of grand if the extra cost is adding significant value.

I don't need to be able to do hardcore editing, but it would be nice if it could handle Photoshop and Lightroom without struggling.

I'm probably asking for the laptop equivalent of a compact DSLR with an 18-600 f/2.8 lens. If that's the case, then what can $2,000 get me in a reasonably portable laptop that can do a passable job of handling photos and video?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I would suggest the Canon S90.

 

[budmonster]

Check out the line of Acer's. They have a very large selection and are very reasonably priced. I've had mine for 3 years and it has taken a beating and still works just fine.

www.acer.com

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I'm assuming you want a PC and not a Mac because you currently have a Gateway. Since you want it to be portable and fast I would recommend something in a 14-15" screen. The DW wife has a Dell Studio 17 and I can tell you its more of a portable desktop than a laptop! If you want fast then I would recommend the intel i7-840QM processor with 8gb RAM and the largest hard drive available for your brand. I have been using Dell computers for years and I just recently priced out a Studio 15 with the above including the best monitor/screen (I think its called the TrueLife). It priced out $1,690. You can add a few things and still stay under $2,000. If you want smaller, Dell also has the Studio 14. Like cameras, (simplistically speaking) the computer speed relies on the speed of the processor, RAM and the hard drive. For example, Dell has 640 gb hard drive but it is 5400 rpm and their 500 gb is 7200 rpm. While the 640 is larger it is slightly slower. I would recommend customizing something at Dell.com and then using that as a comparison to the other brands.

 

[ChiSoxKeith]

I'm assuming you want a PC and not a Mac because you currently have a Gateway. Since you want it to be portable and fast I would recommend something in a 14-15" screen. The DW wife has a Dell Studio 17 and I can tell you its more of a portable desktop than a laptop! If you want fast then I would recommend the intel i7-840QM processor with 8gb RAM and the largest hard drive available for your brand. I have been using Dell computers for years and I just recently priced out a Studio 15 with the above including the best monitor/screen (I think its called the TrueLife). It priced out $1,690. You can add a few things and still stay under $2,000. If you want smaller, Dell also has the Studio 14. Like cameras, (simplistically speaking) the computer speed relies on the speed of the processor, RAM and the hard drive. For example, Dell has 640 gb hard drive but it is 5400 rpm and their 500 gb is 7200 rpm. While the 640 is larger it is slightly slower. I would recommend customizing something at Dell.com and then using that as a comparison to the other brands.

Sound advice all the way around. The only thing that would make the laptop faster (but also tons more expensive) would be a solid state drive. That would make the thing boot and launch programs much faster - but the drives tend to be much much smaller for the money you pay.

 

[ssanders79]

Right now i am using what was once the smallest dell laptop XPS M1210 it is a ~12" screen. It is still going good, but I plan to switch to a Mac the next go around. Most of what I do requires a PC so I plan to use Boot Camp or Parallels to run windows on a MacBook Pro. It is something to consider. I went into an apple store and asked if they had any machines set up to run windows so I could see it for my self. I was expecting a quick NO, but they had a few. The setup will work for my needs. Plus, I am finding it harder and harder to work on a small screen finding myself plugging into my 21" display for doing real work. I am just not sure if I want a 15 or 17" model.

 

[handicap18]

Make the switch... get a MacBook Pro. You can pretty much use all your window's programs and moving all the files to the Mac is as easy as walking across the living room. We switched both our desktop and laptop to Mac's and now wonder why we waited so long. I don't use lightroom or photoshop, but both are available on the Mac. I use Nikon Capture NX2 and that works exactly the same. Didn't have to buy it again as the purchase ID works for both the PC and Mac. I did use the trial version of Apple's Aperture and liked it, but not enough to switch from Capture NX2.

I didn't use Lightroom much on my PC. I do want to get Photoshop, but haven't gotten around to it.

Battery life on DW's 13" MacBook Pro is 10 hours vs the about 2, maybe 3 hours on our HP laptop. the 15" and 17" Macbook Pro's have Intel dual core i5 or i7 processors and have 8-9 hours of battery life. DW does a lot of music stuff (both listening recording/composing) for school (she's a music teacher) and the Mac blows away what the PC can do.

 

[Bstanley]

I've always found Lenovo laptops to be about as bulletproof as anything made, they are also pretty aggressive on price/performance.

They've got a very pleasant little firebreather - the W510 - that can be configured the way you want it, but it costs $2700 (8GB/10600 RAM, i7-820, 95% gamut full HD 15.6" screen, NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M/H.264 hardware encoding, 7200rpm Hard Drive).

If you back off to 8GB/8500 RAM and an i7-720 it's 'only' $2150.

Hey - if you work for an oil company you can probably get a nice Lenovo discount through them...

P.S. - hideous battery life - 1 hr - unless you back off the performance mightily.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I have a Sony Laptop at work with an i7 processor. Works great, but on battery power, the processor slows down and the system drags. I think this is common with i7 laptops, so might be a consideration.

Now, I love Sony Laptops. I have one, my wife has one and my work laptop is a Sony. People say they are pricey and I agree, but I think the machines have held up for me and they have a high reliability rating. ASUS tends to also be a highly reliable laptop.

 

[Chikabowa]

Come over and do a MacBook Pro. You won't regret it.

I love mine. I have the 15".
CS3 and LR2 work wonderfully on this machine and it is just seamless. Even after 2 years it runs like a dream. Plus the color is REALLY accurate.

I know you are a PC guy... but maybe the argument is persuasive enough???

 

[ukcatfan]

I have had a Sony for about eight months now and have been very happy with it. Over the years we have had a Gateway ('02 and still works), Acer ('07-'08 only lived about 14 months), HP ('08 and still works/handed down to kids), HP (X-mas '09 wife's 2nd HP and she is pleased with it), my Sony (also X-mas '09)

The only one I would say really bad things about is the Acer. It was a worthless hunk of junk! Beware their customer service (lack of it more like!). We had a warranty issue that they covered for "free", but they "require" all computers to be fixed back to "factory condition". Our problem with that was that we had a completely unrelated cosmetic only blemish on the top of it. They forced us to pay them $200 (negotiated down from $400!) to get our "free" warranty repair done. It was the biggest rip off I have ever experienced!!! Buyer beware!!!

 

[Bstanley]

I have a xxxx Laptop at work with an i7 processor. Works great, but on battery power, the processor slows down and the system drags.

The i7 is an over-clockers nightmare because it speeds up and slows down all on it's own - depending on how the power conservation system is set up.

In order to continue to get the highest performance when on battery you will need to change the settings on your system. Unfortunately running 4 x86 cores at greater than 3GHZ these days basically provides a quick glimpse into the limits of present battery technology

I'm hoping that the Nano-tech power generation systems that are 'just around the corner' will solve that.

 

[PrincessInOz]

MacBook pro.

I'm a PC gal all the way. But for photos, my household sticks with the Mac. It takes a little to convert over from long time PC (ab)use to the Mac way of operating (I still miss the apple button and use the Control key way too much) but it is well worth it.

And my next laptop will be the MacBook pro.

I'm also planning on checking out the iPad as a lightweight alternative for travel download and storage of pictures. There are a couple of new apps out for photos that I haven't yet checked. But I'm going to wait for the next generation iPad before leaping.

If the iPad handles photos the way I expect and wish, then I will be travelling light (except for camera and equipment) for photo storage. Until then, we are still travelling with PC laptop....and then coming home to store and play on the Mac.