Reply to: New laptop, Dell XPS 15z?

[Spacecadet]

so what are you thinking of getting? the Dell M4600?

its by far the most likely candidate!

[chef]

I think the main reason you don't see Blu-ray on many laptops is that the benefit is pretty negligible on small screens. It's just not worth the extra cost (and possibly size and weight) for most people. I had one on my Dell XPS M1530 a few years ago but when that gave up I wasn't too bothered about having it on my new laptop.

I agree on laptops the benefit is negligible but with HDMI out and living in hotels weekdays it makes life better

[chef]

I am planning to upgrade though as for me having an extra couple of cores plus a wedge of extra ram and a third hard disk does make sense for running VM's and SQL Server processes.

so what are you thinking of getting? the Dell M4600?

[Bunk]

I think the main reason you don't see Blu-ray on many laptops is that the benefit is pretty negligible on small screens. It's just not worth the extra cost (and possibly size and weight) for most people. I had one on my Dell XPS M1530 a few years ago but when that gave up I wasn't too bothered about having it on my new laptop.

[Spacecadet]

I can't help feeling all this multi-core stuff is a bit of a scam. It's really not that beneficial for the typical task that the typical user does, yet many people are still on the old upgrade every couple of years treadmill convinced that multiple cores represents a significant upgrade. Especially when you consider the ability of modern processors to overclock a single core and boost performance of a single-threaded app.

I know what you mean, my dual core laptop is over 4 years old now and is running windows 7 and office and the rest all perfectly fine. But the when I bought it that spec cost me over £2k, where as you could buy it now for under £500.

I am planning to upgrade though as for me having an extra couple of cores plus a wedge of extra ram and a third hard disk does make sense for running VM's and SQL Server processes.
Lots of developers are going for VM's these days. It makes for a much better development experience and seperates "normal" computing from tasks which have the possibility of buggering up your system or need a different OS to run

[doodab]

I can't help feeling all this multi-core stuff is a bit of a scam. It's really not that beneficial for the typical task that the typical user does, yet many people are still on the old upgrade every couple of years treadmill convinced that multiple cores represents a significant upgrade. Especially when you consider the ability of modern processors to overclock a single core and boost performance of a single-threaded app.

The jump from single to dual core was a huge leap, it made such a difference when you have things like lots of services, virus scanning etc in the background. I do think the need to upgrade has fallen by the wayside though, I have a similar spec laptop to chef's, it has a slightly slower CPU, but apart from some really heavy VMs that use > 6GB RAM and really benefit from 4 vCPUs I never really see it struggle.

[PAH]

Also a good choice ticks all the boxes with a very good speed and just 2.6kg but no blu-ray

The Lenovo ThinkPad X range is good for lightness without compromising too much.

I've had an X300 for a few years and IIRC at the time it was marketed as outdoing the Macbook Air. Came standard with SSD. Also has a DVD writer, so newer ones should have a blu-ray option.

You no longer need to settle for a heavy bulky laptop unless it has to be super-beefy in processing, storage, or graphics, or all three.

[doodab]

intial laptop circa £1300
8Gb ram upgrade £280
256SSD £350
TOTAL £1930

I agree a current top spec desktop replacement has everything but I very much want to reduce weight mainly but not compromise on spec and if I'm going to spend £2k and have the thing for 3 years then I would expect it to have blu-ray.

Yeah so would I but it just doesn't seem to be turning up on many laptops at the moment. Perhaps it just wasn't selling.

[doodab]

Also a good choice ticks all the boxes with a very good speed and just 2.6kg but no blu-ray

Yes that's odd, it was an option on the older ones (T500, T510 etc). I wouldn't be surprised if those ones will fit although IIRC there are two sizes of bay across the range.

[VectraMan]

Processor Speeds are reaching a limit, it's all about multiple cores and lots of fast access memory now. I'll see if i can dig out the graph

This also means that crap programming can no longer be fixed by throwing more hardware at it. Chances are, it will still run like a dog!

I can't help feeling all this multi-core stuff is a bit of a scam. It's really not that beneficial for the typical task that the typical user does, yet many people are still on the old upgrade every couple of years treadmill convinced that multiple cores represents a significant upgrade. Especially when you consider the ability of modern processors to overclock a single core and boost performance of a single-threaded app.

The aforementioned Lenovo looks quite good. I hate the way so many laptops are going for 16:9 shiny screens (16:10 is better), and even worse are suddenly all adding number pads. I'd love to know who all the people are that want these. I'd like to upgrade my three-year old Dell Latitude, but despite all the newer laptops being thinner, lighter, more powerful etc., they don't seem to have as good a screen or keyboard as what I already have.

[chef]

It also looks like an Aldi Special Purchase

true, don't expect it will be quiet either

[chef]

How much did you spend though? Include the cost of the SSD and extra RAM you added after you bought it.

A current top spec desktop replacement has a quad core CPU with hyperthreading, 16-32GB maximum RAM, 2GB graphics memory, full HD screen and probably longer battery life. You can fit a 600GB SSD if you want as well, though you'll have to buy that yourself I think.

intial laptop circa £1300
8Gb ram upgrade £280
256SSD £350
TOTAL £1930

I agree a current top spec desktop replacement has everything but I very much want to reduce weight mainly but not compromise on spec and if I'm going to spend £2k and have the thing for 3 years then I would expect it to have blu-ray.

[chef]

I like the look of the Lenovo T520 and fitting my own SSD.

Also a good choice ticks all the boxes with a very good speed and just 2.6kg but no blu-ray

[Spacecadet]

EDIT: and given the graphics, audio and 2 hard disks, i don't expect the battery life to be so good

It also looks like an Aldi Special Purchase

[doodab]

I assumed that given my spec right now of:

256Gb SSD
8Gb RAM
15.6" Screen
4kg weight
DVD Writer
Webcam
3.06Ghz CPU
HDMI out via Display Port

that nearly 3 years later there should be something out there that would improve my current workhorse noticeably. It seems that I can shave 1kg off the weight or lose screen size and gain a blu-ray but speed hasn't changed so much and both options come at the cost of 1.5k+

How much did you spend though? Include the cost of the SSD and extra RAM you added after you bought it.

A current top spec desktop replacement has a quad core CPU with hyperthreading, 16-32GB maximum RAM, 2GB graphics memory, full HD screen and probably longer battery life. You can fit a 600GB SSD if you want as well, though you'll have to buy that yourself I think.