Best Top End Windows Laptop

[Platypus]

I know these threads come around, but I'd like to ask the panel what laptop they use / recommend for heavy-duty work and which is actually portable. Must be Windows unfortunately. Budget £2k.

16GB RAM would be installed. Fast processor would be bought. But which brands do people find reliable and well built these days?

My Lenovo T series is ok but some of the newer ones are a bit crap so I'd be reluctant to recommend those myself.

Thanks!

[vwdan]

I'll start by saying it weighs a lot and, with all my stuff, my backpack is heavier than I'd like but I really love my Dell Precision M6800.

It's a portable desktop, ultimately - massive screen, two HDDs, 16GB RAM, i7 processor, offboard Quddro graphics but it does everything I want and need. If you're going to be running VM's or doing serious work on it (I.e., spending 8 hours coding or whatever) then it's the only way to go IMHO.

By the way, I got it from eBay as it was a returned item (A couple of dents on the lid) - It was £1999 incl VAT but I saved near £1000 thanks to that. And, it's been spot on for over a year now. Fully warranted, too, not that I've had to test it.

[darmstadt]

My main work laptops are a Lenovo W530 with 16gb memory and 500gb hard drive and a slightly better model with 32gb memory and 1TB SSD and both are pretty damn good for the work I do (I have a lot of development tools plus VMs and a very special bit of software which is very memory and CPU intensive.) I also have a Lenovo W520 with 16gb memory and 1tb SSD running Linux and a Lenovo W540 under test. I just find Lenovo, particularly the high end ones, good workhorses.

[unixman]

The most powerful laptops these days tend to be designated "gaming" laptops. Confusing but there it is. i recommend saveonlaptops.co.uk.

[BoredBloke]

I bought one of these

HP OMEN 15-5012na Gaming Laptop - HP Store UK

Its classed as a gaming laptop. Mine only has a 256 gb ssd but they are selling it with a 512gb drive now, but I didn't need tons of storage on it. Mine was 1199 from John Lewis which included a 2 year guarantee and will be 1099 once the £100 redemption comes through. Its all black aluminium and goes like stink. They are very thin and not really expandable. The memory is fixed to the motherboard.

[sal]

"15 MacBook Pro retina top model is exactly £1999

[cosmos]

While it wont have 16Gb Ram, the Surface Pro 3 (plus dock) is an amazing device. The i7 is super fast and it'll handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. You could even squeeze in a 4k monitor within your budget and have a lovely set up (as do I now).

[MicrosoftBob]

While it wont have 16Gb Ram, the Surface Pro 3 (plus dock) is an amazing device. The i7 is super fast and it'll handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. You could even squeeze in a 4k monitor within your budget and have a lovely set up (as do I now).

And it ways almost nothing, and boots up and shuts down in a second, great for sitting on a train and coding

Just factor in another £100 for a decent keyboard

[sal]

While it wont have 16Gb Ram, the Surface Pro 3 (plus dock) is an amazing device. The i7 is super fast and it'll handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. You could even squeeze in a 4k monitor within your budget and have a lovely set up (as do I now).

Have you ever used it for CPU heavy work? I theory it have core i7 in reality due to the "brilliant" no fan design it will overheat after 20min and throttle the CPU to death.

[eek]

While it wont have 16Gb Ram, the Surface Pro 3 (plus dock) is an amazing device. The i7 is super fast and it'll handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. You could even squeeze in a 4k monitor within your budget and have a lovely set up (as do I now).

Do you need a desk or can you work on your lap?