Top of the range laptop

[chef]

advice and suggestions for a laptop required:

thin lightweight and portable
15-17" screen
min 2gb Ram
min 150gb hard disk
blue ray
good build quality
mainly business but part time gaming laptop (i.e better than average graphics)
no budget as its the main business tool to be used and also a tax reduction purchase

what would you recommend?

i.e your ideal laptop for the commuting, working away from home, IT contractor

[London75]

I have a Dell Inspiron XPS M1530 which I absolutely love to bits. I've got the low res screen as got a bargain but the high res screen teamed with Blu-ray and the Geforce 8600m GT is a pretty good match for occasional gaming.

I actually bought it from Tesco for £500 and upgraded bits myself so has a dual core 2.5GHz with loads of cache, 250GB disk and 4GB RAM for around £700 spent.

If you only get 2GB RAM, upgrade to 4 and ignore anyone that says it can't use it as that is only partly true. The great thing is the graphics card can use the top end of the memory which Windows wouldn't use anyway and boosts most games performance.

EDIT: I think it looks a very professional laptop with brushed alu interior and matt black exterior with just hte odd logo.

[chef]

that what i was thinking either something like a dell xps or a lenovo t-series, not sure about fujitsu siemens or other brands.. alienware are definately good gaming machines but the weight 3-5kg is just impracticle

[Spacecadet]

advice and suggestions for a laptop required:

thin lightweight and portable

15-17" screen

mainly business but part time gaming laptop (i.e better than average graphics)

Do you want the moon on a stick with that?
Either go for performance or go for portability, you'll be very dissappointed if you try to combine the two.

The new Dell Precision range is worth having a look at, i've got the older one (18 months old now) and will get the new version in the summer.
Plenty of processing power in it, over 2Ghz and 2GB ram, handles some of the older games ok, e.g call of duty 1, GTA san andreas ,Sim City 4

SQL Server 2005/8 and Visual Studio 2005/8 all run exceptionally well on it.

[chef]

well, effectively im wondering what is the best laptop out there for your gaming it contractor who likes to run vmware by day and play cod at night, i'm thinking of either:

Dell XPS M1530
great all rounder

Toshiba Qosimo F50-10z
looks great, cheapest of those compared but lacking a bit in the spec dept

Lenovo thinkpad w500
business workhorse and almost bomb proof in design

[chef]

Do you want the moon on a stick with that?
Either go for performance or go for portability, you'll be very dissappointed if you try to combine the two.

The new Dell Precision range is worth having a look at, i've got the older one (18 months old now) and will get the new version in the summer.
Plenty of processing power in it, over 2Ghz and 2GB ram, handles some of the older games ok, e.g call of duty 1, GTA san andreas ,Sim City 4

SQL Server 2005/8 and Visual Studio 2005/8 all run exceptionally well on it.

just had a look, good recommendation, definitely in the possible list

[b0redom]

At the risk of being flamed to death. What about a Macbook Pro? Solid build quality, better than average graphics, look nice and run Windows really quickly too.

Doesn't have BluRay, but will you really use it?

On another note, I'd steer away from 17" screens - for one thing they're a bit unweildy for use on the train / plane (I got a 17" MBP and wish I'd gone for a 15" one now), and if you're gaming you're better running at native res.

[Spacecadet]

At the risk of being flamed to death. What about a Macbook Pro? Solid build quality, better than average graphics, look nice and run Windows really quickly too.

Doesn't have BluRay, but will you really use it?

On another note, I'd steer away from 17" screens - for one thing they're a bit unweildy for use on the train / plane (I got a 17" MBP and wish I'd gone for a 15" one now), and if you're gaming you're better running at native res.

<deleted>

[cojak]

I have a Dell Inspiron XPS M1530 which I absolutely love to bits. I've got the low res screen as got a bargain but the high res screen teamed with Blu-ray and the Geforce 8600m GT is a pretty good match for occasional gaming.

I actually bought it from Tesco for £500 and upgraded bits myself so has a dual core 2.5GHz with loads of cache, 250GB disk and 4GB RAM for around £700 spent.

If you only get 2GB RAM, upgrade to 4 and ignore anyone that says it can't use it as that is only partly true. The great thing is the graphics card can use the top end of the memory which Windows wouldn't use anyway and boosts most games performance.

EDIT: I think it looks a very professional laptop with brushed alu interior and matt black exterior with just hte odd logo.

When did you buy that London75?

[chef]

At the risk of being flamed to death. What about a Macbook Pro? Solid build quality, better than average graphics, look nice and run Windows really quickly too.

Doesn't have BluRay, but will you really use it?

no flaming to death but it has to have windows on as the software i develop on is only available on windows..

bluray would be nice but not a deal breaker

looking at weight i think its going to be a 15" laptop i'd want

so far the M4400 is top of the list with the complete upgrade of hard disk, processor, graphics