New laptop - budget of £1,000 - suggestions??

timberflake

Hi guys,

A friend has asked me to look for a new laptop for him and said he's got a top budget of £1,000.00. He's going to use it for music, photo's and gaming, not hardcore gaming just casual so he needs a decent graphics card.

My initial thoughts were Dell or a Sony Vaio (I have a vaio and love it!) so checked out there sites. Sony have one with the following specs for £959.00:

• Intel® Core(TM)2 Duo 2.80 GHz
• 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
• 4 GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• DVD disc drive
• 16.4" LCD, 1600 x 900
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 1GB
• Windows® 7 Home Premium

But Dell have a comparible model for £950.00

Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 540M(2.53GHz,3MB cache)

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

Black Leather back cover : 15.6" (inch) Truelife 720p HD+ WLED Edge to Edge Display
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]

500GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive

Internal DVD+/-RW (DVD & CD read and write) Slot Load Drive

1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 4670 graphics card

My question is, which of the above two would you guys go for (the vaio has a slightly faster processor), or does anyone know of an even better spec'd machine for the money??

timbim_2

Which Dell line is it? I'd suggest getting a Studio XPS or straight XPS, the Inspiron line probably won't be a good investment at that price point.

timberflake

timbim wrote: »

Which Dell line is it? I'd suggest getting a Studio XPS or straight XPS, the Inspiron line probably won't be a good investment at that price point.

Its the Studio XPS 16

supermonkey

That looks well over priced to me. For that kind of money I would expect DDR3 memory, and a quad core processing.

The I5 looks the better deal.

BillScarab

You can't compare the clock speeds of different processor architectures.

One other point is that the i5 will 'overclock' the CPu if required to 3.33GHz, Intel call it Turbo Mode. It's also from the latest range of processors.

The Dell also has a slightly better Graphics card.

On specs I would go with teh Dell but it depends which if their range it is.

What games does your friend want to play?

If he's looking to play modern games I'd try and get a better GPU, although a lot depends on the screen resolution. For laptop gaming it can be an advantage to have a lsightly lower resolution screen so the GPU will cope with it better.

timberflake

BillScarab wrote: »

You can't compare the clock speeds of different processor architectures.

One other point is that the i5 will 'overclock' the CPu if required to 3.33GHz, Intel call it Turbo Mode. It's also from the latest range of processors.

The Dell also has a slightly better Graphics card.

On specs I would go with teh Dell but it depends which if their range it is.

What games does your friend want to play?

If he's looking to play modern games I'd try and get a better GPU, although a lot depends on the screen resolution. For laptop gaming it can be an advantage to have a lsightly lower resolution screen so the GPU will cope with it better.

His example of gaming was Champ Manager so nothing graphically intense.

So everyone thinks the Dell then? Anyone have any other suggestions?

Scrilla

<Insert obligatory post about refurb MacBook Pro as an option (and one I'd personally go for)>
(Insert obligatory disclaimer that this is my opinion as a Windows and Mac user and it is a suggestion rather than the biblical implication that the Mac is divine and all Windows PCs are evil.)

timberflake

Scrilla wrote: »

<Insert obligatory post about refurb MacBook Pro as an option (and one I'd personally go for)>
(Insert obligatory disclaimer that this is my opinion as a Windows and Mac user and it is a suggestion rather than the biblical implication that the Mac is divine and all Windows PCs are evil.)

Thanks for the suggestion, but he wants a PC.

Scrilla

No probs, you're welcome.

As possible alternatives:
HP Pavilion DV6 Entertainment Laptop, Core i7 i7-720QM 1.6GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, DVD±RW, GF GT230 - faster if my i7 processor knowledge is upto date and also slightly cheaper at £919.47 than your i5 laptop in your original post.

HP Pavilion DV7 Laptop, Core i7-720QM 1.60GHz, 4GB RAM, 640GB HDD, 17.3" HD LED BV, Blu-Ray - over budget at £1062.42 (and it's ex-display), but the entertainment part of it (larger screen and blu-ray) may appeal.

(I'm just one of those people who will always look slightly above budget - sometimes it's worth it.)

Forgot to ask: is battery life a consideration?

supermonkey

I would second the HP DV7 with i7 chip. Though that one is overpriced, you could easily get it within budget

Marty_J

timberflake wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion, but he wants a PC.

When you say "music", do you mean listening to it, or making it?

If the later, he really should consider a Mac.