best 17" laptop

crewe

Hi

I am looking to buy a laptop with a 17" screen, my budget is £700.
Anyone know any good deals.

Thanks

Thenotsowyzewun

Depends what you want it for; by the sound of it you're looking for a desktop replacement, but do you want to do with it:

with a gaming machine you'll want to pay much much more attention to the graphics card, as this can't be upgraded later in ANY laptop AFAIK.

With a media center machine you'll want to pay more attention to the speed of the Optical Drive (i.e. DVD-RW or what have you (although these can be upgraded easily), and you'll also look for things like a TV tuner perhaps, the size of the hard drive, and having the right connector (e.g. firewire, or whatever, for your Digital Camcorder or Camera).

With an Office machine, there's no need to spend money on graphics cards (unless you work in the movie/video game business!), and you won't need a massive hard drive (80GB or less will be fine) - note again these are upgradeable anyway, so you'd be best spending your money on a faster processor and having at least 1GB RAM (of course, at that price you'll get at least 1GB RAM anyway!).

Lastly if I'm wrong and you don't want a desktop replacement, rather a portable machine, other than strongly recommending a smaller screen so the total "footprint" of the machine is smaller, I'd also pay more attention to the battery capacity (very important for a portable machine, and often overlooked) and how cool it runs - you don't want a hot computer on your lap (so you'll want a Duo 2 Core - they're about 20% cooler than Duo Core (although again, at £700 you should expect one of them).

Hope that helps!

Ashok_2

I spent £2600 on an Alienware MCE laptop a few months back, and I've had to say if your looking for a desktop replacement (as I was) it is not worth spending that much. I know Alienwares are over priced, but it still was a high-spec laptop, and still I find it pretty slow. It definitely was not worth it considering I can get an even higher spec Dell for under a £1000 - which would run amazingly! I'm considering selling this in the near future, and replacing it with a desktop..

crewe

Thanks

It's for my sister, she does not play games, and I will try and talk her into a 15.4" screen if there are any good deals.

Regards
Crewe

albertross_2

http://www.dmxdimension.com/

gamston

i;ve just got a acer aspire 9301 awsmi
17" dvd duol layer writer, 120 gb hd
£570 savastore, not bad

Thenotsowyzewun

Ashok wrote:

I spent £2600 on an Alienware MCE laptop a few months back, and I've had to say if your looking for a desktop replacement (as I was) it is not worth spending that much. I know Alienwares are over priced, but it still was a high-spec laptop, and still I find it pretty slow. It definitely was not worth it considering I can get an even higher spec Dell for under a £1000 - which would run amazingly! I'm considering selling this in the near future, and replacing it with a desktop..

I think desktop replacements are a huge waste of money unless you really don't have any room for a desktop, or barely ever use the computer and therefore see no reason to give up any space for it (but in that case, I would buy a basic machine and keep most of the £700.

Very nice buying your sis a laptop btw!

Reluctant_spender

If you have a Tescos extra near you then visit them. Thay have a range of Acers at pretty good prices.

Thenotsowyzewun

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/367566/art/philips/x53.html?srcid=349

This is a great buy; 12.1" screen so ultra ultra portable!
Wouldn't buy it from Pixmania though, and maybe its too portable - i.e. sure the small screen makes it soo much more portable than a 17 or even 15 inch screen, but if you're not that bothered about size, it's not a good buy.