Business - Personal Laptop

[nickb]

I am taking my pension and will be doing some part time consulting. I am looking to purchase a laptop that can handle both engineering needs, Photoshop, some game playing and just general use. Any suggestions on what to look at or links to site that discuss this?

Thanks
NickB

[butch81385]

Hey everyone:
This is my dad, so treat him nice, ok?

And I warned him that he made the biggest mistake.... he didn't put how much money he wants to spend and I know how much you guys like to spend other people's money!

Anyway, I would guess that he is looking to spend $1000-$1500 (or more if you convince my mom that he needs it). He shouldn't have to do too much intensive engineering on it, but obviously we like more power

Also, I should clarify that his game playing is not going to be the latest and greatest games at high res, but just be able to handle the odd game here and there and look good.

I have been looking for good deals on Dells and elsewhere, but I told him to come here since you guys seem to find the best deals...

[KarmaKiller]

Uh oh... Butch's dad!

Your working with a good budget for a lappy. Intel has also released their newer CPU's now too.
But my first question is gonna be about screen size. Are you one to like a big screen, or do you like the more portable smaller screens? Realize that the larger screen, the heavier it will weight, and it won't be as portable as a smaller model.
So what are you thinking for screen size? Large(17"-19") medium(14"-15") or small(7"-13")?

[ShuckyD]

I would have to be a Thinkpad fanboy on this one

I absolutely love my laptop which serves well for work & for personal use. I use it with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, AutoCAD, Premiere and other large programs all the time and then I use it for basic web surfing and watching videos. It also works great when away from the office and you remote into another computer, etc. Check my sig out to see my specs, ohh and Lenovo is having a great sale on their Thinkpad lineup for a little while longer I believe.

[butch81385]

Well my dad has lost his internet connection for a little while, so I will see if I can help out. His current laptop (which unfortunately stays with the company) is a 17" Mac (I don't know what kind) and I think he was thinking of staying with the 17" size (though I warned him that my 17" Dell is heavier than his Mac).

I haven't heard much about Lenovo recently and actually thought they might have disappeared, but will look back into them based on your review. Keep the suggestions coming guys!

[ShuckyD]

Unfortunately I dont see any 17" thinkpads, I prefer smaller, but some people like larger laptops. I see that Lenovo's largest laptop in the Thinkpad line is 15.4" but I also see they have some decently spec'ed 17" laptops in Lenovo's IdeaPad lineup (which I cannot say is good nor bad, never had any experience with them, but like the knock-off name)

[KarmaKiller]

Ok. So I've been looking around online some. And of course on newegg. I found a couple of different lappy's.

Newegg.com - ASUS M50 Series M50Vm-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8400(2.26GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS - Laptops / Notebooks
This thing is just a hoss. Great graphics, great CPU, 4gigs of RAM. It's ready to handle anything. Comes from ASUS, so you know quality is there. 15.4" 1280x800res. And it's even got a decent price.

side note and a little off topic, look at this beast.
Newegg.com - HP Pavilion HDX9494NR NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T8100(2.10GHz) 20.1" Wide SXGA+ 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 5400rpm Blu-ray Disc / Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS - Laptops / Notebooks

EDIT:
Lenovo:
Newegg.com - lenovo IdeaPad Y710(59013729) NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T8100(2.10GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm Dual layer DVD Burner ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 - Laptops / Notebooks
Kind of pricey though.

[nickb]

Thanks guys...looks like a lot of great options. I quickly scanned the links and will definitely spend some time reviewing them in detail. That 20"+ laptop is a monster...I can't imagine a 15# laptop. I have had a 17" unit at work for a few years now and am spoiled with the screen size. We'll see.

What do you think....butch81385 should buy one of these for his dad...sounds like a great ideal to me. LOL

NickB

[EXreaction]

Personally, I would recommend you wait a few weeks if possible. Recently Intel released their new Mobile platform which is quite a bit better than their old one.

Watch for laptops marked with Centrino 2.

[Mostafa Nabil]

In my opinion, the best business laptops are toshiba tecra series. It is one of the very few laptops that have serial ports to connect to some engineering devices.