Laptop Recommendations?

[Geodetic]

Looking for a good laptop suitable for heavy use. Mainly internet, email, mp3s, streaming radio and videos plus occasional Call of Duty World at War and Starcraft II gaming. Was looking at something along the lines of a Dell Studio XPS 16 with 4 to 6 GB of RAM, 1 GB video card, 500 GB hard drive (but less is ok). My wife has one of these and I REALLY like the speakers. They seem to be better than most laptop speakers with the subwoofer. This is a big priority for me. My problem is that Dell is pretty much all I know and I know there has to be something equivalent and thats better for the price? I also like to experiment with Ubuntu linux occasionally. Also one that comes with a plain copy of Windows would be nice as I like to install a fresh copy without all the bloatware they come with. Unfortunately I have slipped behind the curve on PC/Notebook technology the last few years. Would appreciate input from the techies.

[bigmike82]

Most important question:

What's your target budget? What's the max you can afford?

[Geodetic]

I'd say max would be $1350

[NaughtyMonkey]

If your going with a Windows Machine and want to do heavy gaming, I suggest an Alienware, they are pricey but they seem to last a lot longer then other laptops I've seen or used.

They are owned by Dell know which sucks. I got mine before the switch so I don't no how good they are now.

[todd2968]

MAC

[Geodetic]

What I don't get is why Alienware is considered a gaming machine when the RAM, video RAM, and CPU are often the same or less than other laptops. Could someone enlighten me on that?

[xXBigJoeXx]

HP all the way......

[bigmike82]

Alienware was one of the first manufacturers to come out with high-performance laptops and succeed.

They've added some budget models, though by all accounts, their budget models have the same level of reliability and quality as their other lines.

Personally, if I had the funds, I'd get one since I've wanted one since college.

I like Dell, HP and Lenovo when it comes to brands. I've had great success with all three. In any case, I would go with one of the business lines of notebooks, not the consumer ones. You generally have better luck dealing with support (should you ever need it), and the quality seems to be slightly better.

[NaughtyMonkey]

I forgot about Levovo, there good too.

[stphnman20]

I'd say go with a MacBook pro!!

[erblo]

Love my Macbook. The price is outrageous when you compare specs, but I don't regret it. I've had it for almost 2 years now and it runs like it was new. I can't say that for any PC I've ever owned. The trackpad is awesome too, great for browsing the web. I actually prefer it over a mouse for almost everything.

[dmTrek]

You don't need to look far than the Dell Studio XPS 16. I'd say that's the best with what you're looking for. But if you want to explore, you can check out the Toshiba Qosmio X500.

[ZX-10R]

HP ProBook if it is for work. If it is for personal. MacBook.

Forget Dell. Those things are POS. We recently migrated from Dell to HP...Almost 5 years after I kept saying Dell is the worst. That is my opinion and experience. HPs are awesome having owned some myself. So we use HP workstations (CAD) and HP laptops and as some of you know workstation laptops are not cheap. We did the benchmarks and Dell lost. I went every 6 months with problems with my Dell laptop...Now with my HP ProBook 4710 I have gone 6 months with nothing more than me having to wipe my screen. One Dell laptop I had, had 3 screen replacements and one HD replacement.

Sorry am not a Dell fan at all.

Macs though rule...Last year was the year when my household went from mostly PCs to almost entirely Mac. My wife and daughter have the new MacBooks and we have a Mac from 4 years ago as a spare.

I come from the gaming world and build my PCs and also ran Q3A, SOF, and COD servers...In the end it is what you are doing with you laptop that will determine to an extent what you get. Most manufacturers allow you to config your machine.

So HP or Apple for the win.

[ZX-10R]

By the way you can get an HP ProBook 17.3 inch, Intel i5 CPU, 320 gig 7200rpm, 4 gig memory, ATI gpu, and everything you need for only $1000. That is the newer version of what I have...I have as a CPU the CoreDuo P8700 (2.53) in mine which was the fastest at the time.

I am an impatient computer user so speed is important to me.

[Corbin Dallas]

Alienware = Dell


For a gaming computer you want as MUCH memory, CPU and GPU processing power as you can get for your $$$.


If you're willing to drop some coin ($1k +) look for the following items:


Core i7 or Core i9 processor
4GB of ram MINIMUM! If possible 8GB is better, 16GB is ideal
Nvidia or ATI discrete GPU processor (If you see integrated video, wrong one)

For additional benefits, make sure to get the x64 version of the OS you want and if you have some extra $$$ upgrade to the SSD hard drive.


There are a LOT of great machines out there, make a checklist and pick the one that has all the items you want. Most all the brands are about the same. Narrow your search down and then research user input for each model you're considering.