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a real desktop replacement notebook

jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
What do you all recommend for a true performance notebook? I need something that can replace my desktop (3ghz, 2gig, etc etc) for daily use. I'm a web guy which means I do a lot of graphics work and I dabble in video editing from time to time.

I'm open to making the jump to Mac, but they are so damn expensive. At this point, an Alienware is leading the pack. From what I've seen, they are more powerful than anything else out there, and in some cases, cheaper.

Weight isn't a huge concern, a 15" screen is plenty (would prefer a 15" widescreen though).

Any suggestions? My budget is $2500 (firm).
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,100
1,150
NC
Question:

Why?

For $2500, you could get a nice, powerful desktop to do your daily editing, and an inexpensive but somewhat powerful notebook for portability purposes.

Not that you might not have a perfectly good reason to want a notebook, I'm just wondering. A notebook with a big screen is going to be bulky and somewhat heavy.
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
binary visions said:
Question:

Why?

For $2500, you could get a nice, powerful desktop to do your daily editing, and an inexpensive but somewhat powerful notebook for portability purposes.

Not that you might not have a perfectly good reason to want a notebook, I'm just wondering. A notebook with a big screen is going to be bulky and somewhat heavy.
Click to expand...
It's mostly a convenience thing... to be working in the same environment with the same files at work, at home, and on the road. To not have to worry about synching files and all that other crap.

Plus, I can't get what I consider to be a decent laptop for less than about $2000 or so. The minute you beef it up to 2gigs of ram the price jumps significantly.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,100
1,150
NC
I just spec'd out a Dell for a guy I work with, Intel Core Duo processor @ 1.66ghz, 1gb DDR, 120gb SATA drive, built in wireless etc. for $700. Okay, so a nice graphics card bumps the price up a bit but that would be an excellent machine with another gb of memory and a nice graphics card, and that certainly wouldn't make the price jump up 2.5x.

Just be aware that lugging a bulky laptop around really sucks. I hate mine. I thought that I wouldn't care when I got it, but it's really a pain.

Does your office not offer a virtual private network that you can connect to via the internet? That would solve your file syncing issue although if your files are big enough it'll still be a pain.

Anyway, not trying to talk you out of it, just offering some thoughts. Personally, I'd rather spend 10 minutes syncing my files at the end of every day than haul around a large notebook.

Alienware makes some nice stuff, though.
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
Yes, we do have VPN, but on a dial-up connection, VPN sucks. And remote desktop sucks even more.

I'll never buy a Dell laptop. Even our Dell rep has told us not to buy dell laptops. We've had more problems with them than you can shake a stick at. Keyboards, hard drives, mother boards, monitors - the works.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,100
1,150
NC
:rofl:

It's funny. Some people have had nothing but terrible experiences with Dells, some people have had nothing but good experiences. We had a couple dozen Dell laptops at the place I used to work, and they were far more reliable than any of the other brands (Compaq, HP, Toshiba and Acer), except the IBM Thinkpads... but the Thinkpads were twice the price.

I've got a Dell laptop that's about 6 years old now, works great. Jenn's brother has had his for a year and a half now, and has subjected it to the rigors of a dorm room and the life of a college student with no problems.

Now, the recent bout of exploding batteries is certainly an issue :dead:

Sorry, not trying to derail your thread. I'm more familliar with the ultra portables than I am with the desktop replacement notebooks. If I had the funds, I'd buy a Lenovo (formerly IBM) Thinkpad in a heartbeat.
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
Yea - we have contracts with IMB (Lenovo) and Dell. We buy almost exclusively IBM servers and Dell desktops. For a long time, we bought thinkpads as well, but as their prices have gone up and dell prices have gone down, we made the move to Dell laptops. We've got about 20 of them in the office right now, the majority of which have had problems - some of them repeated problems.
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
Oh, and getting back to the idea that carrying around a big heavy laptop sucks... the old thinkpad I have now is a tank, so I'm not all that worried about it.
 
C

comtom1

Chimp
Aug 2, 2006
19
0
south of boston
look at the new duel core 64 bitturionx2 from hp i just bought one for my son 2100.with the 3 year no questions asked warr. which i highly suggest with any laptop the warr. is only as good as the product when it comes to opps!!!!!!!!
 
Mastamind

Mastamind

Chimp
Jun 7, 2006
72
0
Pittsburgh, PA
I'd say go MacBook Pro. Soound like exactly what you need, especially for graphics and video editing work. I've been using apple for as long as I can remember, very reliable, solid machines, not to mention it's so easy to use their programs. I've been making movies using imovie forever, and imovie is thier consumer product, looks very professional. Wonder what their professional programs would do, watch Lord of the rings, or Finding Nemo, made on a G5 tower. Plus, the few times I did need to use their Applecare, it was great, no questions asked, they fixed it for free.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,100
1,150
NC
BTW, Macs are fine and blah blah blah plusses and minuses to each, but something to keep in mind is the cost of replacing your software. If you currently own versions of anything, the price to replace it for switching to a Mac can jack the price up significantly.

Yeah, I know you can install Windows on a Mac, but if you're installing Windows so you can run all of your Windows applications, you may as well just save some bucks and buy a PC.

And BTW, using examples like that as a reason to buy a Mac is like me recommending an Iron Horse because Sam Hill won the worlds on one. It makes little sense - there are many other bikes that are equally capable.
 
LordOpie

LordOpie

MOTHER HEN
Oct 17, 2002
21,022
3
Denver
what about heat issues? Seems to me that laptops get really hot. Is it an issue when you work on it for hours on end?
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
LordOpie said:
what about heat issues? Seems to me that laptops get really hot. Is it an issue when you work on it for hours on end?
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I work for 10-12 hours at a time on my g4 powerbook, no problem performance wise but it sure as hell will burn my crotch if i leave it there.
 
BigMike

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
I'm putting in a major vote here for a MacBookPro!

They will do everything your PC can dream of, and more. And now, with Bootcamp, you can even run Windows, which will soon be an integrated feature into OSX.

There is no reason to go any other direction :D
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2002
6,791
59
Vestal, NY
I'm seriously considering the MacBookPro. We can get them at univeristy pricing, which will help the whole budget thing. I just need to look into what software we have licenses for. I don't want ot have to spend another grand just on software.

Still liking the looks of the Alienware stuff too - I just wish I could get their powerhouse downsized to a 15" screen. I don't need 17" of laptop.
 
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