Well my trusty little laptop has pooped out after five years. I need another but I've been so out of the loop (I try to avoid tempation so I never read computer mags). I have no idea what systems are good or bad these days. Who's got the best deals on pc laptops these days? I think good video and screen quality is probably the most important for me. Can anyone recommend a trustworthy source for reviews? Gracias!
Dell's always a good choice on the PC side of things. I just ordered me an XPS Gen 2 which should be arriving soon. However that's more overkill than most people here would need (came out to about $2800 or so).
I'm going Apple soon. A nice 15" powerbook plus one of those big screens they do. They are awesome. My Athlon Thunderbird 1400 system is clogged up to the state I can't be asked to clear the shite anymore.
Overall I have to say the powerbook wins. Not for the usual reasons either: 1. The screen can be viewed from very wide angles. 2. Its the only laptop Ive ever seen where the female species as a whole actually approve. 3. It turns instantly on and off. 4. You can drop them hard regularly and still they work (In my case) 5. Have not experienced any kind of eye strain since having one. 6. Easy to clean Then there's is all those reasons everyone knows about. Safari, 54g, bluetooth, slot drive, OSX, It just works, fast etc..
They have this technology where it senses a drop (just like a convertible protecting your head with bars/roll cage when it flips over) and it quickly parks the HD in a split second to prevent corrupt data. Pretty nifty! It will be tempting to test it but might be better not...
Looks like we have something in common. Right now mine is on a UPS truck out for delivery to my house. You got the Gen 2, right? With the 6800 Go Ultra?
Well i'm a pc girl all the way, and my old laptop is a Dell. Good to hear they're still one of the best. Other than killing the hard drive (my own fault for spilling tea on it) I haven't had any problems until now. I've worked it so hard some of the keys no longer have letters. This machine has been everywhere with me, dropped numerous times, and survived outrageous amounts of dog fur. LOL I figured out it's the fan that died which is causing it to overheat and shut down. Ultimately not a big deal to fix, but after five years I figured it's time to get a new one.
Alienware have the best looking/most powerful laptops out there... The screens are excellent also... Also, as an FYI... Vaio laptop screens that use the onyx-black technology have some serious issues with colour management. Although to use they look great, the second you look at any design work on a different screen the colours are all out. My next machine will be an alienware... Lovely...
Our company has purchased probably 20-25 of the Dell laptops with pretty much all the screen options they offer. They're very very nice. However, about a month ago I purchased an Alienware for myself and wow -- just wow. It's their high end machine (meant to compete with the Dell XPS laptop) and this thing smokes. 3.4 p4, 2 gigs of ram, 256 meg vc, 2 optical drives, etc, etc --and the most incredible display I have ever seen on a laptop. It looks like one of the super high end plasma screens -- very sheek. Everyone looks at it in awe. It's a machine I can develop on while on the road with ease -- thing even comes with 6 usb2.0 ports. Of course, the Alienware is only if you don't mind paying for it. I spent $4800 for mine, but it was worth every penny.
Dunno Oliver, check out this review on mine and ST's laptop. http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzU3 Mind you they don't discuss 2D/Desktop work.
Yep, you will have the fastest blue screen in the west.. Its still a PC Alienware or G4 was my decision - Alienware IS very nice its is not a great all rounder. Would rather have an Alienware Desktop - but then Id buy the G5 anyway.