Waning to buy a laptop or Ultrabook or notebook $1000-$1700

Specs: reasonable storage as I can use portable hard drives. Just a kick ass processor and good graphics as well as any other features you might add to a business laptop/all rounder. Also I'm from Australia and getting good tech for a reasonable price is hard. Thanks in advance for your time and knowledge.

reply to post by Sounds_of_Silence


Go with alienware

reply to post by lobotomizemecapin


Cheers, it's expensive...would I be better adding specs online from a mainstream supplier?

My last laptop was less than $500, a Toshiba that is perfectly adequate. You don't need to spend $1000 for a computer unless you really want high end game stuff (like Alienware.) My last desktop, which I use as a server, was a Dell for $545. Terabyte of storage, 6 gigs of RAM, i5 processor. For the record, I have bought several hundred Dells in my life (via work)) and never had a single problem with them.

So save some money.

reply to post by Sounds_of_Silence


Id say visit ebay and get a refurbished one with the specs you want. Make sure it has a 30 day return policy and buy the 1 year warranty that is available (50 bucks) with most computer companies selling computers on ebay

reply to post by Sounds_of_Silence


Asus has good gaming comps as well

reply to post by Sounds_of_Silence

One little hint for you. If you want Wifi access, stay far away from Broadcom and Realtek. Some kind of fight is going on, the the drivers conflict with each other. I bought my wife a new Toshiba Satellite laptop, and at first the Wifi worked perfectly. Then one day it just stopped. Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller shows a problem, This Device cannot start. (Code 10), we have tried various drivers from Realtek, but no solution. We can see outr Wifi, but for some reason the "IP Address cannot be resolved".
A day or two of research showed that some kind of fight between the drivers is the culprit. I even emailed Toshiba support tech, who told me the best thing to do right now is obtain a USB Wifi modem.
Also, the AMD based boards run a lot cooler that the Intel boards.

Look at this on eBay:

Dell Alienware M15x 15.6" Full HD i7-820QM 6GB/500GB Blu-Ray PRO GAMING Laptop

http://(link tracking not allowed)/M4F1UW

Look at this on eBay:

Dell Alienware M17x R2 17" WUXGA 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5870 i7-740QM 8GB/1TB DVD±RW

http://(link tracking not allowed)/M4FXbJ

Originally posted by lobotomizemecapin
reply to post by Sounds_of_Silence

 

Go with alienware

n00b alert.

You dont wanna pay all that extra just for a goofy alien head do you?

www.catchoftheday.com.au...

I would suggest not alienware. They were better a few years ago before they were bought out by Dell. I would look at Digital Storm Laptops. DigitalStorm is the new top of the line gaming machine creator.

1,378.00
15.4 Inch full 1080p Screen
Intel Core i7 2.6 turbo boost to 3.6 quad core
8 GB DDR3 RAM @ 1600 MHz
750 GB HDD @ 3Gb/s
DVD/CD R+W
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M 1GB with NVIDIA Optimus Technology
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-Bit Edition)
Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty
Life-time U.S. based technical support and customer service by our own in-house technicians

Not a bad deal if you want some gaming.
My laptop was $370
Intel Core i3 @ 2.4 GHz dual core
4 GB DDR RAM (not sure if its 1333 or 1600 MHz)
Intel Integrated Graphics (Up too 1700 MB Memory) 128 MB dedicated
15.4 inch screen

So I mean, just because you have a large amount to spend, doesnt mean you should go all out and spend a bunch on a computer you wont even use the full potential of. I would suggest something like this
HP Laptop
Get something not super pricey, and get some accessories such as a cooling pad for it, maybe an extra or larger battery, a mouse, a carrying bag. It all depends on what exactly you want to be doing.

Alienware is a joke in Australia, Yes its cheap in the US however its twice the price in Australia and you get rubbish support through Dell.

I would suggest using the site "wireless1", I've found them quite good for laptops.
Whirlpool is a good aussi site for tech advice

ASUS A73SV-TY185V NOTEBOOK
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
1.5TB
8GB Ram
i7-2630QM
17.3" screen
Blu-ray/CD/DVD
$1099

This is plenty of power for business software, you cut it down to $700 quite easily if you don't need the i7 and a powerful graphic card, another plus with a less speced laptop is better battery life.
The above is all you really need, if you want to wait another few weeks Ivybridge and Kepler will be more mainstream and you will get better value for money.