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  • Laptop-trackworld… new laptop time and little idea where to start!
  • DanW
    Free Member

    Hi all,

    I need a new laptop and I am at a bit of a loss where to start. The high street shops are very little help and online reviews of laptops seem to find fault with pretty much every model I’ve come up with but it is very hard to know what is really an issue in the real world away from their geeky tests 😀

    I currently have a Toshiba Satellite r830-1gz. At the time I bought it I was travelling 2 hours to and from work on the train so the light weight and super long battery life suited me very well.

    I now travel less frequently so weight and size isn’t so much of an issue but I require more processing power while retaining good battery life for days in and out of airports etc.

    What I think I need (happy to be corrected!):
    – Windows operating system is crucial
    – i5/ i7 level processor
    – 8GB+ RAM
    – 500GB+ Hard Disk
    – Dedicated graphics
    – 6hr+ battery life
    – Ethernet port crucial

    Don’t really care about things like screen resolutions/ speakers/ start up time and SSD drives…It all seems fine until you get to the longer battery life requirement 😕

    I seem to come up with the Acer V Nitro models like this or this.

    Is there anything else I should be looking at for a decent performing but reasonably portable (longish battery life) laptop???

    Thanks in advance!

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    I could be missing something here, but could you just buy an additional battery or two or maybe one of those after market bigger cell batteries?
    Or even one of those plug in charger/back up batteries like the Anker Astro Pro2?

    DanW
    Free Member

    ^ It isn’t something I have considered or know a great deal about to be honest. In an ideal world it would be nice to have a laptop that doesn’t cost a fortune, is capable, reasonably portable and has a battery that lasts and not have to carry any extras. I tend to travel light if I can so if there is a laptop out there that meets the requirements then that would be ideal…

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    stumpy01
    Full Member

    What has bought you to your spec? Not 100% sure, but I’d expect a powerful processor and dedicated graphics might hurt battery life.
    Do you need dedicated graphics? I’ve got an Acer with an i5 processor and onboard graphics that is fine for photo editing and Solidworks.

    I assume SSD drives are more energy efficient than traditional drives too, so perhaps spec one of them?

    Have you looked on somewhere like pcspecialist to build your own?
    My Acer came from Acerdirect and the service was great.

    With regards to online reviews, you’ll always find reviews that pick holes in the item you are thinking of buying and make you doubt them. Unless every review is negative, I wouldn’t pay them too much heed.

    DanW
    Free Member

    Thanks Stumpy.

    What has bought you to your spec?

    Taking what I have and am happy with with about my current laptop and trying to up it in the areas my current laptop struggles for the work I do. It is really just picking a spec out of the air and trying to find something that matches and I don’t have any grasp of what is out there or even feasible to be honest 😳

    Not 100% sure, but I’d expect a powerful processor and dedicated graphics might hurt battery life.

    Sounds sensible, I hadn’t even given it a thought!

    I saw things like the Alienware 13 which seems to balance power, battery life and portability… but it looks hideous and I’m almost certain doesn’t represent the best value for my needs.

    Do you need dedicated graphics?

    My work involves motion capture and biomechanical modelling with although doesn’t require anything special to physically run, some of the stuff I’ve been running takes 10 minutes or so to process which is quite tedious with the little processing power I currently have.

    In terms of the graphics, sometimes I do the above in real-time where the processing isn’t demanding but the integrated graphics card I currently have really struggles and isn’t smooth at all. It also isn’t smooth displaying the motion capture stuff so I was hoping for a little better graphics performance than I currently have.

    I assume SSD drives are more energy efficient than traditional drives too, so perhaps spec one of them?

    They seem to be used in conjunction with a traditional drive to speed up booting up the PC but I haven’t seen many laptops specced with just an SSD. Makes sense what you say though.

    Have you looked on somewhere like pcspecialist to build your own?
    My Acer came from Acerdirect and the service was great.

    Not looked beyond PC World, manufacturers websites and Insight so this is a great suggestion. I will look in to it, thanks!

    Unless every review is negative, I wouldn’t pay them too much heed.

    Again, that is great to know. Every laptop on the market seems flawed if you go by the online reviews!

    marmaduke
    Free Member

    Seeing as you need your laptop for a serious purpose, get a serious laptop. http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/. The only laptop to be used on the ISS. Two batteries built in. Pop an SSD in and you’ll be flying. I have a t420 from 2012 I got on ebay used. It’s so well built and it’s very powerful. I think I will never get a random shiny, looks-good-on-the-display-stand-in-PC-World laptop again.

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