What Laptop should I buy?

[SharinganUser]

I am looking to buy a laptop, but I don't know a whole lot about them. I would like some suggestions. The laptop would mostly be used for media editiing, gaming, movies n music, as well as surfing the web. Price is not a factor.

 

[HandyAndy]

If you going to use it for media, pics, videos, editing, movies and whatnot. You should get an HP those work great for editing no doubt. I have one. If your a serious gamer sony viaos work well, if price is not a factor then get an Alienware (those are expensive)

 

[Señor Fingers]

At the risk of starting the usual war of OS preferences, might I suggest going with a shiny new Macbook Pro?

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

I love Macs in general, but they've really outdone themselves with these models. They are highly expandable and built specifically for multimedia use. You also get some decent free apps like iMovie and GarageBand.

Of course if you are serious about your production I'd recommend getting a hold of Logic or Live (I use both myself) for audio, and Final Cut Pro with Adobe After Effects for film.

That's just my humble opinion of course. I use both OS X and Vista at my job and Mac just feels much more ergonomic to me.

Now if someone put a gun to my head and said "Buy a PC or you die!!" I would have to go with this puppy:

http://www.alienware.com/product_pages/notebook_m15x.aspx

Both machines are solid. It really comes down to what software/OS you prefer.

 

[playa99]

its all about the person in my opinion, some people like some laptops, some dont like them. The generally good laptops are: dell ( my preference had them for years ), sony vaio ( bit more expensive but worth the money ), apple are generally good laptops and if money is no object go for an alienware one like senor fingers and handy andy said

 

[STR8UP]

No matter what, get a Pentium or equivalent processor and as much RAM as you can afford. I have 2 gigs and it's STILL slow sometimes editing high res graphics in Photoshop

 

[STR8UP]

Oh yea, and I LOVE my 17" screen. A little more to lug around, but to me it's worth it. Especially if you are doing editing and such.

 

[Soprano]

i have a toshiba that ive abused the hell out of and its served me well

a friend of mine has a sony and says its awesome too

 

[penkitten]

buy it at sams, so that way if you need to return it within 12 months, you can with no questions asked.

 

[KarmaSutra]

If money is no object I'd go with this:

FragBook-TL-2

I'm assuming you're a PC guy. If you're a fellow Mac lover, go with Fingers' suggestion on the new Powerbook.

I have a 2005 Toshiba Sattelite Pro which I am unable to destroy. An Acer extensa 4420 (which I just picked up from Best Buy for a cool $535 out the door!), and a Compaq B1200 and my baby:The Karmic Supermachine

I picked this beast up through work for a cool $800! We get trailer loads of freight which has been refused by customers or has one item damaged on the pallet so they refuse the entire thing. We get some fvcking unbelievable deals. The only thing I did was upgrade the memory to 4 gigs from 2. Saves me over $2000 bucks

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I HATE MACS! Not enough software available in comparison to PCs. That being said, any computer or videogame system being considered should be based on whatever games or applications you want to run. It would suck to buy a really good computer (no matter the platform) just to find out that the particular package/version you want to use doesn't work on it. Pick your specific software first and then choose a machine that will run it.

 

[ready123]

I used to repair laptops for a living. Sony's, HP's, and Toshiba's are all great computers. I'd rank the Sony's and HP's slightly above the Toshiba's in terms of engineering. If I were you I'd go for one of those. Sony's are the more expensive brand

The newer Fujitsu's are similar to the Sony's in quality and design - I've used a Fujitsu P1500 ultra-light for the past 3 years, no problems. Compaqs used to be crap but they merged with HP a few years back so they're all HP quality now. Dell and Acer, I have no experience with.

You also have the high end gamer laptops like Alienware which are very good at what they do

Macs have some of the best engineering in the world but they're typically used just for specific apps. Friends of mine who have macs are either into graphic design and film-making, or are deejays who run Serato on it.

 

[Hockey Playa]

I'm going to add on to this thread instead of starting my own. I am also in the market to buy my first laptop. I need it primarily for school, taking notes, Microsoft office, applications, and occasional gaming. Money is not a factor also which should i get?
I've had a Dell Desktop PC for 4 years not many problems

 

[In Motion]

http://www.alienware.com/product_de...Code=PC-LT-AREA51M15X-AI1&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

Want a bigger screen?

http://www.alienware.com/product_de...SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M9750&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

 

[Señor Fingers]

For those of you sitting on the Mac/PC fence keep in mind there is a right tool for every job

If you need to do
• Graphics
• Pro Audio
• Pro Video
• Light Gaming

Then Mac is a no-brainer

But if you want all the popular bits of software, have TONS more games and maybe the ability to be a super geek and run Linux, then PC is the move.

Keep in mind that the line is getting blurry now that you can run multiple OSes on a Mac, including windows

Okay, that's enough propaganda for one day.

 

[SharinganUser]

The problem with Alienware is that I am in china right now and I want to get a laptop over here, so I don't know if they sell them here.

 

[Desdinova]

Do yourself a favor and DON'T get a Sony.

I would agree with Fingers and get yourself a Mac if you're going to be doing media editing on it.

Oh my god, I recommended a Mac!
Never saw that day coming, but Vista is sluggish and will use your resources for the OS rather than for tasks.

 

[SharinganUser]

The problem is I have with macs is that they price control, so if I buy one, I might as well get a mac back in canada, because it'll be the same price as here.

 

[In Motion]

The problem with Alienware is that I am in china right now and I want to get a laptop over here, so I don't know if they sell them here.

Yeah thats a problem, was going to get one myself but I am in Norway now and shipping & taxes would cost too much.

 

[Quiksilver]

I bought a macbook back in september, and I have no complaints at all.

It's a great little computer.

I don't use computer games, but I probably wouldn't recommend a macbook for gaming either. Hard to upgrade, etc.

It's great for movies, music, internet, and its got pretty solid wireless capabilities.

 

[bigjohnson]

I am looking to buy a laptop, but I don't know a whole lot about them. I would like some suggestions. The laptop would mostly be used for media editiing, gaming, movies n music, as well as surfing the web. Price is not a factor.

If you're gaming then anyone who recommends a Mac isn't paying attention. If games means some solitaire then yeah, Mac is OK, likewise if you just want to play Warcraft, or things that happen to run on Mac, also OK. For real state of the art PC gaming though give Mac a pass.


I love my Dell XPS M1730 for everything EXCEPT packing it around. The screen (1920x1200, 17") is big and bright with great detail, the CPU is fast, the (dual RAID 0) disk is fast and big. Even the keyboard is OK. Some games like CoV and games based on the Unreal engine even use the Physics PPU. Dual SLI NVIDIA 8700GT graphics .... it's pretty decent for media and gaming.

Will run you around $4K though, so you better mean "Price is not a factor" for real.

The only downside is that it's HUGE.