New laptop decision

boomerfss

I am in the market for a new laptop. Unfortunately the one I wanted is back ordered with no available date so I am looking around for alternatives. My budget is $2500 (all in). I don't think I want a Mac as the rest of the computers in my house (wife/kids) are all Windows PC's/laptops. I am going to use it for work and play.

I was thinking maybe Alienware. Any suggestions for alternatives?

Tks.

brettw22

For $2500 you can pretty much get whatever you want........

I just bought a 14" Lenovo ideaPad and love it. I didnt' want an optical drive as I couldn't think of the last time I put a CD in a computer, so went with a slimmer option.

Are you looking primarily for gaming or just all around daily user?

boomerfss

More as a daily user. Not much into gaming. I just want to get the best bang for the buck and it keeps leading me back to gaming computers.

The company I work for is paying for it. My boss set the budget so high as he likes Mac's.

John in MA

Gaming laptops aren't worth it. The GPUs, fans, speakers, ricer LEDs, etc. make for a very hot, heavy, and short-lived laptop. They're designed to look cool instead of actually hold up well. If you're not going to play lots of games just get something with a nice processor and hard drive. Powerful gaming GPUs do nothing for you for 2D work.

I'd recommend either a Thinkpad T series or a Dell Latitude E series. Like a T520 or E6510. Both are very high quality machines.

Evrythngmatters

Imo I would get a Velocity Micro and never look back. Awesome product,can configure to your hearts content and customer service is second to none (except Polk of course) Good luck.

http://www.velocitymicro.com/

boomerfss

Yeah, I was a little worried about a gaming laptop. I checked out the Levono's and they don't seem to be upgradable to blu ray. I kind of want the blu ray for travel.

I guess I will have to order a custom unit. Best buy and other places don't seem to stock what I want.

John in MA

I'm pretty sure there's an internal Blueray drive for Serial Ultrabay Thinkpads. You might have to order it separately.

bruss

if your gonna spend 2500 on a laptop get a macbook pro. otherwise get something else and spend half the money

mystik610

bruss wrote: »

if your gonna spend 2500 on a laptop get a macbook pro. otherwise get something else and spend half the money

I agree.

or the Sony Vaio Z, with the media dock, which adds a discrete graphics card and blu-ray functionality to the Laptop when docked. This gives a good balance of power and ultra-portability....power when docked, portability when mobile. I seriously doubt anyone is going to do any serious gaming away from a desktop environment anyway...battery life and heat make it hard to do so for extended periods of time.

FYI I own a macbook pro in a windows household and everything plays together very nicely. Plus the macbook can either virtualize windows via OSX or run windows in bootcamp if you absoultely need windows.

cheezeitz51

2500 for a laptop if you're an average user is just stupid. But if you really must spend that much get a mac book. Theyre sexy as hell and you can run windows if you really want to. Vaios are expensive too.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I know you said no mac, but for 2500 budget its a fantastic machine, and as said you can always run windows on it if you want.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You may also want to take a look at one of the HP EliteBook models with the DreamColor IPS screen, a very good looking screen. I don't know anything about their reliability, but they're very good and are in the target price range.

Also, my recommendation of the MacBook Pro is not only because of the OS. I would say that even if you're going to install Windows in Boot Camp and never even touch the Mac OS it's still a good buy just for the hardware and screen alone, if you want to use OSX well then that's just a bonus.

Sherardp

Dell XPS with an i7, 1tb HDD, blu ray and 15/17 inch LED screen. Done deal.

falconcry72

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

...I would say that even if you're going to install Windows in Boot Camp and never even touch the Mac OS it's still a good buy just for the hardware and screen alone, if you want to use OSX well then that's just a bonus.

I disagree big time.

What hardware on it is worth 2500, exactly?

cokewithvanilla

I don't look at consumer laptops anymore, really... I'd look at Lenovo Thinkpads, HP Elitebooks, or Dell Latitude/Precision. Customer service will be 300 times better (next day service). You also have the option of making your own repairs (using parts provided for you) which rocks.

What do you plan on doing with the computer that requires a 2.5k investment? Most people that purchase computers like that have a very specific goal. Keep in mind that if you use it lightly, you are probably better off buying something for less than half that and replacing it twice as often. Think of it this way, is there any C2D that can beat even the lowliest i7?

Get a business model laptop with an EC and use a vii dock for gaming... I can't think of anything that I would want to do that I couldn't do for around 1k.... that's just my opinion. If you want bang for your buck, go dell. I've got E6510, E6410, E6420... all three cost 400 or under in as new condition on CL (oldest one was 3 months, newest was 7 days old). If you don't like buying on CL, try the dell outlet-- great prices. At that price you could replace your laptop 6 times and still not hit your budget :P

boomerfss

Well, I had a look at the Mac book pro. I don't know much about Mac's but it seems a little anemic in the performance aspects compared to non Mac's. Only 4 gigs RAM standard and no Blu Ray.

I would like the Blu Ray player built in as well for travel (Something to do when in a hotel).

I did look at the Dell XPS series and they seem not bad. The Alienware series is on the same web page. I kind of like the options and performance aspects of the M17x series.

I can spend up to $2500 as that is how much the company reimburses. I'll check out the Sony's and HP Elites next. Thanks for pointing those out as well.

cokewithvanilla

Ah, the company is paying. Thinkpad. That's all I have to say.

cheezeitz51

Don't get alienware. Overpriced highly and you don't even need a gaming laptop for what it seems like you're doing. If you really don't want a mac then vaios are also nice. And hp isn't the most reliable. But an ips screen is going to be higher quality than others that might have a tft screen. Asus is very good too, and very reliable. Thinkpads are pretty good too, but imo they're kinda ugly and look the same as they did in the 90s but just thinner and lighter.

mdaudioguy

bruss wrote: »

if your gonna spend 2500 on a laptop get a macbook pro. otherwise get something else and spend half the money

That would buy 5 of the laptops I've recently purchased for my college-bound kids. Their only requirements are internet and a webcam. One of them had extra scholarship $$ and bought himself a MacBook.

AsSiMiLaTeD

falconcry72 wrote: »

I disagree big time.

What hardware on it is worth 2500, exactly?

The screen and the materials set it apart from the other laptop I've handled. In terms of performance specs it's not going to spec out as well as other high end laptops, that wasn't what I was referring to. The screen is absolutely gorgeous and the materials seems to at least feel a bit higher end than other laptops I've owned.

I don't own a MacBook Pro, I've only played with them in stores. I'd never pay 2500 for a laptop, period.

I was sharing my perspective from what I've seen, ymmv

AsSiMiLaTeD

I wouldn't let the specs on the MBP scare you away, they typically need less hardware to do the same thing a Windows machine does.

That being said, if you want Blu Ray then I believe all Macs are out, I don't think they've jumped on the blu ray train not sure why.

Like I said, that HP Elite has an absolutely gorgeous screen.

John in MA

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I wouldn't let the specs on the MBP scare you away, they typically need less hardware to do the same thing a Windows machine does.

That was true back when Apple was using their own architecture, but they literally are the same as PCs now internally. The software difference is marginal.

mdaudioguy

John in MA wrote: »

That was true back when Apple was using their own architecture, but they literally are the same as PCs now internally. The software difference is marginal.

MBs are internally similar to PCs now, but what I think assimilated was referring to was the actual case/keyboard/screen. MBs just feel nice. But, I wouldn't buy one either.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I'm not an expert, but I still think there's less overhead on a typical Mac OSX setup than on a typical Windows machine. I can tell you that, with no programs running in the background, my Windows 7 64 machine uses about half a gig more ram to run just the operating system than my Mac does.

Both machines have such a large amount of RAM that it's not an issue, but does still point to some underlying differences in the OS. I don't know how much difference actually exists in the real world, I guess my larger point was that I wouldn't let the performance specs of the MBP scare you off, there's really nothing that machine shouldn't be able to handle.

cokewithvanilla

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I'm not an expert, but I still think there's less overhead on a typical Mac OSX setup than on a typical Windows machine. I can tell you that, with no programs running in the background, my Windows 7 64 machine uses about half a gig more ram to run just the operating system than my Mac does.
.

That's because windows 7 intelligently manages memory. Your ram usage at idle will be dependent on how much ram you have. If you have a need for the extra memory windows is using, it will gladly give it up to the application in question. There is no sense having nearly all of your memory in reserve 'just in case' (though windows does reserve a portion). Windows puts it to use if you don't.

edit: i can't speak to how macos handles memory, the os cannot complete the basic tasks that my day requires... therefore I don't use it. Not to mention that if you need to use Windows, it won't matter. Then again, I don't consider ram very important when it comes to buying a computer. 8gb of quality ram cost me about 60 bucks on sale... not something to cry over.

mystik610

No point in trying to justify the cost of the mac based on the hardware alone, because it doesn't add up. From a pure hardware standpoint, Mac's are about $500 more expensive across the board than similarly spec'd windows machines.

The value of a Mac comes from the intangibles...design, build quality, ownership experience, customer service, and most importantly, the ability to run OSX. Whether or not these are worth the price premium will vary from person to person. If these things do not matter, save some coin and get a PC.

Practicality does not usually come into play when it comes to Apple products. When comparing a Lexus to a Toyota (which share the same components), practicality is not usually the biggest draw of the Lexus either. But the Lexus, like the Mac, gives you better design, build quality, ownership experience, and customer service.

If a Mac is within your price range, I say go for a Mac. With the ability to run Windows either via bootcamp, or to run windows and windows applications concurrently and within OSX via Parallels, you do not lose out on anything by getting a Mac. It will run windows, and will do everything Windows does. I have a need to run Windows applications, and its nice being able to run them WITHIN OSX. I also do some pretty high end gaming on my Macbook Pro via bootcamp (Civ V, Starcraft II) and have no problem running at maximum settings. OSX and Windows both have very distinct strengths and weaknesses....the synergy of running both systems and benefiting from both is a HUGE draw for me.