Please Help Me Choose the Best Laptop for My Boyfriend :)

[whit-E]

Hi guys,

I'd like to buy my boyfriend a laptop for his birthday/Christmas. At the moment he has a (very old) Dell laptop, a netbook and a newly built PC, which is apparently 'the sh*t!'

He's selling the netbook to get some money towards a new laptop but I know he won't have enough to buy the best model, and he's just bought a house so the money could probably be better spent on that.

I'd basically just like to get him something that he can use for a very long time. He's an IT tech and really knows his stuff, so only the best will do But he needs it to look smart too. We looked at the Dell alienware and it's not really suitable because it really does look like a gaming laptop (I know it is!)

I know he was looking at the Dell xps models. He liked one of the ones with the i7 processor but said he would drop to an i5 because of the price difference. I'd rather just get him one with an i7 if that's what he wants. I have about £1000 to spend, can anyone help me choose something please or give some advice?

 

[nathandg2006]

Sounds like he prefers to have a good graphics card in the machine. I'm not a huge fan of Dell myself, so if you can find an Asus, that would be great. They offer similar units to Dell, though I will admit the Alienware computers are built decently well.

 

[whit-E]

Thank you I'll take a look at Asus, although I know he really does like Dell. The graphics card is really important. Not necessarily so much for gaming but he'd like to do HD video editing etc.

I think the most important things he would like are:
dual core i7 processor
good nvidia graphics card
at least 4GB RAM (preferably 6GB+)

Any models that have those things and are in my price range?

 

[Indigo]

*grumbles something about "IT experts" looking at Alienware and sighs*

First, a few things in your last post.

The i7 is not just a dual core. It's actually quad core in all of the models, so finding a "dual core" i7 won't be an issue
6GB of RAM was only relevant in systems that used LGA1366 which is now dead. If you're having a hard time finding a system and only see results with RAM x3 (that is, 6GB, 12GB, etc) then change the search for systems with 8GB of RAM. Really, you don't need more than that these days.
nVidia is a matter of taste, there are some compelling AMD/ATI cards in notebooks today.

There's a couple of choices here,

Buy something from Newegg which uses the i7 mobile processor. 2 GHz models are common, and they offer pretty decent performance. Most come with 4GB or more of RAM
They usually come with mobile versions of the big consumer graphics cards.

OR

Go to falcon-nw.com and configure a DRX system to your liking. You wanted the best of the best, this site is it. Most laptops there fully outfitted will rival most desktop PCs both in performance and price (and they do actually use the triple channel i7s, which is fine since the systems are OEM, and will be supported for a couple more years)

But be warned, Falcon Northwest is NOT Alienware or Dell when it comes to price.

 

[nathandg2006]

*grumbles something about "IT experts" looking at Alienware and sighs*

First, a few things in your last post.

The i7 is not just a dual core. It's actually quad core in all of the models, so finding a "dual core" i7 won't be an issue
6GB of RAM was only relevant in systems that used LGA1366 which is now dead. If you're having a hard time finding a system and only see results with RAM x3 (that is, 6GB, 12GB, etc) then change the search for systems with 8GB of RAM. Really, you don't need more than that these days.
nVidia is a matter of taste, there are some compelling AMD/ATI cards in notebooks today.

There's a couple of choices here,

Buy something from Newegg which uses the i7 mobile processor. 2 GHz models are common, and they offer pretty decent performance. Most come with 4GB or more of RAM
They usually come with mobile versions of the big consumer graphics cards.

OR

Go to falcon-nw.com and configure a DRX system to your liking. You wanted the best of the best, this site is it. Most laptops there fully outfitted will rival most desktop PCs both in performance and price (and they do actually use the triple channel i7s, which is fine since the systems are OEM, and will be supported for a couple more years)

But be warned, Falcon Northwest is NOT Alienware or Dell when it comes to price.

I think it's the fact that Dell's business side isn't half bad, thus IT experts believe that their consumer is business is good too. But I agree wholeheartedly with your statement.

 

[Indigo]

I think it's the fact that Dell's business side isn't half bad, thus IT experts believe that their consumer is business is good too. But I agree wholeheartedly with your statement.

Dell frequently pays for my dinner (at nice places) so yes, their business side rocks.

Alienware... not so much.