New laptop suggestions

iceman (Mike) · #1 14-03-2013, 06:48 AM

My old Toshiba Satellite L650D is coming up to 3 years old, and I guess that's pretty ancient in technology standards these days.

I gave it a new lease of life about 12 months ago when I:
- Upgraded to win7 x64 instead of x32
- Upgraded to 8GB RAM instead of 4GB
- Installed a 128GB SSD as the primary C/D drive
- Removed the optical drive and put my old harddrive as a 2nd internal HDD
- Got a couple of 1TB external HDD's for more photo storage space

It was running out battery after an hour on the train, and that was my 2nd battery! So last week I bought a new longer life battery so at least I can get the whole train trip (and then some) without recharging (until it starts dying again).

I'm ok with it now, it works fine but am constantly running out of disk space (128GB SSD is never enough) and sick of transferring stuff to external HDD's.

Starting to think about a replacement laptop now. I'll have similar usage patterns - some astro software and the usual content creation/content browsing I do, and of course photo processing. I want LR and PS to run faster.

I want:
- 15" screen (as opposed to 17", too big for the train)
- SSD for the primary drive
- Another internal HDD for additional storage
- Min 8GB RAM
- Optical drive not needed
- Budget: $1500 give or take

I browsed through JB HIFI on the weekend and there's not much to choose from.
- There's lots of ultrabooks which aren't suitable - too light on the processor it seems.
- There's some horrible touch things I'm not interested in
- Then there's the usual laptops from Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, HP but they all have either small SSD's or no SSD.
- They all come with Win8, which I was thinking about avoiding.

Am I going to have to buy one with an internal HDD and then install a new SSD again?

Any suggestions?

I was planning on avoiding Win8 but if it's faster it might be worth installing it.

Thoughts?

ZeroID (Brent) · #2 14-03-2013, 10:02 AM

I'd avoid Win 8 for at least a year so they can sort the bugs out and get some drivers. Win 7 is looking good at 64 bit.
The problem with the 15" screen lappies is that being designed for portabilty they are not well designed for processing. ie ok for Word and office stuff but for serious graphics processing they are slow, get hot and are power hungry. Aslo their form factor cam limit their connectivity capability and capacity to accept extra drives, ram etc. Quite often no optical drive.
I deploy hundreds per year where I work. The Analysts get big slabs with wide screens and numeric keypads, Sales get the smaller no numeric keypads as they just do documents and comms on theirs. Engineers get similar but emphasis on storage and connectivity with legacy extenders for products problem diagnosis and setup.
Lappies seem to have made it up into the terabyte HD sizes but SSD hasn't gotten there yet. I suspect you will require offline storage for a lot of stuff for a while yet. My new home PC has 2.25 Terabytes but I will still 'archive' older pix files to hot swap drives just to keep the HDs from clogging up. My intended practice is to work on a file collection, derive the output then archive off all the source files just in case I want to rework them one day.
Also remember if you have all your stuff on the lappie and it gets lost\damaged\stolen .....

Theres going to be a compromise somewhere.

Barrykgerdes · #3 14-03-2013, 10:48 AM

If you can't get a new Win 7 O/S

I haven't tried this on a Toshiba but it works on the Acer
Make a set of recovery disks and image of the old operating system.

Back up an image of the new operating system as well as make a set of recovery disks.

Use the old recovery disks on the new computer. This works with some systems but if it doesn't you still have the new recovery disks.

Barry

Larryp (Laurie) · #4 14-03-2013, 11:30 AM

Mike, I have a Toshiba Qosmio. Its a high spec machine, but no ssd. Would probably cover what you want if you had some external storage.

Shiraz (Ray) · #5 14-03-2013, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

I was planning on avoiding Win8 but if it's faster it might be worth installing it.

Thoughts?

FWIW, after weeks of use on my early i7 I still find the Win8 interface to be annoying when using multiple applications, but it is certainly a lot faster than Win7/64. Interface is clearly designed for getting stuff rather than doing stuff - eg would really suit Facebook/newsfeed/entertainment users with touch screen machines.

A few minor "what the.??." moments, but overall, getting software/drivers etc to run was relatively painless - it seems to be basically Win7 under the bonnet (but with more security). Win8 turned out to be a worthwhile upgrade overall - the speed boost outweighs interface issues.

pluto (Hugh) · #6 14-03-2013, 11:49 AM

As you want to use it for astro stuff and lots of photo processing the key things to get are, obviously, a fast processor, lots of ram and a bright hires screen. If I had your budget I would get this: http://www.onlinecomputer.com.au/pro...ducts_id=10859
I've been impressed with the quality of the recent Asus laptops I've seen plus that one has a nice 1920x1080 screen. It could be a bit big and heavy though, but I'm used to a 13". As for the drive I would just swap the optical for a 128gb Sammy 840pro for $150 (they might even do it for you if you asked).
I've bought from that shop before and had no troubles and as they're in Capitol Square near Chinatown their prices are VERY competitive. If you're ever in Sydney they have a great selection on display too.

iceman (Mike) · #7 14-03-2013, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pluto

As you want to use it for astro stuff and lots of photo processing the key things to get are, obviously, a fast processor, lots of ram and a bright hires screen. If I had your budget I would get this: http://www.onlinecomputer.com.au/pro...ducts_id=10859
I've been impressed with the quality of the recent Asus laptops I've seen plus that one has a nice 1920x1080 screen. It could be a bit big and heavy though, but I'm used to a 13". As for the drive I would just swap the optical for a 128gb Sammy 840pro for $150 (they might even do it for you if you asked).
I've bought from that shop before and had no troubles and as they're in Capitol Square near Chinatown their prices are VERY competitive. If you're ever in Sydney they have a great selection on display too.

Thanks - that one looks good.

I work in the CBD so might go for a walk and check out some in-store.

h0ughy (David) · #8 14-03-2013, 12:54 PM

RB was introducing me to the benefits of visiting Costco. He was showing me some of the Specs for lappys there and the price – brand name products – very very interesting

Personally I would go with battery life, drive size ,8gig memory and then screen size. If you get a graphics card with grunt then you can use an external monitor to work at home etc. I now have two corei5s with 1gig video and 8 gig ram, one has 500gig drive with a 38gig ssd and win 8 and the other has similar but with a 320 gig drive and no ssd and using win7. Both have 1 usb3 and two usb2 and are rated over 7 hours use. the yare 14" screens

1 gig external drives will always be a necessity but with the usb3 connection its not onerous.

Octane (Humayun) · #9 14-03-2013, 01:38 PM

Would you look at a MacBook Pro?

H

iceman (Mike) · #10 14-03-2013, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octane

Would you look at a MacBook Pro?

H

I love MacBook Pro's. I had one for work for about a year and as a piece of hardware it was great.

But so much of what I do now is on Windows and it would be quite a shift for me to go Mac now.

Plus, they'd be out of my budget and not as fast.

dannat (Daniel) · #11 14-03-2013, 04:23 PM

yes macbook pro & bootcamp it cross to the light side of the force

hotspur (Chris) · #12 14-03-2013, 04:45 PM

I got a Lenovo E530 last year,would cover all the specs you require-its i7 newer one.

The touch pad is not as nice as my Toshy,and rattles like a cheap ute tray.But the machine has 'plenty of grunt' under the bonnet,good graphics card,nice keys,lots of storage room.Nice and light-never used it in a train-but its had some extend excursions to remote locations,and has not let me down.Was a bit sceptical after 3 toshy's going Lenovo,but might be worth a try if you buy online,was fairly cheap.

pluto (Hugh) · #13 14-03-2013, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannat

yes macbook pro & bootcamp it cross to the light side of the force

Has anyone here done this? Just curious as I looked at a MBP about 2 years ago when I got my current lappy. I love the hardware (except the mirror screens) and the 13" that I was looking at was actually priced pretty close to the Vaio I ended up with. BUT I read as much as I could find on running windows on a MBP and the consensus was that battery life was terrible. If this hadn't been an issue I would be typing this on a Mac... running Windows.
Anyone with experience?

P.S. in this case the equivalent (maybe a bit better screen) MBP (a 15" with retina) is over $1000 more expensive!!

gbeal · #14 14-03-2013, 05:47 PM

MBPro was my suggestion too, but only because Omaroo hasn't already given it a stir. LOL.
As an aside, my imaging computer attached to the pier is a desktop PC. I have on loan a slightly older SXVF-H9, and I wanted to hook it up to the PC, (running Windows 7, 64 bit). I spent two frustrating nights, and only managed the first night before cloud closed me down. The second night I could not get the camera recognised for love nor money, and many e mails later with Terry Platt (who is always really helpful) I still haven't got it working. "Unknown Device" is all it says.
Hooked it to my sons MacBookPro 13" with just Nebulosity and PHD installed (natively in OSX), and boot, away it went, nothing to do, no drivers etc to load, just plug and play.
OK, so I'm biased, but when this happens why not.
Gary

DJT (David) · #15 15-03-2013, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiraz

A few minor "what the.??." moments, but overall, getting software/drivers etc to run was relatively painless - .

on Win8 would that be the "what the..??.." moment when you realise you havnt got a clue how to power off the laptop??? Am new adopter...

Phil Hart · #16 15-03-2013, 07:13 PM

You want to make sure the monitor itself is a nice spec.. good viewing angles etc.

Hopefully Alex Cherney can chip in.. I know he found something he was happy with.

Screwdriverone (Chris) · #17 15-03-2013, 09:23 PM

Hi Mike,

A quick search found this, you might be able to swap out the Bluray Combo for an SSD....

Interesting specs for $1533 inc GST. 16GB RAM, Dedicated 4GB graphics too....

Found it at www.pcmarket.com.au

Warranty: 24 months - Manufacturer Warranty by ASUS Australia
Prod. Code: ASUS-R501VZ-S4387H
Model: ASUS R501VZ-S4387H Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz Quad-Core Notebook with 15.6" FHD LED, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, nVidia GeForce GT 650M 4GB, BR-Combo, 802.11n, Bluetooth, Webcam & Windows 8 - 2YR

It certainly seems to tick all the RAM/Storage/Screen Size/Price boxes....?

Free Sydney Delivery.

I have no affiliation with this mob, simply using google as it should be used...

Cheers

Chris

Screwdriverone (Chris) · #18 15-03-2013, 09:49 PM

Also,

If you want to go all silly, try this one for $2300 at http://www.mwave.com.au here

Has 256GB SSD AND a 1TB HDD in one, with 16GB RAM etc etc etc

ASUS G75VX-T4153H Gaming Laptop i7 3630QM CPU/16GB RAM/SSD+HDD/GTX670MX/Win 8

Bigger screen though and much more pricey, but has it all.

Just a thought

Chris

Screwdriverone (Chris) · #19 15-03-2013, 10:08 PM

I may as well keep going, its a Toshiba Qosmio like Laurie has....seems this one is comparable to the Asus kick ass gaming one for $2300, although slightly cheaper and has 1.75TB of storage with a hybrid main drive that has a 750Gb/8GB SSD as well as another 1TB drive also.

A bit cheaper but still north of 2K, but everything is in the one box. AND its Win 7 home premium 64 bit....weeeeeeee!

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-...Specifications

seems this may be the price point for a dual SSD/HDD laptop it seems.

Hope this helps, I was in the groove....

Edit: a smaller spec, but 2TB toshiba similar type in Harvey Norman for $1692 here, includes a free support pack. http://www.harveynorman.com.au/toshi...5p-laptop.html

Cheers

Chris

RB (Andrew) · #20 15-03-2013, 10:34 PM

Chris I just bought the Qosmio PSPLXA-00T00E just last month, I got it for less than $1800 and I see it's already gone up by a few hundred.

It's an awesome machine, nuff said.
Oh and the Nvidia 3D playback is 'unbelievable', not that I needed it but since it came with it, why not?
Not to mention the gorgeous red backlit keyboard.
Too bad it's too big for Mike's requirements, else I was going to suggest it too.