My Dell laptop after 6 years of service is starting to fail. Some keyboard keys don't work, battery is dead, BSOD now and again but becoming more frequent. I could fix these problems but wouldn't mind something up to date.

Requirements

• 17" screen
  
• SSD - Simply for quicker booting. Could always use the drive from the old laptop as a second drive plus I have two external drives with everything on. Am looking at the NAS option soon too.
  
• Good dedicated graphics card as I want to edit more GoPro footage and I do play Minecraft. It doesn't look graphic intensive but the fans are on almost constantly at the moment even after a dust out.
  
• Plenty of RAM
  

Think that's about it but I don't want to spend a fortune on it either. Not 100% on budget it all depends if I like it. I do eventually want to get rFactor as I have the wheel for GT5 already. Should be perfect when I link it to the TV via HDMI Won't need a BluRay drive as my PS3 has one and I forget the last time I actually used CD's anyway.

I would have got a tower and built it myself but I don't have room for it.

Try Dell's outlet store. I got a cracking deal on one and when it arrived it was like new and hasn't missed a beat since.

I got an i5 with 4Gb ram (1xSIMM), 640Gb HD and 1Gb descrete graphics for £380 delivered. Mine was a 'certified refurbished' which comes with the same warranty as new. I've heard the "scratch and dent" stuff isn't to be sniffed at either.

They had a few 17" laptops there too all at very good prices. Allegedly the stock is updated at 3pm and 3am and you need to get in quick to grab the best ones.

I got a deal with free delivery which helped.

Edited 26 September, 201213 yr by Aspman

As above Dell Outlet. You wont get cheaper.

Buy the SSD separately and usually with Dell models you can buy DVD drive docks off ebay which basically means you remove the optical drive and insert the dock with your hard drive in and have 2 drives!

Most 17inch models also have a spare hard drive bay anyway if you went for another 17.

It's 17" I want as it's the same as I've got now. The laptop would very rarely leave the house so the battery would come out. I haven't looked at component specs for years so don't know what's best at the moment. I'm guessing I'm better off with a higher end i5 rather than a lower spec i7? Probably stick with nVidia for graphics but again I need to look into more what is good now and what isn't

There are some Alienware 17" laptops on the outlet. I guess they would serve your high spec needs but they're quite a bit more expensive.

Provide an approx budget and what are you going to be using it for and I will ferret around. There are some cracking deals around , Dell Outlet and Alienware are really good as well. Graphics wise Alienware will be your choice as Dells (unless XPS range) are not made with graphics in mind. Then you can get cracking AMD CPU based lappys with very good specs, always cheaper in terms of £/oomph copared with intel tech. There is always Apple but costs as much as an used car so...

Bottom line is with laptops that you can upgrade everything except graphics card. Some modesl can take mainstream GFX cards but they are within £2k range...

How about a MacBook Pro 15" Retina screen. Runs resolution of 2880 by 1800, which is much higher than a 17" screen, pretty quick and that screen is stunning. Put windows of your choice on it. Has a half decent i7 on board and 1GB vram and discrete graphics card. It isn't cheap though, with all flash storage. No options to upgrade at the moment after purchase. And it is moderately light.

Just thought I would throw that out there.......

Not sure I'd want to game on an Apple though - we tried GTA-4 on a friends brand new MBP (i7, 1GB of Nvidia something or other graphics) and it hit over 100c (103 I think) after a few minutes! Not even like GTA-4 is that new either! Was trying to work out why and I'm guessing it's the lack of proper cooling vents on the sides? Minecraft is horribly coded, uses loads of CPU power too, hence the fans.

Either way, all I can say is my HP laptop is built badly if longevity is an issue!

Went to Novatech yesterday for a look and while they've got some really nice stuff there there's not much inbetween. There's a 17" laptop, £600ish with fairly decent specs but if I wanted the next laptop up, where I preferred where the USB's were and it had one extra, it could only be ordered in one spec. The cost? £2600! It really was top specs but that's bonkers money. I've yet to look into whether I'm better off saving my money and going i5 instead of i7. Would I really benefit from it?

My last laptop was £600 about 5 years ago so would be willing to spend about the same, maybe a little more if it was very good spec

OK, We have a budget! £600-£700 I can work with that

Starts with Mac, ends in Pro

Worth the Extra pennies?

:yes:

There you go:

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/toshiba-satellite-l875-10g-review-50008030/

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/acer-aspire-timeline-u-m3-581tg-review-50007336/

https://www.systo.co.uk/computers/notebooks/ge60-i547w7h-0016ga-sku1.html

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/laptop/3371524/lenovo-ideapad-z580-review/#zzz

Tosh would be myu choice from the list - really stonking bang for buck!

I have a Lenovo G780 17.3 inch laptop, really like it.

My Dell wasn't an XPS but has a 1Gb graphics card bult in and that's not shared memory. I was very careful about it.

£600 won't get you a refurb Alienware 17" but should get a very nice Dell even new.

Lenovo is supposed to be quite solid but you might struggle to get something in budget with the gfx you want.

That Toshiba Satellite L875-10G has a edicated GFX with 2GB dedicated vRAM... but I cannot find anybody selling it !

My Dell wasn't an XPS but has a 1Gb graphics card bult in and that's not shared memory. I was very careful about it.

That's exactly why I bought my last Dell. Wasn't as much as that graphics wise but as good as my mates xps which was a few hundred more.

Considering this and I can add more RAM to it then buy a SSD and Windows 7 separate. Only thing that annoys me is the placement of the USB's. I'd have liked at least one on the back and the other two not near the right front so my mouse doesn't get in the way.

http://www.novatech....technspiren1706