Hi Guys.

Firstly I'm a mac person. I would much rather use a Mac as the software is much more fully featured on the mac than it is on windoze.

But, as this is for a church,

I need a new laptop with the following minimum specification:

Note I would much rather have a much higher spec so that it will last us more than the year our current i3 with integrated graphics has done.

ProPresenter version 5 (minimum Windows specifications)

• Processor: 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo or above
  
• OS: Windows 7 or later (with Service Pack 1, 32-bit or 64-bit)
  
• RAM: 4 GB RAM
  
• Graphics Card: A dedicated/discreet graphics card is required. We recommend an NVIDIA GeForce series or ATI Radeon HD series card with a minimum of 1GB of dedicated memory. DirectX 9.0c or later is required. (Intel HD and AMD FirePro cards are not supported. NVIDIA Quadro cards are not recommended.)
  
• Stage Display: Additional output required for stage display function (third video out - PCI or USB)
  

NOTE: For heavy or advanced use of video (i.e. multiple video clips per slide, HD content, etc.), a faster system is advised.

The Trustees want to go the windows route because they think it is cheaper than the Apple Mac and we already have a licence for windows.

I am finding that it is not easy to find what I'm looking for and would welcome some suggestions.

I am surprised that I can't find very many laptops out there that have i7 quad core and 1GB dedicated graphics cards.I was looking for a spec similar to my 15" MBPro.(2.3-2.6 i7 quad core, 8GB ram, HDD is fine I actually find the apple site very easy to find what I want, but I have yet to find a windoze laptop website as well designed. I have so far looked at Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer & Asus so far and not really found what I want.

I can't use my machine on a regular basis, so need a dedicated machine as various people use it.

I have a budget of £800.

There are machines that match your requirements but £800 is a bit tight for an IB quad core i7, 8GB ram and 1GB graphics card. On the Dell site you can simply click the options on the left to select all machines with 1GB graphics, third gen i7 and under £800 although the only ones that meet the requirement in the home section are the 15R and 17R while the business machines with this spec are over budget.

Depending on how this laptop is going to be bought and supported, I'd recommend looking at the Dell Outlet which is where they sell their customer returns. These machines are normally in brand new untouched condition but cannot be sold as new with the main advantage being that for higher end parts the cost tends to be substantially lower than the main site. There's no guarantee on what machines are available and the spec is fixed but there's usually a reasonable range and again you can filter using the options on the left to only show i7's with larger amounts of video memory. As an example, the following business-class machine (with a three year next day onsite warranty) just slips in under the £800 budget:

• Latitude E6530
  
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM (2.60GHz, 6MB cache, Quad Core)
  
• English Windows® 7 Professional
  
• 256 GB Mobility Solid State Drive
  
• 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz Memory (2 DIMMs)
  
• Display : 15.6Inch HD (1366x768) LED-backlit LCD Panel
  
• LCD Back Cover : HD LCD Panel
  
• Graphics : NVIDIA NVS 5200M (GDDR5 1GB) Discrete Graphics
  
• English Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64 Bit)
  
• Wireless : Dell Wireless 1504 (802.11 b/g/n 1x1) Half Mini Card
  
• Wireless : Dell Wireless 380 Bluetooth Card
  
• 8X DVD+/- RW Drive
  
• Battery : Primary 9-cell 97W/HR
  
• Camera : Integrated HD Camera with Microphone
  
• Palmrest : No Fingerprint and No Smart Card Reader
  

The build on the Latitudes is usually much better than the Inspirons although I'm a bit concerned about the specifications above listing the Quadro cards are not recommended as the business-class machines tend not to use consumer graphics cards.

Where is the i3 letting you down, graphics I assume? What does the software do that requires so much video memory? Is it also heavy on the GPU core itself?

John

Edited 24 February, 201313 yr by JohnMcL7

Thanks

I visited Pc World and there are several i7's with 8gb ram and 1Tb hd and with dedicated graphics cards for around the £800 mark. Less if you look online.

Just need the trustees to okay the budget now.

Sent using Tapatalk from my Phone

I have an asus, really good laptop, covers your needed spec

Another vote for the Latitude.. it is a business grade laptop, unlike the consumer grade rubbish they flog in PC world.

I would also echo the comments that £800 isn't much for the spec you are asking; you get what you pay for!