15" Laptop / Notebook

[dtmpower]

A recent arrival has stolen my office and made it a bedroom.

Working on a netbook is ok but not ideal for anything more than web browsing.

There I am looking for a 15" notebook. Budget is about £700 (will be adding a SSD myself)

What's good (and please don't say Macbook Air - I don't know OSX for toffee) Will be installing Windows 7 64bit.

Want a full keyboard really and a decent resolution screen.

Will be doing photo editing, video encoding, multiple browser windows open etc.

Any good suggestions (including getting a Mac....how long would it take to learn? probably more than it's worth buying one)

[Pete102]

Mac's my choice.

I moved from a windows to MacbookPro in January, I have not looked back.

OSX just works for me, its intuitive...I find myself trying to do OSX commands in windows now...and I get frustrated when I remember I cant, like i said it just works.

Dont worry about transferring over, you'll pick it up, and then probably wonder why windows has all that ste with it.

Plus the mac and SSD = Super speedy, Its no slouch to start with, I can usually close the case, open it up and be ready to go within 3 seconds, apparently SSD will boot from a full shutdown in less than 5!.

Anyway, Im a mac fan boy so that may be slightly biased.

Pete

[anonymous-user]

I went looking for a PC laptop to replace a series of annoying machines that had lasted two years and then self immolated. I bought a Macbook Pro and a copy of Office for Mac 2011 and have become a true convert. The differences between OSX and Windows are not so great that you can't switch over within a day or two. As mentioned above, the Mac software is intuitive. I still have a Dell Desktop in my office, and find that I can use both it and the Mac without difficulty. The Mac is more fun, quicker, and I hope will last longer than its PC equivalents. If there is one single feature which sets the Mac apart already, it is the rapidity with which it starts, stops, wakes up after a snooze, and does what it is told. I compare it to riding a well trained horse after years of riding school nags, or driving a responsive sports car after years driving an old shed. Not for nothing does the command key actually work on a Mac.

[Silver993tt]

I've had a Thinkpad for the last 2 years and Windows 7 64-bit since May 2010. Not a single issue, it's a superb piece of kit. Mine also has a 128Gb SSD plus a second drive of 500Gb.

Thinkpad - highly recommended professional piece of equpment.

[dtmpower]

I wish I never mentioned the mac word.

There is a reasonably good value ThinkPad in 15" format. I will take a look at it.

[TameRacingDriver]

I ordered a Sony Vaio E-series laptop the other day, I should be getting it on Monday.

For £669 (+£30 cashback) I got a laptop with 15.4" 1920x1080 screen, i5 processor, radeon hd5650, a 320gb 7200 rpm HDD, 3Gb RAM and 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Not a bad spec I'm sure you'll agree, for the price.

No doubt everyone on here will tell you that Sony's are rubbish and you should buy a Mac though (despite Sony's being proved to be the 3rd most reliable laptop manufacturer).

[dtmpower]

TameRacingDriver said:

I ordered a Sony Vaio E-series laptop the other day, I should be getting it on Monday.

For £669 (+£30 cashback) I got a laptop with 15.4" 1920x1080 screen, i5 processor, radeon hd5650, a 320gb 7200 rpm HDD, 3Gb RAM and 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Not a bad spec I'm sure you'll agree, for the price.

No doubt everyone on here will tell you that Sony's are rubbish and you should buy a Mac though (despite Sony's being proved to be the 3rd most reliable laptop manufacturer).

Do you have a link to the model/shop. That's right up my street.

[TameRacingDriver]

Yes, no worries.

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-e-series

Configure it with the i5 CPU, select the radeon graphics to enable the 1080 screen option (you'll have to go and select that afterwards), and make sure you choose white as the colour (this saves £40!). Do it through quidco or top cashback to get cash back.