I often get asked the question “Which laptop should I buy” and of course the question is quite broad and open ended as it all depends on what you want to do with it and, probably more importantly for many people, how much you are prepared to spend.

However, there are a few good machines out there that are worth consideration.In this post I’ll be talking about machines that are aimed for graphics, desktop publishing, and power users so 17″ wide screens are preferable and portability isn’t as important as performance. Whilst all of these machines are “laptops“, some of these machines are really desk-top replacements – think of them as portable desktop PC’s. You wouldn’t want to be carrying some of them very far very often.

Use this information as a starting point when looking around for a new machine and if you have a recommendation of a machine that should be on this list then please add it in the comments section. The information in this list is up to date as of August 2008 so always ensure you check for latest information from the manufacturer web sites listed below. A word of warning: when spending a large amount of money on a laptop it is worth spending that bit extra for the extended warranty – you never know when a problem is going to occur.

When looking for a performance laptop look for a good amount of fast ram (2GB min for XP but 4GB for a Vista machine (although Vista isn’t necessarily your preference it may be unavoidable in a year or two time – some vendors also offer an XP downgrade option). A decent 256MB graphics card (e.g. nVidia® GeForce™ 8600 or ATI Mobility HD2600) is always welcome for graphics work and a sizeable hard drive is necessary for images that are frequently cache to virtual memory – try and go for a 7200 RPM if one is on offer as this may offer better performance than the typical 5400 RPM drives. An Intel® Core™ 2  processor somewhere around the T7500m T8100, T8300 up to the T9300 should hit the mark.

Lets get started, from Dell the Inspiron 1720 is a reasonable start (and probably the lowest cost machine in this group) and a slightly heavier option (but more powerful) would be the XPS M1710 (the 1720 starts at around 3.45kg whereas the XPS starts around 3.99kg). Other machines worth looking at are the Sony Vaio VGN-AR61S, the Toshiba Satellite P200 and the HP Pavilion dv9885ea and the HP Compaq 8710w. These machines offer a huge amount of upgrades

Dell Inspiron 1720

The Dell has a low starting price and is supported by an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5550 but this can be upped to a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 if needed. The display is a 17″ 1440 x 900 supported by a nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB DDR2 GPU. A 320GB Hard drive running at 5400 RPM and 3GB Ram (DDR2) round out this machine.

Dell XPS M1710

The Dell XPS starts out with a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 with 2GB Ram (DDR2). The 17″ screen steps up from the Inspiron 1720 sporting a 19200 x 1200 display resolution supported by a 256MB DDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GPU. The hard drive is 250GB affair running at 5400RPM.

Sony Vaio VGN-AR61S

I have used a number of Sony laptops in the past and there build quality and reliability has always been very good. The machine here has the benefit of a Blu-Ray drive and is supported by an Intel® T8100 processor and 2Gb Ram (DDR2). The screen resolution is a reasonable 1440 x 900 at 17″ which is supported by a nVidia® GeForce™ 8600M GT GPU. The Hard drive is a whopping 400GB (consisting of 2 x 200 GB drives) running at 5400 RPM.

Toshiba Satellite P-200

The Toshiba utilises a Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7500 with 3GB of DDR2 Ram. Similar to the Sony that Toshiba has 2 x 200 GB hard drives but the Toshiba uses a 256MB ATI Mobility™ Radeon® HD2600 graphics card with a 1440 x 900 17″ display.

HP Pavilion dv9885ea

The Pavilion packs a punch with its Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9300 and 4GB Ram. The hard drive is 320GB running at 5400 RPM. The display is a 17″ 1440 x 900 supported by a 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GS GPU. Weight comes in at 3.55 Kg. This machine also boasts a Blu-Ray optical drive.

HP Compaq 8710w

This HP is my current laptop and has numerous configuration options. The Processor ranges from Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors T7700 / T7800 up to the T9300 / T9500 (I went for the T9500 option).  Two 17″ screen options are the 1680 x 1050 and the higher-resolution 19200 x 1200 supported by 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M or NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M. Hard drives options are 160 and 250 GB running at 5400 RPM or the faster 7200 RPM drives with capacities of 120GB and 160 GB.

More Information

For a good comparison between 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM visit this link http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cfm?ArticleID=RWT061801032003

Intel have a useful list of processor numbers and specifications at this link http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/chart/core2duo.htm

To understand more about the difference between a laptop and a desktop replacement visit this Wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_replacement_computer

Links

Sony Vaio
http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=VGN-AR61S&site=voe_en_GB_cons&pageType=Overview&category=VN+AR+Series

Dell 1720
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspnnb_1720?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Dell XPS
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1710?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs

Toshiba Satellite
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/cgi-bin/ToshibaCSG/jsp/productPage.do?PRODUCT_ID=137287

HP Pavilion
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF06b/21675-38187-38191-38191-38191-81684327-81945113.html

HP Compaq 8710w
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF05a/321957-321957-64295-3329741-3329741-3355679.html