[buchanan]

dave, this is not for me, it's for a dude who specifically wants a large laptop, it's what he's used to and it's what he's going to get, whether i spec it for him or somebody else does.
he's not going to play games, he is a 60 year old architect who wants a powerful laptop to do vectorworks on.

i've tried getting him to have a pc for the reasons you mentioned but he wants a laptop, admittedly for mainly home use but he needs it to go from room to room, he's not going to get a desktop.

i know these things the things you said are right, if it was me i would build a pc, unless i wanted a laptop to take from room to room...

he wants a laptop and i don' t know much about them. his brief to me was: toshiba with a minimum 17 inch screen, i just tried to get the best spec for the best price.
it's going to be a laptop, is this laptop exceptionally hot? are there better alternatives? better brands?

i mean he wants a laptop, you or i will not persuade him to get a desktop pc

[Hybr!d]

Yeah, cool, was just clarifying what carbon was saying.

I have a 17" laptop and for the most part it sits on my desk, it is big but it's what I wanted. It's more a style and feel thing for me. But then I do not play games or do graphics work.

You say he doesn't play games either like that and vector work are different, I would imagine vector work is just as demanding and requires similar spec machines, both would be graphics card dependent for the most part. An item lacking it 99% of laptops, big time.

But yeah, if that is what he wants, what else can you do except get the best spec for the money he wants to spend. All laptops suffer from heat, poor reliability, poor value. Just stick to the better brands and you should be ok.

[Hybr!d]

www.ebuyer.com will probably do better deals than play too mate.

[Hybr!d]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/147757

£20 off :)

[buchanan]

thanks man

do you think, given that a desktop is out of the question, this laptop would be pretty good, or would you go with a different one?

[Hybr!d]

It's hard to say not knowing exacly what he is doing on it. But it must be better spec than what he is currently using for the same job? It's tough to beat it at that price bracket too...

[buchanan]

that's what i mean, it looked pretty high end

the only thing that concerned me was like i said the ram, and whether it needed the graphics card, he's been working on a mac for ages but wants to run vectorworks (that design program and some dvds/internet use is likely all he will use it for) on a pc now that the mac has broken.

even though he will mainly be using it at home i would still choose onboard graphics (because of the battery life etc) if that would be sufficient to run the design program.

now i am a little concerned about the heat too, is that because it is a powerful cpu? i thought the modern technology had them running cooler?

[Hybr!d]

More ghz = more heat + Laptops do not vent well. Fans get clogged and the higher specs need servicing more often, lower specs get away with it.

Laptops all have onboard GFX, its the GFX chips that make the difference. That said they all have cut down versions of their desktop counterparts so none are great.

3GB RAM is plenty, for pretty much anything.

[buchanan]

do you think it's overkill for his needs then, would something cheaper and around the 2.0ghz mark be a better long term bet?