Evening folks.

I have recently decided that the replacement for my aging Desktop PC is going to be a Notebook/laptop type this time round. I am reasonably familiar with building desktop PCs (i built my own about 3 years ago) although I am little out of touch with the current technology, and even more so when it comes to laptops. I was hoping that there may be some experts around that could offer a bit of advice.

I only have a few essential requirements, those being:

• A 17" screen, preferably widescreen format
  
• powerful enough to run MS flight simulator, and also Solidworks, Photoshop, Protel DXP (ECAD) and the usual web browsing and officey type stuff.
  
• The above point would suggest a minimum of 2Gb memory, and a decent processor. I run an AMD Xp2800 processor with 2Gb ram on win XP, and that is plenty for now, although is starting to get a bit slow whne doing complex stuff on solidworks.
  
• bluetooth/Wifi cards built in and a good handful of USB sockets onboard.
  

All laptops break, and when they do we usually take them in to a shop for repair.

Call the nearest reputable laptop repair shop and ask which brands are easiest to get parts for.

Ask them how many of each type they see.

It was this type of advise that helped us settle on which laptop my wife just bought.

hth

There are probably the best

http://www.pc.ibm.com/uk/thinkpad/

Ive had one for nearly three years now - never had a single problem with it unlike the dells and HPs I've had in the past.

Cheers

Mark

What about a mac book pro? Seriously though it will do everything you want and probably better with less fuss than anything else out there! Why do you think all these design houses use Mac's??? Oli.

There is little to choose between any of the big name brands these days, although for build quality and longevity I would pick Toshiba (nearly every time), closely followed by IBM and then Sony/HP (I've used/repaired them all ).
Make sure you get an onsite warranty with whatever you choose though.

Cheers

Alex
PS
Sony kit is generally pretty good but the after sales isn't!

I would definately go for a branded one, instead of a shops own brand (PcWorld - Advent) You will obviously pay more, but they are made sturdier and the hardware will be more reliable.

Both my brothers have bought in the last year, one has a Sony Vaio and the other has a Fujitsu Siemans, both very nice and I think most laptops would be up to running what you want. You will never beat a desktop for graphics power, but makes sure it has a half decent card in there and some decent ram and it will run most things maybe not as fast as a desktop though.

Saying this I have had an Advent laptop for the last 6 years and its been used daily, it runs fine, I upgraded the ram to 736mb (+ 512mb) and runs absolutely fine. Had some software issues and it can run a little hot sometimes if the fan gets clogged up. I even spilt beer over the keypad and after drying it it works fine.

It just doesn't feel as sturdy as the Sony or Fujitsu Siemans though.

[Edited on 17/12/2006 by greggors84]

We only sell Fujitsu/Siemens laptops now and have for about 3 years, very low returns rate and good value for money, you will struggle to get a proper 17" screened laptop. For gaming etc you will need the best graphics card you can get and also a good cpu, currentley run a centrino due myself and can run flight sim on it. Laptops are like printers, i will only sell hp as a rule and my mate will only sell epson. look more into the spec than the brand but do go for a branded make as parts for generics can be a nightmare. also worth paying for the extended warranty if you are going to use it a lot and rely on it.
HTH
oh and for gaming also look at the hard drive speed as well, newer laptops should all have SATA drives with a good cache.

Fujitsu-Siemens --- very very for good both desktops and laptops -- very good value too.

Sony good look terriffic but mega bucks

Tosh --- are the best but you pay for the brand

Dell --- not too shabby but when you phone up or go on to the web site you never get a computer at the advertised spec & price. Also watch out for sky hugh delivery charges

Avoid at all cost Advent, Packard-Hell

second that on the packard bell, in fact anything from PC World.

Dell all the way once you reload XP without all the crap that manafacturers put on your machine.

Been working part time now as a computer man and once set up properly, not seen anything better than a dell and I've now played with quite a few like Tosh, Acer etc.

Pat...