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My old laptop (Sony Vaio) is 6 years old and I'll need to replace it soon.
Looking for something mainly to use for Lightroom/Photoshop elements.
Been looking at i7/8Gb ram/dedicated graphics card (might want to run Revit at some point... 😳 ) and it's all adding up.
Realistically do I need such a high spec? My old laptop is an i5 (onboard graphics which struggles)
Looking a known name (HP/Lenovo)...
ETA: windoze only please, I just don't get on with my MacBook...
Any recommendations?
Scan 3XS or PC Specialist depending on which best suits your needs and budget, if it must be a big brand there are some nice MSI around that price.
My old laptop is an i5 (onboard graphics which struggles)
I don't think that the graphics card will affect Photoshop etc unless you are into hardcore filters and huge images and the like...? Anyone who knows what to correct me?
Replaced my last MSI laptop with annother around Christmas time.
Build quality appears to have massively improved with a decent aluminium case, trackpad is still clicky and woeful. Not bothered me too much as I generally use a trackball or mouse for any laptop.
Not sure on HP, got two in the house and they're OK but next to the MSI, the HPs are a bit plastic fantastic and they both seem to be a bit sluggish for the spec.
i7/i5 is confusing as there are the generations, a later i5 may be better than an older i7. You can usually do a search for the full processor model number and compare with your Sony.
There was a time when i7 started getting a bit rarer in laptops as they were getting a bit hot, I think the latest ones have been developed so they're a bit cooler running again.
I would guess for photo stuff you'd be better with a decent display size and loads of memory.
As a starter on the MSI front, I would imnagine something of this spec would be OK - I'm not a photo doctoring expert so others may have more opinion 🙂
[Even the 17" version is under £1000]
Dell's through work have been pretty good recently but the prices seem high at the moment.
Shame you don't like Macs I'm going to be selling a hardly used 15" Mac Book Pro Retina, i7, 16GB, 256Gb SSD with additional storage. Same reason as you I don't get on with it and much more productive on a PC.
I've just got one of these:
[url= http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/medion-p7647-core-i7-7500u-8gb-1tb-128gb-ssd-geforce-gtx-950m-dvd-rw-17.3-30021754/version.asp ]Medion Gaming Laptop[/url]
and it's great.
Dell Outlet. Don't dismiss the business machines either, the Latitudes, although not sure how many will have a discrete video card.
Check out the Dell outlet, some cracking deals pop up on there.
I've just picked up a 15.6" 1080p i5 with 8gb and a 256gb SSD, with a 4GB Radeon, for under £350.
It's basically brand new, suspect an unwanted return or warranty repair.
I've had a dell latitude in the past, wasn't sure that they were as good these days though?
MSI looks interesting but I'd prefer to buy through a more trusted source (especially as I'm now in the wilds of the Highlands....) 😀
I was in past John Lewis today, didn't fill me with enthusiasm though.
Any recommended MSI outlets anyone?
I bought mine from Amazon, couple of local places sold MSI, Laptops Direct and CCL but they're probably no use.
Amazon was best price and is mostly reliable.
I'd probably avoid makes like MSI and Medion to be honest. There's nothing wrong with the hardware, but my experience of laptop brands outside of the big names is that in five years' time when it needs a rebuild and you're looking for drivers you're Donald Ducked.
May well be less of an issue now that the in-built Windows driver suite / Windows Update is so much better than it ever was and you're less reliant on OEM support, but it's caused me murders in the past. (Mind you, some of the big names are no better; I'm looking at you, Sony.)
Lenovo and Dell would be my first choices these days.