Dark-Night: I agree with the others that you'd need to up your budget from £1k to have any hope of future-proofing BUT you say that you're sixteen now and are looking to take the lappie with you to Uni. Unless you're a kid prodigy, I guess that means in 2 years time. My advice: don't bother spending more now in the hope that the lappie will still be "current" in 2 years (no chance of that). Better buy a laptop now at a low budget for your programming learning (An Eee PC will do!), tweak your already high-end desktop for playing games, and save up for a uni lappie which you should buy nearer the time. Result: Have cake & eat it.
Wise idea.
Definately worth the rate.
I actually can up my budget now as I have got a new job now and have had quotes for around £1.5K from a couple of companies.
Rather than getting one now and then getting another in a couple of years, would it not be just as easy to get one now that I can upgrade in the future, getting a bigger HDD, better GPU and possibly a faster CPU?
Looking around for £1500
I can get:
17" WUXGA glossy screen
T9500 2.6Ghz Core 2 Duo
1GB Intel Turbocache
200GB 7200rpm HDD
Geforce GO 8800M GTX 512MB
2GB 800Mhz RAM
Wireless N inbuilt
Bluetooth
I dont think I missed anything out
That is from EUROCOM.
Would you say that is a pretty good spec for £1500
I will defer to the vastly superior knowledge of more regular posters, but my view is:
1. Laptops are "sealed units". Whilst upgrading individual components is possible, it's not as "straightforward" as with desktops.
2. Certain elements (which are absolutely vital to laptop quality/currency) are impossible to upgrade i.e. the screen and the power consumption.
3. The current fad is for ultra-portable low spec units which sacrifice performance in favour of extended battery life and portability. I think this is the first step towards the "Holy Grail": an ultra-portable unit which sits in a desktop docking station housing more powerful GFX, processing and other hardware.
4. In two years, the upgradeability of any laptop you buy today will be constrained by: SSDs having rendered HDDs nearly obsolete (and this in laptops before desktops); new processor architecture (requiring at least a new MoBo in your laptop); ultra thin high-res screens; new battery technology; faster/better memory (DDR96(?) by then) and so on...
In short, I don't think you should be too optimistic about the upgrade options that you will have in two years time: you'll probably be looking at a complete rebuild, which will probably make buying a new machine a more cost-effective option in any event. Sorry to be somewhat pessimistic about this but I think we will see quite radical developments in the laptop world in the next two years.
I will defer to the vastly superior knowledge of more regular posters, but my view is:
1. Laptops are "sealed units". Whilst upgrading individual components is possible, it's not as "straightforward" as with desktops.
2. Certain elements (which are absolutely vital to laptop quality/currency) are impossible to upgrade i.e. the screen and the power consumption.
3. The current fad is for ultra-portable low spec units which sacrifice performance in favour of extended battery life and portability. I think this is the first step towards the "Holy Grail": an ultra-portable unit which sits in a desktop docking station housing more powerful GFX, processing and other hardware.
4. In two years, the upgradeability of any laptop you buy today will be constrained by: SSDs having rendered HDDs nearly obsolete (and this in laptops before desktops); new processor architecture (requiring at least a new MoBo in your laptop); ultra thin high-res screens; new battery technology; faster/better memory (DDR96(?) by then) and so on...
In short, I don't think you should be too optimistic about the upgrade options that you will have in two years time: you'll probably be looking at a complete rebuild, which will probably make buying a new machine a more cost-effective option in any event. Sorry to be somewhat pessimistic about this but I think we will see quite radical developments in the laptop world in the next two years.
Its not pessimistic but extremely useful.If I wasnt looking for other peoples thoughts on this then I wouldnt have posted it on a forum
I do see your point completely and have just had a look at the just announced EEE PC 1000H with a 80GB SSD
Good on 'ya for doing the research! Since I practice what I preach, I've got a MacBook Air (SSD version) which is great for travelling and took delivery last week of a Vadim desktop for....the more fun stuff!
The points I've made about laptops are borne out when I compare my Sony Vaio (which I've had for two years) with the Air. I thought the Vaio was brilliant, and had no problem lugging it around, until I unpacked the Air. I'm afraid to say that it's like comparing the Neolithic era with science-fiction: the two just don't compare, and I wouldn't dream of trying to upgrade the Vaio.
I was very tempted by the Eee, but at the time the only version available was that with the tiny screen. The new ones are much better, I hear, and can run Windows XP credibly (if that's what you want to use).
I would second Cerbera's advice - that is, the savings you have now - keep your savings for when you are ready to go to uni and get an Eee PC or a second hand laptop from Ebay. In two years' time, you will have a better idea what you want to do by that time and benefit from technology in future and will be better suited to lasting you through university life (3 to 5 years) than a laptop you get now (which means another two years to add to it).
Two years' time, Windows 7 will be out or nearing to come out too.
Plus, when at uni, you may get discounts on many stuff including laptops, further maximising the value of your money.
CPU is, to some extent, upgradeable, but not very easy whatsoever and I don't recommend it! GPU is pretty much impossible unless you go for a laptop with an upgradeable GPU (such as the likes of Dell, and even then, the GPU upgrade is propriety most cases).
I see completely what you mean about your Vaio.
I have the same thing sort of with my desktop.
Whe I got it, I made it myself as it is cheaper andI know what I am doing.
It was complete top of the range, best GPU, Best mobo, Raptor X, a good CPU, best PSU. Now obviously it is not and sinc e2 new GPU generations are out, 9 series and 200 series.
The only problem with the Eee PC is that I really want Vista to match my Desktop even though it eats Ram constantly.
Stez -
I never really thought about the discounts that I could get through uni.
My Mum has actually gone back to get a degree in art and architecture and she got me MS Office 2007 Ultimate for £40 rather then the £500 that it usually is.
EUROCOM where I was looking upgrade basically anything for you, but it comes at a price.
Dark-Knight: having struggled for a few hours yesterday to network my new Vista Vadim with my XP Vaio, I know what you mean! If you do go for a laptop running XP, let me know if you have any problems and I'll run you through the process. There are particular compatibility issues if you're running XP Home.
Dark-Knight: having struggled for a few hours yesterday to network my new Vista Vadim with my XP Vaio, I know what you mean! If you do go for a laptop running XP, let me know if you have any problems and I'll run you through the process. There are particular compatibility issues if you're running XP Home.
The next challenge will be to network the Mac....
Well good luck with that.
Well I have had to do that myself already and found problems.
My desktop is running Vista Ultimate and my dads PCs in our study are on both on XP Pro. We are all linked together and to the internet via a N1 vision router. Also connected we have a NAS Drive (Network Attached Storage).
I constantly have issues with seeing my desktop from one of the others and when I enable the network viewing then I can see all my directories on the network not just the one that I have shared.
My printer is attached to one of the PCs in the study and although I have added it I cant get it to print from mine although I used to be able to.
Bugs the hell outta me.
But I do have to say that loads of people complain about Vista having masses of bugs. So far the only thing apart from networking that I have fund that is wrong is a few problems with Control Panel and also some of the Windows games not working. Also it is amazingly slow at startup but that could be because I have filled my HDD fully. When it was empty it booted up in under 15 seconds.
