i need advice on building the best laptop with a budget of £1000

[AzY]

I agree, get the paste, ditch the blue ray, they will become obsolete in a few years to digital blue rays, stick with standard wireless, you wont notice the difference unless your broadband speed exceeds the standard, and your budget is extremely overkill for your needs, mainly because high street products are overpriced, you get alot more for alot less here, i got my spec ( in sig) for >650, without os, you should get yours in a similar cost.

If your not going to game alot, don't go with the higher end atall, go with the optimus, if your not gaming a little , drop the optimus and go with voyager/genesis, with the 630m, which would be more then enough for high res hd movies.

let me know if this is the case and you want to go with a lower graphics card, model, 17"/15", you could get a good ssd, instead

 

[ArcticMonkey]

get the optimus without the BR drive and wireless then, it has the better screen for cheaper. the main improvement of the Vortex and Skyfire is gaming, so stick with the Optimus if you just want movies and such

nice one. i reckon i will do that so. maybe add a bigger HDD.

i added to your rep, for each comment.

cheers again lad

 

[AzY]

nice one. i reckon i will do that so. maybe add a bigger HDD.

i added to your rep, for each comment.

cheers again lad

sure no probs, what size you want the 15", or 17", you going with glossy or matte, i hae glossy and its fine no reflections as i am not using in direct light, but if you have a lot of light coming in, go with matte, specifically the auo, much better infact as alot of praise from other members about it

 

[AzY]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-630M.63761.0.html

will be more than capable of high res movies, and can cope with online gaming, and light pc gaming too

 

[ArcticMonkey]

I agree, get the paste, ditch the blue ray, they will become obsolete in a few years to digital blue rays, stick with standard wireless, you wont notice the difference unless your broadband speed exceeds the standard, and your budget is extremely overkill for your needs, mainly because high street products are overpriced, you get alot more for alot less here, i got my spec ( in sig) for >650, without os, you should get yours in a similar cost.

If your not going to game alot, don't go with the higher end atall, go with the optimus, if your not gaming a little , drop the optimus and go with voyager/genesis, with the 630m, which would be more then enough for high res hd movies.

let me know if this is the case and you want to go with a lower graphics card, model, 17"/15", you could get a good ssd, instead

cheers Azy. thats something tp keep in mind.

would i not gain anything extra to my computing experience (apart from the gaming aspect, as i wont be doing much of that) by spending £1100? my thinking was that i would go all out and treat my self :/

 

[Adli]

nice one. i reckon i will do that so. maybe add a bigger HDD.

i added to your rep, for each comment.

cheers again lad

i would go for the 2TB WD MyBook instead of another internal HDD, it uses USB 3.0 so transferring large files (such as HD movies) over to your laptop won't be a big problem when you use your laptops USB 3.0 ports

 

[AzY]

cheers Azy. thats something tp keep in mind.

would i not gain anything extra to my computing experience (apart from the gaming aspect, as i wont be doing much of that) by spending £1100? my thinking was that i would go all out and treat my self :/

you would, but as your not heavy gaming you relly wont get near that mark easily, as the graphics card itself costs a few hundred the top end ones, where as the mid costss lower

what size u looking for, ill do u a config

 

[ArcticMonkey]

sure no probs, what size you want the 15", or 17", you going with glossy or matte, i hae glossy and its fine no reflections as i am not using in direct light, but if you have a lot of light coming in, go with matte, specifically the auo, much better infact as alot of praise from other members about it

i really don't mind which screen size. i'd go with a 15" if it means i can use the budget to make other improvements, but i bigger screen can't be bad, can it. as for the screen type, which do think will look better. the gloss finish tends to give the laptop a better appearance in my opinion. other than the matte being a non reflective screen i can't see why it is worth £89 more :/

 

[AzY]

i really don't mind which screen size. i'd go with a 15" if it means i can use the budget to make other improvements, but i bigger screen can't be bad, can it. as for the screen type, which do think will look better. the gloss finish tends to give the laptop a better appearance in my opinion. other than the matte being a non reflective screen i can't see why it is worth £89 more :/

well i have glossy and its fine, only people who cant stand reflections/ are using in a strongly lit area will go for the matte screen,

 

[ArcticMonkey]

i would go for the 2TB WD MyBook instead of another internal HDD, it uses USB 3.0 so transferring large files (such as HD movies) over to your laptop won't be a big problem when you use your laptops USB 3.0 ports

yes, i reckon that's the way to go. great advice! thank you

 

[AzY]

Dont go with the external sound card, you wont really need it+ its not worth the extra cost, earphones would match the sound at a reduced price

 

[ArcticMonkey]

well i have glossy and its fine, only people who cant stand reflections/ are using in a strongly lit area will go for the matte screen,

okay mate. i think i stick to the gloss finish then.

 

[PlasticTastic]

Well if you go for the Optimus, the Matte screen is the AUO one which Aparently has better colours (I can't confirm). I would recommend going for the skyfire though as it has a much better graphics card and the Matte screen is included in the price.

 

[AzY]

Chassis & Display Voyager: 17.3" Glossy HD LED Widescreen (1600 x 900)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Price: £748.00 including VAT and delivery.

or the other size

Chassis & Display Genesis IV: 15.6" Glossy HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Genesis Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Price: £710.00 including VAT and delivery.

on both i have gone with the faster intel 520 ssd, i did the 120gb version, as its more than enough, for a primary hard drive, and u can use an external hard drive to go with it, for storage

 

[AzY]

Well if you go for the Optimus, the Matte screen is the AUO one which Aparently has better colours (I can't confirm). I would recommend going for the skyfire though as it has a much better graphics card and the Matte screen is included in the price.

the skyfire only has the standard chimei screen, and he dosent want the laptop for gaming primarily, he wants it for movies, therfore having a high end gpu is a big waste of money

 

[ArcticMonkey]

Dont go with the external sound card, you wont really need it+ its not worth the extra cost, earphones would match the sound at a reduced price

i'll keep that in mind, but i will be connecting the laptop to a surround sound system to watch movies on a regular basis. is it still not worth the extra cash? also,i think the 17" screen would be the better option and sure you can do a config for me. that would be very helpful

thanks a lot AzY!!

 

[AzY]

i'll keep that in mind, but i will be connecting the laptop to a surround sound system to watch movies on a regular basis. is it still not worth the extra cash? also,i think the 17" screen would be the better option and sure you can do a config for me. that would be very helpful

thanks a lot AzY!!

if your going to go with the voyager you could opt for the 1080p full hd screen, however that res takes a while to get used to, i would have taken a 900p screen if it meant i saved £, as 900p in my opinion would work well on a 17", but people have different prefrences, my last laptop was a 786p., if you do go with 1080p, you will have much better quality for movies, which u want, but you will have to adjust your browser, as text is a little hard to read.

 

[ArcticMonkey]

Chassis & Display Voyager: 17.3" Glossy HD LED Widescreen (1600 x 900)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Price: £748.00 including VAT and delivery.

or the other size

Chassis & Display Genesis IV: 15.6" Glossy HD LED 16:9 Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 630M - 1GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk 120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Genesis Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft

Price: £710.00 including VAT and delivery.

on both i have gone with the faster intel 520 ssd, i did the 120gb version, as its more than enough, for a primary hard drive, and u can use an external hard drive to go with it, for storage

thanks for your time and effort mate! i'll have a long think about the advice you've given me

another thing to keep in mind is that i'd want this laptop to last me quite a while hence part of the reason im spending so much. i want it to still be decent in say 4 years time

 

[PlasticTastic]

the skyfire only has the standard chimei screen, and he dosent want the laptop for gaming primarily, he wants it for movies, therfore having a high end gpu is a big waste of money

That's a fair point.
Based off what I've read, I'd recommend:


Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BD-5750H 6x BLURAY WRITER & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£79)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N130 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £977.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/optimusIII-17/sjZzuUPbMg/

Got a nice SSD to store your OS and startup program's on too, but if you don't care about startup times, you could take it off and save a fair bit of money

 

[ArcticMonkey]

Well if you go for the Optimus, the Matte screen is the AUO one which Aparently has better colours (I can't confirm). I would recommend going for the skyfire though as it has a much better graphics card and the Matte screen is included in the price.

i'll take that on board mate, thanks !

i'd like the laptop to still be running strong in say 4 years time (with maybe some upgrades on the way) so maybe the higher specs would be the better option?