Laptop for a lawyer...

[Notmyusualid]

Hello all,

I'm looking some advice on picking up a laptop for my gf, with the following requirements;

1) Be as fast as her desktop (i5 2500K, 8GB, Sanddisk extreme 2 SSD, 5870 GPU).

2) Have outstanding build quality.

3) Have some level of portability (she despises carrying my M18x R2 ANYWHERE as it is 5.4kg + 1.8kg PSU) so no direct DTR sizes are acceptable.

4) Not be a Mac - she has had a Mac for some years now (an expensive gift for closing a new condo project from the customer) and prefers Windows, and all her software is Windows only anyway she just said. On top of that near-exploding batteries, failed drives, and poor Mac store service drove her away from them (and not me, oddly).

5) Have a screeen size similar to her existing 15" laptop.

6) Be suitable for CAD (don't ask me why a lawyer would care for this feature, so I am assuming this has to be something to do with the architects she regularly deals with? Who knows.). Anyway, I read this as big GPU required.

7) Be in-stock / receivable before xmas day.

My thoughts;

I'm looking to keep the cost at, or under 2,000 GBP (~3000 USD).

I thought about HP Elite books, but dunno, what do you think?

But really I'm considering a Razer laptop. She can take the styling as she already has a Razar keyboard & Death Adder on her work desk.

The 17" Blade Pro is bigger, but looks very well built, has a unique integrated trackpad / screen device, however, for the money, and considering what is out, I think the 2GB 860M is a deal breaker.

The 14" Blade, is 1" smaller in screen size, looks equally well-built, has a 4k screen (touch as well), 3GB Keplar 870M, and good speakers too.

Touch & Win 8 are not my favourties, but this is not for me, I'm sure she would enjoy the novelty of a touch screen laptop.

Ladies and Gents, I seek your reccomendations.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

[holden j caufield]

toshiba tecra z40 14.1 ultrabook with gt730m, it's one of the few business quality ulltrabooks with discrete gpu. If she doesn't need the discrete video card the dell e7440 is another light ultrabook 14.1 with intel 4400 hd still does ok CAD for me but I do very light CAD. I've owned a lot and I still have a few desktop replacements but for carrying into work etc I only carry my ultrabooks now 14.1 or 12.5, and looking to go smaller but with enough ram for all my virtual machines and some CAD. I'll only consider ones with 2 ram slots and upgradealbe HD as 8gb won't be enough in the future.

 

[Notmyusualid]

Nice machine, but any ultra low power cpu kind of gives me shivers down my spine.

I know they have come on in the last few years, but still, I'd like to get a full-fat i7.

Regards.

toshiba tecra z40 14.1 ultrabook with gt730m, it's one of the few business quality ulltrabooks with discrete gpu. If she doesn't need the discrete video card the dell e7440 is another light ultrabook 14.1 with intel 4400 hd still does ok CAD for me but I do very light CAD. I've owned a lot and I still have a few desktop replacements but for carrying into work etc I only carry my ultrabooks now 14.1 or 12.5, and looking to go smaller but with enough ram for all my virtual machines and some CAD. I'll only consider ones with 2 ram slots and upgradealbe HD as 8gb won't be enough in the future.

 

[Notmyusualid]

No more ideas?

 

[NTMBK]

To be honest if she's happy spending that much money, the Razer Blade is probably the best option for her. Great design, powerful GPU.

 

[Notmyusualid]

Hi, in addition, I was looking at the Dell Precision M3800 today.

It has a workstation class GPU, but Dell doesn't spec it higher than a Quadro K1100M, which trades blow you youtube with an 850M (a 2GB 128 bit card itself), losing just more comparisons than winning, and yet the Razer has a 870M which in my humble opinion is much better again. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irE7VsLS0hE

I also fear if Dell did spec it higher, it would break the 2k GBP limit too.

The Razer is looking better by the day.

Thanks.

To be honest if she's happy spending that much money, the Razer Blade is probably the best option for her. Great design, powerful GPU.

 

[Notmyusualid]

As told by Razer yesterday.

So it is looking like the M3800 from Dell...

Kinda slow around here...

 

[saratoga172]

As told by Razer yesterday.

So it is looking like the M3800 from Dell...

Kinda slow around here...

I have an M3800 that I use for work. I'm an IT Sys Admin so it gets used for a wide array of duties. Everything from running VM's, going into the data center so I need at least some battery life to some web and graphic work. I've also done some light gaming mostly for testing but most games have been playable on medium settings. It would also work for decent car work.

I get about 3 hours of heavy use on battery and 4-5 on light use. Brightness usually turned down to about 40%. The build quality is excellent. I love the material and feel of the machine from the brushed metal to the matte finish inside. The laptop is also very well balanced weight wise. Hard to tell its a hair over 4 pounds with the way they distributed weight in the machine.

I've got nothing but good things to say about it. She may not need the top specc'd display and can go with the 1080p version, especially since app support is still a little spotty for high res text and items.

 

[Notmyusualid]

Sounds like praise indeed!

In addition, she will get warranty globally with Dell, I know the Razer would need sending either back to the USA, or Singapore at least.

The most interesting thing you've said here is NOT to consider the high res screen. I read a lot of good things about it, and going forward, these types of resoultions are going to be increasingly implemented. Would that be your final answer?

Just waiting for her to respond to see if she is happy with the choice...

Thanks for your help.

I have an M3800 that I use for work. I'm an IT Sys Admin so it gets used for a wide array of duties. Everything from running VM's, going into the data center so I need at least some battery life to some web and graphic work. I've also done some light gaming mostly for testing but most games have been playable on medium settings. It would also work for decent car work.

I get about 3 hours of heavy use on battery and 4-5 on light use. Brightness usually turned down to about 40%. The build quality is excellent. I love the material and feel of the machine from the brushed metal to the matte finish inside. The laptop is also very well balanced weight wise. Hard to tell its a hair over 4 pounds with the way they distributed weight in the machine.

I've got nothing but good things to say about it. She may not need the top specc'd display and can go with the 1080p version, especially since app support is still a little spotty for high res text and items.

 

[saratoga172]

Sounds like praise indeed!

In addition, she will get warranty globally with Dell, I know the Razer would need sending either back to the USA, or Singapore at least.

The most interesting thing you've said here is NOT to consider the high res screen. I read a lot of good things about it, and going forward, these types of resoultions are going to be increasingly implemented. Would that be your final answer?

Just waiting for her to respond to see if she is happy with the choice...

Thanks for your help.

We do 3 year pro support on all systems so just make sure they support the use area she'll use it in.

As for the screen it really is subjective to how you use it. I put the res at 1920x1080 and run it like that about 75% of the time. There are a few reasons for that and none of them may matter to you or her.

DPI scaling: The os has to scale the text for the high res display. Using just the laptop this works really well. A few applications are still poorly supported but that'll improve over time. The screen really is very sharp and good. I connect my laptop to an external monitor at work and the dpi scaling doesn't work as well as I'd hope. The text will look very large on one screen and good on the other. This is the biggest issue I've encountered. It takes some adjustment. When I'm just using the laptop for extended periods I use the native res and don't have any issues.

VDI: I use and support a vdi environment on a regular basis and the resolution doesn't translate well. Using the native res it translates like crap and all text is really small.

Like I said you can always turn down the resolution if needed. Really a subjective thing. If she's connecting to a monitor you may consider the lower resolution. I think the higher res screen has a nicer quality panel in it though. Look up some stuff on dpi scaling.

 

[Notmyusualid]

Thanks again! Nice useful information.

We do 3 year pro support on all systems so just make sure they support the use area she'll use it in.

As for the screen it really is subjective to how you use it. I put the res at 1920x1080 and run it like that about 75% of the time. There are a few reasons for that and none of them may matter to you or her.

DPI scaling: The os has to scale the text for the high res display. Using just the laptop this works really well. A few applications are still poorly supported but that'll improve over time. The screen really is very sharp and good. I connect my laptop to an external monitor at work and the dpi scaling doesn't work as well as I'd hope. The text will look very large on one screen and good on the other. This is the biggest issue I've encountered. It takes some adjustment. When I'm just using the laptop for extended periods I use the native res and don't have any issues.

VDI: I use and support a vdi environment on a regular basis and the resolution doesn't translate well. Using the native res it translates like crap and all text is really small.

Like I said you can always turn down the resolution if needed. Really a subjective thing. If she's connecting to a monitor you may consider the lower resolution. I think the higher res screen has a nicer quality panel in it though. Look up some stuff on dpi scaling.

 

[Notmyusualid]

All,

Purchase made:

M3800, i7 4712HQ, 512GB SSD, 4k screen 91wh battery.

Even though it is not mine, can't wait to play with it.

Thanks.