Work laptop for systems engineer

[Desin]

I'm a sys eng and I spend most of my time with vCenter/20+ web page tabs/10 putty windows/outlook/excel/powerpoint open. I'll admit it, I've been out of the consumer hardware loop for quite some time now. I need a new laptop and have no idea what to get. I work for a SMB(~100 employees) and I can probably get away with 1K. I'd be willing to throw ~200 of my own cash at the problem..so 1200 max.

Right now I have have a i3 based Acer TimelineX with 3GB of RAM. It really starts to lag out at times. It is also impossible to use without an external monitor because of the 11"/crappy resolution screen. This sucks as I'm having to do more and more work from home in off peak hours and I'm tethered to my home office when I could be sitting on my comfy sofa with the wife.

I'd like something in the 15" range with 1680x1050 resolution. I'd also like at least 4 cores and 8GB of RAM so Vmware workstation doesn't kill my system with a VM running. 8 threads would rock.

I'd also like the video card to play starcraft2/diablo3 at the native resolution if we get to the 1200 range. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Any suggestions?

 

[vbuggy]

Something in the HP DV6t range might be your only bet, although it's hardly a work machine. You will likely be able to spec a quad-core with a 1080p screen and a discrete GPU for somewhere around your budget.

 

[gmaster456]

What Vbuggy said. Sounds like a DV6 Quad Edition would fit the bill.

 

[Sunburn74]

HP pro book with cpu upgrade or workstation level HP envy are reasonable to look at

 

[mshan]

HP has the HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-Core Sandy Bridge 17.3" Notebook Computer for $899.99 Free Shipping after Coupon Code: NBPD7697 (Exp Soon). $1399.99 - $500 off code: NBPD7697 = $899.99 Free Shipping
6.72bs; 17.3" 1920x1080 LED; Intel Core i7-2670QM 2.2GHz Quad-Core Sandy Bridge; 8GB RAM; 750GB HDD; Blu-Ray reader; 802.11n; Windows 7 Home Premium; ATI Radeon HD6490 1GB; webcam; fingerprint; 6-cell battery; 2yr warranty

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/272206

15.4 HP quadcore: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1132314/

Sounds like you may need Windows 7 Pro, though?

 

[vbuggy]

Yeah, ^that sort of spec would seem to be it.

Problem is, it's pretty much a lowest-common-denominator consumer machine and you'll get a usage experience commensurate to that. Its true that millions of undemanding / don't know better users might be perfectly happy with it, but would that be what you really want on a machine you rely on and hit up heavily all day, every day?

I would personally steer you to a w-series Elitebook, but the prices-even-with-coupons will almost certainly not be in your budget.

 

[Desin]

Thanks for the recommendations. I should have the approval budget next week and go from there. I may make a runs to fry's/BB this weekend to check out the build quality on some different brands.