Laptop for graphics?

[Sunshine55]

Hi guys,

I'm having a difficult time finding my way around the laptop field atm and hope you can help. I am unsure of laptop hardware stability, pricing, performance, etc. I will be using this laptop for graphic design and other heavy use applications. (I have a desktop already)


1_What is your budget? probably no more than $2500ish

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15-17" Would prefer 17.

3_What screen resolution do you want? Best I can get

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Hmmm with the specs I need it would probably fall in desktop replacement but I wouldn't deal with a laptop over 9 lbs

5_How much battery life do you need? at least 5 hours

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Probably won't game

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)

CS4 Design Premium suite
Music
Possibly some animation software

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
HD needs to be 7200 rpm, at least 300gb

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?

At least 4 years

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.

If going for a pc I would prefer a keypad on the keyboard. No crazy colors: aluminum or black a preference. Big bulky keys are turn off. Must have good display and graphics card.

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

I am trying to keep an open mind because I have not owned a laptop before. I am willing to consider a pc or mac.

13_What country do you live in?
U.S.

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
Definitely check SAGER NP5797 or NP8662,the difference between these 2 is only the graphic they use and their screen size,the first one is 17" and the second on is 15"and it won't matter for u much since u don't want to game
www.xoticpc.com is a good place to looks for this laptops

 

[Sunshine55]

Thank you for the welcome and the feedback. I had not heard of those brands before, I'll have to check them out.

 

[lostandwandering]

Thank you for the welcome and the feedback. I had not heard of those brands before, I'll have to check them out.

Yeah, they are lesser known but their chasis are used by a few high-end boutique system builders. The 17'' model can also be equipped with a Quadro professional series card, which may also help.

I would also take a look at Dell's Latitude and Precision lines as well as Thinkpads from Lenovo.

 

[Sunshine55]

Do you by chance have an idea of how good the HP Elitebooks are? The Sager battery life was much too low for me. I hear good things about Lenovo but I like the look of the HP.

 

[lostandwandering]

I can't say. Don't have any experience with the Elitebooks.