New Laptop Advice Please

[Warbur]

Looking for some advice on a new laptop please.

I bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro last year but my daughter really needs to upgrade hers so best bet will be to let her have mine and I'll upgrade as a business expense.

Although I'm not convinced all is well with mine (slow start up and stalls slightly when running power hungry programmes) the spec is:

Intel Core i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz running 8GB ram. (I'll get this reformatted etc before she has it to try to speed things up).

I'm looking for something similar (if not more powerful) but I think I'd rather avoid Toshiba this time.

Budget is up to £800 (incl VAT) so would appreciate recommendations please. I need a 17" screen for viewing drawings plus the number pad is a must.

Also any recommendations on where to buy from (or not to as the case may be) would also be appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[fundy]

Had big problems with Toshiba laptops in the past, personally have had Dell the last couple and they have been excellent. Current 17" I have on my desk must be 3 or 4 years old now and still runs pretty much as it did brand new. Not sure if they still do it but always found it worth upgrading the screen on them to the higher resolution ones (they may well be standard now). Dell tend to create a marmite reaction but personally had a few from them and their quality and service has been excellent

 

[Warbur]

Funnily enough my last one was a Dell Inspiron 1720 that my wife now uses - 5 years old and (fingers crossed) still going strong, it just needs a new battery. I'm pretty certain that it's actually running faster than my current Toshiba - don't want to depress myself by putting them side-by-side.

 

[Warbur]

Just done a bit of Googling after speaking to a customer that uses Lenovo and found this one: http://www.dabs.com/products/lenovo...bluray-17--win8-bronze-8C1N.html?fb=600&src=2

Any thoughts/comments please?

 

[Hacker Khan]

If that is a picture of your daughter to the left then I am more than happy to come round and discuss it with her. I am a computer whizz as I had a ZX81 once, with 16K ram pack.

 

[CMAC]

had Toshiba's and Dells over the years, Toshiba gets the best press even from IT bods but from a laymans perspective (me) I've never had any issues with Dell kit- it's all about the quality of the components. Just looked today funnily enough at Lenovo for desktops but I'll be going with the reputable brand I've used for years- not saying Lenovo isnt good but I know nothing about them.....yet.

 

[Warbur]

If that is a picture of your daughter to the left then I am more than happy to come round and discuss it with her. I am a computer whizz as I had a ZX81 once, with 16K ram pack.

Alas not I'm afraid. I really ought to change that avatar

 

[GreiginFife]

Whatever you do, avoid HP Pavilion 17" laptops as they have an inherent design flaw of using the same heatsink on CPU and GPU which leads to failure in a short time as the GPU burns off it's solder.

Lenovo and Samsung would get my thumbs up just now.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Alas not I'm afraid. I really ought to change that avatar

Eye, your wife may not be happy with you parading her picture all over the internet.

 

[Region3]

not saying Lenovo isnt good but I know nothing about them.....yet.

I've only ever had 2 laptops.

Lenovo was brilliant, never had a problem with it. Not sure if it's still the case but I think they used to be owned by IBM.
HP. I would say it was garbage but it wasn't that good.

 

[gripitripit]

Slightly over budget

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer...4-Bit_16GB__NX.M1WEK.014/version.asp#maindesc

 

[Captainron]

I would look at an Acer from Laptops direct. I got an Apire 5750g with intel corei5 6Gb ram and 500Gb hard drive for 300 odd. There are better spec options for not much more

 

[brendy]

HP Probook 4740S 17" core i5 upgraded to 6gb ram and OCZ agility 3 SSD drive , bought it to replace my 3 year old Dell Vostro 1720 (starting to have several issues)
I really can see past these for build quality as I have bought around 10-15 of them recently in 13 and 15 inch variants. Screens are sharp and have a dedicated graphics chip onboard too, none of this intel nonsense.
Bought mine through Misco but others may be cheaper.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-ProBook-4740s-Notebook.84313.0.html

 

[Warbur]

Thanks all, there's some pretty decent offerings there.

I hadn't considered the Acer or HP offerings but will certainly have a look at them.