Mid-range laptop ~$700?

I

int0x80

n00b
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
26
I'm looking for a mid-range laptop that is capable of running 2-3 VMs at a time and has good battery time. Additionally, I would be running Linux as the host OS. At first, I was thinking high-end laptop but have decided mid-range laptop + new desktop might be a better way to go.

There is a 128GB SATA-II SSD and 8GB RAM coming over from my previous laptop. Looking to spend ~$700.

Edit: Looking for a smaller laptop, under 15". Previous laptop was 13.3", which was nice.
 
Last edited:
No mention of what screen size or resolution you'll need?
Typical screen resolutions that are seen on laptops from 13-17"
1366x768
1600x900
1920x1080

Will you need to display multiple programs/VMs on screen at once and see them at the same time?
 
Hey thanks for the reply :)

1366x768 is totally fine. I can use workspaces in KDE and switch between workspaces to display VMs. Any better resolution is a bonus.
 
You can get a lot of laptop for $700 nowadays. Get a SB quad, repaste it, and overclock. Get the cheapest memory configuration you can and upgrade it yourself. You'll scream along with the SSD.
 
My RAM kit from the previous laptop is 8GB DDR3 1333 (2 x 4GB). I was considering an Acer TimelineX AS3830TG-6424, which unfortunately is DDR3 1066.

wabbitseason, all the SB quad cores I looked at were above the $700 mark. I won't be doing any gaming, so even a less expensive laptop with an i5 that can still facilitate 2 VMs would be fine.
 
The i5 25**m has built-in Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) and Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d). The i5 24**m does not have these built in. I'm not sure about the i3's, but I'd venture to guess they wouldn't (though I could be wrong).

I'd go for a Lenovo t410 or t510 with a i5 25**m. I saw a few t510's offered on ebay for ~$800-900 that had a 1080 screen the 1600x900 screen for $50-80 less and the 1366x768 screen for ~$50 less. All very rough figures price wise, but that's what I got on a quick check on the bay... You can also wait a little to see if any of the big laptop makers offer any big sales in the next week or so.

Keep your eyes out for the business class laptops as they are the ones that are better built then their consumer counterparts.

Lenovo's T and W series laptops and Dell's Latitude and precision are the ones I would look at first. All are very well built and most have great battery life.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top