Could Use Advise From the Gurus

C

Chimaera*

n00b
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
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I hate to make another "I am looking to but a laptop thread" but....I am looking to buy a laptop and I would appreciate some suggestions.

My needs aren't very unique but I didn't see anyone with similar ones recently.

So here's the deal, I'm looking for a laptop that will be used while traveling. It doesn't have to be the Air but thin and light are a relatively important factor. Under 5 lbs would be ideal but if there is something fantastic with a little more heft, I could be swayed.
I want something fast but not bleeding edge where I have to pay an early entry fee.
SSDs are awesome but I'll be carrying a ton of data on this so I may want to stick to a large platter. Again, maybe if there a sweet SSD setup, I could reconsider and carry a portable drive as well.
As for a graphics card, I tend not to play any of the graphics intensive games while I'm on the road but I find that a decent discrete card does come in handy. A nice card would be more of an added bonus.
Battery life isn't too critical. I'm lucky to fly business a lot and they have AC ports typically at the seat. Couple hours should be fine.

I've got a pretty healthy budget, I'd like to spend ~$1200 but I could potentially go up to $1800 but it would have to be for something really great. The 2010 Sony Vaio Z looks really tempting but the base is higher than what I wanted to spend and I think I could meet my needs for a fair amount less.

I know my wish list is really broad and there are probably a lot of options but I was hoping to maybe get some direction or see if there might be a particular standout that I'm not aware of.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help.
 
The Alienware M11x looks like it might fit your needs and budget, as long as you're cool with an 11.6" screen. You can configure it to have an SSD if you'd like, or you can buy an Intel X25-M elsewhere and install it yourself (the latter being the better option, IMO). It has switchable GPUs, so you can use the integrated Intel GP when you need the battery to last (up to something like 7-8 hours) and switch to the Nvidia GT335 when you want or need to... do whatever might use a discrete GPU in your case. Starts at $800:

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/alienware-m11x/pd.aspx?refid=alienware-m11x&s=dhs&cs=19

There's a thread concerning this laptop here:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1492575
 
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