Best All Around 15" Laptop?

[hellod9]

Hello All,

I'm in need of a new laptop. I work on it, so it's gotta be good. I'm very seriously considering a Macbook Pro, but would prefer a windows based system if at all possible.

Here's what I need:

-Actual 7 hour battery life
-Weighs less than 6 lbs
-at least 1600x900 resolution screen (Though I prefer 1080p)
-GOOD screen. This is important: I'm going to be staring at it for hours on end.
-Quiet
-Not too hot
-Good keyboard/trackpad

I'm not really going to be gaming on it. I'd prefer a faster processor, though I doubt it matters much for what I'm doing.

I'm going to use it for basic Photoshop editing, website coding, Android App development, and streaming tv/movies.

Ideally it would be $1500 or less.

Does such a thing exist, outside the Macbook Pro?

I've tried the Dell XPS 15Z. It gets too hot, and the battery life is just OK. I tried the Samsung Series 7, but the screen was horrible. What are my other options? Has anyone tried the new 15.5" Sony Vaio S? How was the screen, trackpad, etc?

Thanks!

 

[alent1234]

To be fair the battery on a mbp is a lot worse in Windows than OS x

And you need the $2000 mbp to game on. Classic Apple is to sell their low end overpriced and the higher end products cheaper than the competition

 

[roguerower]

Dell 15z?

 

[hellod9]

Thanks for the responses.

As for gaming...It's not a consideration.

I've tried the Dell 15z, but the battery life is sub-par, and it gets too hot. It's close to what I want, but not quite there.

Maybe the Sony Vaio S? Anyone seen one live?

 

[Zap]

The XPS 15z has a discrete graphics card. Don't know if it can be set to always be disabled (Optimus?) but if it is enabled then there is your power draw.

Are there any Acer Timeline X 15" models? Wait, you said "good screen" so nevermind.

Check the not-so-consumer models from Dell, Lenovo and HP. Some of those have better screens.

For battery life, any Sandy Bridge that only uses integrated graphics should be great.

 

[TheStu]

You are stuck between a rock and a hard place given your requirements. A Mac running Windows is not an ideal situation, so although they advertise 7 hours of battery life, that is in OS X, expect to get... a little over half that, maybe more, in Windows.

Also, there is the touchpad issue. You say you want a good one. Well, then you have to get a Mac. I have played with tons of laptops, their trackpads universally suck out of the box. Maybe you could fiddle with the settings ad infinitum, but even beyond that there are the little things, like the fact that the trackpad is automatically disabled in OS X when you start typing so as to avoid accidental brushes causing the cursor to jump. They have had this feature for at least 5 years, and I have yet to use a Windows laptop that did it well (or at all).

If you are willing to go without however, looking at business machines, like the Latitudes, EliteBooks (or is the ProBook the 'lower' range?) ThinkPads, things of that nature are generally the way to go. Sturdier than the average piece of consumer plastic.

 

[vbuggy]

You don't even get anywhere near 7 hours in OS X if you're actually using it, as opposed to trying to hit 7 hours as most Apple-addled reviewers (and even Our Glorious Leader is not immune to conveniently picking and choosing positive attributes to report of the Macs) do these days.

Either the Elitebook or Probook is worth a shot, depending on what you want to compromise, especially one with an HD3000 for the runtime. The HD3000 is an IGP, but it's not your 4500MHD - it's actually pretty capable, but obviously it's no discrete - although if you're comparing against the Radeon in the $1800 Macbook Pro, it's surprisingly not that radically different.

Consider, instead of the 15-inch, the 14-inch machines in both the Probook and Elitebook ranges which you can CTO (though the Probook 6460b might include a 1600 x 900 premade config) with a 1600 x 900 (matte) screen. With a 6-cell battery, the 14-inch machines will deliver the res you're looking for and come in under (Elitebook) or at (Probook) the weight target.

In terms of runtime, the HD3000 config with a 6-cell will allow you to hit similar Windows runtimes to the Macbooks in OS X in real-life use. However, the Probooks/Elitebooks have the definitive edge in that both have battery options (the same, since Probooks use Elitebook batteries). You can swap out the 6-cell to a 9-cell, or pair either with a clip-on slice.

Along with the coupons on checkout and backing off some less important options, you can CTO:
- Elitebook 8460p with 1600, i5-2540M, 9-cell , ultimate-N, etc for ~$1400
- Probook 6460b with 1600, i5-2520M, 6-cell, etc for ~$1250
Both with 1-year warranty

(Honestly, the Elitebook is the clear winner in this battle)

Add a 128Gb (if you don't think you'll be going over) or 256Gb Crucial M4 (upgrade to 0009 first thing if not at this version already, otherwise it gives boot issues with the Elitebooks) for $200~$400 and you'll still be somewhere around your budget. Oh yeah, unlike the Macbook Pro's, all of HP's 'actually pro' notebooks will take SATAIII SSD's with nary a complaint, and with the short boot process on the new machines, outboot any Macbook (booting OS X) as a result - ~10 seconds on either a properly configured Probook or Elitebook to get to the Windows logon screen from pressing the power button, along with pretty much immediate regular app loading times.

 

[htwingnut]

HP DV6t Quad i7-2630QM, 1080p matte (it's great, I have it), Blu-Ray, 6770m GPU, 9-cell battery will give you about 7 hours. Run you about $1000-$1100 shipped (find coupons, usually about 30% off or $350-$400 off). If you're not going to be gaming, I believe you can get it with only the IGP, so should cost you less.

 

[alent1234]

from now on the most expensive wintel laptop i'll buy is around 500 or $600. at that price point i don't care if it breaks in a year and i won't buy an extended warranty

$1000 or more is Mac all the way. Apple has good support. buying a $1500 laptop and going to the geek squad for support is asking for stress. the last HP laptop i had was a business class $1500 machine from 2007. screen broke, i sent it in. due to a hurricane in texas it was sitting around for a week with no status and no one new anything.

finally i found out that they considered the screen going bad my fault even though it had a 3 year warranty as part of the price. cost my employer $400 to fix it. 2 years later it finally fell apart and company bought me a lenovo. a little more than a year into the lenovo the HD died but the help desk had extras so no big deal.

unless you're going to be heavy into gaming or photoshop the intel HD 3000 is more than enough and a $500 laptop is a good buy. an i5 with 6GB of RAM will be more than enough for most photochop and coding

 

[roguerower]

Don't know why your experience with the 15z was so bad. The AT review was pretty positive for the most part. You're gaming requirement makes the selection difficult because you have to go with an Optimus or AMD equivalent laptop. A laptop with a dedicated GFX card and no optimus won't even get close to your battery requirements, but a laptop with just IGP won't be able to meet your gaming needs.

You're gonna have to compromise, one way or another.

 

[hellod9]

Roguepower -- I have NO GAMING NEEDS.

 

[alkemyst]

Sorry for the bad advice here hellod9, most don't seem to understand many people just don't want a gaming machine.

Personally the MBP is the way to go. I run mine with Parallels and have installed Win 7 to run in covergance mode.

Seemlessly I integrate better with my iPhone and can run apple stuff. Click on IE or visio and those just launch as if I was running them natively.

Hardware costs are a bit more up front but IMHO the build quality is much better and with Apple local retail stores, service is simple.

 

[alkemyst]

Don't know why your experience with the 15z was so bad. The AT review was pretty positive for the most part. You're gaming requirement makes the selection difficult because you have to go with an Optimus or AMD equivalent laptop. A laptop with a dedicated GFX card and no optimus won't even get close to your battery requirements, but a laptop with just IGP won't be able to meet your gaming needs.

You're gonna have to compromise, one way or another.

Was this a troll post? He mentioned specifically he is not going to game on this.

 

[roguerower]

Was this a troll post? He mentioned specifically he is not going to game on this.

I misread what he wrote, no need to get all fiesty. It is nice to know you're following me around .

 

[biostud]

try looking at the HP 6560b probook