Bloodnok
13th May 2011, 04:33 PM
Looking for a laptop at the moment. Something 15" to 16" - not something mega large, as it does actually move about, it's not just for moving between two desks at home. Anyone want to recommend me something - I'm finding it rather hard to fight my way through the websites of some of the contenders, in particular the set who believe you should go to your local retailer and hope that the one model of 200+ they make that meets your needs is one of the 3 that retailer stocks...
My current laptop (a Thinkpad Z61m) is showing it's age (4 years 7 months now) - it's been through 5 batteries, it's on it's second hard disk, the bluetooth has died, the screen backlight is on the way out, and the graphics chip just isn't quite up to the job any more.
So I'm looking at my options for a replacement.
Absolute requirements include:
* a proper English keyboard as used in England (none of this yank stuff). That means a two-row vertical enter key, and the backslash key on the LEFT of the keyboard.
* a real graphics chip (must run 3DSMax and speedtree).
* a decent screen - I'm looking for 1600x900 at an absolute minimum, and would prefer higher.
* a windows version of at least "professional" - I already know "home premium" isn't going to cut it for my usage.
I have previously been looking about - and I found a Dell XPS 15 fit the bill. Unfortunately, I've spoken to their Australia/NZ sales people, and they are insisting I order through Dell UK if I want the proper English keyboard layout. And Dell UK will only deliver to a UK address, will only honour warranty while in Britain, and will provide a UK spec power brick. While understandable, that kinda makes this machine a little awkward to order and own. Particularly given that the keyboard will be a field replaceable part, and there are two options listed in the machine configuration.
I'm happy to replace the keyboard myself if I can't order it built-in but can get it as a replaceable part (I've replaced laptop keyboards before - one for one of my previous laptops needed two warranty replacements on the keyboard, both of which were just posted out to me.)
My current laptop (a Thinkpad Z61m) is showing it's age (4 years 7 months now) - it's been through 5 batteries, it's on it's second hard disk, the bluetooth has died, the screen backlight is on the way out, and the graphics chip just isn't quite up to the job any more.
So I'm looking at my options for a replacement.
Absolute requirements include:
* a proper English keyboard as used in England (none of this yank stuff). That means a two-row vertical enter key, and the backslash key on the LEFT of the keyboard.
* a real graphics chip (must run 3DSMax and speedtree).
* a decent screen - I'm looking for 1600x900 at an absolute minimum, and would prefer higher.
* a windows version of at least "professional" - I already know "home premium" isn't going to cut it for my usage.
I have previously been looking about - and I found a Dell XPS 15 fit the bill. Unfortunately, I've spoken to their Australia/NZ sales people, and they are insisting I order through Dell UK if I want the proper English keyboard layout. And Dell UK will only deliver to a UK address, will only honour warranty while in Britain, and will provide a UK spec power brick. While understandable, that kinda makes this machine a little awkward to order and own. Particularly given that the keyboard will be a field replaceable part, and there are two options listed in the machine configuration.
I'm happy to replace the keyboard myself if I can't order it built-in but can get it as a replaceable part (I've replaced laptop keyboards before - one for one of my previous laptops needed two warranty replacements on the keyboard, both of which were just posted out to me.)