Laptop Choice?

I'm looking for a desktop replacement laptop, which isn't really much considering the desktop is already quite old, and a £500 laptop outperform it easily.

The HP Envy specification look great, especially the GeForce GT 840M, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD, and the i5 processor for £600, idea for some video games.

Is there's other better option than this?

Why not replace the desktop with another desktop?

Spaces, laptop just more conveniences.

Have both. I find desktop speed and having it there with big monitors, mouse, better keyboard, more convenient than laptop.

http://www.ebuyer.com/662317-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7260-3026

You could have one of these, use your old monitor, keyboard etc.

and use the change to buy a graphics card that looks like a jet engine.

Space yet is still an issues.

Not better option for around £600?

I bought a shit hot desktop off @Velocio / God for <£400 ages ago. It replaced a £1400 desktop replacement laptop and shits on it. Desktops are so much nicer if you don't have to move them anywhere (which is the case most of the time).

I'll be buying a desktop once Fallout 4 is out.

Is anyone using a new ThinkPad? How do you find them compared to the IBM generation?

I love my 2007 X61 but have been considering one of the new ThinkPads to use as a full time machine. Whilst I feel the new ones are a step backwards in every way but performance, I can't see any decent alternatives.

@Velocio what do you use these days?

I currently use 2 laptops, both Thinkpads.

The old laptop is my home one, and the one I take on holiday... I don't really care if it breaks, it's a Lenovo Thinkpad X220. It works great but looks a bit corp/fugly.

The new laptop is my work and home one. It's a Lenovo Thinkpad X250. I really love it.

The great things:

• It looks like a Mac Powerbook, but just in black.
  
• The ability to plug in ethernet is wonderful, especially as ethernet is generally free in hotels and the wifi is both expensive and shitty.
  
• The keyboard is great.
  
• The trackpad is sufficient (not as good as Apple, but better than any other PC).
  
• The screen is incredible (high-res, bright IPS).
  
• It's light.
  
• It's incredibly durable.
  
• @31trum made me a great case, so it looks great on the move too.
  
  

Things I'd note:

• I added an extra battery, but I needn't have done so. The battery that comes with it is totally fine.
  
• The X250 is capped to only take 8GB RAM (as all current generation of laptops are - it's a limit of this generation of high performance yet low power CPU). If you definitely need more then you'd need an old generation laptop and will have to accept loss of battery life in the process... the X250 is fine with 8GB RAM, the battery makes it all OK.
  
  

I'd totally recommend the X250, it's the best laptop that Lenovo have made in a very long time.

Oh, and I run Linux on both, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS with XFCE and i3wm. If you're into Linux I'll happily share my Thinkpad bootstrap script. Windows worked perfectly of course, and was really nice... but my work (both Microcosm and CloudFlare) requires Linux.

Thanks for such a detailed response.

It was the X250 I was considering (2.7GHz Core i5, 8GB RAM, FHD IPS display, my own SSD).. comes in at £885 direct from Lenovo after a 5% discount they're offering this month.

However, I'll refrain from pulling the trigger just yet after seeing this this morning:
http://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/3b1bw8/the_rumour_mill_is_in_full_swing_thinkpad_classic/

I'm currently running Arch with BSPWM (no DE) on the X61. Will be running Arch on the new machine too, probably with XFCE/BSPWM.

Thanks for the offer of sharing the bootstrap script, I'm not sure I'll need it as Arch should Just Work, however I'd enjoy perusing the script.

On a related note, this was a mildly entertaining video regarding the shift in design from classic IBM era ThinkPads to Lenovo's newest offerings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doEZMNXz1JY

I have an X220 that I use at home (same as Velocio's) and a Dell from work. Both are similar specs, I7, loads of RAM. 12" screen on Thinkpad, 14" on Dell.

Even though it's smaller, the Thinkpad is the nicer laptop to use. Keyboard is better, screen is way better (the IPS screen is really sharp and bright and worth upgrading to if it's a full-time machine). It copes fine in a docking station running two monitors at 1920x1080.

Main sacrifice is the battery life isn't great. I suspect that is due to it being an older processor. I'd also agree it's not the prettiest.

That's the X230 he's comparing an old Thinkpad to. The X250 does solve some of those issues (the better default screen, the buttons back on the trackpad, etc)

Oh yes, plus he X250 has much more battery squeezed in too, right? Another one of that dude's main complaints resolved with the X250.

The X250 really seems like a big improvement in comparison to the "modern" ThinkPads that came before it.

Yup, the X250 reports 2 batteries in Linux... both of the same capacity, and only one is removable the other is built-in somewhere.

I like the way it drains too... always the slot-in battery first, then the built-in.

Great advantages are that you can hot-swap batteries whilst not being on power. You can even take the battery out and stow it in check-in luggage and still have enough battery built-in to watch a movie on the plane.

The only thing the X250 didn't solve were the Home/End/Delete keys and the lack of media keys on the arrow keys. But you know what... when that is my only complaint then I'm damn happy.

I think I'm sold on the X250.

I would consider a used X220 considering how cheap they are if it weren't for the 1366*768 resolution; my X61 is 1024*678 and there's just not enough real estate to comfortably do anything that involves a GUI.

The X250's 1920*1080 resolution on a 12" screen sounds perfect - and not too dense, like I imagine the WQHD display found in the X1 Carbon would be.

Can anyone source/make me a list of laptops with intel iris pro 6200 GPU?

any ideas? cant really find anything with iris pro 6100-6200

Would anyone here be interested in my trusty ThinkPad X61 for £80 before I pop it on eBay?

Specs:

• Intel Core2 Duo (T7100) 1.80GHz
  
• 3GB RAM
  
• 80GB HDD
  
• Extended battery (lasts ~7+ hours!)
  
• Xubuntu operating system
  
  

Tempting...

hitachi 7200rpm 1tb drive for sale. New in the box.

Wanted, something that can run trainerroad and stream stuff without calling down. Currently have a 3 year old hp dm 1. Is close to going through a wall. 400 max.

Also something that lets me do codeacademy etc without wanting to kill the computer woulfd be great.