Which Windows laptop is best for resource-heavy apps?

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silverfirefly November 18, 2011

Which Windows laptop is best for resource-heavy apps?

I need a powerful and durable Windows based 15" laptop mainly for a lot of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign work, plus a resource-heavy Chrome browser (because of the fact I usually have about 15 tabs open and I use a lot of extensions) and of course Winamp blasting out tunes. I generally have several things going on all at once.

I've been checking out Dell's XPS 15z laptop, but I'm not sure if that will be right for my needs - I'm no expert. Will the 15z be good value for what I need or are there other alternatives to consider (apart from Apple)?

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MtnSloth 6 months ago

Where I work, and certainly by reputation, Lenovo is a great way to go if you want a functional and reliable notebook. Probably the best non-Apple notebooks out there for the business user.

However, given your needs and assuming you are going to expense this purchase, why not go with a "workstation" class notebook? I would be tempted to suggest a gaming notebook, but bosses tend to frown on anything that hints at mixing business with pleasure. YMMV where you work.

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groovechicken 6 months ago

I can second the other's thoughts on SSD, although I would highly recommend you get a Core i7 if you can afford it with that workload. If not, the i5 should be fine, but I would recommend considering that your minimum.

As far as brands go, I have feedback based on broad experience. I am an IT Director at a small college and we do hands-on support for students when they have issues. Based on the last 6 years of experience supporting every brand of laptop under the sun, there are 3 brands I would never buy with my own money, ever... HP, Compaq, and Dell. 90% of the non-hard-drive hardware problems I have seen in the last 6 years have been those brands, with HP/Compaq being the worst. Dell is very inconsistent. Some models are rock solid, but they have a decent percentage of models that end up being lemons. I consider it a big gamble and would recommend you read a lot of reviews from people who have had them for a while if you are stuck with Dell for some reason.

Ironically, the next worst brand I have seen after those would be Apple machines in terms of the percentage of hardware failures not related to accidents.

Don't take my word for it, though, do some research.

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Jgstew 2011-11-18 14:07:57

I think any 15" laptop with a Sandy Bridge Core i5 (like i5-2410M) and an SSD will work for you. Overall an SSD will be a bigger performance improvement than any other spec. I personally prefer a 13" laptop and connect an external display when I need it. If you do want an SSD, you might be better off buying a standard laptop and upgrading it yourself. One issue with SSDs is you typically buy one in the 120 GB range and need an external hard drive to hold most of your data files if you need more space. (which it sounds like you will)

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Jgstew 2011-11-18 14:09:17

Also, I think a Core i3 processor and SSD is preferable to a Core i5 processor. If you have never used a computer with an SSD, then your missing out.

silverfirefly 2011-11-18 15:25:14

Thanks for the response.

I thought the faster the processor is, the better? I can't understand why a Core i3 is better than an i5 with a SSD. Am I missing something? Will the laptop remain fast if it has an i3 processor? Remember I usually have a lot of things open and running at the same time, and I can't bear lag when working.

Will definitely look at SSDs.

I'm not confident about upgrading laptops unless of course the company I buy it from does it for me.

Jgstew 2011-11-18 15:30:02

What I mean is, I would recommend an i3 with SSD over an i5 without SSD, obviously an i5 with SSD would be even better... I'm just trying to make the point that if your going to invest money into performance, an SSD will improve things more than the processor.

The issue with getting the SSD from the manufacturer is that they are often Samsung OEM drives which have lackluster performance for the price. An Intel 320 or SandForce based drive will give you a lot more performance for the dollar. I realize this is not something anyone can do easily, so your best option may be getting a system that comes with an SSD. This may not be a bad way to go as Hard Drive prices have skyrocketed because of recent flooding in Thailand, but this does not effect the cost of SSDs, so the Cost/Benefit equation is tipping in favor of SSDs even more so.

Jgstew 2011-11-18 15:32:58

Another point, it is not difficult to replace a Hard Drive with an SSD later on with the help of someone who knows what they are doing or a repair tech, but the Processor is often impossible or impractical to upgrade, so it is not unreasonable to put your initial investment in the processor, and look at upgrading to SSD later, and SSDs have been dropping in price steadily and significantly over time.

silverfirefly 2011-11-18 16:22:49

Thanks for the clarification. I've heard SDDs fail a lot. Is that still true? And do you have any favourites you'd recommend for a laptop?

So, I was looking at Core i7 for future proofing. Is that a wise thing to do?

Sorry for the noob questions, I'm just not a tech head when it comes to computer innards.

Jgstew 2011-11-18 16:42:10

I think SSDs are equal to or more reliable than HDDs, and either way you need a good backup solution in place. If it is only on 1 drive, then assume you have already lost the data.

SSDs do not die or get damaged from drops and bumps like HDDs often do and are also not as sensitive to heat. This makes SSDs especially ideal for laptops.

The Intel 320 or a Sandforce 2xxx series drive is what I would recommend for an SSD. The Intel 320 is the slower SATA 3G speed, but very low latency and very low failure rate. Sandforce 2xxx series based drives are the faster SATA 6G and still low latency, but not as low as Intel 320. Sandforce drives have a failure rate around 2.5% which is higher than Intel's failure rate that is below 1%. Sandforce drives have had a Blue Screen of Death issue that was recently fixed with a Firmware Update. I personally have an OCZ Agility 3 that had the rare BSOD issue, and the upgraded firmware fixed it. I would actually recommend this drive despite that possible issue because it is very fast, but also not overly expensive. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Z0S6SO/ref=as_li_ss_...

Jgstew 2011-11-18 16:45:12

An i7 for futureproofing is not a bad idea, but it may be unneeded as well. I think its better to upgrade more frequently then to buy much more than you need. In 2 years time, a top of the line system will be slower than a middle of the road system and probably twice the cost today vs then.

silverfirefly 2011-11-18 17:25:14

Thanks for the advice. I'm going for a Core i7 anyway because I do like a lot of speed.

I'm checking out the Sony VAIO F series. The F series are higher performance but are still portable, and with a higher quality screen.

Sony do have SSD drive upgrade available but I'm wondering if Sony laptops typically give easy access to the HDD anyway. If that's the case, I can just go and buy a SSD and swop it in. If there's any hassles then I rather go to a techie to get it done.

Jgstew 2011-11-19 13:10:54

Some laptops it is as easy as removing 4 screws and pulling out the drive. Others require removing the bottom tray. There are videos on YouTube showing the process for most laptop models. A lot of the newer thin and light laptops are difficult to swap out, in which case it may not be worth the bother.

silverfirefly 2011-11-20 13:15:50

Hmmm. Well the F Series turns out to have a screen that's a bit larger than I'd like. But the S Series are the ultra portable ones and I'm really attracted to the SA. Just looked it up and it seems it is easy to swap out the HDD and RAM for the SA.

3Djesus 2011-11-18 16:49:44

I'm rocking a Studio 1458(i5-520m, 4GB RAM) and am quite happy with it as it suits what I am doing at the moment, which is mostly browsing 7-8 tabs avg., light photo editing, video transcoding, and distributed computing in the winter to help keep the room warm.
I will probably go with another Dell in the future, but at the moment, I have my sights set on this gdgt.com/lenovo/thinkpad/w520/

It's more than I need for a while, but that doesn't bother me.

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dawesi 2011-11-29 07:50:15

If you're looking at Dell, check out the Alienware laptops... they rock out with 32Gb Ram!

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