As if keeping up with all the latest hardware out there for stationary PCs wasn't enough, it's now time for our household to get a new laptop. And then I find out it's an even bigger jungle.

 

There are so many manufacturers sporting so many different types of mobile graphics solutions that it makes my head spin.

 

What we need is a laptop that is somewhat mobile. It doesn't need to be light as a Macbook Air or anything, but you shouldn't cry at the thought at carrying it around either. Something around 2.5 - 3 kgs should be decent enough. This pretty much rules out everything with a screen of 17".

 

It needs to have decent performance. It needs to play HD video content and should be usable for gaming. It doesn't need to be fantastic at gaming, playing at low settings is an option, as long as it'll be able to handle Diablo III when that arrives we're good. (Yes I know there are no specs out for it, so it's a tough comparison, but Blizzard are kinda friendly in those regards. So I suppose if it can get something like Borderlands running, it should be good enough). This rules out all netbooks.

 

If possibly, a nice design is a bonus (it makes it a much easier sell).

 

And, of course, a favorable price is always nice, but not at the cost of (too much) performance.

 

The only reference points I have that seem decent is a Dell Studio 15 or a Dell Studio XPS 16 (I'm leaning towards the latter). Are there better alternatives?

 

Budget for this should be something around

Does it REALLY have to be that high spec? I have a EEE pc that I work on and play old games on when travelling, but it definitely won't do HD video. On the other hand it was

Yeah, it kinda does. We need to have two computers that are decent in order to play newer games together. So a netbook just wouldn't do it for us.

 

We ended up going with the Dell Studio XPS.

Damnit, I found this thread too late

Apparently so. Just out of curiosity, what would you have said?