I have been given a green light for a new laptop.....

[3DzForMe]

....from the boss (The Mrs). To be fair, my main PC died during 8-bit wars (yep - that wars killed of my aging desktop) - then - as luck should have it, my bargain basement laptop bit the dust while trying to move pixellated cowboys around the wild west (£5.60 from a street auction 2 years ago - W7 Ultimate, knackered screen, nothing a remote monitor wouldn't solve though - until yesterday). £2.30 a year - not bad at all!

Kinda likes W7 Ultimate - seemed quite 'clean' still, bit like XP. I'm bothered W10 maybe won't be as good, perhaps I should stop being a luddite.

So.... what to choose from the bewildering array of PC options out there.

Requirements:

Output to at least 2 monitors at 1920 x 1200
Graphics capability to run Blitz3D, render stuff in Blender - sadly I only game on Consoles these days.
Code more than game though.

Portability:

Limited space means laptop might be the primary option - with a second hand desktop as the man cave option.

Durability:

HP have seemed the most durable of laptops over the decades - Hmm, reminds me I've an old HP with XP that might still boot - however the sounds a bit knackered. Thats about 15  years old!!!

So, now to try and make a decision.... I never considered a USB display adaptor before, Hmm this is Kool and the Gang!

[Xerra]

You probably want to give an idea on budget - because you can bet your arse your boss (the missus) has one in mind

[3DzForMe]

Well, been doing a bit of research - and seeing as I've just had to buy a new phone (have been on an old back-up one since my recent one got stolen on a night out) - I'm going for sub 250 quid mark on refurbed laptops - the specs you can get with that dosh is quite remarkable.

Bearing in mind my last primary dev machine cost me 560pence - I'm going up in the world.

But..... I've spent 3.5K earlier this year on a car for the boy - so I'm on a budget!

[iWasAdam]

make sure this one has a 64bit os 

[Xerra]

make sure this one has a 64bit os 

This.

I'm very rusty with PC and laptop hardware in general so I don't think I'm the person to advise you here. I'd just recommend you buy a nice iMac which would solve your space problems as it's computer built into the screen. Obviously you'd have to run Parallels as well, which would bang another £80 on the budget, and the iMac itself, even second-hand, is pretty pricey, so best ignore this old fan-boy, eh? :-)

[3DzForMe]

Apple stuff never, gave up on that nonesense à ft we the hell of iPods.

[Xaron]

I went with a Dell XPS 15. Quite a capable machine having a GeForce 1050 (4GB) in plus 16GB of RAM, SSD (never want to miss that again!) and a Core i7. Did cost about 1400€, got it with a 400€ discount directly from Dell.

[iWasAdam]

yep ssd if you can afford one

[Henri]

It's hard to recommend any one brand over another, because they all come from the same factory :-)

My general rule of thumb is that relatively good machine cost ~1000 €. Below that, then the compromises start to pile up. Above that and you potentially start paying for things that you don't need. Of course, if money is no issue then sky is the limit.

-Henri

[Qube]

I'm going for sub 250 quid mark on refurbed laptops

There are some pretty decent laptops on Amazon for around that price which is great as that includes 12 months warranty. If you're not interested in warranty then give Gumtree a try as you can then go and see the laptop before buying it. Ebay I'd not really recommend as most of the time you'll end up with half knackered rubbish in that price range but f you're lucky there are some gems.

Apple stuff never, gave up on that nonesense à ft we the hell of iPods.

Nah, don't buy anything Apple for that price range. Although I'm a huge iMac fan I know they are over priced but I just love them so much

[Pfaber11]

I only paid 225 quid for my laptop new . Got 4Gb ram duel 1.6  gig processor (upto 2.4 gig) and a poultry 32 gb storage HD400 graphics . Had it a year and a half and love using it . In most of my games I only get about 18 fps though but there it is . Gonna upgrade next year if I can afford it . My phone is more powerful than my laptop with a 1.8 octo core processor 4 gigs ram and 64 gb of storage . The same price too.

[RemiD]

i am looking to buy a new laptop computer too, and i think that what is important (if you plan to run some games or make some games with it) is to check which games the gpu can run.

you can type on google brand of gpu + model of gpu" + gaming (example : "Intel® HD 620" gaming) and take a look at which games it can run smoothly (there are sometimes demonstrations on youtube, or reports of users on laptops testing websites).

[MrmediamanX]

I just got a GPD Pocket 2 Max for potability reasons. after optimizations it serves it functions well.

[Pfaber11]

I think the way to go is to stay within your budget and see what comes along . Gaming laptops tend to be quite expensive . When I decide to upgrade I think I'll be looking at spending about 500 quid unless I find something nice lower than that but we'll see I suppose . was looking in cash converters the other day and a nice second hand laptop can be had for about 250 quid . I really want to get 2 years out of this one first though before I do this so I'm looking at May 2020 so got a while to go . The one I'm using now is an HP stream 14 . It's not up to much but is ok to program on for now. Cost me 225 quid new with windows 10 so I don't think it was such a bad deal. AGK runs fine on it anyway which is what I wanted it for and as far as writing 3d programs it has exceeded my expectations . Best of luck to you with your purchase . 

[3DzForMe]

Christmas is coming early.....

Although initially, I did think - bloody hell - only a 16GByte hard rive, that only 7 more than my first PC