OK, it's that time of year again! I'm looking for the best laptop I can get for around £600. It needs to be able to do 3D Studio, Photoshop, video editing and play FSX at an enjoyable level.

I've specced out a Dell XPS 1530 @ £620ish with:

Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz
2048MB RAM
GeForce 8600GT
Cool stuff like webcam, thumbprint reader and slot-load DVD drive

What I'd like is opinions on these specs and if anyone could recommend other good laptops around this price point, that'd be great. Thanks in advance guys

Quote from TiJay :

OK, it's that time of year again! I'm looking for the best laptop I can get for around £600. It needs to be able to do 3D Studio, Photoshop, video editing and play FSX at an enjoyable level.

I've specced out a Dell XPS 1530 @ £620ish with:

Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz
2048MB RAM
GeForce 8600GT
Cool stuff like webcam, thumbprint reader and slot-load DVD drive

What I'd like is opinions on these specs and if anyone could recommend other good laptops around this price point, that'd be great. Thanks in advance guys

Seems a pretty decent spec for the price, although dont count on the battery lasting too long :P

If anyone else doesn't shop around for you, i will tomorrow - too tired now though lol

Thanks

I thought that was quite a good price- right now the Dell is even cheaper at £589 but by the time I get paid, the offer won't be on. Battery life isn't really an issue because it'll spend 99% of its life plugged in as I have my Eee 701 for use in cafes etc.

How will this compare to the Dell? This has more RAM, a slightly faster CPU but a lower-end graphics card:

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/6 ... uct.html?searchtype=genre

Acer AS5920G Core 2 Duo 2GB 250GB HDDVD Windows Vista Home Premium

Higher end graphics with 2Ghz Core 2 Duo and 2Gb DDR2.

http://www.dabs.com/productvie ... 1&NavigationKey=11105

Edit:// You could always upgrade the memory afterwards when you get some cash.

Thanks again, it's good to see what I can get for my money.

I think what I'll do is consider both the Acer and the Dell, I just have to decide whether the "cool bits" on the Dell are worth the extra £50 or so.

For anyone who was reading, I just bought this Dell:

XPS 1530
1.83ghz Core 2 Duo
3GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
8600m GT 256MB dedicated
160GB HD
Fingerprint reader, 2MP webcam, slot-load DVD

£609 in total but thanks to a 15% off coupon deal they're doing, I only had to pay £526