help on which laptop for photography

[keepyourhighhandlow]

Hi I'm a bit new to this and could do with a bit of good advice in buying a new laptop ,I want a good clear 17 inch screen laptop to do a lot of digital photography/and video editing a lot of old family tapes and general use ie music, surfing and very occasional game. my budget is round about £800.00 to £900.00 at a stretch, but don't want to buy what I don't really need , so if you could be so kind and you can give me some help and good advice I would much appreciate it , I look forward to hearing from you ,thank you, Christine..
This is what I, have come up with what do you think
Chassis & Display Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 765M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - Hard Disk 1TB SEAGATE HYBRID GEN3 SSHD Drive, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
mSATA SSD Drive NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7260 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Laptop Cooling Stands NONE
Carry Case NONE
Stand-Alone Monitor NONE
Keyboard Language OPTIMUS SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Additional Keyboard NONE
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
External Speakers NONE
Webcam INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Insurance 1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £809.17
Price £971.00
Order Quantity 1
Bulk Discount £0.00
Total Order price (Ex VAT) £809.17
Total Order Price £971.00

 

[mantadog]

Overall it looks quite good. The CPU, RAM and GPU will all be sufficient. The one area I would change is the hdd, the 750GB Scorpio black is probably the best drive for you if you don't need the full 1TB. The hybrid drives don't get good reviews so I would stay clear if possible.

 

[keepyourhighhandlow]

Thank you Mantadog for your advice will look again at the hard drive, thanks Christine

 

[Cadwah]

There's an Optimus V for £879 in the review section which has the same CPU/RAM/GPU along with an SSD.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/reviews/

If you customise the build you will lose your discount, however I believe that things like Warranty can be upgraded without losing the discount by contacting PCS once the order is placed.

 

[mantadog]

The majority of the price differential is covered by the gold warranty in the original spec. Unless your really desperate to save cash I wouldn't go for the review build for the following reasons.

1. The upgraded thermal paste isn't selected.
2. The SSD is nice, but it wont fully make up for the slow 5400rpm HDD if your constantly pulling data from it or video or photo editing.

Also do bear in mind that it is not a certainty that things like the warranty can be upgraded. I had always presumed it would be ok to do it myself, but a user encountered a problem not to long ago and wasn't even allowed to upgrade the warranty. I have since spoken to moosEh (who works for PCS) and was told it shouldn't be a problem but some of the staff appear not to know this. Might have been sorted by now but all I'm saying is don't bank on it.

If you can bag the warranty and paste upgrades and also keep enough room on your SSD for uploading any files to be editied, before transferring them back to the HDD it might be a good shout, but the price differential isn't going to be huge

 

[keepyourhighhandlow]

Hi Cadwah, thank you for your advice, Christine

 

[keepyourhighhandlow]

Thank you Mantadog,