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High performance Laptop - i7, 3+ Ghz, 16GB RAM, SSD where ?

ukrules

By ukrules
in IT and Computers

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ukrules Star Member

ukrules

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Does anyone know where I can buy a high end laptop with a fast i7 CPU, 16 GB RAM and reasonably large SSD (500/1000GB) drive in it ?

All I see in the regular stores are mediocre laptops which aren't very good. They're low performance, low RAM and have slow small hard drives, this simply isn't good enough.

I made a decision recently to swap to Virtual Machines for most of my computer work so I can move them around and avoid ever having to reinstall operating systems in the future. I'll just copy the VM's between hardware.

The best part of this is - I can take my main workstation with me when I travel by simply copying the entire VM onto a thumbdrive and then onto the laptop - however the laptops are so under powered they just aren't good enough when running the VM's. So the easy solution is to buy a laptop which is nearly as good as my desktop.

The only laptop I've seen on sale so far which will definitely be powerful enough is a higher end MacBook Pro which costs about 100,000 Baht - this would do the job but I think I'd prefer a windows system.

I will be in Bangkok in a few weeks time so I could pick one up while I'm there.

Does anyone have any recommendations for this kind of laptop ?

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Somtamnication Ruby Member

Somtamnication

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Try invadeit.co.th. A farang run online shop, a sponsor in this site and very very customer friendly. He has just updated his laptop range this week and new desktops as well. Always replies to emails.

Otherwise, perhaps Banana IT on your local malls. English not guaranteed, but they do honor warranties or tell you where to go (not to hell) for it.

That is a nice spec laptop. Apple could be your next bet? A gaming pc might be the other option, like Alienware.

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kkerry Gold Member

kkerry

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Largest SSD available now is 256 gb.

What?
 

What Windows laptop can you buy in a Bangkok store with a larger than 256Gb SSD installed?

Would have to be a very limited selection surely.

You could always swap in a new 512GB Samsung or Plextor but not many places sell them even in Bangkok.

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benden25 Explorer Member

benden25

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Just our of curiosity what do you want that much power for? Unless you are using it for gaming you will never need that much of a machine and will be just wasting money. If you do insist on overspending for a machine though I recommend you make a trip to Fortune Town IT Mall more specifically the 3rd and 4th floors. They have everything from an Apple Store to several outlets of Banana IT, Asus, IT City, Sony and even a few high end gaming stores that sell Falcon Northwest rigs.

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Digitalbanana Ruby Member

Digitalbanana

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Just our of curiosity what do you want that much power for? Unless you are using it for gaming you will never need that much of a machine and will be just wasting money. If you do insist on overspending for a machine though I recommend you make a trip to Fortune Town IT Mall more specifically the 3rd and 4th floors. They have everything from an Apple Store to several outlets of Banana IT, Asus, IT City, Sony and even a few high end gaming stores that sell Falcon Northwest rigs.

The o/p explained in the very first post on this thread why he wanted that power.

I had a similar dilemma two yrs back (wasn't interested in Apple like the o/p) , and gave up locally by then buying an Windows workstation laptop on Amazon and importing it. Still cheaper than local prices and I got a i7 core laptop with twin SSD and HD configuration, 16GB RAM, switchable graphics and 1080p 17inch screen, full keyboard and number pad (which Apple never has). Still kicks ass today. Just saying the international market is another way of doing it. The Thai malls just mostly full of low end stuff.

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benden25 Explorer Member

benden25

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Just our of curiosity what do you want that much power for? Unless you are using it for gaming you will never need that much of a machine and will be just wasting money. If you do insist on overspending for a machine though I recommend you make a trip to Fortune Town IT Mall more specifically the 3rd and 4th floors. They have everything from an Apple Store to several outlets of Banana IT, Asus, IT City, Sony and even a few high end gaming stores that sell Falcon Northwest rigs.

The o/p explained in the very first post on this thread why he wanted that power.

I had a similar dilemma two yrs back (wasn't interested in Apple like the o/p) , and gave up locally by then buying an Windows workstation laptop on Amazon and importing it. Still cheaper than local prices and I got a i7 core laptop with twin SSD and HD configuration, 16GB RAM, switchable graphics and 1080p 17inch screen, full keyboard and number pad (which Apple never has). Still kicks ass today. Just saying the international market is another way of doing it. The Thai malls just mostly full of low end stuff.

I read what he wrote but a Core I5 with 16GB Ram is more than powerful enough to run VM's and will save him considerably. High end laptops are not cheap, especially in Bangkok where just about everything (with good specs) is imported.

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JSixpack Ruby Member

JSixpack

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The best part of this is - I can take my main workstation with me when I travel by simply copying the entire VM onto a thumbdrive and then onto the laptop

Why not just have your software you need already copied to the laptop, so that all you need transfer is recent data, if that?

When traveling I just have the portable versions of the software I normally use installed on a fast thumbdrive and then use that thumbdrive in the various machines I deal with. No copying.

I had a case not long ago in which a VM wouldn't boot on different hardware because it had been configured to run under different hardware. It was a most annoying problem. It wasn't supposed to happen--but it did. VM file gets corrupted and you're screwed.

I still use VMs, but I'm more cautious than before.

Just sayin'.

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rwdrwdrwd Silver Member

rwdrwdrwd

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You could get the cheapest non retina 13" i7 MBP for around 42k, upgrade the RAM to 16gb and 500gb SSD yourself for c15k and sell the original RAM and HD to get back c7.5k giving a c50k total outlay. I did this for running multiple VMs and it works a charm.

You could bring the cost down further by having a smaller SSD and being conservative about what you store where - the real key to speed is making sure OS and applications are stored on the SSD, for general storage stuff they can be stored on normal HDs, perhaps temporarily shifted to the SSD when you're actively working with them. I personally went for a 128gb SSD for around 5k baht and a 2tb external hard drive, also around 5k. Not sure how this would play out with your desire for extremely portable VMs though - a single high capacity SSD is certainly simpler, but lots more expensive.

Edited by rwdrwdrwd
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CaptHaddock Gold Member

CaptHaddock

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I have been running vms only for several years and think it's the only way to go. It especially makes managing Windows easier since I just take a snapshot any time I am doing anything risky, such as patching the OS or updating an application. Then it's easy to back out the change if there is a problem. After upgrading to SSD drives recently it works even better since now a vm can be started as quickly as an application could formerly. As a result the unity feature of Vmware Workstation becomes useful for the first time: I work from a linux desktop with all the apps in that space while they are actually running sandboxed on various vms, mostly for safety. Works very well.

I don't like laptops though. The last one was always overheating and multiple components starting failing after only 3 years. I went with 512 of SSD space and 1TB of hard drive. I expect to use more vms now that cloning them is so quick. Of course, you have to back up your critical vms religiously. Since the vms reside on a linux host there are lots of good, free tools to back them up, such as rdiff-backup.

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malathione Silver Member

malathione

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I ended up importing a HP mobile workstation via HP Singapore a while ago. Elitebook 8560W. Configure it to your needs as far as processors, graphics, ram, display and ssd's are concerned. My use is very different from yours, analysis of infrared imagery and map making, processor and memory intensive, but it does a fine job with 32GB of memory. The standard battery is practically useless and the extended battery makes the already heavy machine too heavy. This genre of laptops is not really designed for easy portability and I'd not want to haul this around all day.

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Digitalbanana Ruby Member

Digitalbanana

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Every user has their own requirements. I found that prices were cheapest in the US markets to import from - so I passed on Singapore and HK. For battery life I wanted a machine with switchable graphics. The choice is then 8 hours Vs 2 hours of battery life on my 17 inch laptop. I needed a big screen as their isn't always another screen to plug into where I go. I needed the extended battery as there isn't always power either! YMMV.

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dominique355 Gold Member

dominique355

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I didn't read all the replies but it seems to me you should take a look at Apple's MacBook Pro Retina with a SSD.

They are sold on the Internet through Apple's online shop for Thailand.

You can put your machine together as you like (you cannot do that in a shop here) and it ships within 24 hours, being delieverd roughly about a week after you ordered it. I did that and it works fine, no hassle, no import problems, smooth as silk. cheesy.gif

Oh and you can run Windows on a Mac, but why would you?

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