Recommend a 17? laptop, with decent battery-life + performance?

[AlecTaylor]

Here are the specifications for my current "rig"; which I purchased almost 3.5 years ago:

 

Name/model/detail: Dell Studio 17 (T510118AU) in red :pirate:

CPU: Intel? Core? i7-740QM (1.73GHz, 4Core/8Threads, turbo boost up to 2.93Ghz, 6M cache)

RAM: 6GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM (1 x 2GB + 1 x 4GB)

HDDs: 640GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive, 640GB 5400RPM SATA 2nd Hard Drive

Battery: 9-cell Primary Battery

 

Unfortunately when I am doing performant operations?such as parallel build with make using the -j flag?the CPU overheats and my system shuts off almost immediately.

 

May be able to fix this by applying new thermal grease and cleaning out the insides with compressed O?; however it is probably about time to get a complete new system.

 

Which 17? laptop would you recommend? ? Preferably with better performance/CPU, battery-life and one or two SSDs.

 

Thanks for all suggestions,

 

Alec Taylor

[The Dark Knight]

I would strongly recommend Toshiba. Have been using their laptops exclusively since 2005, never had a problem. Have purchased 7 till now, and currently use 2. The others were sold simply because they were outdated. Battery life is phenomenal; get close to 3 hours on the two 17" models I own currently despite them being over 2 years old. :)

 

For better performance just get rid of all the pre-loaded crud that is installed on all branded computers by doing a clean installation of Windows using a retail disc. If the version matches, you can also use the key stuck on the bottom of the laptop to activate.

[Brendeth]

Honestly I would totally recommend a Macbook Pro 17", I've had my 15' model for three years now and I still get 2.5 - 3 hours charge on a battery. 3 years on and I still boot into windows 7 and can play recent games at average settings as well. They are definitely pricey but honestly after using this laptop, I'll be upgrading to a newer model soon just for the performance, battery life and beautiful screen you get out of one of these machines. Plus if you do any sort of video editting or just want fast external drives, the Thunderbolt port opens up a whole new world.

[corrosive23]

Honestly I would totally recommend a Macbook Pro 17", I've had my 15' model for three years now and I still get 2.5 - 3 hours charge on a battery. 3 years on and I still boot into windows 7 and can play recent games at average settings as well. They are definitely pricey but honestly after using this laptop, I'll be upgrading to a newer model soon just for the performance, battery life and beautiful screen you get out of one of these machines. Plus if you do any sort of video editting or just want fast external drives, the Thunderbolt port opens up a whole new world.

There is no longer a 17" MacBook Pro. Its was discontinued and had not been updated before that since mid 2012.

[AlecTaylor]

Thanks for the suggestions thus far; I should note however that I am running Linux (Ubuntu 13.10 x64).

 

Looking forward to further suggestions; otherwise will investigate Toshiba further =)

[sanctified Veteran]

Why not a Linux tailored machine? Like System76's Bonobo Extreme or Kudu?

 

https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/bonx7

[Raa]

Is another Dell an option? They do make some good machines and can be customised how you like - except for no Windows if you're going Linux (But almost everything is like that)

[riahc3]

Hello,

 

Do you have a budget?

 

There are companies out there that can custom build you powerhouses; You have a i7 which is pretty powerful (even if last gen). Also, can you confirm that it shuts down because of temp?

 

http://www.originpc.com comes to mind