HP Envy 17 K206na laptop - any reason why I should not get this ?

Dear All
I am planning to get this laptop for my son who will be doing Architecture from Sept. The idea is that it has a high enough spec to last the 4 year course :-

•

i7 - 5th generation

•

16 GB RAM

•

1 TB ROM

•

NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card

•

17" HD screen

I understand the spec is good, but I have come across a few negative comments such as 'whatever you do don't buy a HP' and complaints about HP's reliability. This is concerning me, especially since I will be spending about £900 on the machine.

Does anyone have any (impartial) advice about HP or this machine in particular ?

You help will be much appreciated.

Here is a link to the HP website for its full spec.

http://www8.hp.com/uk/en/products/laptops/product-detail.html?oid=7652092#!tab=features

Many thanks

Reply 1

username612415

Original post by ez_accountancy

Dear All
I am planning to get this laptop for my son who will be doing Architecture from Sept. The idea is that it has a high enough spec to last the 4 year course :-

•

i7 - 5th generation

•

16 GB RAM

•

1 TB ROM

•

NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card

•

17" HD screen

The graphics card isn't the greatest, it's a relatively low end card which only uses DDR3 memory rather than the far more capable DDR5 variants. The processor is only dual core too. You should be able to find a laptop with quad core CPU and DDR5-based 800/900 series graphics card for £900, both of which can make a significant difference for the software used on architecture courses from what I can remember. For example this custom laptop from PCSpecialist for only £50 more can be configured with a quad core i7, identical RAM and storage space and a far more substantial 960M graphics card, while for £30 less this laptop from lesser known brand Cube also has a quad core i7, has a 1TB hybrid drive and a more powerful 860M GPU. Saveonlaptops is a great site with tons of different options at good prices, so have a shop around on there.

As for concerns about buying HP, they've improved in recent years to the point that you can generally buy one of their machines without constant worry looming over your head. They just don't do as well as brands like Lenovo, Asus and Apple.

Reply 2

Iqbal007

Original post by ez_accountancy

Dear All
I am planning to get this laptop for my son who will be doing Architecture from Sept. The idea is that it has a high enough spec to last the 4 year course :-

•

i7 - 5th generation

•

16 GB RAM

•

1 TB ROM

•

NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card

•

17" HD screen

If I got to be honest, within 4 years technology will have changed no doubt...desktops tend to handle the change of time much better.

I suggest you look into what Gofre has said....pcspecialist, novatech, scan, etc are pretty good for custom laptops.
Ready made ones, look at saveonlaptops which have excellent deals.

But do also consider some other factors such as portability, battery life, etc And regular maintenance of the laptop.

Reply 3

jameswhughes

I wouldn't recommend a laptop that was this big or this heavy to any student, it's not going to be easy to carry around. If it's just going to sit in one place all the time then it will be ok, but that's not really suitable for students who move around all the time and want to take their computer to the library etc.

For the same price, you could get a MacBook which would be lighter, with much battery life and a lot more useful in my opinion.

Reply 4

ez_accountancy

Thanks to you both for your comment

Reply 5

Sgt.Incontro

Original post by ez_accountancy

Thanks to you both for your comment

Do you actually need dedicated graphics? If you don't then don't bother buying a laptop that comes with one.

And please ignore the advice about getting a custom laptop if you want it to last 4 years, they are generally inferior quality wise.

What about something like this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-N550JK-CM531H-15-6-inch-Notebook-i7-4710HQ/dp/B00NWE0YMK/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1430309184&sr=1-6&keywords=quad+core+laptop

Reply 6

bingostamper

Why tell him that a dedicated GPU was a bad idea and then give him a link to a laptop with a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GTX 850?