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I'm trying to put a system together for a friend. She would prefer a laptop that is more portable and lightweight than a 17" because she does not want to tote that weight all over the place. She would also like to use it as a desktop replacement, and (this is key) must especially be able to run a larger monitor (24" - 27"). She is not a gamer, so I'm thinking she should be OK for the web browsing/email/picture editing that she does using a laptop. She would also like to try and get the latest and greatest, and her income is such that cost is irrelevant. One last note, she works in a business environment and wants a laptop that fits in that environment; a Dell XPS gaming laptop, while great for a gamer like myself, does not fit well with the environment she works in.
I've shopped Dell, HP, Gateway, Apple, and Sony. It would seem that all the venders except Sony and Apple view the 15" laptop bracket as entry level. They don't even seem to have the option to build something better than baseline. She is used to the Windows environment, so I've narrowed this down to Sony FZ for now. 2.6 GHz processor, 4GB Ram, NVidia 8400M GT, and a 7200 RPM hd are far better than the options allowed by the other venders. However, for some odd reason, it would appear that Sony did not put a docking station portal on it.
The laptop also does not have a DVI output built in, but it does have an HDMI jack.
I don't know much about HDMI, so I'm not sure if this is an input, an output, or acts as both. I also found a 24" BenQ and a 24" Gateway monitor that have HDMI ports on them, but I'm a little fuzzy on how that would work. I read something somewhere that mentioned the resolution would not be the same as the monitors, so it would produce black bars on top and bottom or stretch the image to fit. I'm not sure that would be Kosher, especially since she works with a lot of pictures. Making sure that the laptop runs a larger monitor is probably her most important concern.
Sony has an 13.3" SZ model that does allow for a docking station, (and that docking station appears to have DVI-D on it, unlike the guy at Best Buy who told me it was not possible to get a laptop or a docking station that had DVI output on it.) However, the 13.3" screen may be a little on the small side for her tastes. The Sony CR and NR are more baseline models, so not really in the running. Are there other brands you guys might suggest that would fit this scenario?
I've shopped Dell, HP, Gateway, Apple, and Sony. It would seem that all the venders except Sony and Apple view the 15" laptop bracket as entry level. They don't even seem to have the option to build something better than baseline. She is used to the Windows environment, so I've narrowed this down to Sony FZ for now. 2.6 GHz processor, 4GB Ram, NVidia 8400M GT, and a 7200 RPM hd are far better than the options allowed by the other venders. However, for some odd reason, it would appear that Sony did not put a docking station portal on it.
The laptop also does not have a DVI output built in, but it does have an HDMI jack.I don't know much about HDMI, so I'm not sure if this is an input, an output, or acts as both. I also found a 24" BenQ and a 24" Gateway monitor that have HDMI ports on them, but I'm a little fuzzy on how that would work. I read something somewhere that mentioned the resolution would not be the same as the monitors, so it would produce black bars on top and bottom or stretch the image to fit. I'm not sure that would be Kosher, especially since she works with a lot of pictures. Making sure that the laptop runs a larger monitor is probably her most important concern.
Sony has an 13.3" SZ model that does allow for a docking station, (and that docking station appears to have DVI-D on it, unlike the guy at Best Buy who told me it was not possible to get a laptop or a docking station that had DVI output on it.) However, the 13.3" screen may be a little on the small side for her tastes. The Sony CR and NR are more baseline models, so not really in the running. Are there other brands you guys might suggest that would fit this scenario?