[Wolves] Laptop buying help

[Nigel R]

I'm looking to get a new laptop as my current one is starting to struggle a bit.  I've got a budget of 500-600, all depends on the spec.

I quite like http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1094620.htm - which is an i7, 6gb for £500, but seems to be permanently out of stock.

Main use is for development and some 3d modelling ( Maya 2014 ) - not really a gamer.  I'm doing a Fine Art degree at Wolves and getting into interactive installation - so all sorts of digital media will be thrown in - perhaps even some game development.

Would also be interested in hearing about OS options - I mainly use Ubuntu, but Windows would be useful ( some software limitations ) and so would be good to run both.  Happy to run Ubuntu in a virtual machine as long as it's not too crippled in performance.

One thing is that I would prefer new - or at least some warranty as I'd hate to end up with a dud which ends up as an expensive doorstop.

Thanks for any suggestions :)
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