Karaoke Laptop Reccomendations...

[1st Choice Karaoke]

I am on the verge of going over to Laptop based karaoke. I have ripped all my CDGS to an external drive and spent weeks renaming them etc. I have decided what software to use after trialling many (I chose OTS AV for those who want to know). All i need to do now is pick a laptop. Can anyone one here reccomend any that they have/have used that are currently available to buy? (Have had a few reccomended by local hosts tat aren't actualy still available so not much help there!) Ideally I want something that will also rip CDG disks, but that may be a tall order. It has to have a decent graohics card and idealy and s-video outut or at least a VGA ouput. (HDMI / DVI only is no good.) My budget is £700. So far, my gut instinct is to just by a Sony Vaio as i have always used them for my own use and at work (day job) and found them to be pretty reliable, if a little expensive.

So, what do you think folks?

[simon1969]

I have a lovely samsung laptop R505 that I would use for karaoke if I didn't use it for personal use!!

[1st Choice Karaoke]

Not a bad looking spec, can get a 4GB model for around £600 ish.

[djdave01]

ive just bought a new HP G72-110SA laptop for gigs, i was really struggling to find a decent laptop with a s-video output. Paid about £440, has i3 processor and 3g ram, plenty for DJ & karaoke use. It does have a VGA which might do for you.
Ended up going with HDMI and bought a HDMI splitter from ebay so i can have 2 tv screens running.
It only has 1 sound output but my mixer has usb ports, so i use them for the sound instead. Works great.

[Digital Jack]

First , decide what programme you want to use - then buy a lappy that meets the required spec'.
You don't need the latest CPU or Windows 7 and you certainly don't need 4 gig of ram.
For £16 on a well known auction site you can get a VGA to Video converter (if you want to display on a TV), or just use the VGA out (Dsub) socket to connect to an external monitor.
S-Video out isn't required unless you just want to make life harder for yourself.
I don't know of a cd rom drive on a lappy that will read / write CDG , so get a Sony or Plextor external CDROM drive.
I mention Sony and Plextor because most of their drives do the CDG thing , but check the makers website before pressing the PAY button.

[1st Choice Karaoke]

Ok, cheers for the input, ended up with more to spend than I thought, so I bought a Sony Vaio in the end, with a dedicated graphics card inside. I am using the latest version of OTS AV which is running fine, with a VGA to Phono converter box to run the TV's.