New Laptop suggestions

[Fred Nerd]

Time to upgrade.

I know I could reformat and reinstall and my current laptop would be fine, but it's had a hard life and deserves a break, so give me suggestions what I should buy.

I have a budget of about $1000. I need an optical drive, large ~16inch screen, not fussed about image quality (I don't do much with images).
Mostly I need it to be powerful when I want it to be (many tabs open, ripping a cd and then compiling a sketch and listening to music) and when I'm just browsing, I need it to be QUIET.
This is the bit the specs don't mention. Who has had a good experience with a laptop that the fan is rarely on, and maybe even SSD. Dual HD would be nice and sometimes in my price range.
Other features such as good speakers, touchscreen, etc are all desireable, but not essential.

And it needs to be tough, physically. My current Satellite Pro occasionally gets taken onto jobs and covered in dust, dropped, stowed behind a seat, has breadcrumbs and ketchup dropped on the keyboard etc.

I was looking at a gaming laptop such as an ASUS N550 (there's a few manufacturer refurbished on ebay that look good) but I'm not sure if they are quiet when not being maxed out.

Who has any suggestions, or warnings?

Thanks

[tomos]

If you have an idea, it's always worth checking out reviews - and amazon (or whoever) reviews, especially those that arent so positive, so as you can get an idea of the weak points.

Notebookcheck.com is a site I like they do fairly in-depth reviews (they are translated but generally that's well done):
Asus N550JK-CN109H

Emissions

System Noise

The noise development of the dual-fan system (see screenshots in the right column) remains within limits even during high load. The fan only spins quietly when the user enables Optimus, and the GTX card is disabled. However, we measured the hard drive's consistent base noise of 33.8 dB(A). Thus, although the fans were always active they were restrained. They spun agreeably consistently without extreme fluctuations between speeds. Games produced a noise level of 42 dB(A); the stress test was only marginally louder.

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they always compare with a couple of other with similar specs which can be helpful.

[Fred Nerd]

Thanks, that's a really good site.
I'm now looking at a HP Probook 450 G2.  It isn't overspecc'ed but it seems well built, quiet and low power consumption.

Seems about right for me, but it will probably be a few weeks before I decide to get one so I'll welcome any more input.

[lanux128]

this is the website i direct friends and colleagues to, when they're looking for a laptop.

and here is their review for what looks like a similar model to the one you mentioned, ASUS N550JV.