Shopping for laptops is so much harder. :(

C

cameron122000

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So I've been looking for a new laptop for a while now. Checking out reviews on this forum, other forums, websites, asking friends, etc. I just can't decide between laptops, so I decided to post up and see what you would all recommend me. I just have a few basic requirements:

Be able to play YouTube HD in fullscreen without stuttering
I use Photoshop sparingly
I browse the internet a lot, so I want a decently sized screen. Doesn't have to be 100", but definitely not a tiny one.
The cheaper the better. I'm hoping to keep this under $700, but we'll see how well that works out. haha
 
okay come on.... some more info than that...

do you want it to be a:
Thin-and-light with good battery life
Desktop replacement with a x4 CPU and 2 GPUs
Decent all around notebook that is a little too thick to take with you everyday but is a good compromise between size, performance and cost?


right off the batt...

$700- to fit the requirements you posted:

HP dv6t or z (i prefer intel CPUs for mobile over AMD $ for $)
HP dm3t or z (if you want a thin-and-light)
Dell Studio 15 or 17
Dell Studio

Asus UL30A-X5
Acer Timeline series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...n=acer&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
 
Well I don't really care much about the type of laptop it is. The reason why I'm looking for a laptop is because I don't want to have to bring my computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse with me from school and back each year. With a laptop I can just unplug it from the wall and go. I'm not intending on bringing it to class with me since it's too much incentive to slack off.
 
Check out the Asus UL series. Newegg is having a special on the UL50 i think, so check there. The form factor may not be ideal for web browsing though.

Other then that I generally suggest looking at business series laptops. If you search on bing you could snag a 14" hp 6930p or maybe even an ibm T400 for under 800, possibly under 700. The only thing I would suggest is to get at least 1400x900 resolution on a 14" screen. These won't fall apart like many of the consumer level lappys.
 
I'm going thru the same situation and personally I'm going to wait till after christmas.

but Try going on Toshiba direct, they've got 200$ off certain models right now, free shipping with over 500$ and there's a new sale every few weeks,

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/home.to

You can use the drill down to eliminate certain models, then You can customize to Your own specs,

I have configured a few for around 700$, with
15 to 18" screens, P7450, W7 64bit, backlight keyboard, 4500mhd, 320 hd, 2 or 3 gigs ram, Slot load DVD,

if you drop the 7450 to a 6600, and lose the backlight keyboard, that chops 100$ off,

and the 18" has room for an additional harddrive, perfect for a SSD in the future..

I also watch this site http://www.xpbargains.com/best_deal.php/laptop_deals.htm

and Staples has the Dell Studio 1555 Laptop w/ Core 2 Duo T6600, 15.6in, 4GB, 500GB, 802.11n wireless, webcam, 9-cell Lithium Ion Battery, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit for only $750 - $150 off = $600 w/ free shipping.
 
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Yea, I'd be watching SlickDeals real close if I were you for any Core2 based laptop with 2-4GB of RAM.

As previously mentioned, a Dell Studio 15 may be right up your alley.
 
www.delloutlet.com
Right now there's a latitude E5400 (14.1" screen) that has a mobile C2D 2.66 chip, 2GB ram and vista for about $649.
For your needs the intel GMA is plenty good enough. In my experiences the latitudes is much more durable than the dell studio laptops.
 
Menelmarar said:
Yea, I'd be watching SlickDeals real close if I were you for any Core2 based laptop with 2-4GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

QFT

Waiting for after Christmas will net you some deals...

But almost any Core2 laptop with 4GB of RAM (IMO that's the new "minimum" standard for any regular machine) will do you fine. Screen size, weight, etc- that's up to you.
I personally use a desktop at work all day, wanted something to sit on the couch and watch TV with and take with me if I needed to, so I wanted something smaller, so I have a 13".
 
I think you really should take a look at ebay. I just got an awesome deal on an 8530w HP laptop. It took me a good while to decide between that (which was new and unopened) and the 14" version, the 6930p. I've included a link to the 6930p I was looking at - it is listed as 699 with free shipping...bing cashback is 8% so it would be a great deal IMO. It was a demo and they loaded it with all sorts of stuff...iirc it has vista ultimate and 4gb ram. It is a much better deal than anything I've seen at dell outlet.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-ELITEBOOK-69...tops_Nov05?hash=item2a026a0ebf#ht_1793wt_1165

again I was SO close to pulling the trigger on that, but I decided to get a nib 8530w that someone was liquidating. Right now there are more 8530p's and w's on ebay - however some have only 30 or 90 day warranties on them.

here is another link with a bunch of 8530p on ebay (warning, many are refurbs):

http://computers.shop.ebay.com/PC-L...=8530p&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

some decent deals to be had somewhere in there if you look

other recommendations: the ASUS UL50 looks like a great system, and newegg was just selling one with a free zune for just over 800. I also like some of the more powerful MSI X-Slims, though I've never held one so I'm not sure of the build quality.
 
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Menelmarar said:
Yea, I'd be watching SlickDeals real close if I were you for any Core2 based laptop with 2-4GB of RAM.

As previously mentioned, a Dell Studio 15 may be right up your alley.
Click to expand...

I've never heard of SlickDeals before. Are they similar to Woot?

I've been doing some research on some of the laptops suggested, but I found some things that made me a little unsure. First of all, I was looking at some reviews for the DM3T, and a lot of people don't like the chrome mousepad and say it doesn't track well. Also, it seems like the SU7300 isn't a powerful enough CPU for watching fullscreen HD YouTube videos?
 
Yeah, keep an eye out for deals on Techbargains and SlickDeals. They list deals on laptops almost daily. Similar to Woot? No, they don't sell direct and feature just one item per day. They are basically a central point for checking out sales and good deals that you might miss otherwise.

It should be really easy to find what you want. You should definitely be able to get a 15.6-17" screen + 4GB + decent dual core CPU for under $700, but you'll almost certainly have to stick with integrated video. If you're not gaming on it, that's not a big deal though.
 
Slickdeals is more like Digg, if you know what that is...
User-submitted content, the best deals get to the homepage.

Like, if you see a hot deal somewhere, you post it to SlickDeals' forums, and it might get the front page.
 
during my ebay travels I've found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270502712837#ht_842wt_1165

the HP 8530w...for 765 shipped. If you get it through microsoft bing it'll be ~700 bucks. It will be nice for photoshop given the resolution - and given the quadro card it will run Maya, render video, run games, etc. There was a posting on slickdeals for a lesser version of this laptop for ~725 and they went crazy :D. I ordered one of these myself yesterday - I guess the seller got more. You can also find other deals on the lenovo T500 and W500 on ebay, I just saw a few myself.
 
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