Yet Another Laptop Recommendation Thread

D

Deluded

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
1,376
Story:

Sister's laptop crapped out after 10 years of service. She needs a new one. She has no preference to Mac or PC.

Want:

15" screen, decent resolution (old laptop was 1400x900, hoping for something similar)
Battery lifespan (3+ hour)

Budget:

$1000 -- less is better


Now. I've seen the way she treats her laptop. If laptops were considered to be living creatures, then she'd be in jail for animal abuse. With that in mind, I'm not comfortable giving her any old laptop and calling it a day... I'd be happier giving her something like an Elitebook or IBM Levono or even a Macbook Air -- at least those are built a little bit tougher than normal.

I've scoured ebay for off-lease Elitebooks (that's how I got mine with 3 year warranty), but came up short. Considering that most of these business class laptops ship with minimum screen resolution (1366x768)...

Do you guys know of any half-decent laptop? I have half a mind to just say "screw it" and get her a macbook Air and be done with it. At least Apple gives decent warranty and service. :p

Any help is appreciated.
 
What does she use it for? I assume she doesn't need discrete graphics, otherwise you'd have upgraded before 10 years passed. ;)

In this situation I'd grab a Thinkpad T430 or T530. They start at around $700 which gives you some upgrade room -- could also buy an SSD from Newegg and install that to have both a regular hard drive and an SSD. I personally prefer the 14" machine but the 15" is just as awesome if that's the size you prefer.

The T-series is solid. The screens should offer a resolution you're happy with. If you get an Ivy Bridge processor you'll even get some decent graphics performance with the integrated option. They easily meet your battery life expectations.

If she uses the laptop outside a lot she might have a problem with the matte screen, but I prefer the matte screen myself for use inside and in general.

What has she been using for the last 10 years if I may ask? The Macbook Air doesn't come in your desired 15" (though the MBP does).

Might also consider the Dell Latitude series. I think it offers everything you want as well, though I'm not as familiar with them. Otherwise go with the Mac if she's sure she will be happy with that OS.
 
shoota said:
Panasonic toughbook.
Click to expand...

LOL, those are expensive unless you get one used on ebay or something. With a $1k budget you have quite a number of options available to you. I do like lenovo laptops, Y580 (209942U if you want a high res screen). I'm typing from a lenovo Z570 I bought from Newegg a few weeks ago for $350 after rebate during one of their sales. I really like it for what it is, and especially the price, but it wouldn't work for you since its screen is 1366x768. You'll generally spend more for a good 1080p screen. I like Asus laptops as well, like the N56VM but overall they need better speakers, if you care about that. I think HP Envy series are alright but their screens are limited to 1366x768. If you're lucky you might even catch a good deal in one of Newegg's regular ads. Sign up for their E-blast, they regularly email their ads every Tuesday and Thursday morning.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Pick up a Dell E6520 Latitude off the outlet. You should be able to come in under a grand easily, and it'll come with a 3 year at home warranty standard.

You can get up to 1920x1080, default 6 cell lasts 4-5 hours, and with the 9 cell I'm using, I can get 7 easily.
 
As always when shopping lenovo, use the Barnes & Noble Affiliate site for best pricing...
http://shoplenovo.i2.com/SEUILibrar...ovo:EnterStdAffinity?affinity=barnesnoblegold

Thinkpad T530: $855
System components
Intel Core i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)
Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
Intel HD Graphics 4000
4 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (1 DIMM)
Keyboard Backlit - US English - Make sure to select this free upgrade
UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader
No Camera, with Microphone
500GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm - This machine also comes with a mSATA port, if you love your sister, you'll spend some of the leftover budget on an mSATA SSD.
DVD Recordable
Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader & Bezel
6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (2x2 BGN) - Make sure to select this free 2x2 antenna upgrade.

Dell outlet also offers some Latitudes that would fit the bill, but I like to wait for the right 20% off (or greater) coupon to pop up there. The Lenovo B&N affiliate site always has pretty good Thinkpad pricing on custom Configured-To-Order machines.
 
Take a look at this: Lenovo G780 Laptop - 21824MU

I think its a really good laptop for the price but probably isn't built as tough as you'd like. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

$599

Model Highlights

Part number: 21824MU
Processor
3rd generation Intel Core i5-3210M Processor( 2.50GHz 1600MHz 3MB)
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Graphics
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Memory
6.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz (8GB max)
Display
17.3" HD Glare with integrated camera 1600x900
Pointing device
Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
Hard Drive
500GB 7200 rpm
Optical Drive
DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Battery
6 Cell Lithium-Ion
Battery Life Up to 5 hours
Network Card
Lenovo BGN Wireless
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Warranty
One Year
Form Factor
Notebook
Camera
Integrated HD 720p Camera
HDMI
HDMI (Out)

Lenovo-G780-Laptop-PC-Front-Back-View-1L-940x475.jpg

Lenovo-G780-Laptop-PC-14-Display-View-2L-940x475.jpg

Lenovo-G780-Laptop-PC-Side-Views-4L-940x475.jpg

Lenovo-G780-Laptop-PC-4-Side-Views-15L-940x475.jpg
 
counterpoint said:
Take a look at this: Lenovo G780 Laptop - 21824MU

I think its a really good laptop for the price but probably isn't built as tough as you'd like. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

$599

Model Highlights

Part number: 21824MU
Processor
3rd generation Intel Core i5-3210M Processor( 2.50GHz 1600MHz 3MB)
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Graphics
Intel HD Graphics 4000
Memory
6.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz (8GB max)
Display
17.3" HD Glare with integrated camera 1600x900
Pointing device
Industry Standard Multi-touch 2 button touchpad
Hard Drive
500GB 7200 rpm
Optical Drive
DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Battery
6 Cell Lithium-Ion
Battery Life Up to 5 hours
Network Card
Lenovo BGN Wireless
Click to expand...

No. Just no. The G series is Lenovo's El Cheapo line, suitable for sitting on grandma's table, until she needs to bring it to someone for tech support. That's about the only usage scenario I would feel comfortable recommending a Lenovo "Essentials" laptop. It wouldn't be likely to survive a year of the OP's described usage scenario. I can't guarantee any laptop would survive 10 years of that kind of use, but at least a Thinkpad/Latitude/HP Probook would have a chance at going 4-5 years.

Also not necessary to post multiple huge images.
 
Holy crap! :D

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm on my phone right now and can't give your recommendations any scrutiny beyond a cursory spec check, but so far, the Lenovo is winning out.

I'll have to get to office to check it out.

Regarding her old laptop: it was a HP Pavilion DV6 17". Quite frankly, I'm amazed that it survived for so long.

I've seen her spill drinks, food, drop the laptop (while it was on), carelessly unplugging it when she wants to turn it off, and it survived through every bump inside her car... she isn't that great of a driver and her stuff have a history of flopping about in her trunk.

So far, I've only had to replace a HDD and a fan. But this time the motherboard is going, hence my question about recommendation.
 
I wanted to give you an update:

I bought a refurbished Lenovo, but turns out that my sister hated it. She kept citing the weird looks and "feel" of the new laptop... so I went and bought her a MacBook pro and left it at that.

But the upshot was that I liked the Lenovo do much that I decided to keep it. :) You guys rock!
 
I'm kinda holding out for a nice ultrabook with a thunderbolt port personally... If Lucid's GPU over Thunderbolt tech works out I'll be replacing my desktop with it.

The ASUS UX32VD Zenbook is almost an exact match for what I would grab, but it lacks TB.
 
Deluded said:
I wanted to give you an update:

I bought a refurbished Lenovo, but turns out that my sister hated it. She kept citing the weird looks and "feel" of the new laptop... so I went and bought her a MacBook pro and left it at that.

But the upshot was that I liked the Lenovo do much that I decided to keep it. :) You guys rock!
Click to expand...

Curious but what model Lenovo did you get? They are generally pretty good laptops.
 
love the laptop in my sig, the vostro 3450......awesome buy at $735 and $200 in upgrades
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top