need laptop recommendations for sister-in-law

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ekuest

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she will be using it for email/school/netflix, etc. the normal average computer user usage, nothing fancy. she wants an i5, and i tend to agree with her just for future proofing. she hasnt had a nice laptop in a while. an i3 would also probably do the trick just fine for a little less, but shes pretty sold on an i5 and i think thats fine. not sure about the AMD equivalents, but if theyre superior for cheaper then im all ears, im just more familiar with intel. budget is $500. doesnt need more than 4GB ram or an SSD, but if an SSD can be had as a reasonably-priced option that would be nice. looking for definitely under 5lbs, under 4 if possible. definitely needs to be less than 1" thick, prefer closer to 3/4". battery life at least 6hours. does not need to be a convertible or have a touch screen or even have win8 really. probably gonna go with win8 just for future proofing though. we're looking for the best machine that will fit the bill and stay within the $500 budget. thanks for your help guys!

oh, and she has her eye on this. went to best buy to look at the options there and she said that was the only i5 under $500, and that she really liked it too. not sure about it myself since i dont trust HP, but maybe someone more knowledgeable than myself can comment on it? :)

also, she's looking for 11-14" in size, probably more on the 13-14" range. 1366x768 is fine.
 
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$500 will only take you so far, but you should be able to find something in that range (like that HP) given that you don't need any other fancy features.

If it was me personally I'd grab a refurbished Thinkpad T430 or X230 off the Lenovo Outlet if I could snag one at that price. But (1) a lot of people don't like the look of the Thinkpads and (2) she probably wants something new.

I'm a fan of business class laptops. Thinkpads in particular, but Dell Latitudes are good also. Not sure that either will run you under $500 new though, but Thinkpad Edge and Dell Vostro might (those are the budget lines that aren't quite as good as the mainstream ones).

I've got a 3rd generation i5 in my laptop and I love it, so that's probably a good choice for you as well. From what I can tell current AMD options aren't stacking up.

Another personal preference -- if she's going to be carrying it around instead of leaving it on a desk, a 14.1" laptop or smaller is what I would buy. I find the 15.6" laptops to be too big to feel portable, but some people love having the extra screen size for movies and whatnot.

The HP that you linked has a low-voltage processor instead of the full power one. I'm not sure how big of a difference that will make in performance, but I think it means it should have better battery life than one with the i5-3210M (or other). Just something to keep in mind.

As for an actual recommendation? Well, I just checked a few places and I couldn't find any of my normal recommendations for under $500 new. I'm sure someone else can though, I don't keep up with most of the popular brands.
 
thanks for the great help. yeah thats kinda what i was thinking. i doubt she'd go for anything that isnt new, and definitely wouldnt like a thinkpad or something. i forgot to put what screen size she wanted in the OP, but yeah she's thinking 11-14. im trying to convince her to go 13-14.
 
I'm gonna need to see pics of sister-n-law in order to make an educated recommendation.

kthx. :D
 
bump, any suggestions? sorry no pics lurker, but she's a handsome woman.
 
I just noticed -- the link in your original post is to a refurbished HP machine, so it might not be new. Didn't you say your sister wanted something new?

Samsung Series 3 is in your price range. Not sure of quality but apparently they are decent? Probably just up to an i3 though, and again you're at 15.6" on the size.

Here's a collection of new <14.1" laptops on Best Buy with Intel processors that are <$500. Just be sure you get 3rd generation iCore. I don't think I saw any with >4GB RAM though.

Dunno what else to say -- If it was me and I had a hard budget of $500, I'd go for a used machine or save up to around $700 or so for a new one.
 
OrangeWolf said:
I just noticed -- the link in your original post is to a refurbished HP machine, so it might not be new. Didn't you say your sister wanted something new?

Samsung Series 3 is in your price range. Not sure of quality but apparently they are decent? Probably just up to an i3 though, and again you're at 15.6" on the size.

Here's a collection of new <14.1" laptops on Best Buy with Intel processors that are <$500. Just be sure you get 3rd generation iCore. I don't think I saw any with >4GB RAM though.

Dunno what else to say -- If it was me and I had a hard budget of $500, I'd go for a used machine or save up to around $700 or so for a new one.
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i cant check from work, but i think most of those are i3s or more than 1" thick. the sleekbook she found for $500 is looking like the best she can do. i agree, there are some great ultrabooks and other good laptops around $700-800 but i think her budget is pretty firm. she definitely doesnt want used or refurb.

Xan433 said:
Maybe a base model Inspiron or a Lenovo ideapad? Those might be worthy to look into.
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i looked into them, but theyre a bit larger than the sleekbook she found, or else cost more for the i5 models. thanks though.
 
ekuest said:
the sleekbook she found for $500 is looking like the best she can do. i

...she definitely doesnt want used or refurb..
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I think you missed my point here.

The link to the "sleekbook she found" that you provided in your first post is a refurbished machine.

So I'm confused why you are saying that it's the best option while still insisting that she definitely does not want a refurb. My concern was that you did not realize you were linking to a refurb as if it were new.

Cheers, and hope she enjoys whatever you pick.
 
OrangeWolf said:
I think you missed my point here.

The link to the "sleekbook she found" that you provided in your first post is a refurbished machine.

So I'm confused why you are saying that it's the best option while still insisting that she definitely does not want a refurb. My concern was that you did not realize you were linking to a refurb as if it were new.

Cheers, and hope she enjoys whatever you pick.
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i realize that, i can read. as i said, she found it browsing at best buy. the link i gave was from walmart. for whatever reason a google shopping search shows up nothing for that model, and i couldnt find a best buy link either. that was the only page i could find of the model number she gave me.
 
Wait what, no one said Dell outlet? You can get a whole lot of 'puter for cheap there
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Wait what, no one said Dell outlet? You can get a whole lot of 'puter for cheap there
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thats what i hear, but only when you can get the right coupon or sale right? i looked again just now and couldnt find a single i5 laptop for under $500 there. maybe im just not doing it right?
 
ekuest said:
thats what i hear, but only when you can get the right coupon or sale right? i looked again just now and couldnt find a single i5 laptop for under $500 there. maybe im just not doing it right?
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It has become very popular so good deals tend to go very quickly.
 
onedestinazn2 said:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._urjS3_0_0_0&ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Samsung 5 series, 14",with i5 and 630m
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ooh! i like samsung. would you recommend that over the HP above? it seems a little thicker and heavier, but with a longer battery life and i assume better quality. also, i dont see anywhere where it says it has a dedicated gpu... are you sure about that?

Meaker said:
It has become very popular so good deals tend to go very quickly.
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yeah thats what i've found. i wont be purchasing this for her, her parents will. so im thinking it will be hard to get one of those flash deals.
 
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If you scroll down to the specs, it says 1GB 630M. This should be a good deal better than the HD 4000. The battery should be considerably better too. Not sure if she cares about audio but the built in JBL speakers do sound pretty good for a laptop.

I would definitely reccomend this over the HP. I haven't had the best of luck with HP laptops.
 
ekuest said:
thats what i hear, but only when you can get the right coupon or sale right? i looked again just now and couldnt find a single i5 laptop for under $500 there. maybe im just not doing it right?
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I got my PC listed below (the Vostro 3460) with an i7 and 4GB 500GB AMD 7650 BT finger print reader for $735 shipped to my door.

i5 for under $600 (565 to be exact) Vostro 3460

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...x?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=2801&fid=9908

You can definately get i3 but i5 in decent config is about $600
 
onedestinazn2 said:
If you scroll down to the specs, it says 1GB 630M. This should be a good deal better than the HD 4000. The battery should be considerably better too. Not sure if she cares about audio but the built in JBL speakers do sound pretty good for a laptop.

I would definitely reccomend this over the HP. I haven't had the best of luck with HP laptops.
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YeuEmMaiMai said:
I got my PC listed below (the Vostro 3460) with an i7 and 4GB 500GB AMD 7650 BT finger print reader for $735 shipped to my door.

i5 for under $600 (565 to be exact) Vostro 3460

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...x?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=2801&fid=9908

You can definately get i3 but i5 in decent config is about $600
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onedestinazn2 said:
If you're patient enough, I see alot of good sub $500 deals for 3rd gen i5 laptops. Hell that samsung I linked is only $499 for a 3rd gen i5.
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yeah im trying to get her to buy that one, though really it's way overpowered for her. :)
 
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