getting new laptop in november... suggestions?

[xraiderv1]

thread title says it all.

getting a new laptop in november, I've got a $600 budget with another $40 for taxes.

so... brand/model suggestions please fellas?

this is the one currently up for consideration:

Customize 15.5" Laptop | VAIO E Series Configure-to-Order | SVE151190X CTO | Sony USA

add a bluray drive and she's done.. she really doesnt need any tinkering past that.

 

[Patonb]

Ik'd also add a dedicated videocard too. The 3000 isn't good at all for evcen minor gaming.

 

[xraiderv1]

bear in mind my budget.. a dedicated graphics card.....isnt a possibility on this budget.. at least not a decent one.

the purposes I've in mind for this laptop are:

internet browsing and flash powered web games like on facebook

music

pixel art

movies(blu-ray and dvd)

the odd puzzle game like bejeweled.

nothing demanding really.

 

[windows8]

I'd go with one of the newer HP laptop's, large HD, nice amount of RAM, big HD screen and the battery life isnt all that bad.

I had the same budget as you, I bought the HP Pavilion G6.. you can see my system specs in my info

 

[xraiderv1]

can you suggest models to look at that fit my maximum $600 budget?

 

[windows8]

Pricing depends on where you live & what you buy.. do you plan on ordering online or going to a local store?

 

[xraiderv1]

online.

 

[windows8]

Well, from what you said you wanted to use it for, the new HP Envy seems just right.

Its on sale right now for $100 off, making it $599.99.

its a 320GB 4GB ram laptop with a large HD screen and amazing battery life.

Windows 7 64bit.

Laptops | HP® Official Store

Thats if you want to push your budget to the limit. otherwise, at $580 (also $100 off) you can get this laptop with 750GB HDD and 6GB Ram. http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o...-Pavilion-dv6t-7000-Entertainment-Notebook-PC
This one comes with Beats audio system and supposedly 9.25 hours of battery life.


Or the G7, one step ahead of my laptop.

comes with a HUGE 17.3" HD screen,6 GB DDR3， and 640 GB SATA (5400 rpm)
http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o...ion/B5R84UA?HP-Pavilion-g7-2010nr-Notebook-PC

 

[xraiderv1]

huh.... thems powerful...

are all the I series intel chips these days dual core chips?

 

[windows8]

I think some of them might be quad-core, not 100% sure though.

 

[xraiderv1]

given what I expect to do with it... I really dont need alot of cpu/graphical firepower.

I'm looking towards bluray as my disc player because alot of the movies I anticipate getting in the future place alot of the premium features more and more on bluray and not dvd, and premium features on a movie are always a consideration for me when I movie shop.

 

[windows8]

Then that $599 one with the Beats audio is probably the best one for you, especially with the HD screen and 9.25 hours of battery life.

 

[xraiderv1]

ultimately what will make or break a system for me is the seasonal sales later in this year.


keep em coming fellas, this is helping me out alot.

 

[windows8]

Wait for black friday, or that new techy holiday that comes the day after black friday. :-)

Whoah, apparently the laptops with Blu-Ray drives start $1000 over at www.Dell.com

 

[xraiderv1]

....yea, and several people I know who've owned dells have said to avoid them like the plague.. apparently its nigh on impossible to get tech support from them...

 

[whs]

DO NOT BUY A SONY. They are comlpetely retarded in the BIOS. I had to return a $1100 Vaio because it could not process live Linux CDs nor could you change the BIOS boot order.

Here is the whole saga: Sony does not care about their customers - Windows 7 Forums

I ended up with a $550 Toshiba which works very well. Does not have all the bells and whistles of the Sony, but it does the job.

 

[xraiderv1]

after doing the research on that.. and respectful of your opinion... I conclude that as I have no need of live cds, have never needed to and will likely never need to switch my boot order... I should be fine.

my opinions are split on hp, or sony. everyone I know says to avoid dell like the plague.. I dont know enough about acer....

 

[whs]

after doing the research on that.. and respectful of your opinion... I conclude that as I have no need of live cds, have never needed to and will likely never need to switch my boot order... I should be fine.

my opinions are split on hp, or sony. everyone I know says to avoid dell like the plague.. I dont know enough about acer....

If you say so. I use live Linux CDs all the time and switch the boot order too. Just think of a recovery CD to pull in an image.

HP desktops are great but laptops are so, so - I have a couple. From Dell I only have 2 desktops and they are OK. Acer I would not buy, but maybe Gateway which they own too. I have one Gateway laptop from the pre-Acer times and one recent one. They are very good.

Other good options are Toshiba and Asus. I never owned an Asus but have seen good reports about them. I have 1 recent Toshiba with an i5 and 6GB of RAM and that is very good. Note that I always replace the HDDs with SSDs - that makes them very fast, even the older models.

 

[Cytherian]

The HP Pavilion laptop series is well made and their various models work quite well. In my experience, battery life hasn't been that great though. I have a DV5t and couldn't get more than 2.5 hours from a full charge on the battery when new. After about a year, it dropped to 2 hours, then at about 18 months it started to drop off until dead at 2 years. I'm running a duo core Intel processor and a rather power hungry NVidia GeForce 9600T 512Mb.

The G7 is rated at just over 5 hours, so I'd expect to get about 4 hours out of it. That's quite an improvement, though still painfully behind Apple which can deliver about 8 hours on a Mac Airbook Pro.


One thing though... I would definitely visit a store first to see laptops first hand before buying on-line. There's something about the tactile feel of a keyboard and touch pad operation that can really affect your impression. HP laptops are generally well made, almost as good as Lenovo (former IBM Thinkpad brand). I've seen some other laptop brands that may look fine from a distance but feel crappy once you use them (like Acer and Gateway). SONY tends to be very good, btw. I know two people who own VAIO models and couldn't be happier. Mind you, they aren't techies and run stock systems. That BIOS limitation sounds rather peculiar.

 

[whs]

That BIOS limitation sounds rather peculiar.

I agree. I did not want to believe that either. But after I sent the Vaio into the Sony technical center in Laredo, Texas, the experts there confirmed that I was right. But it still took a letter to their CEO to get my money back.