Laptop recomendation.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:39 pm

I am considering moving to a laptop. I really do not game and mainly use my computer for office work, email, movies, and business. I currently have a shuttle and thinking about putting this one on the living room TV. I already have a second shuttle on the game room tv.

Well ... what is a good laptop with a reasonable screen size. I currently have a 20" widescreen on the desktop. I would like for the computer to be fast and have plenty of ram. I do play with family photos often.

I am thinking about the laptop for mobility. We moved into a new house and I would like to be able to work on office and quicken at the dinning table when I need to spread out. I need a good keyboard for fast typing.

I would like to stay under $1,000 other then that ... what do you guys suggest??

thanks,

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:40 pm

I found an Asus N53JQ that seems to have good specs for $800

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:27 am

How about the Dell XPS 15 or 17.
I would love the 17... but is it too damn big?

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:41 am

I bought my wife last year an eMachine laptop. Came with windows 7 and 4 gigs of ram. Got it for $299 at Walfart. Never had any issue with it.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 2:49 am

Nothing wrong with a 17". Just keep in mind it's a desktop replacement. Too heavy to lug around an airport twice a week.

Get a powerful enough laptop to do the job for you since these things aren't upgradable. Even if you don't game, get a laptop with an AMD or NVidia video chip, not the crappy Intel video.

I like Dells, Acer & Asus. Not a big fan of HP or Compaq although the HP laptops can be hit or miss.

If you have a Sams Club or Costo card I'd look there first. They have a much more liberal return policy.

Check the weekly Dell deals here:
http://gotapex.com

While you can find some decent laptops in the $500 range or even less, if you're looking for a desktop replacement expect to spend $700+

Biggest problem with laptops is the keyboard. It would be best to try it out at the store. Some laptop keyboards are horrible.

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:06 am

Decent deal here just add an SSD Drive clone over the image from the pre-configured HDD and you got a speedy machine. I LOVE Thinkpad keyboards for getting real work done:

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/48159/lenovo.com-lenovo-thinkpad-x201-laptop-core-i7620m-2.66ghz-12.1-wxga-led-panel-1280x800-4gb-ddr3-320gb-hdd-6cell-batt-wifin-win-7-prem

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:45 am

I agree, I'll never use a laptop as a main computer due to keyboard issues. Can't find a single one that I could live with. But there are better ones.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:42 am

The larger sized laptops have decent keyboards IMO. I'd suggest going to a BestBuy or Office Depot just to try them out.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:47 am

Another good deals site:

http://dealnews.com/Computers/PC-Comput ... ls-49.html

Beware of underpowered laptops. Lots of $500 specials out there running antiquated tech like Dual Core Pentiums. You want Intel Core 2 Duo or better yet Intel i3 or i5.

AMD gives you a lot less choices. Most AMD laptops are Athlon X2 which is roughly comparable to Core 2 Duo. High end AMD Phenom II laptops are almost impossible to find except in specialty gaming systems.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 11:29 am

You said it right ... I would not settle for less then i5 or i7 and good graphics. I am really liking the XPS and do not want anything smaller then 15". I dont know if 17" is too big. I do not travel often so this would only be used to travel from room to room in the house. It is hard to find a place that sells dell around here to try out although I would prefer to get my hands on one before I drop some coin.

Looking at the XPS with blueray and SSD I am getting in the $1500 range. I would prefer $1000

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:32 pm

Dell does not sell the XPS lines through retail stores.

You're paying a premium for the XPS branding, not to mention that the internal BluRay on a laptop adds $250+

You might want to look at the Dell Vostro 3700, but there's no BluRay option: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/vostr ... bsd&~ck=mn

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 2:26 pm

Not sure if you like HP but here is a coupon code for their laptops featured on this page:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/series_can.do;HHOJSID=fKh0N9YL4YqsjZD7YJN418TChvySglfFLM19dnkWpydcmz9ThXSW!437960421?storeName=computer_store&landing=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/High_performance#defaultAnchor

Coupon code: "NB6798"

Qui Gon-Jinn · Post by **Qui Gon-Jinn** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:24 am

I would go look at the HP ProBook line.

Been running the ProBook 4520s with i5 2.53 4gb ram and 320gb hdd for 6 months. I like it..

NOT a cheap HP.. it's metal case.. clean.. and runs great. running 7 pro 64bit for work.

Good size screen and full 10 key.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:43 pm

I have an HP dv7-1261wm It's got a 17" screen, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HD, came with a blu-ray drive, Radeon 3650 Video Card, mini remote (Just a novelty really) built in webcam. Battery life was about 45 minutes or so when doing anything noteworthy. But this thing gets HOT! You HAVE to use a laptop cooler with it or it will overheat when watching movies or anything withing 15 minutes.. I don't remember it being that bad when I first got it though. I used to be able to use it anywhere for any length of time and no issues.. I'm thinking I just need to take it apart and re-grease the GPU/CPU and make sure the fan is clean.. My next laptop (some time this year) will be a Sager. But, I really hardly ever use the laptop like I used to. I have seriously been debating getting an iPad as it would meet all of my basic needs. Most of the time I just sit at the table in the kitchen browsing car forums and watching youtube.. haha

eGo

eGo