new notebook

[jimotis4heisman]

im in the market for a new personal notebook/laptop/labtop (whatever they are called). not sure on what i want to spend, use is person, email, surfing, will need office functions. a few questions:

-processor? which kind/brand etc would be recommended
-operating system?
-memory? how many mbs these days?
-hard drive not a music buff and wont be storing tons of photos etc on it, recommendations?
-monitor size?

like i said this will stay at home, travel with me on business. price range? well im not sure, cheaper is better for sure but i want some kick in the pants for the thing. id like one that will last about 3 years (ive found buying a tad lower on the scale and replacing it every 3 years has been the better thing for me in the past two, after dropping $2,000+ on the one before that).

any ideas? thoughts, etc?

 

[jwinslow]

Netbooks are big sellers these days. They are undersized, underpowered, but also come at a budget price. This might be an option if all you realy do is web, email, microsoft office, etc.

However, their hard drives are smaller (they use flash memory, like those thumbdrives or camera memory cards, which has no moving parts, but costs much more per MB), and they will be obsolete faster than standard laptops.

How portable do you need this thing to be? Do you want something ultra light for air travel, lugging in a backpack, etc? Will it move very rarely, so you could stand to have a high performance but heavy laptop? Something in the middle?

 

[jimotis4heisman]

Netbooks are big sellers these days. They are undersized, underpowered, but also come at a budget price. This might be an option if all you realy do is web, email, microsoft office, etc.

However, their hard drives are smaller (they use flash memory, like those thumbdrives or camera memory cards, which has no moving parts, but costs much more per MB), and they will be obsolete faster than standard laptops.

How portable do you need this thing to be? Do you want something ultra light for air travel, lugging in a backpack, etc? Will it move very rarely, so you could stand to have a high performance but heavy laptop? Something in the middle?

i dont travel as much as i used. still when i do travel i usually will hit 2 cities a day for 3-4 days. often times flying. fly, give a morning presentation, load up, fly, present in the afternoon, stay overnight repeat. size/weight should be considered but i dont need anything super light. i have a 15 inch monitor in the computer im using now for this purpose. its a decent size, though i sometimes wish i had a bigger monitor (occasionaly movie watching in airport/hotel etc) and for general use. but maybe thats a good size? i dont think i want low end, though i dont really think you need to spend 2k anymore for something good. i dont need super high end. this computer will also function as my primary home computer.

just looking for general advice before i go and do some homework at different places and what not.

 

[jwinslow]

Laptops have come down a lot... if you know how to shop, you can get some excellent specs/power/features & quality for $700-900.

You'll get mixed reviews, I like Lenovo (can be pricier), Toshiba. HP has good value/features & screens for lower prices. Gateway and Dell are decent.

When you start narrowing down your choices, go to slickdeals.net, go to their forums, then the hot-deals subforum, and search by title for the model number. "LX-4258" That will pull up threads dedicated to that model, so you can not only find current deals, but more importantly feedback on whether a deal is good or not (in the thread), the seller's track record, as well as gauge what the typical sale price range is, in case there is not one active at the moment.

Here is a budget deal (the deal is expired, just showing you pricing):
Slickdeals.net - The best coupons, lowest prices, and hottest deals.

An ultra-portable (light, slim but a little less power):
Samsung X360-34G Ultraportable Laptop: Core 2 Duo SU9300 1.2 GHz, 3GB DDR3, 120GB HDD, WiFI, Bluetooth, Webcam, 13.3" WXGA LED, Vista Business $750 After $300 MIR - SlickDeals.net Forums

Another:
Lenovo X61s Ultraportable Laptop: Core 2 Duo L7500LV 1.6 GHz, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, WiFi N, 8-Cell Battery, Vista Basic $551 - SlickDeals.net Forums

 

[scott91575]

i dont travel as much as i used. still when i do travel i usually will hit 2 cities a day for 3-4 days. often times flying. fly, give a morning presentation, load up, fly, present in the afternoon, stay overnight repeat. size/weight should be considered but i dont need anything super light. i have a 15 inch monitor in the computer im using now for this purpose. its a decent size, though i sometimes wish i had a bigger monitor (occasionaly movie watching in airport/hotel etc) and for general use. but maybe thats a good size? i dont think i want low end, though i dont really think you need to spend 2k anymore for something good. i dont need super high end. this computer will also function as my primary home computer.

just looking for general advice before i go and do some homework at different places and what not.

Anything larger than 15" and you will be sacrificing battery life and weight. Yet if you are thinking larger, then netbooks are clearly out of the picture.

With that said, just get a low end Intel dual core, integrated graphics, 4 Gb of RAM, a 9 cell battery, and a hard drive big enough for what you think you need. It should be under $1000.

Dell and HP are the top sellers. Yet Acer, Lenovo, and even Gateway make decent laptops. There is also Apple, but that is a whole different decision.

 

[jwinslow]

Anything larger than 15" and you will be sacrificing battery life and weight. Yet if you are thinking larger, then netbooks are clearly out of the picture.

True, that is the tradeoff.

Another thing to consider, the screens today are widescreen (often 16:10 or 16:9 ratio) compared to the square screens of the past (4:3), so a 15" screen will be a slightly larger screen for watching movies.

With that said, just get a low end Intel dual core, integrated graphics, 4 Gb of RAM, a 9 cell battery, and a hard drive big enough for what you think you need. It should be under $1000.

Yup, make sure you get a decent processor, plenty of ram, plenty of battery (not the weaker 6-cell many come with). I'm guessing just about any hard drive in a standard laptop will be fine for you.

There is also Apple, but that is a whole different decision.

Apples are excellent personal laptops but also cost quite a bit more.

 

[jwinslow]

jo, this is what makes slickdeals great. I just posted a few laptop deals with lots of "thumbs ups" but did not read the threads. On the first page I'm already questioning the first deal I linked

I should note that this is the worst screen I've ever had on any laptop. (most limited viewing angle that I have ever used)

but reading on, it still looks like quite a bargain:

Decent reviews on NewEgg, and listed for $899
Newegg.com - HP Pavilion dv7-1137us NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo T5800(2.00GHz) 17.0" Wide XGA+ 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel GMA 4500MHD - Laptops / Notebooks

I have to say:

What I missed is the hottest deal ever in 2009! ...

 

[NorthShoreBuck]

JO
If I remember correctly you are a big dude so keyboard may also be an issue. If you type like I do it won't be but it is something to consider.

The one thing I noticed was your want for it to last three years. I am partial to IBM / Lenovo as some come with a 3 year warranty. You can buy three years for others but it jacks up the price quickly on some.

My company gave me a Sony, nice screen, processor and hard drive but I know this thing won't last three years. And they aren't cheap.

I bought my personal laptop, Lenovo, off ebay, it was new, loaded and came with a three warranty for $750. You may want to look at that route.

I did some research on the web, there is a laptop site that tells the real story, much like jwins slickdeals site does.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

We purchased a Dell Inspiron 1525 a couple weeks ago with the following specs for $463 (after tax/shipping)

1 Intel? Pentium? Dual Core T4200 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/1MB cache)
1 Jet Black
1 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 (2 Dimms)
1 Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)
1 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
1 Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
1 Genuine Windows Vista? Home Basic Edition SP1
1 Integrated 10/100 Network Card
1 Integrated Modem
1 Adobe? Acrobat? Reader 9.0
1 CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
1 High Definition Audio 2.0
1 Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini-Card
1 No Webcam Option
1 Microsoft Works
1 McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days
1 6 cell battery
1 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
1 Earthlink Internet Access
1 WildTangent Games
1 Intel Pentium? Dual-Core Processor
1 Windows Vista™ Basic

 

[LitlBuck]

A couple months ago Dryden said that this company was very good. I am sure that their prices are a little higher than some of jwinslow's sites but they are local and probably could give you some "expert" advice.

 

[exhawg]

I'd keep on eye on the sales at Tigerdirect.com. I'm a fan of the Lenovo T series laptops that we get at work, but they are on the expensive end. I'd stay away from low end Dell laptops.

 

[Mac]

After going through a Dell freshman/soph. year, and then purchasing a Thinkpad, I don't think I could ever work with anything other than a ThinkPad. Although I am a big fan of Apple, they are too expensive IMO. I had nothing but problems with that stupid Dell. It crashed on me many times while writing lengthy papers for school and I just said enough was enough.