Advice on Getting a New Laptop (Non-Gaming)

[willardhaven]

My girlfriend is looking for a laptop to take to school in the fall. We're not sure what brand to go with or what to watch out for in the big box stores and online.

Her requirements are pretty simple:

• The ability to run MS Office (specifically OneNote).
• Web browsing (including HD videos like Lost on ABC.com).
• Somewhat lightweight (less than 6 lbs).
• Decent battery life (4 hours or more).
• Less than $500 (she had a Vaio that kicked it after 4.5 years with lots of work and money put into it for parts).

Thanks for your help, I am not really knowledgeable when it comes to premade systems.

 

[Hydro2Oxide]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101193

3 pounds, up to 6 hours battery life, CPU is fairly lackluster but that's what you sacrifice for weight and battery life.

 

[willardhaven]

How about the Dell Inspiron 15 for $399 from their site?

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndozm1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

 

[bigpimpin24]

Check this one out

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5635759&CatId=927

Thing is, I think most laptops that have high battery life end up sacrificing processor power which means streaming HD video can be a problem. But for everything else, almost any laptop should suffice.

 

[Koggit]

streaming -any- video is often a problem on a netbook, i dunno about that gateway but my acer aspire one can't even play 360p hulu smoothly (which is okay for cartoons, but live action stuff is hard to watch due to how choppy it is)

i don't know anything about that gateway but i'd stay away from all netbooks, i've been very dissatisfied with mine


since there's no rush, fall is far away, just keep an eye peeled for a good deal. maybe set slickdeals.net as your home page so when something hot gets posted you know right away and dont miss it. instead of just paying normal market price, by waiting for a good deal can get you a much better machine for the same price, or save a lot on a similar machine.

 

[willardhaven]

She's leaning toward a Lenovo Thinkpad for its durability... any thoughts on this model?

 

[J7.]

Costco gives 2 year warranty standard. They always have nice Acer models.

 

[Thongsy]

[quote name='willardhaven']She's leaning toward a Lenovo Thinkpad for its durability... any thoughts on this model?[/QUOTE]

I'm kind of a Thinkpad purist. That's the budget Thinkpad line which is missing some of the features of the R and T series, but it should be fine and is still superior to all other consumer level notebooks. I got a x200 about a month ago and absolutely love it, small and lightweight and gets 10+ hours of usage for MS, 7 or so for various other tasks, and it uses a standard C2D cpu.

If you're thinking of getting a Lenovo, check around on slickdeals, they always have good bargains popping up. Also you can try checking into the cpp site for a better price.