Which laptop?

[meowschwitz]

I don't know much about laptops, but I do know that I'll be in the need for one soon.

My criteria:

• inexpensive, definitely <$1000, but $600-$700 is preferable, less is even better
• lightweight, ~3 lbs
• ~13" screen
• long battery life, >6 hrs
• large hard drive memory, ~500GB-1TB (I've no real need for SSD)
• decent enough processor/graphics so that this laptop will suit my needs for several years to come. I watch a lot of HD stuff, some light gaming (Civ V), Photoshop CS5, and I tend to multitask.

Ultrabooks seem to come to mind first, like the Macbook Air or Asus Zenbook, but man are they expensive. Should I wait until prices drop? Or for more with Ivy Bridge processors? I don't know how much longer I can survive without a laptop while being at school for 12+ a day. Library computers just aren't cutting it.

Any suggestions?

[Calmia22]

Can you go with a little $200 netbook until those get cheaper? Or wait till Black Friday?

I only buy electronics on Black Friday, and for good reason:
Last year I got a 32" flatscreen for $188 and a Xbox 360 w/kinetic for $150.

Computer are always hot on the Black Friday lists too.

[JP55g]

weight & price with those graphics requirements are going severely limit your options

[JP55g]

Quick search found this. Newegg item# N82E16834200474

under 1k, decent system. Not the best but not bad for a quick search on newegg

[meowschwitz]

Originally Posted by Calmia22

Can you go with a little $200 netbook until those get cheaper? Or wait till Black Friday?

I only buy electronics on Black Friday, and for good reason:
Last year I got a 32" flatscreen for $188 and a Xbox 360 w/kinetic for $150.

Computer are always hot on the Black Friday lists too.

I have a netbook from 2009. Hate the thing. Screen's too small, gets hot and loud, and can barely do what I need it to do. I've been waiting years to get a laptop, so maybe I can wait til Black Friday.

Originally Posted by JP55g

Quick search found this. Newegg item# N82E16834200474

under 1k, decent system. Not the best but not bad for a quick search on newegg

4.4 lbs is killer for me to lug around all day. Again, a 11" screen is just too small.

[JP55g]

Price is limiting factor. You want all that your going to have to pay for it. Several years of meeting needs in that size is not cheap. Look for used or watch for good sales. Back to school sales will start soon, good time to watch prices. Ivy Bridge is good, but new and new=pricey.

[GeToChKn]

Ya, try and hold out for back to school. Do things like signup at dell.com. They send you coupons, deals, codes that are good for 5%-20% off items and stuff. I would look into the XPS line though. I'm not a fan of normal dell's, and usually build my own PCs, but I have a dell XPS tower that I couldn't have built cheaper if I tried and it's a beast and my XPS laptop is about 4 years old and still runs great, dual core, 4GB ram in it and it rocks.

[Eden Marel]

How about one of the HP Envy?

Like this one, it's $979.99 so it still falls under your $1000 budget. 13in monitor, just a little bit over 3 lb. up to 8hr battery, unfortunately it does have SSD so it does has less storage, but in long run supposedly SSD are a lot faster. Maybe supplement it with a small portable HDD?

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-of...abook-13t-2000

[xenxes]

slickdeals.net, search for laptop, find 1 with +5 thumbs up

[meowschwitz]

I check slickdeals religiously, yet I seem to miss all the good deals.

So I've been checking all the ultrabooks out there. The prices seem to be going down, and I see some good deals at around ~$800. What I like about ultrabooks is the portability. I guess I don't absolutely need an amazing processor/dedicated graphics, as I only use PS CS5 sometimes, and play Civ V a bit. I can use those programs on my desktop if I have to. It's just nice to be able to have the option to run them if I wanted to on the go. I do, however, watch a lot of videos, which is why I wanted more hard drive space to store all my stuff. I know I'll appreciate the speed an SSD offers, but I don't know if I can give up all that storage. Having to also carry around external storage defeats the purpose of having an ultraportable laptop.

I've also been looking at the second wave of ultrabooks that come out when Windows 8 launches. While they look intriguing, especially with touch capability, I don't believe the prices will drop much below $1000.

My top uses, as I think about it, will be for internet surfing, Word/Excel, and watching vids, and probably doing all of that at the same time.

[xenxes]

Originally Posted by meowschwitz

I check slickdeals religiously, yet I seem to miss all the good deals.

So I've been checking all the ultrabooks out there. The prices seem to be going down, and I see some good deals at around ~$800. What I like about ultrabooks is the portability. I guess I don't absolutely need an amazing processor/dedicated graphics, as I only use PS CS5 sometimes, and play Civ V a bit. I can use those programs on my desktop if I have to. It's just nice to be able to have the option to run them if I wanted to on the go. I do, however, watch a lot of videos, which is why I wanted more hard drive space to store all my stuff. I know I'll appreciate the speed an SSD offers, but I don't know if I can give up all that storage. Having to also carry around external storage defeats the purpose of having an ultraportable laptop.

I've also been looking at the second wave of ultrabooks that come out when Windows 8 launches. While they look intriguing, especially with touch capability, I don't believe the prices will drop much below $1000.

My top uses, as I think about it, will be for internet surfing, Word/Excel, and watching vids, and probably doing all of that at the same time.

You got that right, I remember buying a laptop quite a few years ago, I wanted everything and ended up dishing out $3.2k for a 15". Never took it anywhere since it weighed 8lbs.

Now I really just juggle between an iPad, netbook, but mainly use my old Lenovo 12" (I love the little red mouse) with the standard screen. Very convenient and about ~3lbs.

Portability should be your #1 concern. SSD = more reliable, less power consumption, I don't think you will need *that* much space, especially given how you can store more and more in the cloud, so long as you have a reliable internet connection.

[thechibi]

I like Asus laptops, personally. >> Mostly because I game on mine. But if you know a college student, we do get student discounts on said laptops. If you can hold out a little, usually the end of July/during August is when the back to school deals start kicking in.

[meowschwitz]

Originally Posted by thechibi

I like Asus laptops, personally. >> Mostly because I game on mine. But if you know a college student, we do get student discounts on said laptops. If you can hold out a little, usually the end of July/during August is when the back to school deals start kicking in.

I'm a college student; what discounts do we get?

[audioaficionado]

Ivy Bridge mobile Intel processors should be coming out soon. They use less power and have better graphics. (if you can wait)

I saw some killer i5 Sandy Bridge, 15" screen laptops with 5-6hrs battery life for ~$500. Much nicer to work on than a 10.5" netbook IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834246484

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0%20-%20%24750

Saw some good one over at best buy too.

[meowschwitz]

Originally Posted by audioaficionado

Ivy Bridge mobile Intel processors should be coming out soon. They use less power and have better graphics. (if you can wait)

I saw some killer i5 Sandy Bridge, 15" screen laptops with 5-6hrs battery life for ~$500. Much nicer to work on than a 10.5" netbook IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834246484

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0%20-%20%24750

Saw some good one over at best buy too.

I am willing to pay a bit more for portability. I intend to bring this around with me everywhere, to school, to work, you name it. So mid screen size between 13-14" and ~3lb would be perfect. Anything larger or heavier would be less than ideal.