I'm sure you guys are tired of people asking for advice on which PC or labtop that they should get, but this is another one of those threads. I'm looking into getting a laptop for both school and personal use, and bussiness soon. Things I'm looking for: BUDGET-I'm looking roughly to spend about $1500, however $2000 is my absolute max. Of course like most people I would like cheaper than my target spending but I know I need to be realistic. TYPE-I'm not an Apple fan, just not. I'd prefer it to not be something obscure and hard to find and repair if it ever breaks, as I'm by no means a hardware type guy. OS-Since Vista's been out a little while I'd like it to be Vista compatable and have Vista on it, but if it comes with XP that's fine by me. GRAPHICS-I don't need the highest end graphic card, however I do play a select few games on my computer but not many and none that need the high end graphic card. I also am going to attempt to learn some graphics programming but to be honest I'm not 100% sure if I'll end up doing that. RAM-Now this is the thing I'm the most worried about as I've filled up every computer I've ever owned. I'm looking for at least 1GB or more, preferrably more but I'm willing to sacrifice this if it means I get something better for my particuliar uses. WHAT IT WILL PRIMARILY BE USED FOR (in order from top to bottom from most likely to least): -Surfing the internet -School work (Power Point, Word, excel, Adobe are all I really need for school) -Game Programming (I'm still a student but I'm still working on a few games for my resume and for school) -Playing Music (I store all my music on my computer and making back up cds) -Making Videos/watching them (I do a little video editing of home movies) Thanks for your suggestions. TKE Super Dave

Quote: Original post by TKE Super Dave
TYPE-I'm not an Apple fan, just not.

dang. I don't think I can honestly recommend anything then :S

Service-wise Dell have been awesome in the past though (cat chewed up some keys on laptop keyboard (dont ask) and they sent me a replacement within 2 days, free of charge.. crazyness)

Because it's a laptop, being used for school and it looks as if "what you need" may change in the next couple of months I'd research leasing a laptop instead of purchasing.

You can get a 2500 dollar laptop for around 61/month over at Dell.

If leasing is not an option and you rather just purchase the item, I'd look into the most upgradeable laptop you can find so that when your needs for it change so can the laptop you put money towards.

If your using it to take notes at school and browse the internet, you don't need a laptop that costs around $1,000, you could get away with things a few hundred dollars less.

When you consider what you need for games, you should start out (if you go dell) with the xps laptop system.

Dell leasing option:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/finance/dfs_fmv_lease?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

I love my Asus G1. It's a bit towards the higher end of your price range, but it's a great machine.

Except for graphics, your requirements seem to have little to do with laptops (getting 1GB ram is easy<i/>, 512MB and 1024MB are standard now, with 2GB or more frequently offered) and more with just computers in general.

What makes a laptop a laptop is that it is to some degree portable, so...

How big or small of a laptop do you want? Are you will to have a seperate special case, or do you want something that can fit into any backpack?

How much are you will to carry? While 7lbs doesn't sound like much, carrying it around all day can become tiring.

How much battery power do you require? Will the laptop simply be carried from one outlet to another, or will you be spending hours on it away from any outside power source?

For example:



These two laptops (HP Pavilion HDX and Dell XPS M2010) weight 15 and 18lbs, come with huge screens (20"+) and all the power of a desktop with stuff like dual harddrives, 2-4GB of ram, large 4.1 speaker sets and positionable screens. Battery life between 1.5 and 2 hours - when idle.

And compare with:


The first (Asus U1F) weighs only 2.2lbs (and still less then 3lbs with the double capacity battery that lasts for 6+ hours), has features like a leather arm wrest, webcam and fingerprint reader, an external DVDRW that runs off the laptops power, one of the first LED lit screens (Asus is bringing this to their "Apple" brand laptops very soon) a 1Ghz CoreDuo, 1-2GB of memory, full wireless and bluetooth, and an Expresscard slot for attaching something like Asus's external video card adapter (desktop PCI Express card attached to a laptop).

The second, a Dell Inspiron 640m is a middle line budget laptop: 5.3lbs, 3 hours battery life (+50% if using 9 cell battery), CoreDuo 1.73GHz, 2GB ram, 160GB harddrive, built in DVDRW, wireless and your chose of Vista or XP for $800 US.


So, where are your priorities? Battery life, weight, built in features, price?

Quote: Original post by Driv3MeFar
I love my Asus G1. It's a bit towards the higher end of your price range, but it's a great machine.

Asus is a great brand (mainly because they aren't a brand, they are the only one of the true laptop makers besides Acer [AOpen] that directly offers laptops, in addition to the models they provide to their OEMs [all Apple laptops are actually from Asus, as well as many Sony and other boutique brands]). I currently own the ultraportable Z33AE (M5AE outside NA) that gives me 6 hours at 3.9lbs, but I am seriously tempted by the insane low weight and decent power of the U1F (there has really only been one laptop, the super thin Sony X505, that has been lighter. Everything else under 2lbs has been a palmtop, often running Windows CE).

Regardless of what laptop you get, I personally would nothing less than 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor (Athlon 64 x2 or Core 2 Duo). Dells are nice also.

I'm almost done with college, I'll be graduating in December. So renting, while an option, just seems like a waste while I can just get something that will more fit a work/personal environment and either use my current computer for school or if my new laptop has the capability to do the tasks then use it.

To be honest weight and size do not bother me and are low on my concern list. I will more than likely just carrying it short distances and for short amount of time. As long as it can be carried to me it doesn't matter.

Battery life is something I did forget about that should be on my proirity list. I would like the battery to last at least 4+ hours, yet be able to be plugged in as though it was a desktop.

After checking on my current PC I figure that 1GB isn't enough RAM for me and that I'd need at least 2GB. As my current PC has 1GB and I've filled it up.

Features that are particular to labtops like:

Quote: features like a leather arm wrest, webcam and fingerprint reader, an external DVDRW that runs off the laptops power, one of the first LED lit screens

Do not interest me, with the exception of it having wireless capabilities.

Almost all of you say Dell's are nice and I agree with you, as my past two labtops have both been Dells.

4+ hours of battery life will likely require you to make one or both of these choices:

- Buy the extra capacity (usually a 9 or 12 cell) battery. This will increase the weight, and normally sticks out the back an inch or so. The Dell Inspiron 640m I mentioned above makes it possible for you to buy the 9 cell as the main battery, instead of having to buy it as an an extra.

- Buy a low power laptop. That usually means a 4200rpm harddrive and the 1 or 1.1GHz ultra low voltage processor. Laptops like the U1F try and offset the slower speed by going dual core. It should also be noted that the ultra low voltage processors are more expensive per-mhz, so you'll be paying about the same as a faster but more battery killing CPU. With the introduction of LED lit screens in some newer laptop models battery life should be improved (a laptops conventual screen, and specifically the brightness it is run at, has a major effect on most laptops battery power. LED lit laptops thus take away one of the biggest energy drains).

Given your requirements, the Dell with the high capacity battery is probably the best choice. You may want to check the screen option as well (the 640m offers a higher resolution option), as you will want to be comfortable with how much you can fit on the screen vs. how tiny the pixels are. For most screens over 13" there should not be a readability problem, so just make sure the screen height in pixels is enough for your needs (i.e. screen space for Visual Studio or the like)

Does anyone else have any suggestions? Also Michalson, you stated the dell but you never said which one as you showed me two.