General Questions

1) What is your budget?
Up to $900 if I get a Macbook or something like that. But I'd prefer to spend no more than $550 (I bought a $500 HP last year - I'd rather buy a cheap laptop each year than buy an expensive one and be unhappy with it after a year)

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: IBM, HP, Dell, Mac
b. Dislike: Toshiba, Compaq, etc.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
Yes

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Mostly Internet, watch some videos (HD MKVs sometimes), lots of typing docs and emails, occasional Photoshop usage

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Mostly taking it to different places. I have a desktop so I won't use it at home. I need something I can roll into a meeting with and have it look slick and sexy and have great battery life.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
Not really.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
At least 4-5. More with a slim battery like the Envy series would be really nice

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
I don't have to see it - I just have to know the keyboard is big enough for me to comfortably type with.

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
I've been a Windows guy my whole life. I am willing to branch out into something new though.

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
I would love high resolution but I know it's out of my price range. Medium resolution is fine.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
I'd prefer a matte screen / anti-glare as well but again, I doubt there are any in that budget.

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Yes

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
I need it in the next 2 weeks.

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
Space doesn't matter - I have all my stuff on an external USB drive I take everywhere anyways. SSD doesn't matter. Doubt it's in my budget anyways.

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
Not necessarily.

----------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so now that's done, here's what I've been looking at:
Amazon Asus 1201N for about $480 - pro: portable, powerful enough to play HD video. con: very small keyboard will make it difficult to type a lot.
Dell Vostro V13 for $450 - pro: sleek design. con: i don't know if the keyboard will be comfortable or not, and I don't know if the processor will be powerful enough for my needs.
HP Envy 13/15 - pro: everything. con: price, heat, trackpad.
MSI X-Slim X320 - pro: sexy looks. con: too small to type comfortably all the time.
Lenovo T410s - con: price
HP Probook 5310m - pro: price, maybe too small.

so many great deals coming out that I'm tempted to pull the trigger but I know I'll be back here at the same time next year. a Macbook Pro is the only thing I'd be willing to spend $1000 on and keep it for 2 years, but everything else cheap has a lifetime of about 1 year - usually because of heat shrink causing poor connections, overheating damaging components, etc.

1/9/2010 3:00:44 AM

Check out the Acer Timeline series. Thin, light, stylish, 8+ hours of battery life. I think they sell the 14" at Costco

1/9/2010 9:59:44 AM

Quote :

"but everything else cheap has a lifetime of about 1 year - usually because of heat shrink causing poor connections, overheating damaging components, etc."

Are you stupid? Consumer laptops don't last a year. Try 5-7. Hell most are under warranty for 3.

1/9/2010 10:23:13 PM

you buy a new laptop every year?

1/9/2010 11:37:03 PM

i usually get a new one every two years. though my wife's macbook is over 2 years old at this point. and it'll prolly go another 6-12 months and then she'll probably inherit my macbook pro, which is currently 1 year old.

[Edited on January 9, 2010 at 11:53 PM. Reason : a dell d620 i bought in early 2006 is even still in use by fleetwud]

1/9/2010 11:52:53 PM

Quote :

"Amazon Asus 1201N for about $480 - pro: portable, powerful enough to play HD video. con: very small keyboard will make it difficult to type a lot."

First off, lol @ the "Amazon." Second, the keyboard is not that small. I type fine on my 8.9", and the 1201N is a large 10.1." Find one in a store and see how big it is before dismissing it.

1/10/2010 12:05:55 AM

Asus currently has my recommendation for any laptop inquiry. 2 year warranty plus first year accidental damage coverage is just too sweet to pass up.

1/10/2010 2:38:43 AM

anything Asus. best consumer laptop reliability. (yes even over Apple)

1/10/2010 2:50:55 AM

I've been using my Thinkpad as my only computer for nearly 5 years now. It stays on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and gets used for about 4 hours a day on average. Haven't had the first problem out of it. What do you do to your pc's?

1/10/2010 4:20:48 AM

my 2 bosses have been using their macbook pros for 3.5 years, still going strong. well one had to get a new battery b/c he doesn't understand the concept of exercising it, but that was $120. it's stupid to buy a new cheap one every year. buy a NICE one and you can use it for at least 3 years or more. this is ridiculous.

do you lease cars too?

i hope this is a troll

[Edited on January 10, 2010 at 9:06 AM. Reason : ]

1/10/2010 9:02:04 AM

I disagree. When it comes to computers, its better to be able to upgrade sooner rather then later because technology gets eclipsed so quickly. I think the best thing to do is find a cost effective midpoint between low end and high end and plan on replacing that in roughly 1.5 years - 2 years.

1/11/2010 12:59:32 PM

^He's right.

There's no such thing as future proofing. Buy the middle ground between what the minimum is that you need and what is top of the line.

1/11/2010 1:01:10 PM

no, there's no future proofing, but they're not disposable either. he's not doing anything heavy duty on it, there's no need to replace it every year to try to keep up with the latest capabilities of ram, hdd, speed, whatever.

1/11/2010 1:51:02 PM

Well, yes.

But he could easily do all of that on a base model 15" laptop for $500, or a 12" netbook for the same price.

He doesn't need a Mac or a quad core or anything.

1/11/2010 1:52:01 PM

first world problems ITT

1/11/2010 4:28:37 PM