Notebook/laptop/tablet Pc Buying Guide *updated 2011*

[Guest IonNuke]

im plannin on buying a new laptop soon .. but im having a hard time to decide haha. Im looking for something that

has a battery life greater than 5 hours, 13,14, or 15 inch screen, something thin and light so i can carry it at

ease for university. Not really interested in macs at the moment.

Here are some of my my choices that im interested in:

1) Acer Aspire 3820tg TimelineX series

basic specs:

13.3" screen, i5-480M, 4GB ram, 500Gb hd, W7 Home Premium 64 bit, AMD HD 6550M and an estimated 8 hour battery life.

Thin and light, great for gaming, no optical drive

2) Asus u36jc-B1

basic specs:

13.3" screen, i5-480m, 4gb ram,500gb hd @ 7200rpm, W7 Home premium 64 bit, nvidea g310m 1gb and estimated 12 hr battery life

the thinnest of the 3 at 0.97", really light,magnesium alloy body, slick, no optical drive

3) Asus U30JC-QHDC1

basic specs:

13.3" screen, i5-460m, 4gb ram, 500gb hd, w7 home premium 64 bit, nvidea g310m 512mb, and an estimated 9 hr battery life

bulkiest out of the 3 = heavier and thicker, includes optical drive with blu ray i think...

Also interested in other peoples suggestions and other notebooks you recommend!

I would pick one without the optical drive. most everything today is DLC so optical drive seems useless. Even system recovery there's a hard drive partition that will release the data. Only time I guess you'll want to use the optical drive is if you want to watch a DVD or something on your notebook, but even then buying an external optical drive is inexpensive these days and it's not bad.

[Guest Anty]

Hi can anyone recommend a laptop for me please?

Nothing fancy, nor am I looking for any specifications. If anything, the simpler the better because my parents are technology challenged heh

The sole purpose of it would be to hook it to the television(via hdmi) and stream shows and such.

i'm thinking a budget laptop should cut it

My father has decided to cut the language programming package and instead have it replaced with streaming, so i'm thinking he'll probably be on tudou or other chinese video sites.

thank you

[orangeman]

Are you looking for a media player/streamer or a laptop? There are options for the former that go for much less than a laptop and if you really want a computer, a little HTPC would be much cheaper and efficient than a laptop. 

Come back with a budget and I'll throw some ideas out. Even if you want a laptop, I'll see what there is to offer after the clarification.

[Guest OldSpice]

Despite my talks about getting a windows pc in previous posts, i've just placed an order for the high end 15 inch mbp with ag, and i am starting to feel very guilty about this purchase. I'm starting to rethink my planned uses and logic of buying it in the first place.

Should i just move to the 13 inch in terms of using it for school (not engineering major or anything)and personal daily computer. I would like to play some games but i've thought about it and i have an xbox for that, and the only pc game i will probably be playing is from the counter strike source era. But i do want my computer to last as long as possible as im using my current desktop for about 6 years and it wasn't that great to start with.

prices basically come down to

high end 15 inch with anti glare $2339 (basically paying that 200 dollar difference for video card?

low end 15 inch with anti glare $2114

the high end 13 inch $1537

Now what should i do? :wacko:

[orangeman]

A refurbished Macbook Pro 13" from Apple - I currently see one for $929 and $1019. The Nvidia 320M is about the same as the Intel 3000 on the new models. Processor speed isn't a big deal for basic tasks.

The new processors are faster because they have 4 threads instead of 2 for the older chips (thus you'll see the Geekbench scores double). It can Turbo-Boost from 2.3 to 2.6 for two cores or 2.9 for one. The value of this is dependent on how much you value new and faster technology. Will you notice the difference for everyday browsing? Probably not - a millisecond or even a second isn't that noticeable. Most of these numbers are from synthetic benchmarks which may or may not carry into practical usage. 

Bear in mind that 22nm Ivy Bridge is coming late this year or the beginning of next; Intel targets at a 30% GPU performance increase and 20% overall. I'm telling you this so you have an idea of what to expect from now until next year. 

[Guest HappySmileXD]

Hi you guys!

So I'm kind of new with laptops...

I'm not sure which laptop I should get for college.

I'm choosing between

HP ENVY 14 Beats edition series

or

Apple MacBook Pro.

But the thing is, my main concern is media.

I'm going to be a film major,

so I want the laptop that will have the best programs with editing and

creating films.

I've always used a PC, but this whole "rise of MAC" is making me a bit nervous.

Sometimes PCs are a bit annoying with all the random errors that

occur overtime.

I honestly have no issue with price.

All I really care about is

-Media

-Battery Life

-Memory Storage

and I want this laptop to last at least 4-5 years?

So what do you guys think?

Thanks so much!

[orangeman]

Both platforms will edit the appropriate files (assuming media means media files), will have similar battery life when actively using the laptop, and hard drive space is independent of the operating system. 

I don't know Apple's direction in terms of Final Cut but it is an industry standard and should be for at least this decade. Adobe's Premiere Pro is just as capable as Final Cut in the right hands. But at your level of education, software platform isn't something to get too concerned with yet so the whole OSX vs. Windows dilemma boils down to personal preference. 

Your criteria list is vague so I can only provide vague answers. 

[Guest unholydaemon]

Hey guys I'm planning a new laptop in a month or two.

I'm looking for a high performance laptop for gaming, looking for these kind of features:

i7 processor

6/8gb ram ddr3

high end video card

harddrive is not an issue for me so any will do

x86/x64 is not an issue for me either, either will do

15"

decent battery life, nothing amazing, just regular

3+ usb ports

chiclet keyboard (keyboards that sony laptops and mac's have)

nothing over ~$1250 before tax

the closest match I found was dell's XPS 15 but it doesn't have a chiclet keyboard and only 2 usb ports, but it's decently priced ($900 i think). Any other suggestions available? Thanks

[orangeman]

Envy 14/17 has chiclet keyboards. With the right deal, it's priced about the same as the XPS. Other offerings from ASUS and Alienware are tacky. 

Comments to your criteria list:

• i7 processor - i7 are typically quad-cores and not necessary since few games utilize multiple cores. i5 delivers very close performance in gaming. I mention this because the alternative can save you money. 
• x86/x64 - You need x64 to properly address all 6-8GB of memory. 

[Guest unholydaemon]

Ohh. I checked out the envy 14 and it totalled to 1148, not bad, thanks for info!

[orangeman]

There's a coupon for 25% off an Envy 14 priced $1249 and up. The general deals for these hover at $900, well configured.

[Guest Kushay]

To be honest I don't know much about computers (in the technical matter)so I'm in need of help.

I'm looking for a laptop that's no more than $650. Screen size doesn't matter so long as it's over 11".

I'm a student that'll be using it basically for downloading music, running multiple programs for assignments, chatting/skyping and I more than likely won't be gaming on it.

Just because there are so many different brands and series out right now, I'm not sure which ones are fast, have decent battery life (3-4ish hours) and won't break down within a year.

All suggestions are welcome!

[Guest PrincessBoa]

I got a new laptop which was an ASUS UL80jt - 14" but now I'm wondering whether I should have chose the Lenovo IdeaPad g560 15" instead. The main reason I chose the ASUS was cause it was small and portable- and had a long battery life.. however - its only been a week and I got like...6 viruses on it already with the blue screen and I don't really do much on my laptop other than surfing the web and listening to music. ): It's also become more hot and loud ... and I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good performance laptop which is under 600 with low heat?

I'll be keeping my ASUS for now.. not really sure on what to do to increase its performance and etc- (i've tried reformatting it already and it helped alot- but not too much ><

-PrincessBoa

Thanks alot!

[orangeman]

^ Heat issues can be resolved with integrated graphics. From the Amazon page, the ASUS has both integrated and dedicated so try switching to integrated and see if it makes a difference in temperature. If not, it could be faulty hardware or poor drivers written for the hardware or even inept thermal design.

Virus infections are not really the fault of the computer but blue screens typically foreshadow future problems. If you're not satisfied, return it now when the time slot is still open.

To be honest I don't know much about computers (in the technical matter)so I'm in need of help.

I'm looking for a laptop that's no more than $650. Screen size doesn't matter so long as it's over 11".

I'm a student that'll be using it basically for downloading music, running multiple programs for assignments, chatting/skyping and I more than likely won't be gaming on it.

Just because there are so many different brands and series out right now, I'm not sure which ones are fast, have decent battery life (3-4ish hours) and won't break down within a year.

All suggestions are welcome!

I suggest business-class laptops due to their better construction and typical 3-year warranties. The price is comparable to home/consumer machines but they certainly last longer.

I like the Dell Latitude E-series and their Precision line (but this is usually out of your price range). Dell Outlet has good deals if you can outsmart the resellers who buy up all the inventory. Thinkpads are typically only $600-700 for a new one when you encounter one of Lenovo's usual promotion - it'll probably be in the lower end of the performance spectrum but certainly enough to fulfill your tasks.

You certainly can get away with something for under $500 but I believe in trying to minimize e-waste by not buying electronics meant to be replaced yearly.

[Guest PrincessBoa]

^ Heat issues can be resolved with integrated graphics. From the Amazon page, the ASUS has both integrated and dedicated so try switching to integrated and see if it makes a difference in temperature. If not, it could be faulty hardware or poor drivers written for the hardware or even inept thermal design.

Virus infections are not really the fault of the computer but blue screens typically foreshadow future problems. If you're not satisfied, return it now when the time slot is still open.

Hey! Thanks for responding I've gotten multiple blue screens already..>< I think it might have been the poor drivers because my brother helped me download a new one which has helped my laptop a bit. I wish I could return it..but I bought it from a store which apparently doesn't accept returns --.. I was just going to use the money to buy a Lenovo.

-PrincessBoa

[orangeman]

Did you pay by credit card? If it's really problematic, call the credit card company and they can usually make something happen for your benefit if the store doesn't budge.

[Guest PrincessBoa]

No I didn't pay by credit card- I paid in cash. x_x.. so I don't think the store is going to budge. Actually I don't think the manager is going to budge.

-PrincessBoa

[iridescent]

Hi, I'm looking for a sturdy, long lasting and dependable laptop at a bargain price and hope someone will have a suggestion for me!

- under $600??

- don't game but often have several programs open at a time, so faster = better

- don't need much space for huge files like movies, my current hard drive? has just 50 GB total and it's been okay

- lighter weight would be a plus

- so maybe a smaller screen is better. i'm more concerned about color quality/image clarity than a huge screen to look at

- a pretty, sleek/simple look, or one with color customization available would be nice. i don't like laptops with a lot of "metal"(?) surfaces. they look bulky/masculine/robotic?

- my hands get sweaty sometimes so i would prefer a sleek surface without many cracks/lines for it to get into--maybe no buttons for the mouse, for example

- a built-in webcam would be nice but i don't think i can hope for one with my budget

- long battery life would be great but not a must --i'm used to not being able to run my laptop without having it plugged in anyway.

I wanted a Macbook for a while but paying so much for just the aesthetics --my primary reason for wanting one-- seemed foolish. Thank you!

[orangeman]

Macbook Airs (newest 11.6 model) and the white Macbooks are only $850 (plus tax) in the Apple Refurbished section. Consider spending a little more to get what you want and not deal with buyer's remorse later on.

If you don't want that, hmm, there are a few light Windows machines from Dell, Acer, ASUS, etc.

[iridescent]

Unfortunately I'm not really a wealthy person so in the end a Macbook is just a pipe dream to me and probably will continue to be until I'm out of school. And the thing is, I've liked my current laptop just fine (a Dell Inspiron E1505, for three years it has given me no unfixable problems but now I've spilled water on the keyboard), so I guess the Macbook seems like a waste of money only because it would take a lot less to make me happy. I was just wondering if there were any fairly nice-looking budget laptops that were especially good (I've done some initial research but I think a lot of people here really know their stuff just as well as any tech sites).

I didn't know Apple had a refurbished section though, so thank you! If I really can't find something smaller worth investing in, I'll definitely give it some thought.