Need New Laptop

[latkingz781]

I'm a college student getting a new laptop in the $700 price range. I want to get an Intel Core 2 Duo of atleast 2.2 GHz. I would also like anything other than intel graphics, preferably atleast 512MB from ATI or NVIDIA. Any good sales on any sites? I'm going to be using this computer at school and to play videogames on some down time. Anyone have any suggestions? Help please? I'm proably getting it in the next week and a half.

 

[Pancake92]

Dude, I have looked on Newegg.com and they dont have anything with an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.2GHz and NVIDIA or ATI Graphic Cards 512MB for the price range that your shooting for. I would have to suggest to go to Bestbuy. They have this really nice ASUS that I would recommend. Here is the link to it. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...rlot/9556036.p?id=1218124204238&skuId=9556036

Good luck finding one.

Cheers.

 

[latkingz781]

Thanks, but if anyone else could help me with this then that would be awesome!

 

[familyman1]

Here you go- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115675

 

[latkingz781]

That seems like a very good choice. Is Acer a good brand?

 

[dude_56013]

I wouldn't buy an Acer laptop unless someone gave me a million dollars and I couldn't find anything better to use it on than a future paper weight and/or doorstop.

Just my 2 cents, but I've had a few Acers roll through my shop...even though they were only a year or two old, they've had both aesthetic and physical (hardware) problems up the wazoo. I personally would stick with Sony (though, I don't think they offer anything at your price point), HP, or Lenovo. I'm not a Dell fan, but, if worse comes to worse, check them out. I'm surprised J hasn't been around to this one. He's the laptop guy usually. I can dig up a few things tomorrow if no one else has replied.

Also, though you'll pay sales tax at the manufacturers website, I'd much prefer to buy that way than thru NewEgg.

 

[latkingz781]

I look forward to the next couple of posts then!

 

[CBrooks]

Pretty good chart to look at: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/

Knowing what I know I'd still go with the laptop that familyman suggested, those are some great specs at that price. Reviewers are saying that it actually came with a 240m graphics card in it and you won't a computer with that card for under $800. Your only downfall with that computer is that it has a 5400rpm hard drive.

 

[latkingz781]

Pretty good chart to look at: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/

Knowing what I know I'd still go with the laptop that familyman suggested, those are some great specs at that price. Reviewers are saying that it actually came with a 240m graphics card in it and you won't a computer with that card for under $800. Your only downfall with that computer is that it has a 5400rpm hard drive.

Yes, it looks like a really great buy!

 

[dude_56013]

Pretty good chart to look at: http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/

Not being a douche here, but unless you have worked with laptops for sometime, don't count on one little thing like that to choose what kind of laptop you get. They really didn't do much explaining on how the data was gathered and what kind of malfunctions happened. I have a problem with charts like that because you don't know about their data collection methods. HP is one of the leader in laptops, while ASUS goes under the radar often. I wonder if this is why HP (selling "more") has "more" malfunctions while ASUS (selling "less") has the "least" malfunctions. I don't know, but it just makes me wonder.

At any rate, I'm free now, so I'll take a look at some laptops for you in just a bit.

LENOVO IdeaPad Y550 - $739 + tax (shipping free?) Trade off is the 5400RPM drive
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6600 (2.20GHz 800MHz 2MBL2)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
nVidia Geforce G 210M graphic card with 512MB memory
15.6 HD WLED Glossy, 1366*768 with 1.3M integrated Camera
3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz SODIMM Memory (2 Dimms)
250GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
SuperMulti DVD Recordable (Tray type)
Broadcom Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (802.11G)
6 Cell Lithium-Ion 2.6Ah
Grey Keyboard

HP dv6t series - $799 (+ tax; shipping?) Trade off is price
Color Espresso Black
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
ntel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.2GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
FREE Upgrade to 3GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 2GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
FREE Upgrade to 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive from 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
512MB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 4530 Graphics
15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Webcam
Wireless-G Card
HP Color Matching Keyboard
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

HP dv6z series - $705 Trade off is CPU and RAM
Espresso Black
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Turion(TM) II Dual-Core Processor M540 (2.4GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
FREE Upgrade to 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
50% OFF! 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 4530
15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Webcam
Wireless 802.11b/g/n Card
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

There you go. If it was me and I had to stick with that $700 budget, I'd go with the first one. I'd stay away from the last one if you can. I wouldn't get an ACER...personal choice. ASUS isn't too bad.

EDIT: Here's a decent one on the Egg.