Looking to purchase a laptop and totally lost

[Forrestfire]

Hello... I need a new laptop for college (my old one died) and, as the title says, I'm totally lost as to where to look and/or what to buy. The last one I got was bought because it was cheap, but this time I'm looking for something with a little more quality to it.

The main things I'd be using it for are mostly just browsing, videos, and college stuff. There's not going to be any gaming done on it, since I have a desktop for that, so processing power is probably a smaller concern compared to battery life and general usefulness.

I'm looking for something in the $600-700 range, preferably a netbook or notebook computer.

Anyone willing to help out?

[Razanir]

Lucky for you, I'm also in the market for a new laptop, so I know my way around those sites fairly well. First, though, I'll have to ask you to answer a few questions:

1) Mac OS or Windows?
1b) If Windows, do you care if it's Windows 7 or 8?
2) Any preference on company?
3) Will you want a numpad?
4) A DVD drive?
5) Bluray?
6) Bluetooth?
7) Touchscreen?
8) Fingerprint scanner?
9) Do you care at all about color?
10) Do you care about AMD v Intel?
11) How much memory do you think you want?

[Forrestfire]

Lucky for you, I'm also in the market for a new laptop, so I know my way around those sites fairly well. First, though, I'll have to ask you to answer a few questions:

1) Mac OS or Windows?
1b) If Windows, do you care if it's Windows 7 or 8?
2) Any preference on company?
3) Will you want a numpad?
4) A DVD drive?
5) Bluray?
6) Bluetooth?
7) Touchscreen?
8) Fingerprint scanner?
9) Do you care at all about color?
10) Do you care about AMD v Intel?
11) How much memory do you think you want?

1) Windows (or linux, depending on what I end up doing)
1b) ohgodno. Windows 7 all the way.
2) Quality is more important than company
3) I rarely use it on my desktop, so no
4) I have a usb one, so no.
5) No need
6) Bluetooth would be nice, but not necessary
7) No need, but could be neat
8) If it affects the price, then no. It'd be neat to have
9) If necessary, I can make or buy a cover for the computer anyway.
10) As long as it works, it doesn't really matter
11) I'm not entirely sure what numbers I'd want, but a good amount of memory is preferred. Although I'm not entirely sure what "a good amount" entails...


Thanks in advance for the help :smallsmile:

[Razanir]

1) Windows (or linux, depending on what I end up doing)
1b) ohgodno. Windows 7 all the way.
2) Quality is more important than company
3) I rarely use it on my desktop, so no
4) I have a usb one, so no.
5) No need
6) Bluetooth would be nice, but not necessary
7) No need, but could be neat
8) If it affects the price, then no. It'd be neat to have
9) If necessary, I can make or buy a cover for the computer anyway.
10) As long as it works, it doesn't really matter
11) I'm not entirely sure what numbers I'd want, but a good amount of memory is preferred. Although I'm not entirely sure what "a good amount" entails...

Okay. I'll get back to you. I do hate to break it to you, though, that I think you can only find touchscreen laptops for Windows 8

[Forrestfire]

Then there's no real desire for it. I have a graphics tablet anyway.

[PallElendro]

Buy a Pavilion dv7, based on the parameters you've given. Has a finger scanner without heightening the price. Mine runs Windows 7. It has four processing cores, which are Intel i7. A whopping eight gigabytes of memory; very good! Don't expect to be able to play games very well, it has the Intel HD Graphics. But it's plenty good for running Microsoft products. Bluetooth included.

Off-topic for a bit, are you on YouTube posting Lego videos?

[Forrestfire]

No, I am not. It's a sad case of accidental mistaken identity.

[Erloas]

I think the netbook category basically disappeared with the ultrabook category entering the picture.

About the only real requirement you've listed is decent battery life, everything else is essentially a given. Nothing you've listed puts any real demand on any modern computer.
I would go to Newegg.com and get an idea on what sort of battery life you can find as well as weight and size, as those are the most important things for a laptop that you plan on moving around with and since you aren't going to be playing any games (ignoring browser based games which don't count in terms of requirements).

At this point you're probably also going to have a hard time finding any new computers that aren't running Windows 8.

There isn't going to be a huge difference between most major manufacturers in any given price bracket. A 17" laptop is nicer to work on but generally have low battery life and are a pain to carry around, so I would look for a smaller size if you do plan on taking it with you a lot. And overall I wouldn't worry too much about the specs because you aren't doing anything demanding enough to make much of a difference.

[supermonkeyjoe]

When you say college stuff what does that entail? basic word processing/spreadsheet/presentation kinda stuff? for what you've described any 6-700 dollar laptop should be able to amply handle what you're needing to do.

[Omnipotent_One]

Have you considered a Chromebook? I generally recommend them to people who primarily use a desktop but need something mobile for basic tasks.

[Don Julio Anejo]

I have a Lenovo X230 (http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x230/) just for this purpose. Can't beat ThinkPad keyboards and you get around 8 hours battery life on a 3.2 pound machine. But might be around $100 out of your budget unless you find a coupon for it (i.e. VisaPerks should give you 10-15% off or so if you purchase through the Visa site).

[Forrestfire]

Thanks for all the suggestions. After doing some more research on the stuff you guys told me about, I think I may end up getting a chromebook, since it appears to be the most cost-effective "laptop" for what I want it for (writing and/or researching for college classes and streaming video on a campus with literally no spot missing a wi-fi connection).

I'm looking mainly at this one (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+11.6%26%2334%3B+Chromebook+-+4GB+Memory+-+320GB+Hard+Drive+-+Iron+Gray/8873462.p;jsessionid=B461BAF249E5F143FD763694F5260 5BF.bbolsp-app01-195?id=1218924793555&skuId=8873462#tab=specifications), since the memory and hard drive space are good, and the battery is supposedly long-lasting. Any glaring flaws in the specs that I'm not seeing?

[Don Julio Anejo]

I'm looking mainly at this one (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+11.6%26%2334%3B+Chromebook+-+4GB+Memory+-+320GB+Hard+Drive+-+Iron+Gray/8873462.p;jsessionid=B461BAF249E5F143FD763694F5260 5BF.bbolsp-app01-195?id=1218924793555&skuId=8873462#tab=specifications), since the memory and hard drive space are good, and the battery is supposedly long-lasting. Any glaring flaws in the specs that I'm not seeing?
CPU is extremely slow and might have issues even doing stuff like browsing the web or playing Flash videos. Hard drive is 5400 RPM so it'll be about 30% slower in its responsiveness than a 7200 RPM drive.

Otherwise, it's a decent laptop for the price as long as you're OK not having Windows (and thereby, not being able to use most Windows software).

[Forrestfire]

The windows stuff isn't an issue, I have a desktop I can always remotely use if I need something like that.

The CPU being slow is an issue, though. What would be a benchmark for a good (well, "not-bad") one so I can look to see if there's a chromebook with that sort of specs?

That or I may just end up going back to the initial laptop plan.

[userpay]

Just about every time that I've looked at the HP website for computers I see good deals, to boot if you register for their 'acadamy' thing you'll get a student discount usually on top of whatever sale they are doing.

As an example I personally have a Pavilion dv7 with a graphics card that's two years old now from the HP site and its still doing great and you'd be surprised at what games it can play if you ever do branch into gaming with it. Only problem with this particular model is its a dual graphics thing where its suppose to swap between an onboard chip and the graphics card depending on need and you need special drivers even if you disable the switching which makes getting graphic drivers a bear, just a word of warning.