Looking for non-gaming laptop under $1000

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flymat

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Nov 27, 2012
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I'm looking for a laptop for under $1000. Ideally under $850 but if its worth it I will go up to a thousand. I'll be using it for schoolwork (alot of coding) and watching Netflix/movies. I have a desktop so it won't be used for gaming at all. I like the idea of a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet like the Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 2 Pro ($950 right now thru best buy) but just started really researching into it. Moderate to Long battery life and SSD would be a plus. If you guys could point me in the direction of some fast and reliable laptops that will be relevant for quite awhile and not used for gaming that'd be awesome.
 
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I have the Lenovo U530 Touch (higher end model with the dedicated graphics card) which I swapped the 1TB 5400rpm HDD for my old recycled 120gb SSD..
I absolutely love it. It's thin, feels luxurious and amazing (similar to a macbook pro), 1080p display, pretty long battery life, backlit keyboard, touch screen, etc...

For some background info: I'm a college student who does a bunch of photoshop/lightroom, some coding, tons of netflix, a bunch of homework, and some light steam gaming. Recently sold my gaming desktop to downgrade to a portable semi-gaming ultrabook.

I got mine for $949 (with the $50 intel i7 student discount) at bestbuy; but if you're not doing any gaming you could get the lower end models with the intel HD 4400.

After...
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I have the Lenovo U530 Touch (higher end model with the dedicated graphics card) which I swapped the 1TB 5400rpm HDD for my old recycled 120gb SSD..
I absolutely love it. It's thin, feels luxurious and amazing (similar to a macbook pro), 1080p display, pretty long battery life, backlit keyboard, touch screen, etc...

For some background info: I'm a college student who does a bunch of photoshop/lightroom, some coding, tons of netflix, a bunch of homework, and some light steam gaming. Recently sold my gaming desktop to downgrade to a portable semi-gaming ultrabook.

I got mine for $949 (with the $50 intel i7 student discount) at bestbuy; but if you're not doing any gaming you could get the lower end models with the intel HD 4400.

After literally 3 hours each night for a whole week of researching (maybe even longer) I opted to get this laptop and I don't regret it AT ALL. I'm the type to do as much research as I can and purchase a laptop I know I will keep. (I hate dealing with returns etc). Apart from the pretty weak 2 core processor (then again its a i7) and the wifi problems (did a bunch of tweaking but now I have no problems with it), it met all of my requirements and handles everything I do just fine.

If you're doing netflix I highly suggest a 1080p display. I can't AT ALL do 720p on a laptop.
Also if you get a lower end model you could purchase a SSD yourself and add it in. It's really simple.

MAKE SURE YOU DO A CLEAN INSTALL OF WINDOWS 8.1 ON IT ALSO! The preinstalled bloatware is awful; it lagged the hell out of the computer on the first boot!

Right now it's 29% off on the official Lenovo site.
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/u-series/u530-touch/
 
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themaskofwraith

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Apr 19, 2011
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Ur link to the asus model points to same processor i7-4500U as in Armadillo model. Its max freq is 3Ghz that is also in turbo boost.

And asus model has GT 720M card, it is no better than Hd 4400 processor graphics. So instead of powering up an extra(not useful) hardware, you can save battery by using processor graphics itself.

The display is asus model is 1366X768, while the Armadillo has FHD display.

And upgrades are easy in Armadillo ,like you can have msata ssd for OS and normal harddrive for storage too.
 

flymat

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Nov 27, 2012
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10,510


Nice I just picked one of these up. The $850 one with 1080p is perfect. Should I reinstall Windows to remove the bloatware?
 
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Yes definitely. You can find the 8.1 iso online by simply googling it.
When I did it I didn't have to write down the key because when it was setting up via usb, it automatically detected the key in the bios so I didn't have to type that in. I deleted all partitions and started a new one if that helps (make a backup just in case if you'd like to, I honestly 'YOLO'd it and it went fine). I only used the 1TB hdd for a few days before I swapped it out with a SSD because the speed was horrid.
If you put in a new ssd/hdd into the laptop though, you need to follow up the same process with the iso etc. (obviously).

Don't forget to update ALL your drivers via driver manager/lenovo site prior to installing windows updates.
If your wifi starts disconnecting randomly let me know, because I've heard many many people had issues with that specific wifi card. There's a quick work around though until Intel officially releases a patch for it to fix it.

Hope you enjoy your new laptop!
 
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