Hey all.
I’m a college student in the market for a new notebook sometime in the next 6-10 months or so, and I’m already getting frustrated in my search. I do video editing and subtitling as a hobby, so that’s going to be this computer’s main function outside the classroom. Also, while I’m not a hardcore gamer with a need for a machine that can max out a game’s specs, I do want something that can put in a respectable performance on whatever game I feel like picking up and killing time with. At current I have a three and a half year old Dell Inspiron E1405 that can’t even load Battle for Middle Earth II. (Extremely sad, considering the game isn’t all that much younger than the computer.) I live on the east coast, go to college in Hawaii, and I’ll be attending a study abroad program next year in Japan. Having to do as much traveling as I do I don’t get the luxury of having a powerful desktop at home and then a more portable notebook or netbook for being on the go. This computer is going to be my main (and probably only) machine.
So here’s my “Wish List":
Hard Drive: MINIMUM 1TB split between two 7200RPM HDDs (Trust me, the space is necessary. So is the RPM speed.)
Processor: at least 2GHz, preferred 3.0GHz (preferred i7 processor). I’m not an expert on CPUs so if anyone into video and media editing has any suggestions for which one to get please send them.
Memory: 4GB MIN., 6 or 8GB preferred.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit (or XP Pro) with Windows Small Business/Student edition
Battery: Not looking for a miracle here. I know that for the performance I’m looking for, the amount of time I’ll be spending unplugged isn’t going to be long, but if anyone knows of a computer with something greater than an hour long battery life without me having to shell out $100+ extra for a better battery, I’d be grateful.
Weight: I’ll be lugging this thing around all day to classes, so I’d prefer something under 10lbs.
Upgrade-ability: Absolutely! This computer’s going to be my close companion for at least the next three years, so I need something that can change with the times as much as possible.
Warranty: MUST be global. I need one that’s fully covered for parts and labor (shipping’s lovely too!) and I need it to last at least three years and not give me a hassle about being outside of mainland US. Something extendable would be nice as well.
These don’t have to be the basic features. Being able to customize the specs before purchasing the machine is fine. I would like to see a price of less than $3500 though. (I priced one machine at $3200-ish, but cheaper would be very welcome.)
The following is not intended to sound like I’m yelling. Quite the opposite, actually. Still, large print gets people’s attention, and I really don’t want people to waste their time typing out a response only to tell them that their recommendation is worthless to me. So here it goes:
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL I CONSIDER A DELL COMPUTER OR ANY COMPUTER MADE BY A COMPANY OWNED BY DELL, INCLUDING ALIENWARE.
I won’t go into the whole sob story, but the bare bones of it is that I have spent the entirety of the three years I’ve owned a Dell wishing I had the finances to get a different machine. One that isn’t determined to make me replace every piece of hardware on it a minimum of three or more times (The only parts on this thing that haven’t been replaced are the battery, which is almost dead anyway, and the DVD drive). The warranty is the only reason I still have a working computer at all. My Dell is the reason I wish there were lemon laws on computers, so I don't want another one.
So far my search has lead me to the ASUS G51J-A1, but I haven’t fallen in love with it so please let me know if you have a better suggestion, even if it's an upcoming model.
Thanks a lot!
I’m a college student in the market for a new notebook sometime in the next 6-10 months or so, and I’m already getting frustrated in my search. I do video editing and subtitling as a hobby, so that’s going to be this computer’s main function outside the classroom. Also, while I’m not a hardcore gamer with a need for a machine that can max out a game’s specs, I do want something that can put in a respectable performance on whatever game I feel like picking up and killing time with. At current I have a three and a half year old Dell Inspiron E1405 that can’t even load Battle for Middle Earth II. (Extremely sad, considering the game isn’t all that much younger than the computer.) I live on the east coast, go to college in Hawaii, and I’ll be attending a study abroad program next year in Japan. Having to do as much traveling as I do I don’t get the luxury of having a powerful desktop at home and then a more portable notebook or netbook for being on the go. This computer is going to be my main (and probably only) machine.
So here’s my “Wish List":
Hard Drive: MINIMUM 1TB split between two 7200RPM HDDs (Trust me, the space is necessary. So is the RPM speed.)
Processor: at least 2GHz, preferred 3.0GHz (preferred i7 processor). I’m not an expert on CPUs so if anyone into video and media editing has any suggestions for which one to get please send them.
Memory: 4GB MIN., 6 or 8GB preferred.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit (or XP Pro) with Windows Small Business/Student edition
Battery: Not looking for a miracle here. I know that for the performance I’m looking for, the amount of time I’ll be spending unplugged isn’t going to be long, but if anyone knows of a computer with something greater than an hour long battery life without me having to shell out $100+ extra for a better battery, I’d be grateful.
Weight: I’ll be lugging this thing around all day to classes, so I’d prefer something under 10lbs.
Upgrade-ability: Absolutely! This computer’s going to be my close companion for at least the next three years, so I need something that can change with the times as much as possible.
Warranty: MUST be global. I need one that’s fully covered for parts and labor (shipping’s lovely too!) and I need it to last at least three years and not give me a hassle about being outside of mainland US. Something extendable would be nice as well.
These don’t have to be the basic features. Being able to customize the specs before purchasing the machine is fine. I would like to see a price of less than $3500 though. (I priced one machine at $3200-ish, but cheaper would be very welcome.)
The following is not intended to sound like I’m yelling. Quite the opposite, actually. Still, large print gets people’s attention, and I really don’t want people to waste their time typing out a response only to tell them that their recommendation is worthless to me. So here it goes:
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL I CONSIDER A DELL COMPUTER OR ANY COMPUTER MADE BY A COMPANY OWNED BY DELL, INCLUDING ALIENWARE.
I won’t go into the whole sob story, but the bare bones of it is that I have spent the entirety of the three years I’ve owned a Dell wishing I had the finances to get a different machine. One that isn’t determined to make me replace every piece of hardware on it a minimum of three or more times (The only parts on this thing that haven’t been replaced are the battery, which is almost dead anyway, and the DVD drive). The warranty is the only reason I still have a working computer at all. My Dell is the reason I wish there were lemon laws on computers, so I don't want another one.
So far my search has lead me to the ASUS G51J-A1, but I haven’t fallen in love with it so please let me know if you have a better suggestion, even if it's an upcoming model.
Thanks a lot!