Laptop for under $1000

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fang273

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1_What is your budget?
Preferably 700-800, but willing to spend some more if the quality jump warrants it.

2_What is the size of the notebook
that you are considering?

Doesn't much matter, would prefer something that isn't huge.

3_What screen resolution
do you want?

Once again, not important.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Still going to have an old desktop, this is just for staying at another house and for when my desktop eventually explodes.

5_How much battery life do you need?
Probably going to be plugged in constantly, so doesn't much matter.

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Would be nice if it played similar games to my desktop. TF2, Dragon Age, and Fallout 3 at low settings are the most tasking I can think of. Anything beyond that is definitely a plus.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Maybe the odd dvd here and there, not much though.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Would probably drag along my external harddrive, so doesn't much matter. A large drive would probably be wasted.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2-3 years of solid running before it hits the dreaded "Crappy slow laptop" mark would be nice.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
No interest past DVD.

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
This forum is pickier than I am, so I'll leave this to you. I have had a couple e-machines light on fire, though.

13_What country do you live in?
U.S.

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Modest expectations, so a similar price point would be nice. A bit of future-proofing never hurts, though.
 

ibnsina

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ASUS K61IC-X1
Intel Core 2 Duo T6600
16" Screen
4GB DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 220M 1GB
320GB HD 7200rpm
2 years Warranty (1 year ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty)
Windows 7 Home Premium
$799.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220637

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ASUS K40IN-C2 As above but weaker GPU, Smaller display, but bigger and slower Hard drive. 30-Days Zero Bright Dot. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220600

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As ASUS K61IC-X1, 17 “ display, but slower HD. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220641



 
the ASUS UL80Vt. It improves upon the competition in a number of ways. First, ASUS allows CPU overclocking, taking the SU7300 from 1.30GHz up to 1.73GHz - a 33% overclock. This will reduce battery life by about 10% at most; it's 5% or less in more demanding tests, which is a fair trade.

The second big feature is that ASUS includes integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics as well as GeForce G210M discrete graphics, with the ability to switch between the two options on the fly (it takes about three seconds to turn off the discrete GPU and 15 seconds to turn it back on). The G210M isn't a high-performance gaming solution, but when combined with the overclocked SU7300 it will handle nearly any current title, albeit at lower detail settings.

Perhaps the biggest selling point of the UL80Vt is its stellar battery life, helped by an 83Wh battery. Running at stock CPU speed and using the integrated graphics, we have achieved idle battery life of up to 14 hours and Internet battery life of around 8.5 hours. Nothing else we've seen can come close to the flexibility and battery life.

The UL80Vt cost is quite a bit higher than competing solutions, and the laptop isn't "perfect". At just over $800, we feel that the poor contrast ratio (like most other laptops) could have easily been improved. The chassis build quality is also somewhat questionable, showing more flex and torque than we'd like, but it's not bad by any means. All of the other features make the UL80Vt a great laptop. Our full review is still in the works, but the UL80Vt has earned an Editors' Choice award and is currently our favorite laptop in the ~$800 price range (Anandtech.com).

 

fang273

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Thanks for the replies. I haven't done CPU or GPU research in forever, so how does the T6600(2.20GHz) stack up vs the SU7300(1.30GHz), and the GT 220M vs G210M + Intel GMA 4500MHD (Switchable VGA)?
 

fang273

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Thanks a bunch for the help so far. Last question, any idea why the latest reviewer for this one had problems with HL2?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220637

I understand that for $800 I'm not going to get a real gaming laptop, but I play TF2 on lowest settings with a bit over 1 gig of ram, a 2600xt, and an Athlon 4000+, will this laptop play at least as well as that? I would assume so since the processor and RAM is such an upgrade, but would the video card be a big issue?
 

fang273

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For TF2 I know it won't be extremely smooth, but would I really need something more than that laptop I linked for HL2 type games? If so, what part of the laptop is limiting it so badly?
 

fang273

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Thanks, that seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. The only thing I'm worrying about is how some people seem to get ones that are warped, or that have broken network cards. Is Toshiba good about getting those replaced?
 

Pro Llama

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I had a Toshiba that the whole line had an issue with its motherboards. I sent it in and they would replace the board, but after a while the board would break again. So they will fix it, but I think it took 2 weeks to a month to get back. If you get it from newegg.com or a store near you it may be easier to return it to them.It sounds like those issues are not from use, so you should be fine if you get a good one.

The motherboard issue is the reason I stopped buying Toshiba, but every company comes out with a bad line every once in a while; it’s all about how the company handles it. I believe I sent it back 3 times, each time they would put a new board in it, but the board would break after some time and after about 2 or 3 years of playing with it I just got a new laptop.
 
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