Laptop for College

[hiuey]

1. What is your budget?
<$750

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
14"-15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
any

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
preferably <5lb

5. How much battery life do you need?
as long as possible, 6hrs+ would be great

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)?
yeah, like Sims or something; low-medium is good enough

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
web browsing, watching videos, skype

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
not too much needed, 300gb is already good enough

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4+ years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

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.

13. What country do you live in?
US

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'd prefer i5 processor, and I would be transporting this laptop around school. I really want this laptop to last at least thru college. I've been looking at the Sony VAIO E series but I'm unsure if I'm getting my money's worth. Also, a nice webcam would be a plus =)

Thank for your input!

 

[Maziar]

You won't find a gaming laptop with 6hrs of battery life.Gaming and battery life don't play nice with each other
Lenovo Z570 is a good choice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246156
It's got 520M which can handle those games fine on low/medium settings and according to the specs,it should give you around 4-5hrs of battery life

 

[hiuey]

thanks for your reply! I got around to looking at lenovo from your post, and now I need help with comparison. which do you think is better?
(both customized)

sony vaio: VPCEG190X $617
- Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor (2.30GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.90GHz
- 14" w/ backlight display
- Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD with Intel® Wireless Display technology
- 320GB (5400rpm) hard drive
- Standard lithium-ion battery (5300mAh)

lenovo: ThinkPad Edge E420 $579 (sale ends today!)
- Intel Core i5-2410M Processor (2.30GHz, 3MB L3)
- 14.0" W HD (1366x768)
- Intel HD Graphics 3000
- 750 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm (I know this is a lot more than the vaio, but I don't need this much GB, either is good enough)
- 6 cell 2.2Ah Li-Ion Battery
(anti-glare or vibrant view best indoors? -- vibrant view, right?)

the vaio is much more attractive.. but the lenovo seems more sturdy. thanks again!

 

[hiuey]

also, is there a huge difference between i3 and i5? what exactly would I be giving up/adding to my laptop?

 

[hpfreak]

Are you a programmer? If you aren't, a Core i3 and a budget GPU like Maziar suggested is a better deal then an intergrated Intel HD and a Core i5.
Go with the Lenovo Z570 like Maziar suggested...

Don't judge a book by it's cover... Greatest mistake ever made... In human history, and when making descisions like these...

 

[joshyboy82]

How about the HP with the new AMD APU? That meets all of the criteria except the Intel part.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=dv6zqe_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv6zqe_series

 

[hiuey]

hpfreak - you made me reconsider the sony vaio haha, it looks awesome but not really worth its parts when comparing to others
joshyboy82 - that looks pretty nice.. except I really rather have Intel =x
thanks for the replies! I've decided to just wait it out for better deals cause of money issues..

 

[bbgink]

If you are not concern about gaming, sony vaio is a good purchase