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mandarinez

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May 14, 2011
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18,510
1. What is your budget?
Up to 700, but I would prefer to stay under 600

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
13 to 14 inches

3. What screen resolution do you want?
resolution isn't too important to me

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
I was hoping to get around 5 hours

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)?
No

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
watch videos? streams? web chat?

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
300 GB+

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

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
at least 3 years? is this too optimistic?

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

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.
N/A

13. What country do you live in?
USA (CA to be specific)

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
This laptop is going to be for college. I'll likely be bringing a desktop as well (more difficult to steal), so this laptop just needs to be portable, last through a day of classes or a night of marathon studying, and not be so noticeably slower while browsing the internet. I'm not so sure how fast a computer needs to be to perform every day functions quickly like booting up, web browsing, watching videos/movies, and word processing, so the price range is just kind of a ballpark. I'd just like the minimum for those purposes.

Thanks in advance everyone!
 
Hello mandarinez;


Since your desktop will handle the power hungry tasks like heavy multi-tasking, video editing, gaming, etc., you really have some nice options for your portable notebook.

11.6" sub-notebook models:
HP Pavilion dm1 under ~$4 when configured with 320GB 7200rpm HDD
E-350 1.6GHz Dual-core AMD Fusion Laptop, 3GB RAM,320GB HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ HD 6310 graphics.
92% full sized keyboard, Wireless-N, Webcam, card reader, 3 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, 6+ hours battery life.
HP Pavilion dm1z Review

Lenovo IdeaPad S205 $400
E-350 1.6GHz Dual-core AMD Fusion Laptop, 4GB RAM,500GB HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ HD 6310 graphics.
 
Portable 13" and 14" options:
Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 13.3-inch "Sandy Bridge" Laptop Core i3 $539 or Core i5 $566
Core i3-2310M or Core i5-2410M CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 5400rpm HDD, 13.3" 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD 3000 graphics.
4.4lbs, WiFi/Bluetooth, DVD burner, 6hr battery in note-taking mode, 3+hrs in WiFi surfing.
Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 review

HP Pavilion dm4 14-inch "Sandy Bridge" Laptop i3 $569 i5 $624
i3-2310M / i5-2410M CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 5400rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/
HP Pavilion dm4x Review
4.3lbs, WiFi/Bluetooth, DVD burner, 6hr battery in note-taking mode, 5+hrs in WiFi surfing.

Lenovo Edge 14" notebook $550 check your local Office Depot store to see if you can look one over
Core i5 2410M, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD 3000 graphics.
4.6lbs, WiFi/Bluetooth, DVD burner, 5hr battery in note-taking mode, 4+hrs in WiFi surfing.
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 Review


 
With a reasonable amount of caution handling the notebook reaching that goal is achievable.
The odds are in your favor.

Also check out student insurance coverage (for your desktop, laptop, MP3 player, phone, etc):
Accidental Damage, Theft, Fire, Flood, Natural Disasters, Vandalism and Lightning Strikes (and clutzy dorm mates).
http://www.nssi.com/nssi/coverage
 
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