Help purchase a laptop for wife

[robbcorp26]

1. What is your budget?

$600

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

Probably upwards of 17inch display if possible.

3. What screen resolution do you want?

~1440x900 but I can go higher or lower

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

Yes

5. How much battery life do you need?

several hours, maybe 3. More is better of course.

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.)

Some photo editing but mostly Word/Excel, internet, email and some video playback

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

200 gigs.

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

No

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

3 years minimum

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

DVD RW

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.

Open to any brand

13. What country do you live in?

USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

Basically, my wife's dell is finally dying after 5 years. Need a replacement that won't break the bank. $600 is a high estimate, i'd like to go lower if possible. Her current laptop has a 17 inch display and full keyboard so probably maintaining that would be nice. But i'm very open to suggestions if the price is right and laptop is reliable.

Thanks!

 

[Jim_L9]

Keep an eye on the daily deals on this site and you should be able to find a decent laptop at a decent price. Your requirements are reasonable. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-android-honeycomb-tablet-sale,13268.html

 

[AntiZig]

Hi, here's a few options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214406

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246130

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120

 

[jadedmonkey]

Hi, here's a few options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214406

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246130

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215120

Either of the 2nd or 3rd one listed there would be my choice for that budget of $600. Since they are both considerably less than that, I would consider taking the difference and putting it into either a RAM upgrade or a budget SSD or both. ( both of those upgrades can be done anytime as well, the longer you wait to change out HDD for SSD, im sure the faster/larger/cheaper the SSD will be )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

 

[kendelux]

Here's my favorite website for current deals:
http://dealnews.com/c49/Computers/Laptops/


You may want to re-think about the optical drive requirements.

If you want to keep the laptop for a "minimum" of 3 years, I would recommend looking for a laptop that comes with a Blu-ray drive.

Future software may be shipped on Blu-ray discs.
Also, you could even use the laptop as a portable movie player if you wanted to.

Then again, you also have the option of purchasing an external Blu-ray drive in the future if you don't need it right now.

 

[HeadScratcher7]

Depending on your level of computer expertise you might want to try searching NewEgg with 'ASUS laptop refurbished'
I did, and last week I bought a ~$600+ laptop (ASUS U52, i3-380 2.5 Ghz, 4 Gb mem, 640 Gb HDD, 15.6" LCD, DVD-RW) for $389. With shipping it came to $398. Since it only has Intel HD Graphics it won't be much good for games, but I needed a light business laptop. The U52 model comes in around 5.3 lbs. (Beware the K52 is 5.7 lbs)

Personally, I'd skip the Blu-ray unless you plan to watch movies on the laptop. My guess is most software will move to digital distribution and not Blu-ray.

If you're wife needs this for travel or business then you might want to consider something smaller and lighter. Women in general don't have the upper body strength of men and I've found they place much greater value on mobility. Get her into a store and let her physically handle various laptops, then really listen to her feedback or you may buy her a laptop she hates - and it will be your fault. (It's always the guy's fault. LOL.)

 

[jadedmonkey]

Get her into a store and let her physically handle various laptops, then really listen to her feedback or you may buy her a laptop she hates - and it will be your fault. (It's always the guy's fault. LOL.)

LOL. This is true. I have had people decide after ordering laptops that they didnt like them because of all sorts of things you'd never think of when browsing for laptops online, such as, glossy finish = fingerprint magnet, how the touchpad responds, the brightness of the screen, how smashy the keys are, etc. And when its for your wife, you don't want to be paying for these mistakes throughout the life of the laptop, cuz YOU'LL be the one to end up using it, and buying her another one. haha.

 

[HeadScratcher7]

The biggy for me is a standard keyboard layout. If the laptop maker starts doing funky things with the keys to try and make things 'fit' - that is generally a deal-breaker for me.

You may also want to note where the exhaust port is - left, back, or right it may blow on your mouse hand if you add a mouse, or some direction you don't want. Most women I know always have cold hands so that could work to your benefit if you plan it right - unless you live in a desert!

 

[WR2]

HP Pavilion g7 17.3-inch Core i3 Laptop $520
Core i3 370 2.53GHz CPU, 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD, DVD Burner, 17.3" 1600x900 LCD w/ Intel HD Graphics

 

[WR2]

If you want to consider 15.6" 1366x768 LCD notebooks: HP Pavilion g6 15.6-inch Laptop $399