Help selecting a laptop for a friend

[torque79]

Good morning.

A friend of mine asked if I could help her find a laptop. I asked her for a wish list, and frankly I think the combination she provided is impossible but I thought I would consult with you guys here to see your thoughts.

1. What is your budget? - not given, may be flexible depending on how close we can come to requirements

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? less than 10", lightweight

3. What screen resolution do you want? 1920x1080 or higher

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

5. How much battery life do you need? - she requested 8hrs+ is that even possible?

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 games

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Research online in multiple browser tabs/windows
Extensive use of MS Excel with constant data refreshing/calculations
Watch (8hrs+) streamed online video
Edit picture/video files (possibly HD or 3D format)


8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? - 500gb+

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
http://www.directcanada.com/
http://www.canadacomputers.com/
http://www.newegg.ca/
http://www.ncix.com/
open to other options...

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

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

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. - person requesting prefers Intel, does not know about AMD Fusion

13. What country do you live in? - Canada

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

processor: Intel i3 (preferred) 2.8ghz+
memory: 4gb+
video: 2gb+, appropriate for some video/picture editing
bluetooth
usb3
HDMI, svideo (if available)
speakers: on the side, not underneath
mic, headset, webcam

Thanks very much for any help!

 

[kenrivers]

I would think that such a small size would only be found in a netbook which would make meeting the specs impossible. I'm not sure she could get 1980x1020 on such a small screen. Is there any way to convince to go with something larger since she plans to edit video and pictures? If she plans to edit HD video or anything 3D I would recommend more than 4GB of RAM.

 

[torque79]

Yeah I figured the size was not realistic. Let's assume a larger laptop is ok, but still looking for something reasonably lightweight.

 

[kenrivers]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230403 8.2 lbs.
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP9150 6.83 lbs.
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP2240 4.85 lbs.
You could consider an Ultrabook but you would need an external CD/DVD drive.
http://zenbook.asus.com/zenbook/?c=prime

 

[torque79]

Best answer selected by torque79.