Solved! What laptop brands should I look at?

[antone3x7]

1_What is your budget? $500-700

2_What is the size of the notebook
that you are considering? Not too bulky, something portable

3_What screen resolution
do you want? 1600x900 or 1920x1080

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement
laptop? Portably

5_How much battery life do you need? A few 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)? Very low

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.) MS Office, Internet, video playback. I'm a heavy multi-tasker, file transferring + internet + video playback + downloading at the same time

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need? Decent amount, 250GB+

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them. Newegg, manufacturer's site

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop? A few years


11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Basic DVD Rom only, Blu-Ray would be a bonus if it could fit in my budget

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. My friend's Sony Vaio has a circular block for its power supply connector, it broke off pretty easy in the first few months. To me, that shows it was trying to by flashy but cheaply made. It still works but dangles off now. Performance wise, it's solid. Also, my old IBM Thinkpad at work had a battery life of like 45 mins. Those are my only experiences with laptops, and I really don't know much about laptop brands. Acer, to me, has always appeared to be a cheap/generic brand, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

13_What country do you live in? USA


14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Basic specs would be Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB ram, 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution, wifi

Thanks!

 

[ibnsina]

Your budget is low to get a good laptop with 1600 x 900 display. If you increase your budget by $100, then you can go for Sony FW series.Sony is not as bad as you may think.

From my experince Toshiba and Asus are good makes, Fujitsu alright, Acer-Packard bell poor, HP Cheap. Never had Dell, but they get good reviews. Pansonic looks great. Never liked Lenovo, when IBM was in charge, they use to make good laptops, not sure about now.

Browse through the following offers.

Sony VGN-FW448J/B
16.4" widescreen display With XBRITE-ECO technology and 1600 x 900 resolution
Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor T6500
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
320GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm)
Built-in 1.3MP MOTION EYE webcam with microphone
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Multimedia card reader
i.LINK (IEEE 1394) port and 3 USB 2.0 ports
Built-in Intel® WiFi Link 5100AGN wireless LAN
Bluetooth A2DP 2.1
Weighs 6.7 lbs
Windows Vista with Free upgrade to Windows® 7
$799.99

http/www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+VAIO+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B2+Duo+Processor+-+Black/9578824.p?id=1218127626878&skuId=9578824
…………………………………………………………………………

Or configure Sony FW590 CTO .Make sure you choose 4 GB memory. 7200rpm hard drive is another good option to choose. It comes Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 and ATI Radeon HD 4650 as standard. prices start from $809.99 No interest
36months***.

http/www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644570896&parentCategoryId=16154
……………………………………………………………………………
Other option is Asus (with 2 years warranty).
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220641
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220640

 

[antone3x7]

Thank you for the info and suggestions, ibnsina. I'll look into your suggestions and I may consider raising my budget by $100.

 

[antone3x7]

I lowered my resolution to 1366 x 768, since now I realize how expensive it is to go that high. Right now I'm seriously considering the ASUS K50IJ-D2:

Full specs from newegg:
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220606&Tpk=K50IJ-D2

I've heard a lot of people suggesting ASUS and Toshiba's. I think I'm sold on ASUS for laptops. If I'm happy with this one, I may consider getting a high end gaming one from them in the future. Thanks again for the input.

 

[Zinimus Prime]

I'm looking at ASUS's myself and I'm pretty convinced by everyone in forums that they're solid machines.

 

[techshui]

ASUS is getting more recognition recently, even though they've been around for many years, they were under the radar, because they sold wholesale to OEMs, most notably HP/Compaq (I'm not sure that's a good thing?). They continue to deal with HP to this day.

Their retail computers seem to get better reviews, I've never owned a retail ASUS notebook though, so I can't be of more help in that area.

Acer is not as bad as some people judge. I've had Acers and they're the most durable workhorses I think I've ever used. They're also number one in sales in Europe. That's impressive for a young company.

Dell would be my second choice, more because of their customer service, not so much for their durability.

 

[coppertrail]

I've been a Dell person for many years and bought an Asus netbook last spring. I'm down to a couple Asus models for my next notebook.

 

[mbbs20]

Consider this as the best bang for buck

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220636

I ordered mine last night...should be here by tomorrow