Need college laptop around $1000 give or take a few hundred

bdf92

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1_What is your budget?
800-1200ish

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
I'd like something around 17" nothing too specific

3_What screen resolution do you want?
I'd like a really high res, glossy screen maybe? glossy screens look pretty cool

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable, yet it is all ill have in college. but yeah, portable
5_How much battery life do you need?
i'd like a long battery life which shouldn't be too hard because I'm not going for a powerful gaming laptop,

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)?
I'm not going to be playing too many games, but I will play them with friends every so often, so maybe tf2 on medium-high sc2 on medium if thats possible.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
just basic college stuff, im sure it will be able to handle open office

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
id like a big hard drive. im not too experienced with laptop hard drives but id like something thats 300 gigs or more

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?
Probably the 4 years im in college
11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
id like a dvd burner, bluray not necessary

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.
I like ASUS a lot, but ill take anything really

13_What country do you live in?
U.S.

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Like I said, im going off to college, can spend around $1000, and would like a laptop not specifically for gaming, but wouldnt have a problem running games like SC2 or TF2



Thank you so much!
 
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IsabellaWinTeam

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Apr 27, 2010
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Hi there,

You should check out the Sony Vaio EB. It has a 2.13 GHz Intel Core i3-330M processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 500 GB of hard drive space. If you want, you can upgrade to a dedicated graphics card which may suit your gaming needs better. This laptop is a little smaller than you requested (15.5") but it will be more portable for school.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 

bdf92

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That laptop looks nice, but I was wondering if upgrading to a dedicated graphics card would hurt the battery life? 3.5 max on conservative mode is a bit short for my liking. Also, I would like to change my original specifications. 17" is way too big for the portable laptop im looking for, 15.5" is much more reasonable, and even smaller than that is great. I've heard Sony tech support is bad, so im not too sure about Sony, but if it's the best i can get for this price than ill take it. Thanks again for the help :)
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi there,

Most gaming laptops are not going to have very much battery life. However, if gaming is not that important to you I think you will like the Toshiba Satellite U500-ST5307. It has long battery life, an 2.13 GHz Intel Core i3-330M processor, and 4 GB of RAM. It is also very portable (weighing only 4.7 lbs).

What do you think?

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 

bdf92

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Ok well, I've been comparing the two of those laptops intensely and I think I'm going to go with the Sony Vaio. I'm wondering though, if adding a dedicated graphics card to replace the media accelerator(integrated im guessing?) will severely affect the battery life. If it wont, that extra $50 would mean that the laptop could probably play a lot of my games decently. Also keyboard skins are currently free, are they permanently attached to the laptop? Or are they removable? Thanks :)
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi there,

The gaming will probably have an impact on the battery life. The best way to get a good read on how long the battery lasts with actual use is to read user reviews who have the dedicated graphics card on their Sony Vaio. It appears that the keyboard skins are removable but you may want to double check with Sony on that.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 

bdf92

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Sep 20, 2008
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Hey, so I have been doing some research and I found this http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1656id1-built-msi1656id1-p-2661.html?wconfigure=yes

I made it 4 gigs ram 500 gig 7200 rpm intel ultimate n6300 network card and a 9 cell battery with windows 7 64 bit for $1350 which is a bit over my budget but I think i can squeeze that by. Im pretty sure the intel network card is what gets me wireless internet? I was a bit confused because I thought by default all laptops are made iwth network cards nowadays, so if this is something else I would like to know.

Also, with a 9cell li-on battery, do you know what amount of battery life this would get? It says 2-3 hours with the 6 cell, so im guessing something around 3-4 with the 9cell? Thanks :)
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi,

The battery life with a 6 cell vs. a 9 cell will differ depending on the model of the laptop. Your best bet is still to check out the user reviews and see what kind of difference upgrading the battery made for other users.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 
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