Yeah...another college laptop question

snowyday

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Aug 10, 2011
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18,510
Alright I am going into my last year of college and my Macbook died. :-( She is out of warranty and the repairs just aren't worth it right now. So I am switching to a PC.

1. What is your budget? $600 or less

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? less than 17 but more than 13

3. What screen resolution do you want? Anything, not a gamer so it doesn't matter.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Portable, lighter the better.

5. How much battery life do you need? 3-5 hours is fine

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? Nothing more than tetris or scrabble (so no)

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? ArcGIS and microsoft office stuff

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 300gb at least, 250 would work.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Student-Home-Office-Laptop-Bundle-with-Case-4GB-USB-Flash-Drive-and-HP-Multi-Function-Printer/10966053#ProductDetail I can afford this deal (including the added on money for the better comps) so if you could help me decide on a computer form this PERFECT!

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

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? dvd/cd 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. Value and reliability is all I need. Reliability is key and I will pay more for it.

13. What country do you live in? United States

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed. I would prefer an i3 but i5 would work. I need it to be light and portable and RELIABLE! I loved my macs reliability and before now (it is 6 years old) I have had no problems at all but the logic board died and a bunch of other problems just happened and I don't want to replace it right now.
 

snowyday

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Aug 10, 2011
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18,510
Ok let's take hte walmart bundle out. Let's try best buy. How about options then? I like the dell but some people I talk to say they aren't very good. ugh wish I could have a cheap mac.
 
When you get right down to it any laptop in the same price range is going to have about the same over all quality.
What people 'know' about Dell is from previous years. They're really no worse or no better than a lot of other brands. They're just soooo many of them the typical, usual problems that all laptops can have make it seem they are more trouble prone.

Here is an interesting option in 13"
Toshiba Matrix Graphite 13.3" Satellite L735-S3210
Pentium B940 2.0Ghz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD
 

snowyday

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Aug 10, 2011
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18,510
A printer and case aren't really an issue I would rather spend more money on a good laptop and just use the school printers or whoever I can get my hands on. Flashdrives I can buy sometime, I have an external harddrive so I can last for a while with that. I just thought the bundle was a cool idea, luckily my computer broke when everyone is having their back to school sales.
 

snowyday

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Aug 10, 2011
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18,510
I really like the Toshiba, but I am no expert on computers which is why I came on here. That Toshiba has everything I want. I am going to run by BestBuy today with some ideas and try them out first hand to see what ones I like best so thank you all for your help and if you think of any more suggestions before the end of the day (or even after) feel free to let me know. I won't be buying until this weekend.
 

snowyday

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Aug 10, 2011
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18,510
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i3+Processor+/+15.6%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+640GB+Hard+Drive+-+Brown+Suit/2712297.p?id=1218346632191&skuId=2712297

This was the computer I ended up getting. I tried the HP and the touch pad was weird, I thought the Toshiba was just bulky. This computer was light, thin, didn't have a weird touch pad and was all around my favorite. I wanted to buy it Friday but it was on clearance and they weren't getting a shipment in for a while so I just flat out bought it. I have been told good things about ASUS. The speakers are a little low but I have external ones for when I watch movies or listen to music. Now if only I could get my external to load all my old documents. Thanks for all your help.