Solved! Help me to buy a reliable lightweight, but powerful laptop

redheadmommy

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Oct 30, 2011
2
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18,510
1. What is your budget?
Max $1500 including upgrades like 8 GB memory, but under $1000 would be a bonus

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
not much less then 13" , but no more than 15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Not very big ,maybe 1366x768 or similar

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable, I regularly bike with it, travel on plane, LRT etc

5. How much battery life do you need?
as much as 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)?
Not really. I play time to time with some old games, but I have no time for gaming anymore

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
I am a grad student and run complicated optimization models/ calculation. i want CPu power and memory, the screen is not that relevant

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Doesn't matter. I have an 800GB hard-drive in my current laptop and i am going to keep it.

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?
as long as possible, but at least a good 2 year, 3 would be better.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
None, Don't care

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.
Maybe an ASUS, but no preference, except NO more DELL. My current laptop is a dell vostro 1520, and it is a piece of junk, the motherboard itself needed to be replaced twice in 2 years. No Mac either, i want windows OS

13. What country do you live in?
Canada

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I prefer to have a sturdy reliable laptop that is lightweight, and relatively small. I have a preschooler that often interfere and rough on my electronics. I prefer a matte screen, so I can use it outside, but it is not a must have.
 
Solution
The rugged, reliable and matte anti-glare screen is suggesting a business class laptop.
You'd loose a bit of 'lightness' in return for the rugged & reliable which IMO is a good trade off.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 12.5" ultraportable notebook US $835 with the Core i5 CPU and with the faster dual core i7 CPU it's about $1002.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review
3.4 pounds in a small package. 7+ hr battery life while WiFi surfing. With the optional 'slice battery' it's about 5lbs and nearing 15hrs battery run time.
720p webcam, Skype HD support and anti-glare matte screen.




The rugged, reliable and matte anti-glare screen is suggesting a business class laptop.
You'd loose a bit of 'lightness' in return for the rugged & reliable which IMO is a good trade off.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 12.5" ultraportable notebook US $835 with the Core i5 CPU and with the faster dual core i7 CPU it's about $1002.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review
3.4 pounds in a small package. 7+ hr battery life while WiFi surfing. With the optional 'slice battery' it's about 5lbs and nearing 15hrs battery run time.
720p webcam, Skype HD support and anti-glare matte screen.




 
Solution

redheadmommy

Distinguished
Oct 30, 2011
2
0
18,510
I am thinking around that category, but I hope I can find something a little bit bigger screen,. I am not ready to down to the 12.x" road yet, unless nothing bigger fits my expectation.
thanks for the recommendation though!

Is the anti glare screen si same as the matte screen? Or what is the difference?