1. What is your budget?
Preferably less than $1000 but no more than $1500.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
No real preference. I'm not big on absolutely needing HD and the best graphics. I would like to have something that can be portable but as long as it'll fit under an airplane seat should I need to travel with it is fine.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Preferably not a widescreen display.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I'm not sure. I doubt I'll be taking it around with me, but I do want something that can withstand a little bit of abuse. I mainly want a system that will last a good couple of years. I'm upgrading from a Dell Inspiron 600m so something that won't crap out on me is a must. I do not want a netbook though.
5. How much battery life do you need?
Not really an issue as it'll probably stay plugged in at all times.
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)?
Probably not and if I do it would be medium I guess? I'm not into MMOs or super high crisp image quality so as long as the grahpics don't look like complete crap then anything is fine.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Probably light photo/video editing. I'd mainly be using it to surf the net, word processing, watch movies and stream. I guess I fall into a casual user?
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
A lot. I'm a media hog so I want something with a lot of space so I don't have burn DVD/Blu-Ray or transfer files to an external.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
No real specific sites though I have purchased from newegg and don't have any problems ordering from them again.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
At least 4-5 years? The one that I'm using right now is going on year 9 (2nd harddrive) and probably won't last for much longer so I want something that will give me a good bang for my buck.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I'm fine with at least a DVD-R but I wouldn't mind having a Blu-rom/writer if I'm able to do both?
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've had a Dell and I'm fine with purchasing another if that's what would best meet my needs but I am interested in trying out a different brand. I've asked around and so far the brands that I've heard somewhat positive things about are Toshiba and Lenovo. I'm a little wary about Acer and Asus because I don't know very much about them and kind of amblivent about HP. I'm definately not interested in getting a mac.
13. What country do you live in?
USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I've heard that business laptops hold up better than casual laptops so I think that I tend to gravitate toward that end.
I'm also pretty paranoid about having a reliable cooling system so my harddrive won't fry so something that won't overheat/run too hot would be nice.
At the end of the day, though, I'm really just looking for a laptop that I won't have to replace after 3 years.
Preferably less than $1000 but no more than $1500.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
No real preference. I'm not big on absolutely needing HD and the best graphics. I would like to have something that can be portable but as long as it'll fit under an airplane seat should I need to travel with it is fine.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Preferably not a widescreen display.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I'm not sure. I doubt I'll be taking it around with me, but I do want something that can withstand a little bit of abuse. I mainly want a system that will last a good couple of years. I'm upgrading from a Dell Inspiron 600m so something that won't crap out on me is a must. I do not want a netbook though.
5. How much battery life do you need?
Not really an issue as it'll probably stay plugged in at all times.
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)?
Probably not and if I do it would be medium I guess? I'm not into MMOs or super high crisp image quality so as long as the grahpics don't look like complete crap then anything is fine.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Probably light photo/video editing. I'd mainly be using it to surf the net, word processing, watch movies and stream. I guess I fall into a casual user?
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
A lot. I'm a media hog so I want something with a lot of space so I don't have burn DVD/Blu-Ray or transfer files to an external.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
No real specific sites though I have purchased from newegg and don't have any problems ordering from them again.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
At least 4-5 years? The one that I'm using right now is going on year 9 (2nd harddrive) and probably won't last for much longer so I want something that will give me a good bang for my buck.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I'm fine with at least a DVD-R but I wouldn't mind having a Blu-rom/writer if I'm able to do both?
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've had a Dell and I'm fine with purchasing another if that's what would best meet my needs but I am interested in trying out a different brand. I've asked around and so far the brands that I've heard somewhat positive things about are Toshiba and Lenovo. I'm a little wary about Acer and Asus because I don't know very much about them and kind of amblivent about HP. I'm definately not interested in getting a mac.
13. What country do you live in?
USA
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I've heard that business laptops hold up better than casual laptops so I think that I tend to gravitate toward that end.
I'm also pretty paranoid about having a reliable cooling system so my harddrive won't fry so something that won't overheat/run too hot would be nice.
At the end of the day, though, I'm really just looking for a laptop that I won't have to replace after 3 years.