Laptop Suggestion Request - On a Budget

MaxJac

Honorable
Mar 12, 2012
1
0
10,510
1. What is your budget?
$400
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Any as long as they have a 17 inch screen.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
1600x900
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
No
5. How much battery life do you need?
A decent amount, the average is good. More is better.
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)?
No, no gaming here.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Web browsing, movie watching both online and off, word processing, and a large amount of pdf downloading.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 350 if doable. If not, in exchange for an excellent deal, I could take it down a little.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I don't have a preference.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as it still runs and accomplishes the mentioned tasks.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
No blueray is necessary but the option to still burn music, movies, and data dvd's are wanted.
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.
Any brand is fine as long as they are not synonymous with poor quality.
13. What country do you live in?
U.S.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
The owner of the laptop is someone who is likely to click on links they shouldn't and be more trusting of others when it comes to services offered through the web. Thus viruses are a possibility. It is not related to the purchase but if anyone wants to suggest the most fearsome of all programs, the Thor of the pc protection world, that would be appreciated.
 
I like this one the best:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+17.3%22+Pavilion+Laptop+-+4GB+Memory+-+320GB+Hard+Drive+-+Charcoal+Gray/4839117.p?id=1218541220524&skuId=4839117

It:
- has an AMD APU so it will be VERY cool, quiet and efficient (I looked at one in the store)
- had an HDMI output for HDTV's (or monitors with HDMI support)

*The CPU isn't as powerful as similar Intel CPU's, however the CPU is rarely stressed for most people except when scanning anti-virus, converting video etc.

Again though, the APU makes this basically silent in a quiet room and there's no annoying heat coming up through the keyboard like most I've used.
 
FYI:
Don't forget to:

1) update the BIOS if needed

2) update the drivers (HP has an update program. Hopefully that works properly. If not, go to the site and do it manually. Get help if needed. Driver support usually tapers off to non-existant after two years. All drivers should come from HP.)

3) Make periodic BACKUP images of your Windows drive to a USB drive if possible using Acronis True Image (can get a free version if you have an internal or USB drive from WD or SEAGATE). If your main drive DIES or is severely CORRUPTED you can restore your last image to the current (or new) drive.
 

chudddds

Honorable
Mar 17, 2012
237
1
10,840



i wish those G7s had two drive bays. my dv9040us does and i will make sure my next laptop does also

have a 64gb SSD in bay 1 and a 1 tb in bay 2, love it. ive done so much cloning and working other peoples drives with this thing. 7 years and still going