Looking for a laptop under $600 for college

[magician0091]

1. What is your budget?
$600

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
13 inch ~ 14 inch preferred, unless it's really light then 15 inch.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1366 x 768

5. How much battery life do you need?
5+ hours will be nice

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 already have a desktop for games.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Taking notes, email, surfing, listening to musics, & watching videos.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500 GB at least.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2~4 years, if possible.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I'm fine with DVD ROM/Writer

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.
HP? Simple because I heard their customer service wasn't that great

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I need a laptop that doesn't make loud noises or get hot after using for like 2~3 hours. Also, I'm not a fan for O.C. Finally, a durable laptop would be nice but not necessary.

 

[magician0091]

Some of the laptops I was considering to buy were:
Thinkpad Edge E520 = $500 basic
ASUS U31SD-AH51 = $600
Dell Inspiron 14R = $500 basic

 

[WR2]

A couple reviews on the
ASUS U31SD-A1 Review @ NotebookReview *not an exact model match
ASUS U31SD-A1 Review @ NotebookCheck *not an exact model match

How soon do you plan to pickup the new notebook?

 

[magician0091]

Within a week & thanks for the review links.

 

[Rockdpm]

Ahhhh the thinkpad is ok, I would preferably go with the Dell tho. I believe Dell has great deals for College students.... the ASUS is the best specd is you plan to play something like Portal 2 lol... But for class work i would imagine they are all good. What kind of field are you studying?

 

[magician0091]

Economics and math.

 

[WR2]

I have a preference for anti-glare matte screens in lecture halls, libraries and coffee bars where you can't control the lighting.

Here is a 14" model:
HP ProBook 4430s $450 Core i3 2330M 2.20GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ HD Graphics 3000.


Without a matte screen but nicely size for toting around and balancing on a desktop:
HP dm1 11.6" sub-portable notebook $400
AMD E-450 1.65GHz APU, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ Radeon HD 6320 graphics.
3.5 lbs and 6+hr battery in 'note taking mode'.


HP dm1 review @ LaptopMag

 

[WR2]

Pretty good deal going on ATM:
Dell Inspiron 14z thin 14" Core i5 Aluminum Laptop $580
Core i5-2450M 2.5Ghz CPU, 6GB RAM, 750GB 7200rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ HD 3000 graphics.
High capacity 65 WHr 7+hr battery.

 

[WR2]

Dell Inspiron 14z review shows a few weak points about the 14z.

 

[magician0091]

Best answer selected by magician0091.

 

[WR2]

Did you find some thing you like?

 

[magician0091]

Thanks for the cheaper alternative. The Dell Inspiron 14z is also nice, but I think that's a bit excess compared to this laptop. Even though it's hp, I'm not too concerned with customer services as long as it doesn't malfunction frequently.

 

[mousseng]

I bought myself a Dell Inspiron 14R (N4110) last year for college, and haven't been disappointed a bit. I got it for $400 (i5-2410m, 500gb 7200rpm, 4gb RAM) through Dell's Outlet Store, which I HIGHLY recommend if you're going to buy Dell. All of the options there are just as good as, if not better, than a brand new laptop.

Now, I don't exactly remember the battery life it had when I had just received it, but from a full charge on the Balanced power plan, I get about 2.5 - 3 hours running a few light programs and number of background applications.

The Inspiron 14z that WR2 posted actually looks fantastic - it's got a more powerful processor than mine, the same resolution and IGP, but it's thinner and lighter. There's none in the Outlet right now, but it doesn't seem like the 14z's price would go that low in the Outlet, so you may want to go for this deal.

Regardless, Dell Inspirons are good home-use/college-use type laptops, and they're within your price range. I've not dealt with many brands apart from Dell (concerning laptops), but I've had serious issues with HP laptops (having basically every part fail). I'd advise you to shy away from HP if you can.

 

[magician0091]

Lol. Thanks for the advice. If HP malfunctions that frequently, I guess it's worth investing a bit more on dell.

 

[WR2]

You have to look at specific models - and not brands. Dell has had a few 'stinkers' too.
Both Dell and HP seem to be doing 'OK' recently.