Hi Azine, I am trying to choose a laptop. I returned a HP I bought during blackfriday because I wasn't happy with the quality of the screen.
I am trying to stay around $700 to $900.
What I would use the pc for is school (excel finance models and financial statements), some work, and browsing the web. I will not be gaming on it.

When it comes to manufactures is there one I should look at over the other?

Looks like the 3rd gen i7 is the king of processors, should I even bother looking at the AMDs?


Since I need to make the purchase soon I have been looking at laptops sold by amazon (prime overnight shipping) or at Bestbuy. Or any online vendor with overnight shipping.

For screen size either 14" or 15.6".

Just some that have caught my eye

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+ENV...&skuId=6819205

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+ENV...&skuId=6819278

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...&skuId=6672447

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...&skuId=6774657

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+ENV...&skuId=6835328

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...&skuId=6672165

The Samsung was pretty impressive when I saw it in person, and matte screen but defiantly a premium price.

 

I would look at the HP website, you should be able to get better at a better price...

 

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/hom...nr-Notebook-PC

I just saw this. Man this is gorgeous!!!

 

See if any local Office Depots have this $530 Toshiba Ultrabook in stock: http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...roduct+Catalog

Item # 201166

• 14" LED Back-lit HD Screen (1366 x 768)
• Intel Core i5-3317U 1.7GHz CPU (3MB Cache, 2.6Ghz Turbo Boost)
• 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Memory (Up to 16GB)
• Up to 4 Hour Battery Life
• HDMI
• 2 USB 3.0 Ports, 1 USB 2.0 Port
• Intel HD 4000 Graphics
• 4.1 Pounds
• Windows 8

I'd also check Lenovo's outlet store: outlet.lenovo.com

Site gets updated with more inventory late at night/early in the morning.

They usually have pretty good deals on what they call "Scratch & Dent" laptops. They're discounted current gen laptops that look brand new. The ThinkPad T series is a bullet-proof laptop.

Example: ThinkPad T430s for $697.20 .... Availability: Only 1 left!

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, 2.60 GHz)( )
• Operating system: Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
• Display: 14.0" HD WXGA (1366 X 768) LED Backlight w/ 720p HD Camera"
• Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 4000
• Memory: 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz SODIMM Memory
• Hard Drive: 320GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Hard Drive
• Optical Drive: DVD Recordable Serial ATA

or if you want a higher resolution screen: ThinkPad T530 - Scratch & dent .... Availability: Only 1 left!

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-3210M Processor (2.50GHz, up to 3.10GHz with Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache, 1333MHz)( )
• Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 - English
• Display: 15.6" HD+ WXGA (1600 X 900) LED Backlight w/ 720p HD Camera"
• Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 4000
• Memory: 8GB (2 X 4GB) PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz SDRAM SODIMM Memory
• Hard Drive: 320GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Hard Drive
• Optical Drive: DVD Recordable Serial ATA

 

[QUOTE=AZuser;14265227]See if any local Office Depots have this $530 Toshiba Ultrabook in stock: http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...roduct+Catalog

Thanks man, that Toshiba is really nice. I tried office depot yesterday and they did not have it in stock

I take that back, I went to office max, I am currently living in West Virginia and my office depot is 40 miles away and only one in stock, so its safe to assume its a floor model.

 

Not necessarily. You should call and find out. Stores sometimes get models that are designated as Promotional; These are usually not put out on display since they don't fit into the stores planogram. They're sent to stores by the DC (Distribution Center) to help support a sales ad for that week and that's it... stores don't get replenished by the DC as they sell them like normal Active products.

Call and if they have it boxed and sealed, you can ask them to put it on hold for you. Some stores hold and some stores are asses and won't hold.

 

Good point, I ll see if I have luck tomorrow.

HP has this one for $640 shipped
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/hom...abook-4-1130us

But I keep finding my self leaning towards this beast.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/hom...nr-Notebook-PC

 

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...mber=17970622&

http://www.dell.com/content/products...corp&~lt=popup

Dell has this 15.6" any opinions on it.

 

Looks nice. Same specs as Office Depot's Toshiba, and $110 more.



Not really a fan of Dell's.

 

Get a Mac

 

Yea I am getting the same consensus on Dell from other folks.



I would love to but the 13.3 is too small for me, the 15 macbook pro is out of my price league. Unless you want to get it for me

 

Ever looked into the Apple line of products? I'm a big fan of em.

 

Look for a used 15 inch

 

Apple, Toshiba, Asus or Lenovo's are about the only ones worth buying. HP might look nice but they are not but a piece of crap.

 

I looked at some apple refurbs and to be honest I would just way regular price because the difference inst much. I am about to check what the student discount is.

 

What was I typing??? Sorry let me rephrase whiskers.

I looked at some apple refurbs and to be honest I would just pay regular price because the difference inst much. I am about to check what the student discount is with Apple.

 

Did some research on notebook review forum and for $900 the Samsung looks like a sure winner.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...&skuId=6774657

 

Fixed^




Samsung FTW

 

Just ordered the Samsung.

 

Nice, but take that HD out and put in a SSD

 

I hate windows 8.

That is all.

 

Dell Inspiron i14z-5000sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook

Got this beauty. Not a bad price so lets see.

 

x 2

I think it's supposed to emulate the Windows phone interface, but I don't have a Windows phone and can't stand Windows 8 on my wife's HP.

 

My wife almost tossed the Samsung cause of that.
I got the windows 7 Dell overnight-ed from amazon, it isn't a bad pc for $560.00. I was a bit skeptical cause of the price at first, but the build seems great and I really like the brushed aluminium.

I really wanted a I7 with 8gb but honestly for grad school this is good enough. I write alot of papers and use excel, and I never game on a pc. Everything else I really just use my Ipad.

Here is the specs on the Dell, also is turbo-boost not standard with 3rd gen i5s?

Inspiron 14z (i14z-5000sLV)


Display: 14" widescreen HD LED (1366 x 768) with Truelife
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7® Home Premium, 64-Bit
Processor: 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i5-3317U (1.7GHz)
Memory (RAM): 6GB DDR3 (1600MHz)
Storage (hard drive): 500GB SATA
Optical drive: 8X DVD+RW
Video graphics: Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Media card reader: 3-in-1 plus USB 3.0
Bluetooth®: Yes (tied to wireless card)
Audio: Waves MaxxAudio® 3
Preinstalled software: Microsoft® Office Starter 2010, McAfee®

 

Once you start to get used to it, its not too bad. Its also a lot faster then 7.

 

Its defiantly faster but is there a way to get the desktop with a start menu on win 8?

 

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/win...e-desktop/6976

or a program such as Start 8.

 

my laptop shit the bed on me yesterday

 

Ill fix it for you.

 

finally, a computer repair man who you wouldnt be scared of finding all your porn

 

I caved.....

I was in NJ at the Rockaway Mall getting my Iphone looked at and walked out with a MBP non-retina.

 

Welcome to the dark side.

 

Did you keep the Dell?
Is the MBP for your wife?

 

I ended up returning the Dell really poor battery. On a full charge I would get 3 hours.

MBP is for me and getting the wife a MBA for her bday!

 

drink the kool aid

 

And loving every sip of it

 

dnd2984... I'm sorry you did that...

ohh well... just don't try to do anything fancy to it, it will break

 

Congrats! It took everything in me to switch 2 years ago as an Apple hater and once I did I realized what I had been missing out on. My only piece of advice on getting your wife a MBA is to go with the largest size HDD you can. It runs out quick!!

 

I knew this was coming. My seven year old Dell has had some blue screens, but I was able to kick her in the butt to get her started. But I finally think the HD is fried. No safe mode and I can't even boot from the is disk.

My taxes were done with the emphasis on were.

At any rate, I really thought about a MacBook pro, but I like a big screen. So some purple alien is coming from Dell this week.

 

some pretty reliable kool aid.

So far my MBP has outlasted the last 3 PCs i have owned. Will never go back.