New laptop suggestions

[theogt]

So last night my personal laptop went kaput. It was about 5 years old, so it was about time for a new one anyway. I need some advice....

All I do is surf the net, edit photos occasionally, download music, and work from home (mostly word processing). For this last reason, I prefer as large a screen as I can get. But I'm only willing to spend $500-600 on a laptop.

With those things in mind, I'm thinking this is the route to go:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...02_077_Aspire_AS7741Z_4839_17_3_Notebook.html

Any other suggestions? Thanks for any input!

 

[bbgun]

So last night my personal laptop went kaput. It was about 5 years old, so it was about time for a new one anyway. I need some advice....

All I do is surf the net, edit photos occasionally, download music, and work from home (mostly word processing). For this last reason, I prefer as large a screen as I can get. But I'm only willing to spend $500-600 on a laptop.

With those things in mind, I'm thinking this is the route to go:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...02_077_Aspire_AS7741Z_4839_17_3_Notebook.html

Any other suggestions? Thanks for any input!

I'm sure NYC can point you in the direction of any number of non-Apple products.

I've never used a laptop in my life, so someone else will have to chime in.

 

[justbob]

Waiting on suggests too....Have to buy a new one in the next few months...
I do know that my wife has an acer that is several years old and it has been a good one (and still is)

 

[casmith07]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215037

 

[theogt]

I'm sure NYC can point you in the direction of any number of non-Apple products.

I've never used a laptop in my life, so someone else will have to chime in.

No need for persuasion here, I would never buy an Apple laptop.

 

[theogt]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215037

Thanks for the suggestion. I have couple issues with this one. First, the price after tax is outside what I care to spend on a laptop for surfing the next, editing documents. Second, the screen is only 15 inches. Third, I've read that AMD laptop chips perform worse than their same speed Intel counterparts.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm a big ThinkPad fan as long as you don't really intend playing intensive graphical games on it. (limited video cards) Just load them up with memory. As for a big screen, well the minimal budget pretty much limits your choices of large screen size to practically none.

For the money, that Acer looks like the way to go. Though I don't know the status of Acer products today, but they used to be horrid. Amazon has eight ratings on it and most are 5 Stars and they also have it for $20 cheaper. ($539.99) My only recommendation would be to upgrade the OS to Professional or even better Ultimate. The Home version suck.

As for bbgun's comment. A Mac would be a good choice too, but $500 isn't going to get you a Mac. I think they start at $999 and that is with only a 13" screen.

 

[casmith07]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have couple issues with this one. First, the price after tax is outside what I care to spend on a laptop for surfing the next, editing documents. Second, the screen is only 15 inches. Third, I've read that AMD laptop chips perform worse than their same speed Intel counterparts.

Going to be tough to find a cheaper one with a 17" display plus the other stuff, but here's one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115991

 

[bbgun]

No need for persuasion here, I would never buy an Apple laptop.

http://img221.*************/img221/788/mg273071244397264applet.jpg

 

[YosemiteSam]

http://img221.*************/img221/788/mg273071244397264applet.jpg

Oxymoron. Love it!

 

[Duane]

Never owned a Toshiba laptop but I've read some good things. Here's a 17" model in your price range:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-L675-S7108-17-3-Inch-Laptop/dp/B004G8QQ2I

 

[Doomsday]

Go to the Dell outlet and buy a refurbished laptop. You can get a good deal and they still have a one year warranty. The specs on the laptop above are pretty out dated. 5400 RPM hard drive and a P6200 which is not nearly as good as an i5 or i7 processor. I think you can get more bang for the bug out of a Dell.

 

[theogt]

Never owned a Toshiba laptop but I've read some good things. Here's a 17" model in your price range:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-L675-S7108-17-3-Inch-Laptop/dp/B004G8QQ2I

Thanks. That does look to have slightly better specs and is certainly more aesthetically pleasing for not much more. I guess the issue would come down to (1) build quality (which I cannot determine) and (2) whether I want to pay for and wait for shipping, as I can pick the laptop in the OP upon after work today.

 

[theogt]

Go to the Dell outlet and buy a refurbished laptop. You can get a good deal and they still have a one year warranty. The specs on the laptop above are pretty out dated. 5400 RPM hard drive and a P6200 which is not nearly as good as an i5 or i7 processor. I think you can get more bang for the bug out of a Dell.

Cool, thanks for the heads up. Any suggestion in particular?

Also, you say "go to the Dell outlet" -- are there actually physical Dell outlet stores?

 

[Doomsday]

Cool, thanks for the heads up. Any suggestion in particular?

Also, you say "go to the Dell outlet" -- are there actually physical Dell outlet stores?

No sorry I meant go online to the Dell Outlet. Just use the filters on the left side of the page to chose the criteria you are looking for, like 17 inch monitor.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...earch.aspx?brandId=2201&c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

 

[Yeagermeister]

Cool, thanks for the heads up. Any suggestion in particular?

Also, you say "go to the Dell outlet" -- are there actually physical Dell outlet stores?

Stay away from the Inspiron line. The Latitude line is a much better machine. I have only seen one physical outlet store. In was in Austin but it's not there anymore.

 

[MFWitt63]

if you go to a dell outlet arent you just getting refurbished crap ? on top of the fact that dell uses the absolute cheapest parts in the first place. i've had my toshiba 4GB 250GB for 3 years now and its been awesome. my gf has gone through 2 HPs in that time that werent worth a crap.

 

[Yeagermeister]

if you go to a dell outlet arent you just getting refurbished crap ? on top of the fact that dell uses the absolute cheapest parts in the first place. i've had my toshiba 4GB 250GB for 3 years now and its been awesome. my gf has gone through 2 HPs in that time that werent worth a crap.

The Inspiron line is crap

 

[Doomsday]

if you go to a dell outlet arent you just getting refurbished crap ? on top of the fact that dell uses the absolute cheapest parts in the first place. i've had my toshiba 4GB 250GB for 3 years now and its been awesome. my gf has gone through 2 HPs in that time that werent worth a crap.

Ive purchased 3 PCs and 2 laptops (Inspiron) from the Dell Outlet over the last 5 years and only had an issue with one of them that they sent an onsite technician to fix 2 days later and its been fine ever since (3 years now). Also purchased about another 50 Inspirons for mobile users for a company I worked for and had great luck with almost every one of them.

Both Toshiba Satellite laptops I had fell apart after about 16 months, right after the warranty expired.

To each their own I guess, but to me in terms for bang for the buck you cant do any better.

 

[poke]

Never owned a Toshiba laptop but I've read some good things. Here's a 17" model in your price range:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-L675-S7108-17-3-Inch-Laptop/dp/B004G8QQ2I

thats very similar to the toshiba l675d s7060 that i bought about 18 months ago. mine has blu-ray player, not sure if the one above does.

i have had zero problems so far (knock on wood). i am satisfied with it.