[IH8Rice]

looking for a new laptop to replace my ancient Dell latitude. hoping to spend under $550-600. i briefly looked at some while at BJ's and liked the keyboards on the Asus's's and HP's but dont know anyone who has had one before.

needs/wants:
-14-16" screen
-hdmi out
-500+gb hdd (ssd would be nicey nice)
-decent video card for editing
-decent or large speaker(s)

i dont want a refurb.


thanks.

 

[Routier07]

I don't if you guys can get the brand "acer" down in the states, but it's worth taking a look at if your looking for a good value laptop.

My current laptop was bought this time last year and features a 15.6" screen, 6GB RAM, 750GB HDD, HDMI out, Intel HD3000 Graphics, a nice keyboard and overall comes as a very nice package. Only paid $469+tax at the time.

Most of the time I have the laptop connected to my ASUS 27" Monitor. It does everything I want it to do and more, Edit video/photo, it processes everything pretty effin quick, and the Intel HD3000(integrated) card can handle quite abit... I can play games like Dirt 3 with most of the settings set to max or edit raw video footage in Sony Vegas and handles it all without busting a sweat. I can't comment on the speakers since most of the time that I would use the onboard speakers is at work, other than that at home I have it connected to the little speaker system.

I know some elitists might just say "cough up the dough and get a mac"... But honestly, for something a third of the price of a base level MBP, this has treated me pretty good...

 

[bean]

If I was buying a PC laptop, I'd be looking at Lenovo first. If you catch a sale (they've almost always got something going on), you should be able to get a T series in that price range.

I would seriously consider an SSD. Putting one in my two year old MBP made it feel like a new computer.

 

[Quo Fan]

BigT bought an ASUS, and it works well. She plays a few games (not the serious gamer type, she plays cards and board games), and surfs the web. If she wanted, it could do photo editing on it.

 

[IH8Rice]

thanks all. keep em coming!

i briefly looked at Acer's site (pretty crappy and no custom builds) and just glanced at Lenovo's but havent started my research yet. the machine Routier mentioned is about what i want but hopefully with a separate GPU

 

[narlus]

i haven't been overly happy w/ my Lenovo machine that i use at work (T410)...wireless drops out all the time for no reason, and i get bluescreens when redocking.

i bought my wife an ASUS a few years ago but hte keyboard layout and touchpad proximity sucks.

 

[dante]

Having a discrete video card under $500 on a laptop would be tricky, but how about something like this?

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/83726/microsoft-store-acer-aspire-v55716806-notebook-core-i5-3317u-1.70ghz-6gb-ddr3-750gb-hdd-15.6-1366x768-led-intel-hd-4000-wifi-n-4cell-windows-8

Ivy Bridge i5 (low power mobile "U" version, but still decently potent), 6gb RAM, 750gb HD, and the integrated hd-4000 graphics isn't bad.

If you're going to be doing heavy video editing, any possibility of a desktop instead of a laptop? You'd be able to pretty much set your own specs and modify it as needed (adding a video card, second HD, etc).

 

[Quo Fan]

BigT's computer:
ASUS U56E Series
Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz
6.0GB Ram
Intel HD graphics
640 GB Hard drive
Win7 Home Premium 64 bit

 

[IH8Rice]

Having a discrete video card under $500 on a laptop would be tricky, but how about something like this?

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/83726/microsoft-store-acer-aspire-v55716806-notebook-core-i5-3317u-1.70ghz-6gb-ddr3-750gb-hdd-15.6-1366x768-led-intel-hd-4000-wifi-n-4cell-windows-8

Ivy Bridge i5 (low power mobile "U" version, but still decently potent), 6gb RAM, 750gb HD, and the integrated hd-4000 graphics isn't bad.

If you're going to be doing heavy video editing, any possibility of a desktop instead of a laptop? You'd be able to pretty much set your own specs and modify it as needed (adding a video card, second HD, etc).

I customized a few laptops online with a dedicated gpu and it came in around $600+ which may be okay. How are the nicer integrated cards in comparison in regards to editing? The editing Wont be anything serious, especially now that my HD cam just stopped working.
I have a desktop that I don't really use anymore but would prefer something more mobile so I can use it anywhere in the house or on the road.

 

[Anthony Watkins]

Lenovo also make some good stuff, don't count them out!

 

[Anthony Watkins]

i haven't been overly happy w/ my Lenovo machine that i use at work (T410)...wireless drops out all the time for no reason, and i get bluescreens when redocking.

i bought my wife an ASUS a few years ago but hte keyboard layout and touchpad proximity sucks.

That might be drivers

 

[HardtailHack]

Pretty old thread here, if he bought a HP though he'd be about due for a replacement.

 

[IH8Rice]

found a HP Probook for $490 but not sure about their better-then-integrated video processor. is the GMA HD 3000 capable at editing any decent type of HD files?

Core i3 2.1Ghz
4gb ram
320HDD
Win 7 Pro
http://www.rakuten.com/prod/hp-probook-4430s-xu013ut-14-led-notebook-intel-core-i3-i3-2310m-2-1ghz/220391711.html?listingId=159367501

 

[eric strt6]

just picked this up to replace my dead Acer aspire, aside from having to muddle though windows 8 it seems ok

HP Pavillion g7 with a core i3 processor 750 gb hd 6 gb ram

$399 after rebates