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new laptop under....

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
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

Monkey
Mar 14, 2009
259
0
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

Turbo Monkey
Feb 16, 2004
1,335
0
Boulder
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.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
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

Eastcoast Softcore
Staff member
Nov 7, 2001
24,658
63
behind the viewfinder
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

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
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).
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
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. :think:
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.