Then it will be a good choice, if you can live with the 768 pixel disply height.
Anything substantially better will be much more expensive.
Hmm I've been looking at a bunch of laptops in my price range (which has slightly expanded, due to ambitions, alcohol, the geek inside, etc.) and all the good ones I'm finding have that 1366x768 resolution. I'm slowly educating myself on laptops, but.. is that really that bad? It doesn't seem to be. Here's what I'm looking at now:
Samsung NP550P5C-S03CA Intel Core i5 3210M 8GB 1TB GeForce GT630M 15.6IN WIN8 - $649.99
Processor seems good, 8gb ram, large HD (although no SSD, but I don't think I can reasonably expect one at this price point), 6 cell battery, win8 64, and a seemingly decent video card. This thing looks better than my desktop, which admittedly I put together back in 2007 (it has seen some upgrades since then though, but it's still impressing and allowing me to game)
So should I be looking for something with a better native resolution than that? Are all the laptops I'm looking at @ 1366x768 because I'm limiting myself to a certain screen size? (I want something somewhat portable)
I also always see the touchpad on the left hand side. Somebody earlier said that's not ideal.. Well.. They all seem to be on that side, so.. There's also the issue of the odd looking arrow keys. I'm not sure if that'd be an issue for me or not. I haven't figured out yet if that's a common thing on laptops these days or not.
I'm slowly assembling a spreadsheet of specs for various laptops, but it's a time intensive endavour and it's starting to make my head hurt. But this laptop that I linked is the best one I've looked at so far.. I think.
Thanks for all your input y'all, it's all being taken into consideration