Genocidicbunny
Bug squasher
As I said in the Laptop Considerations thread, I am looking for a laptop.
First off: I dont want it to cost over 800USD. I have money, but not enough that I feel comfortable spending more than that on a laptop that will, frankly, not get very regular use ( mainly for school or when I feel too lazy to get out of bed )
Id very much prefer to have a true C2D, instead of a pentium dual-core as I may still be doing some cpu-intensive tasks.
RAM should be kept at a minimum, I'll buy a 3rd-party 4GB set anyways if needed.
GPU can be integrated, as long as its at least an Intel 4500MHD. I've got a desktop for gaming, so the laptop may need to at most play a few 'vacation games' such as civ 3 or OTTD and show some movies.
The screen resolution is my biggest concern. As the laptop will be used primarily for school, especially for my Computer Science class, Id like a fairly high-res display. On a 15.x" display, 1440x900 is perfect for me, and that is what I would like to get at least. Coding is just a lot easier when its not on a tiny resolution display.
Decent battery life would also be great. 2 hours at least, 4 would be excellent, but not necessary. Since I want to keep weight to a minimum possible with these considerations, the battery need not be a 9-cell, unless it comes standard.
Speaking of weight, no 10lb monsters, 7lb is about right.
I dont need too many extra features or ports. Several USB, audio and RJ45 is pretty much all that I would need.
This laptop will have to last me at least 2.5 years ( end of HS and through first two years of college ) so it can't be too shoddily made. Ill be using it for: Word Processing, Surfing Internet, Some light Photoshopping, light gaming, coding and compiling, working with OpenGL ( Hence why I want at least a decent GPU for the laptop, otherwise I have no ability to test code when im away from my desktop )
So far I have looked at Dell, Asus, Lenovo, some Sony's, some Acer's, and some HP's.
My personal preferences as of now is the Dell Studio 15" with upgraded CPU and LCD, which comes in at a cost of 800USD before S&H.
I also found a decent Asus on Best Buy's website, except for the fact that it looks like poo poo: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...Q?skuId=9172879&type=product&id=1218044029788
It has pretty good specs though, save for the LCD resolution.
Otherwise, I've basically gone through all of Dell's laptop offerings and only found that Studio 15 to be decent. Ive also gone through all of Newegg's sub 1000USD offerings and didnt find anything I liked at less than 800USD.
So with all of that being said, anyone have any recommendations? And I'm open to buying a laptop off ebay, as long as its new/near new and has some warranty period.
First off: I dont want it to cost over 800USD. I have money, but not enough that I feel comfortable spending more than that on a laptop that will, frankly, not get very regular use ( mainly for school or when I feel too lazy to get out of bed )
Id very much prefer to have a true C2D, instead of a pentium dual-core as I may still be doing some cpu-intensive tasks.
RAM should be kept at a minimum, I'll buy a 3rd-party 4GB set anyways if needed.
GPU can be integrated, as long as its at least an Intel 4500MHD. I've got a desktop for gaming, so the laptop may need to at most play a few 'vacation games' such as civ 3 or OTTD and show some movies.
The screen resolution is my biggest concern. As the laptop will be used primarily for school, especially for my Computer Science class, Id like a fairly high-res display. On a 15.x" display, 1440x900 is perfect for me, and that is what I would like to get at least. Coding is just a lot easier when its not on a tiny resolution display.
Decent battery life would also be great. 2 hours at least, 4 would be excellent, but not necessary. Since I want to keep weight to a minimum possible with these considerations, the battery need not be a 9-cell, unless it comes standard.
Speaking of weight, no 10lb monsters, 7lb is about right.
I dont need too many extra features or ports. Several USB, audio and RJ45 is pretty much all that I would need.
This laptop will have to last me at least 2.5 years ( end of HS and through first two years of college ) so it can't be too shoddily made. Ill be using it for: Word Processing, Surfing Internet, Some light Photoshopping, light gaming, coding and compiling, working with OpenGL ( Hence why I want at least a decent GPU for the laptop, otherwise I have no ability to test code when im away from my desktop )
So far I have looked at Dell, Asus, Lenovo, some Sony's, some Acer's, and some HP's.
My personal preferences as of now is the Dell Studio 15" with upgraded CPU and LCD, which comes in at a cost of 800USD before S&H.
I also found a decent Asus on Best Buy's website, except for the fact that it looks like poo poo: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...Q?skuId=9172879&type=product&id=1218044029788
It has pretty good specs though, save for the LCD resolution.
Otherwise, I've basically gone through all of Dell's laptop offerings and only found that Studio 15 to be decent. Ive also gone through all of Newegg's sub 1000USD offerings and didnt find anything I liked at less than 800USD.
So with all of that being said, anyone have any recommendations? And I'm open to buying a laptop off ebay, as long as its new/near new and has some warranty period.
