17" $800 laptop search

[RoZmX]

1. What is your budget?
$800

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
17.3"

3. What screen resolution do you want?

1600 x 900 or 1080p XD

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
don't mind if it's heavier as it will be 17"

5. How much battery life do you need?
4hrs

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

won't be gaming on the laptop

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

Music Production. maybeee some video editing.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

300GB+ I don't care for storage. My sample library is 20GB and Plugins is 50GB

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

newegg.com
amazon.com

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

4 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

Simple DVD drive.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

Had a dell for 6 7 years. Just gave out on me. Don't mind the brand.. good reviews matter most.

13. What country do you live in?

USA


I've done test on my friend's HP laptop w/ an i3-2330m and 4GB Ram w/ hyper threading processing enabled in the software - played my most complex and VST plugin heavy song, 50 channel mixer w/ compressors and all, and it did the job lag free at max 50-65% max load with an average load of 35%. Ram did fine.. FL Studio which is the main DAW I use.. is only 32 bit as of now.. but I've never seen it pass 1.25GB of RAM. However, without hyper threading it maxed out at 90%.

So really an i3-2330m and 4GB ram is all i need in a laptop. The more the merrier.

I'm looking for a laptop I can take to work. And work on my songs during my lunch hour. and my 15 minute breaks as well.
Thank you

 

[Rockdpm]

well a simple ultra book would do fine.

 

[RoZmX]

I don't mind smaller screens, I would really like a 1600x900 resolution though.
Any recommended ultra books?

 

[edit1754]

If you would like 1600x900 resolution, I would recommend against going with 17" just to get that resolution. 17.3" 1600x900 displays make things onscreen large and tend to have terrible image quality due to low contrast.

You can get a 15.6" 1600x900 or 1920x1080 display for within your budget with a Lenovo Thinkpad T520.

To get the best discount for the Lenovo Thinkpad T520, go through the Barnes and Noble Gold discount.
- Follow This link to the Barnes and Noble Gold Lenovo page and create a free account. Log into your free account.
- After logging in, visit this link to see the base models available for the Lenovo Thinkpad T520. Generally, you should base your configuration off of the cheapest base model.
- This is important: Select at least the HD+ (1600x900) display upgrade. Do not buy the Lenovo Thinkpad T520 in any configuration that includes the non-upgraded HD (1366x768) display. 15.6" 1366x768 displays limit multitasking because they make things onscreen large, and they tend to have terrible image quality due to low contrast.
- Consider the free upgrade to the Intel WiFi Link 1000 wireless card.
- Consider the 9-Cell battery.
- Apply the listed coupon USXMAYSAVINGS2012 to your configuration once it's in your cart. The cheapest configuration for the Lenovo Thinkpad T520 with the upgraded 1600x900 display will be $607.

 

[RoZmX]

Best answer selected by RoZmX.

 

[RoZmX]

I came back to say that I purchased the Lenovo T520, there was a Memorial Day Weekend special 15% off, but 30% off with Barnes and Noble Gold account. I ended up upgrading the screen res to 900p, 6cell to 9cell battery, and the i3 to an i5. I paid 679 w/ taxes and all. And WOW.. I will never get anything this sturdy. It's a beautiful machine.

+Shock resistant hard drive.
+water resistant keyboard
+feels very durable
+Boots up very fast
+great under/over clocking features allows me to get ~6-9hrs in battery life when i need it, or more power when i could use it.
+screen res and display are amazingg.. I can use it in the daylight w/o any problems with the anti-glare.

and most importantly. it runs super smooth and can handle all my task with ease.
I've produced a few songs and haven't had any problems doing so.
I recommend this machine!