Buying a Laptop (Using Laptop buyer FAQ)

Gman91

Distinguished
Nov 18, 2011
10
0
18,560
So i have been seriously looking into laptops (best config/videocard + cpu match up) I am really stuck here, There is so many good options to choose from.

1. What is your budget? 750$ MAX 700$ or less would be ideal.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15.6" portability is key, I will be toting it around school.

3. What screen resolution do you want? Not picky

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Both sort of.

5. How much battery life do you need? Also not picky.

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)? Yes, I am not looking for something that will play skyrim on high at 45fps. More or less I would like something similar to my desktop in performance (Which can play skyrim on high fairly well). Desktop config is Athlon II x4 620 propus, Nvidia Geforce GT 545, 4gigs of DDR2 and 300gig seagate 7200rpm sata HD.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) I like dinking around on FL studio 9 and Abelton live

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? 250+

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. Newegg/Ebay/Amazon/Tigerdirect etc.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 4 to 5 years.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? DVD rom (blu-ray a + but no biggie)

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. Anything dependable, I don't care about a name.

13. What country do you live in? US

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed

I have been looking into HP's dv6 and dv7 lines since they seem to have some of the better setups (8 gigs of ram/ Radeon HD 7690 or 6770, I5 2520m).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-dv7t-Core-i5-2430M-ATI-7690M-6G-DDR3-640GB-HD-Blu-ray-Webcam-HDMI-/300679307307?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item4601e2202b ( I love this laptop, one thing holds me back from buying it, The screen size)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-UMBER-DV6-DV6T-15-6-i5-2520M-2-5GHZ-8GB-750GB-2GB-ATI-HD6770M-USB-3-0-LAPTOP-/220984091613?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3373ada3dd ( I also like this, but the graphics aren't as good, but from benchmark scores it seems the 6770m and 7690m playing skyrim are neck and neck, the usb 3.0 is also a +)
 

Gman91

Distinguished
Nov 18, 2011
10
0
18,560
What would you choose?

Lenovo - http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/builder.workflow:Enter?mtm-item=:000000F3:00004DF3:&cid=us|cse|df|googlebase|08552LU&&CAWELAID=1188668455

HP - http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-UMBER-DV6-DV6T-15-6-i5-2520M-2-5GHZ-8GB-750GB-2GB-ATI-HD6770M-USB-3-0-LAPTOP-/220984091613?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item3373ada3dd

Right now i can pick the lenovo up for 799$ + free shipping with a offer code. Although this is a little over my budget, I may invest the extra money for the I7 and 7690. The only things I am worried about is heat. I will be playing skyrim and a few MMOs on the laptop and I heard these lenovos have terrible cooling. Same thing goes for the HP, I heard they have bad cooling too.
 

Gman91

Distinguished
Nov 18, 2011
10
0
18,560
I bought the y470p With the i7/8gb ram/USB 3.0/14" screen/7690M graphics/500gig 7400rpm drive. I won't receive it for about a month but I will definitely post reviews for everyone (I couldn't seem to find many).