Solved! Laptop Help Needed

[Starbohydrate]

I'm actually getting ready to purchase a laptop here in the next couple of weeks( I like the mobility) and any further advice/guidance you guys have would be immensely appreciated. Originally I was looking at Samsung, Dell, Sony and Toshiba as my next purchase (my last one was a Toshiba) I use my comp mostly for downloading music, uploading/editing pix and surfing the web. Do you have any input on what would be ideal specs for that kind of use? I've noticed that 4GB/500GB specs have been catching my eye. I'm not at all tech savvy so if I sound like an imbecile forgive my ignorance ;-)

 

[WR2]

Hello Starbohydrate;

You're in the right place to get your questions answered.
What you want to do is pretty much standard fare for any computer so you have a wide range of choices only limited by your budget. How much did you plan to spend?

 

[WR2]

Lets use this Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 @ $500 as the jumping off point.
Core i3-380M 2.53GHz CPU, 4GB RAM. 320GB HDD, 15.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD graphics and all the usual nice stuff like DVD burner, Wifi & Bluetooth.
Here is a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 @ PC Perspective

 

[Starbohydrate]

I was hoping to keep it under $700 but ideally under $600. I'm not a huge fan of HP's and was mostly interested in Samsung, Sony,Toshiba and maybe Dell.

 

[WR2]

A few options:

TOSHIBA Satellite L645-S4104 14" $630
Core i3 380M(2.53GHz) CPU, 4GB, 500GB HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD Graphics. Toshiba Satellite L645 review

SAMSUNG R440-11 14" $610
Core i3 350M(2.26GHz) CPU, 4GB,320GB HDD, 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD Graphics.

DELL Inspiron 15R 15" $650
Core i3 380M(2.53GHz) CPU, 4GB, 640GB HDD, 15" 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD Graphics.

 

[WR2]

Samsung R440 review

Dell Inspiron 15R Notebook review (not an identical model)

 

[WR2]

Here is a Dell Inspiron i14R @ $530
Core i3-380M 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD 1366x768 LCD w/ Intel HD Graphics.

 

[Bacterius]

If you are ready to spend a few more bucks you can get a laptop with an SSD, which is essentially persistent memory that acts as a hard drive, which will tremendously speed up anything you do on your computer - booting will be very fast, system extremely responsive, etc ... if you can afford a nice medium-sized SSD included in your laptop it will probably give you the best bang for your buck given your needs. But again it's not needed and such a laptop would probably cost around $1000. Just a suggestion...

 

[WR2]

Samsung R540-JA02 16" $630