Laptop suggestions/recomendations needed for my girlfriends birthday present next month please.

[gargus]

So my girlfriends birthday is coming up and she really only uses a laptop since she isn't like a big gamer and the one she has is getting to be too old so I want to get her a new one. My laptop knowledge is a bit outdated so I need some recommendations. I want something that is reliable and will last awhile. No frills is fine. Last 2 she has owned were acer and we never had a problem with them. But something built solid is most important. Good speed, good image quality and just an all around good mid range system. So below is a list to narrow down what Id like......

550 dollars or less.

Windows 7 64bit.

Led backlit screen.

15.6 screen size minimum. Although a little bigger is good, up to 17inch.

A number pad on the keyboard.

A decent video card that can run games like age of empires 2 hd, popcap kind of games and such well as she plays console games but does play some games on the laptop.

 

[gargus]

Nothing

 

[jaguarskx]

In that price range you will not get a laptop with a dedicated graphics card unless it is refurbished. Additionally, the resolution for a 15.6" laptop will only be 1366 x 768.

The 15.6" Lenovo Z50 for $500 is a good option. The integrated graphics core will be more than enough AoE2. It's generally capable of playing modern games at either low or medium settings depending on how graphically demanding the game is.

http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/z-series/z50/


An alternative would be the Lenovo ThinkPad E545. It is a business laptop and you will get business support rather than just regular vanilla customer support. ThinkPads are known for their durability, but that mostly comes from their T and X series laptops which are premium level and expensive.

The ThinkPad E545 uses AMD APUs instead of Intel CPUs. In terms of raw CPU processing power Intel is better, but AMD's integrated graphics core is a bit more powerful. The base price is $474, but that comes with a weak relatively weak dual core APU with a relatively weak graphics core. You want to select the A10-5750m APU for $70. It is a quad core APU and it currently has the most powerful integrated graphics core for any laptop.

http/shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e545/


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The vast majority of new laptops sold today comes with Windows 8. Microsoft is basically not selling anymore Win 7 licenses. The exception are business oriented laptops since large business do not adopt new operating systems as quickly as consumers. This is primarily because of costs, data integrity, and proprietary programs that may not run properly on a newer operating system.

The ThinkPad E545 does have an option to install Windows 7 Pro, but that adds another $50 to the cost.