Solved! Lightweight and long-battery life?

[madkiwi]

I have a perfectly good Dell Vostro 1500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 @ 1.4 GHz, 2 GB ram, nVidia GeForce 8400M) that has all the power I need, but is weighs 6 lb 12 oz and the battery lasts 2 hours give or take 10 minutes.

I work from home but spend time at a coffee shop in the afternoons so I don't feel like a total hermit. I am just sick of lugging around this heavy thing, and it only lasts one mocha.

I was going to buy a netbook, but I realized two things. First, I am old enough now that squinting at a 10" screen is not my idea of fun, and second- I want something that can do more than browse the internet- most netbooks seem to be little more than one trick ponies.

I was leaning towards an Acer Timeline AS3810T-8737, which looks like it will do everything I need. But I figured I would at least check my assumptions.

Any alternative suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

1_What is your budget?

Under $700

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

13-14" and under 4 lb

3_What screen resolution do you want?

Not important- current laptop is 1280x800

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Portable

5_How much battery life do you need?

At least 5 hours

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)?

No gaming

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

Simultaneously run Word, Excel (3-4 workbooks), Thunderbird (for 4 email accounts), Firefox with 40-50 open tabs, mild photo editing, download and convert Canon RAW files.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?

over 200GB will be fine

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

NA

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?

2+ years

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

Optional- not needed

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.

Don't want Lenovo- have heard bad things about build quality

13_What country do you live in?

USA

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.

NA

Thanks for your input!

Mark

 

[ibnsina]

Acer is no better than Lenovo, that for sure. If reliability survey were to be believed Asus and Toshiba market the most reliable systems. HP, Gateway, Acer, Lenovo at the bottom of the list.


Have a look at the following two notebooks, they both come with 2 years warranty, the first year is accidental. Before you purchase it, do check it out in a retail shop.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220632

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220626