Looking for a good laptop below $1000.

[samwelaye]

Hello everyone! Starting to look at some laptops cause I get one as a graduation gift in a month (after highschool). I've been searching a lot on my own, but I really cant find one that i think would be right for me. Any help would be appreciated!

1. What is your budget?
Around or less than 1,000 USD

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Around 14" would be best, a bit more or less isnt too bad

3. What screen resolution do you want?
ANYthing higher than 1366x768. Preferably 1600x900 or so. And if possible, Matte is best! Glossy isn't ever good...

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Something more portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
As much as possible.

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)?
I will not be playing any games except simple flash/java ones when I am bored. Games are played on my desktop

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Watching movies. A lot of them. I have heard that the E-350 CPUs struggle to playback video that has advanced subtitles in it, and that is a must for me cause I like some anime every now and then

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Storage is not an issue, I have external drives and will probably buy myself a cheap 64gig SSD

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
newegg.com is good cause they're awesome.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as it lasts. Or until I make money and feel like spending more again

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
dvd writer/reader is fine. no reason for blu-ray cause I dont care to pay 100 bucks for playback software

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.
Sony seems like a strong buy for this screen size. Same with the lenovo thinkpads. Also considering the Toshiba Portege series.

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
From the look of things, I think I want an Optimus enabled laptop with either the gt525 or gt540. They're the same chip but the 540 has higher clocks that probably arent necessary anyways

 

[Maziar]

Have a look at Sager NP5160
http/www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-clevo-sager-notebooks-ct-95_51_162.html

 

[samwelaye]

I have, and it gets nowhere near the battery life I want =( plus its a bit on the big side

 

[Maziar]

Well HP ENVY 14 comes to mind which is a bit expensive, M14x is also the same.
Dell XPS 15 is also good but I don't know if you find it heavy or not

 

[samwelaye]

Yeah I have been paying close attention to the envy 14, I might just wait until that is refreshed with Sandybridge chips. The m14x is well over budget, is heavy, and gets poor battery life. On the refresh of the xps 15 people have been complaining about build quality and the like (many of the comments on the anandtech review page for it are not positive)

 

[Maziar]

There are always satisfied and dissatisfied customers,so you can't rely much on user reviews.

 

[dblur]

I'm in the same situation as Sam.

I don't want anything larger than a 15.6" and really want 1920x1080. I was about to buy a XPS 15 but read a few somewhat questionable reviews plus the XPS uses glossy not matte.

I wanted to hit the $900 mark. I doubt the new envy will be near that mark. I need to read up more on the Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HN.

 

[burnley14]

Take a look at the new Dell Latitude E series. They have Sandy Bridge CPUs, matte screens, and can be customized to have higher res screens (1600x900 and above for larger models). And you can pick your own bells and whistles via customization (backlit keyboard, bluetooth, fingerprint scanner, etc.)

 

[burnley14]

By the way here is the link

http/www.dell.com/us/business/p/latitude-laptops?~ck=bt

 

[samwelaye]

thanks for all the suggestions. I'll probably keep the envy 14 once its refreshed and the 14" latitudes on my shortlist

 

[samwelaye]

ohhh a laptop with 2gb ddr2 for almost 900 bucks. that seems like a modern piece of equipment! Sorry no, thats terrible. ty anyways though

 

[samwelaye]

core 2 duo and 1gig ram? anyways, thanks to burnley and maziar for actually knowing something

 

[Maziar]

HP Envy 14 is probably your best bet especially when it's updated with SB CPUs which will give you significantly better performance/battery life as well

 

[randomstar]

ALso dont forget to check out the outlet for both the home and small business side of dell.- a found a latitude i5 with 4gb ram, the x900 display and 500gb hdd for $619 yesterday for a friend, total out the door with the same full one year on site warranty and everything. 899 listed, was a " scratch and dent". I have ordered at least a dozen units from the dell outlet for family and friends in the last couple of years, and with only one exception I have never been able to tell why it was labled as a scratch or dent..

 

[samwelaye]

Best answer selected by samwelaye.