Looking to buy a companion Laptop for my Desktop Computer.

[PaladinAzumarill]

Since summer is upon us, I've decided to buy a Laptop to act as a companion unit to my Desktop PC.

It's mainly going to be used for presentations involving games, pictures and videos. As well as a way to work on projects while away from home.

What I'm looking for:

Budget: No more then $500

Screen Resolution: 16:9 Screen that's at least 720 in width. (I don't know how else to word it.)

What kind of Laptop: Portable Laptop.

Battery Life: [strike]12[/strike] 7 Hours or better if possible.

Gaming: Able to handle most games at medium settings.

Other Tasks: Basic things with documents in Microsoft Office, music, photos and videos.
Browse the internet and watch videos in 720p at least.

Storage Size: 500GB [strike]Solid State Drive[/strike] HDD if possible.

How much RAM: 8GB's if possible.

How long I want it to last: At least four years.

[strike]Optical Drive: Can read/write DVD's, CD's & Blu Ray Discs.[/strike]

Where am I?: North America.

Other Details: Has to be able to output display to an TV via HDMI and to a projector.
Has to have at least three USB Ports, one of them being a USB 3.0 Port.
Has to have a SD Card slot.
Has to have a Mic / Headphone Jack.
Has to be Wi-Fi ready.
Has to be usable in the environment of any condition, save for rainy and snowy areas.
Would like a Touch Screen if possible.

[strike]What it must NOT have: It does NOT have a built-in Webcam.[/strike]
It does NOT have a built-in Fingerprint Scanner.
It is NOT a MacBook.

I'm more then sure there isn't a Laptop that fits my description perfectly, so post what could come close to it, noting the pros and cons.

Any recommendations, either way?

EDIT: Crossed out some the details for the sake of simplifying matters.

 

[i7Baby]

For $500 try - http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-14-0-Inch-Touchscreen-Convertible-59435728/dp/B00NNQFO72/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1434941102&sr=1-2&refinements=p_n_feature_thirteen_browse-bin%3A9521913011%7C9521914011%2Cp_36%3A000-50000%2Cp_n_size_browse-bin%3A3545275011%7C2423840011%7C2423841011%7C2242801011%7C7817234011%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289794011%7C2289793011%7C9697948011%7C2289792011%7C9697949011%2Cp_n_feature_eighteen_browse-bin%3A6819965011%7C9560246011%7C9521940011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817222011%7C7817223011%7C7817224011%2Cp_n_condition-type%3A2224371011%2Cp_72%3A1248880011%2Cp_n_availability%3A1248800011%2Cp_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A5945862011%7C5945861011%7C5945864011%7C5945786011%7C2232492011%7C2287320011%7C2232493011%7C2232495011%7C2232494011%2Cp_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A562240011%7C562241011%7C5446812011%7C5446813011%7C7817230011%2Cp_n_feature_eleven_browse-bin%3A9521903011%7C9521904011

 

[PaladinAzumarill]

For $500 try - http/www.amazon.com/Lenovo-14-0-Inch-Touchscreen-Convertible-59435728/dp/B00NNQFO72/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1434941102&sr=1-2&refinements=p_n_feature_thirteen_browse-bin%3A9521913011%7C9521914011%2Cp_36%3A000-50000%2Cp_n_size_browse-bin%3A3545275011%7C2423840011%7C2423841011%7C2242801011%7C7817234011%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289794011%7C2289793011%7C9697948011%7C2289792011%7C9697949011%2Cp_n_feature_eighteen_browse-bin%3A6819965011%7C9560246011%7C9521940011%2Cp_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A7817222011%7C7817223011%7C7817224011%2Cp_n_condition-type%3A2224371011%2Cp_72%3A1248880011%2Cp_n_availability%3A1248800011%2Cp_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A5945862011%7C5945861011%7C5945864011%7C5945786011%7C2232492011%7C2287320011%7C2232493011%7C2232495011%7C2232494011%2Cp_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A562240011%7C562241011%7C5446812011%7C5446813011%7C7817230011%2Cp_n_feature_eleven_browse-bin%3A9521903011%7C9521904011

Looked promising despite the 4GB RAM, but one problem, it has a Webcam built in it. I don't trust built-in Webcams.
Any alternates?

 

[jaguarskx]

With a budget of $500 you are going to have to reduce a lot of the expectations you listed.

12 hour battery life? No. Typically about 6 or 7 hours at best.

500GB SSD? That alone is worth about $250 - $300.

Handle most games at medium graphic settings or better? No. The laptop will only have integrated graphics. Medium (or higher) settings is possible for games that are not graphics intensive.

Read Blu-Ray? No. Laptops that I have seen with a Blu-Ray drive generally starts at $900+.

 

[jaguarskx]

Built in webcams are ubiquitous. They are in every single laptop sold.

You can physically remove the webcam, bu that means you will need to disassemble the laptop to get to it, uninstall the webcam drivers, cover the webcam with tape, or crack the webcam's lens.

 

[PaladinAzumarill]

With a budget of $500 you are going to have to reduce a lot of the expectations you listed.

12 hour battery life? No. Typically about 6 or 7 hours at best.

500GB SSD? That alone is worth about $250 - $300.

Handle most games at medium graphic settings or better? No. The laptop will only have integrated graphics. Medium (or higher) settings is possible for games that are not graphics intensive.

Read Blu-Ray? No. Laptops that I have seen with a Blu-Ray drive generally starts at $900+.

Hmm... I wasn't expecting to find a perfect match out of this anyway, given the budget, so I'll be fine with what I can get.

Built in webcams are ubiquitous. They are in every single laptop sold.

You can physically remove the webcam, bu that means you will need to disassemble the laptop to get to it, uninstall the webcam drivers, cover the webcam with tape, or crack the webcam's lens.

Tape? Tape can work, seems more reasonable then the other options.

I'll give this thread more time before I decide on the best solution, just in case someone else suggests a Laptop that falls within the budget range.

 

[jaguarskx]

I recommend the following 15.6" Toshiba laptop for $449 (no Office 365). It has a 5th gen Core i5-5200u (2.2GHz / 2.7GHz) and a 1080p touchscreen. 500GB hard drive and only 4GB of RAM, but RAM is cheap you can buy a stick of 4GB DDR3L (1.35v) 1600MHz RAM for around $30. Check newegg.com.

http/www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Toshiba-Satellite-S55t-B5152-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.314413400

 

[PaladinAzumarill]

Say, now that I think about it, it is not possible for a Laptop to have an Optical drive without going over $500, is it?

 

[i7Baby]

Have a look here - http/www.newegg.com/All-Laptops-Notebooks/SubCategory/ID-32

 

[PaladinAzumarill]

Have a look here - http/www.newegg.com/All-Laptops-Notebooks/SubCategory/ID-32

[strike]After filtering the results to show what uses an Optical drive... Yeah, Optical drive, not gonna happen. Period.
On the bright side, that's one less part of the problem to worry about now.[/strike]

[strike]EDIT: I take that back, this is a possible candidate - http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6R434B1042[/strike]

EDIT: ...You know what, I'm gonna sleep on this for now. I'll check back tomorrow.

 

[1shado1]

Any recommendations, either way?

Up your budget by $400-$500 for all those goodies.

 

[PaladinAzumarill]

Any recommendations, either way?

Up your budget by $400-$500 for all those goodies.

As much as I want to, but considering what the purpose of the Laptop is for, it would be financially foolish of me to up the budget any higher then it is already.

I changed some things in the original post to help clear up some issues up for future readers.

 

[PaladinAzumarill]

I recommend the following 15.6" Toshiba laptop for $449 (no Office 365). It has a 5th gen Core i5-5200u (2.2GHz / 2.7GHz) and a 1080p touchscreen. 500GB hard drive and only 4GB of RAM, but RAM is cheap you can buy a stick of 4GB DDR3L (1.35v) 1600MHz RAM for around $30. Check newegg.com.

http/www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Toshiba-Satellite-S55t-B5152-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.314413400

After comparing the two Laptops mentioned on this thread, I've concluded that this one is more ideal for my needs.
With that, I thank you, jaguarskx!