Solved! Need Laptop Recommendation

[Mike Mills]

1. What is your budget?

$1500 or less


2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

14" screen to keep the overall package small but useable.


3. What screen resolution do you want?

I'd prefer as many lines as possible, so I prefer the 1366X900 screen options.


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

No, this will supplement my AWESOME! desktop, when I positively, absolutely have to travel.


5. How much battery life do you need?

I want a standard battery, 4 hours comes to mind. I am willing to compromise on graphics card "horse power" to get better battery life.


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)?

If I said no, you'd call me a liar. However, gaming will be a very minor, secondary function.


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

I do a lot of spreadsheet work, at home and on the road. Video editting will be done on my desktop.


8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

I want an SSD. I was thinking of a Crucial 128 GB SSD. Bulk storage can be via an external HDD.


9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

I've been scanning the Lenovo, Toshiba, HP and Dell web sites. There are too many out there to filter thru. There are no reliability data available.


10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

As long as possible. If it lasts less than three years, I'd say it was a waste. Five years is a goal.


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

I'd like Bluray for movie playback but a DVD RW is fine.


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.

I want a robust laptop. If the keyboard falls apart, like I see so many times on the display models, I will be unhappy.


13. What country do you live in?

USA


14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Read my thread, it will explain pretty much everything about laptops to you. I think it's an important thing to be able to at least understand everything that you see in stores. Knowing what you need instead of being told what you need is a great feeling when spending that kind of money, no?
http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/60098-35-general-laptop-advice

 

[Mike Mills]

Avro Arrow, thanks for the tips and the general advice. I agree with most of that.

No offense intended but, honestly, I believe I may be beyond the level of consumer your article is targeted at. I'm not boasting, I'm just saying I do know what I want Not being a laptop person, right now I am struggling with the myriad of product names, part numbers, etc. I need specifics.

CPU power is important to me. I have spreadsheets that are so large and complicated that it takes 10 seconds to recalculate. That means everytime you change and input or edit a cell and hit <Enter>, you have to wait 10 seconds for it to recalculate (I sometimes use manual recalculate when doing lots of editing).

I do real-time 3D plotting of results while the code is running. The plotting routines, alone, often bog down the refresh of the display. In the end, the graphics presented are 2D projections but the computations behind them are in 3D. There are times when RAW horsepower really is important.

I'll be getting an SSD because load times from a 7200 rpm HDD are ridiculous (one minute or more). It's just too darned slow. It's ridiculous to say, "I want to show you something." Then have to wait 60 seconds for it to load and 60 seconds to recalulate and plot. Two minutes later, the conversation with the customer is D-E-A-D. Any longer would just be totally dysfunctional.

I totally agree that most computing should be via a powerful desktop and I have invested in that. However, I do need a powerful laptop to take those computationally-intensive spreadsheets "on the road".

 

[Mike Mills]

Rightly or wrongly, I ordered a laptop. I ordered a Lenovo Y460P.



Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor ( 2.00GHz 1333MHz 6MB )
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6550M 1GB
Total memory 8 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz
Display 14.0" HD Glare with integrated camera 1366x768
Pointing device Industry Standard Touchpad
Hard Drive 750GB 5400
Optical Drive DVD Recordable (Dual Layer)
Battery 6 Cell Lithium-Ion
Network Card Intel 1000 BGN Wireless
Bluetooth Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR
Warranty One year
Finger Print Reader None

I bought the 3 year, in-home warranty, too.


I will add an SSD upgrade when it gets here. This will take me over my budget but I think it will be a useful upgrade given the large file sizes I use.


Like I said, I am not a laptop person, so this was what I bought. How did I do?