Notebook ~$500

[ace-mp4]

1. What is your budget?
about $500

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
about 15 in

3. What screen resolution do you want?
decent resolution

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement, although some portability.. not too heavy for female of small built

5. How much battery life do you need?
4 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)?
Gaming not crucial

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Able to watch HD movies smoothly. Also skype with HD quality camera (can buy separately)

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
around 320GB or more

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

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

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD/RW, with/without blu-ray

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.
Prefer esthetically good looking

13. What country do you live in?
US/Canada

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Should I wait for Sandy bridge notebooks, or would they be out of my price and spec range?

 

[WR2]

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)?
Gaming not crucial

Can you explain this in more detail? It's not quite clear enough to understand what you're hoping to get in your next laptop.

 

[WR2]

One option:
Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 15.6" $500
Core i3 2.53GHz CPU, 15.6" 4GB RAM 320GB HDD 1366x768 LCD w/Intel HD graphics 1.3m webcam
Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 review

 

[deadlockedworld]

More ideas:

http/www.logicbuy.com/deals/hp-g62t-laptop/18745.aspx

http/www.logicbuy.com/deals/asus-x52f-laptop/29406.aspx

 

[ace-mp4]

Thanks for the replies so far!
WR2: i meant that i may not even need gaming capabilities. Although possibly, if it can run something like WOW smoothly at a lookable fps that would be a nice bonus.

 

[ace-mp4]

WR2: How does this Lenovo model compare with the one above?

http/www.buy.com/prod/lenovo-ideapad-z565-43113du-15-6-notebook-amd-turion-ii-p540-2-40ghz/q/loc/101/217056126.html

 

[WR2]

Not too bad. The independent reviews are a bit lower. Z565 reviews. - Z560 reviews
But the CPUs in the AMD Z565 version are less powerful than the Core i3-380M in the Z560.
With the small $20 price difference its a no-brainer to go with the Z560 even if it does have a 320GB HDD to the Z565's 500GB.

Passmark CPU scores:
AMD Turion II P540 Dual-Core = 1502
Intel Core i3 380M @ 2.53GHz = 2258

 

[WR2]

Im checking on the Z565 vs Z560 video performance as far as WoW goes.

 

[WR2]

Z565 HD 4270 and Z560 Intel HD Graphics:

You can find the Z565 with the HD 5470 video upgrade and the Z560 with the 310M upgrade.

 

[ace-mp4]

Hmm, so it doesn't have info on the HD 4270... Where did you find the upgrade options? But then I guess it would be over $500 quite a bit if so?

 

[ace-mp4]

Best answer selected by ace-mp4.