Please help me find some great laptop options

outofhabit

Estimable
May 8, 2015
1
0
4,510
1. What is your budget?
$500 or less ($550 or less if it is at Costco)

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
It doesn't matter.... but it must have a number pad on the keyboard.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Does not matter.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
It will be used as a desktop replacement.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Preferably 6+ hours, but would consider 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)?
Just simple ones.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Multiple tabs open at once, but nothing too taxing.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
350 Gig or more.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Not picky.

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

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
A DVD or Blueray drive would be nice, but not necessary.

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 don't want a Toshiba, as we've had several go bad in the office.

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I also need it to have at least 3 USB ports and an Ethernet port.
A light-up keyboard would be great, but not necessary.
A touch screen would be great, but not necessary.
 
Solution
I recommend the Lenovo G50-80 Signature Edition Laptop from the Microsoft Store which is currently on sale for $359. It is the same G50-80 as in the above Newegg link, but "Signature Edition" guarantees there is no bloatware installed on the laptop.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Lenovo-G50-80-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.315132400


Newegg lists the laptop with up to 5 hours of battery life whereas Microsoft states up to 4 hours which is likely the more conservative number.


There is the Acer Aspire V 15 Touch V3-572P-326T Signature Edition Laptop which has a touch screen selling for $499 (without Office 365). It states up to 7 hours battery life which is possible since it has a 6-cell lithium ion battery...
It will be impossible to find a laptop with 5 hours of battery life with a keypad. The high battery life systems are all small with slower CPUs and screens.

The # thing is the keypad, to get one means a larger case and screen which means the design is not made for battery life. You will be at about 3 hours of use in one of those.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834318466
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0ZX1CA5101
 
I recommend the Lenovo G50-80 Signature Edition Laptop from the Microsoft Store which is currently on sale for $359. It is the same G50-80 as in the above Newegg link, but "Signature Edition" guarantees there is no bloatware installed on the laptop.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Lenovo-G50-80-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.315132400


Newegg lists the laptop with up to 5 hours of battery life whereas Microsoft states up to 4 hours which is likely the more conservative number.


There is the Acer Aspire V 15 Touch V3-572P-326T Signature Edition Laptop which has a touch screen selling for $499 (without Office 365). It states up to 7 hours battery life which is possible since it has a 6-cell lithium ion battery rather than just a 4-cell battery in the G50-80. However, the laptop comes with a Core i3 CPU rather than the Core i5 CPU in the G50-80 so you will get less performance, but will still be enough for everyday tasks.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Acer-Aspire-V-15-Touch-V3-572P-326T-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.316334400
 
Solution
If you can spend up to $550 outside of Costco, then I recommend you consider the ThinkPad E550. They rate the battery life at up to 9 hours with its standard battery; but I would guess 7 - 8 hours would be more reasonable.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/e-series/e550/#tab-customize


I recommend you upgrade the CPU from the Core i3-4005u to the newer generation Core i3-5005u. Not only is it a free upgrade, but it consumes a little less power, the higher clock speed means better performance and the integrated graphics core has a little better performance as well... in case the need to play a game comes up.


Here's a pretty in depth review of the ThinkPad E550:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Edge-E550-Notebook-Review.137727.0.html