Professional/College Laptop Reccomendation?

xHolic

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Nov 25, 2011
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18,510
Hello,

So my HP mini has served me for a decent amount of time. After 3 almost 4 years, I've decided it's time to let go of my loyal friend and hand him and the new battery down to my little sister. I'm in college now, and although I wish I had that amount of free time I used to have in HS...I don't have as much time for gaming as I used to. I'm a International Affairs (Politics) major, but I also do art commission and covers of music once in a while for projects or spending money. I'm not that tech savvy, but after spending a few months searching forums like this, Wiki, Google in general, and interviewing/harassing my computer programming major friends...I'm not that much of n00b. I did retain some stuff. I swear! >.<

So yes, without further ado, these are my somewhat vague specification:

Thank you~!

1. What is your budget?

$300 - $500 is my ideal range

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

Preference: 11’’ – 14’’ *Not a deal breaker

3. What screen resolution do you want?

1.6 is the lowest I’ve been advised to go.

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

Portable please!

5. How much battery life do you need?

No less than 2 hrs. Preferably over 4 hrs though. I don’t have it dying on me in mid-class/conference…It’s horrible. ;-;

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)?

Able to would be nice. MMOs such as FLYFF, WL(both rpg) and LOL (pvp) plus the odd OTOME (Japanese Visual Novel RPG) are all I’ve ever played. Buy like mentioned *Not a deal breaker/important

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

Surfing, MSOffice, Webcam conferences (good cam+mic), Photoshop (digital art so art tablet friendly), GuitarPro, Audacity, stream good quality HULU videos, no reputable difficulties with adding external hard drives

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

I rely on extended HDs as hinted, so “250” is fine.

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

3+ years~

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

CD/DVD Writer

11. 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’ve never gone outside HP and COMPAQ although I’ve heard they’re not the best?

I’d like to look into ASUS, SONY, or IBM. I’ve heard good reviews for ASUS from my friends who own them. SONY has been a reliable PSP manufacturer and I like their VAIO models. IBM I’ve heard is easiest to customize along with TOSHIBA.

Not going anywhere near a MAC. Love the IPOD. It’s just the user interface is so different from what I’m used to. Bad experiences in HS with them. Besides, I’m not willing to spend so much on a mere laptop either. And as for desktops…building them over buying pre-made is simply much more rewarding.

12. What country do you live in?

US

13. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

Stylish? Light-weight? I like black and silver! That’s all I have :3
 
Solution
A natural competitor to the X120e is the HP Pavilion dm1 11.6-inch 1.6GHz Dual-core AMD Fusion Laptop ~$374
AMD Fusion E-300 1.3Ghz dual core APU, 4GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 glossy LCD w/ Radeon HD 6310 graphics.
For $25 I recommend the E-450 1.66Ghz APU / Radeon HD 6320 graphics upgrade.
Bluetooth included. in the ~$374 price.

HP Pavilion dm1-4010us (Late 2011) Review


Another option in your budget range in a larger 14" size: ThinkPad Edge E425 $499
AMD A4-3300M 1.9Ghz dual core APU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 anti-glare LCD w/ Radeon HD 6470M graphics card.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E425 Review

1.6 is more like a screen aspect ratio (ratio of length to width = 1.6:1) also known as 16:10.
Resolutions (number of horizontal and vertical pixels) of 1280x800 pixels, 1440x900 pixels, 1680x1050 pixels are all 1.6.

LCD MFGRs have been switching over to 16:9 screens for the past several years.
Usually you want the most on-screen work area (highest resolution) you can afford.
In any case your modest (but reasonable) budget is going to limit your choices.

Did you play those same games with your HP Mini?
 
Lenovo (previously IBM) is well known for it's business class Thinkpad laptops.
Lenovo ThinkPad X120e 11.6-in AMD Fusion Laptop $$409
AMD Fusion E-350 1.6Ghz dual core APU, 2GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 anti-glare LCD w/ Radeon HD 6310 graphics.
Upgrading from 2GB to 4GB +$80 on the Lenovo website is bad value since you could do that upgrade yourself for about $20. Bluetooth 3.0 is a $20 upgrade and it might end up being useful.

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e Review
 
A natural competitor to the X120e is the HP Pavilion dm1 11.6-inch 1.6GHz Dual-core AMD Fusion Laptop ~$374
AMD Fusion E-300 1.3Ghz dual core APU, 4GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 glossy LCD w/ Radeon HD 6310 graphics.
For $25 I recommend the E-450 1.66Ghz APU / Radeon HD 6320 graphics upgrade.
Bluetooth included. in the ~$374 price.

HP Pavilion dm1-4010us (Late 2011) Review


Another option in your budget range in a larger 14" size: ThinkPad Edge E425 $499
AMD A4-3300M 1.9Ghz dual core APU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, 14" 1366x768 anti-glare LCD w/ Radeon HD 6470M graphics card.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E425 Review
 
Solution

StephenBenzamin

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Nov 25, 2011
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18,510
I will suggest you for HP Pavilion DV6-3052NR NoteBook .I am long time HP user and I am highly satisfied with it.This laptop was pretty cheap at Best Buy after a discount so you will not bother to get a warranty for this.I have just replaced my laptop and was going to go back to them to purchase one.
 

xHolic

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Nov 25, 2011
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18,510


@WR2 Yes, I've played Flyff and otome as well as Age of Empires on here pretty well.
However, LOL ,which I believe to be the most intense of all of them, I've only played on my friends laptops.

Thank you both for your suggestions.
I'm looking at both HP options at the moment. I'm leaning more toward the first suggestion however, I need to look into the DV6 model more closely.
Again thank you~!

~ xHolic