Purchasing first laptop! Help please.

[AGT]

Hello TH.

I need help.

I've been racking my brain the last 2 weeks trying to find the perfect laptop to make my first. With all these back to school deals and coupons I come across I still can't seem to pick one out for some reason. lol

I know that I don't want a touchscreen.

I do know that I want....
Full 1080 HD
BluRay Player
8GB RAM
500 GB - 1TB HD 7200 RPM? I get kind of lost when I see +hybrid attached to it. I can live without having a ton of space. On the other hand I do understand that the SSD ones are the new kids on the block and all but I could do without one of those for now. Basically anything that I can trim from the fat that can make the brains of the operation even better is fine by me.

When it really gets hairy for me is when I get into the processors and graphic cards.

Im basically looking for a quality entertainment laptop for no more then $1000 that I can team with this Google Fiber that Im about to get. I don't need it to be some monster gaming laptop or anything like that but I wouldn't mind being able to play the occasional game on it from time to time. Im mainly a console gamer anyway so looking for a gaming laptop isn't a priority for me. Other then surfing the web, listening to music and the occasional web cam sessions with family out of state there will be nothing else I will need this laptop for that I know of.


Lead me in the direction of quality laptops for under a $1000 and I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

 

[AGT]

1. What is your budget? $800-$1000

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Atleast 15"

3. What screen resolution do you want? 1920x1080

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

5. How much battery life do you need? a few 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)? The occasional quality game, nothing to serious. Medium

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

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? Could live with 500GB

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

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? Alteast 5 years

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

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. It doesn't matter to me really. I haven't heard many good things about Acer though, so I guess that would be one to avoid.

13. What country do you live in? US

 

[AGT]

Yes, I am in the US Boss.

 

[AGT]

Can I get some some guidance here please?

 

[BRS]

HP Spectre XT Touchsmart pretty much fits the bill with good audio quality and 1080p display. People usually sacrifice looks for performance and since you don't need performance, you might want something that feels premium. As for the other things, just buy an external blu-ray drive and upgrade the ram to 8gb. Laptops with built-in optical drives are becoming less and less available as they're power hungry and takes up a lot of internal space.

But in the end, it's your choice. Do research about the models people are talking about, and you might find the one that meets your specs.

 

[AGT]

Dell $899

Asus $841

Dell $829

Toshiba $709


Thoughts?