Seeking Replacement Laptop (<$800)

[Bbdude83]

Wanted to surprised my wife with a new laptop. Our current laptop is a 5-6 year old ASUS.

1. What is your budget?

Under $800

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

15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?

1080p or better

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

Not a critical consideration

5. How much battery life do you need?

3+ 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)?

No

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

Primary used for internet browsing, photo editing, and possibly light 1080p video editing. Think Light Room, Adobe, etc.

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

512GB+. Prefer SSD.

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

Amazon, Manufacture Site, Best Buy, Newegg, etc

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

Current one is 5-6 years old and would like to keep the next one around the same.

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

Not a critical consideration

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.

ASUS, DELL, Lenovo. They're well regarded brands and I've had success with all of them previously. Open to other brands if the model is well reviewed.

13. What country do you live in?

USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

Laptop must have 4-in-1 card reader.

 

[hang-the-9]

Your drive size is a bit of an issue with getting a larger SSD and a good model for your price. Most systems that come with a 500gb or larger SSD are gaming systems or a bit low quality systems.

I like this one, 256 GB SSD but you can replace it if needed and just clone it over to a larger one https/www.amazon.com/F556UA-AS54-15-6-inch-Full-HD-Laptop-Windows/dp/B01CGGOUJM/ref=pd_sim_147_41?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SWH9CPHJ61FVXJ2N9W76

Just noticed you said "must have card reader", not sure if this model does, but you can easily get an external USB one, you can't use it that often that you need it built in if that means sacrificing something else like price or battery life of design.

Good price, and since it's for the wife the fact that it's sleek looking and a color other than plain silver or black can help.

 

[grmnlxndr]

Another option, with a GPU and a quad core is this Dell

https/www.amazon.com/Dell-15-6-Inch-Quad-Core-i5-6300HQ-Processor/dp/B015PYYDMQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1477574390&sr=1-5&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A2423841011%2Cp_36%3A-80000%2Cp_89%3ADell

As hang-the-9 said, at that price point it is very difficult to get such a big ssd.

Regards

 

[Bbdude83]

I went with the ASUS. Thank you!