What is the best laptop I can get according to my needs

[guandra]

I live in South America, but I am going to study to Europe for two years, reason for which I need a laptop. First, I need a laptop that is reliable and better if its from a manufacturer that has international Warranty.

Now, about the caracteristics, well this laptop will probably be my life during this two years. Not only do I need it to be good to run Office and Statistical programs like STATA and SPSS, but I'll use it a lot to watch DVD movies, tv series, listen to music, and to check my email and get in contact with my family.

On the other side, I'm a little fan of pc games like Mass Effect 2, Crysis and bioshock. But I believe I won't have a lot of time to play games. For this reason, I don't need it to be the best gaming laptop, but probably good enough that if I want to play any of this games, I can do it, eventhough its not in the highest settings.

I have been looking in differente manufacturers, and for what I have heard, Toshiba and Lenovo (actually, I really like the IdeaPad Y550P) seem to be good choices. But since I am not an expert in this, I would like to ask for your help. My top budget is 2000 dollars, but I wouldn't mind if I can get something good that is closer to 1000.

Thanks,

Gustavo

 

[Maziar]

Please fill the FAQ first:
http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/50797-35-read-buying-laptop

 

[guandra]

1. My budget is 2000 dollars, but I guess that if I can get anything good closer to 1000, it would be great.

2. The size of my notebook, I was considering an 18 inch laptop, but they are a probably too big for travelling. Anything between 15-inch and 18-inch is all right. Not too small because I wan't to watch movies.

3. About the screen resolution, I don't have a preference. A Full HD (1080P) would be great, but I'll accept anything good.

4. The laptop needs to be portable, but not small. Considering it will also be the place for me to watch movies, I wan't tomething big and portable.

5. Battery life could be around 6 hours.

6. I like games, but they won't be my priority. I usually play first person shootersand RPG, but I don't mind if the settings in the games are Medium.

7. I wan't the laptop to be good un running multimedia software, great to watch movies, listen to music, and also good in watching web pages and video conferencing. I also need the laptop to be powerfull enough to run statistical programs like SPSS and STATA.

8. The storage capacity could be between 320GB and 500.

9. I don't have specific manufacturers, but recently I have been looking and Toshiba and Lenovo seem to be good.

10. This laptop need to be reliable and las for at least 2 years.

11. It only need a DVD ROM/Writer.

12. This would be my first laptop, so I really don't have preferences por any Brand.

13. Right now I live in Colombia, but I will be travelling to Europe for two years and probably doing a lot of work in the UniteD States too.

14. Since I'll be in different parts of the world for two years, I need the laptop to be really reliable. Also, It would be good if the manufacturer has a worldwide warranty/support service.

Thanks for your help...

 

[Tunafish]

The Lenovo y550p is a very good laptop, but in March lenovo will release the y560, which is even better.

For now, I suggest the VAIO E.

 

[Maziar]

ASUS G51jx and AW M15x are pretty good machines.

 

[Tunafish]

wouldn't the AW be overkill for what he needs? if he needs a pwerful system, go for it. but he'll be a bit sort on battery life though

 

[Maziar]

Ouch didn't saw 6 hours of battery life at first,the Lenovo model is good too but will it last for 6 hours ?

 

[guandra]

Actually, its true about the battery life of the lenovo y550. Its a 6 cell lithium ion battery that I've read that it only last around 4.5 hours. Too bad they don't give an option to change the battery for a 9 cell lithium ion battery. I guess I can wait until march and see the reviews on the lenovo 560.

I was looking today at the Toshiba Sattelite A500. Its 999 dollars and it comes with the Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor 1.6 GHz, NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M with 512MB GDDR3 discrete graphics memory, 4GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM (2048MBx2), and a 320GB HDD (7200rpm, Serial ATA). And I can get and upgrade for a 12 cell lithium ion battery for only 75 dollars.

About the Asus G51jx, its really good and it seems a nice option.