Windows laptop for school/business use (Refurb or new?) <$500

[givemelight]

I've been an IT professional for fifteen years, but admittedly I have not kept current with laptop technologies.
I'm looking for a laptop for school and business use as I will be continuing my education.
Been looking at Lenovo T410, T420, T440 refurbs. Wondering if I should be looking for newer hardware in the price range I've selected?? (I did purchase a refurb Lenovo T410 last year for my wife and it has been doing just fine for similar tasks.) Looking to get 2-3 years use out of the laptop.


1. What is your budget?
$500 (could stretch to $600 if I found something worthwhile)

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
13-17" (I would like something approximating a full size keyboard - or I should say decent key spacing to facilitate speedy typing without being too cramped. I used to use both a Lenovo T42 and T60 and did just fine on those keyboards. Also had a 13" macbook that was okay for typing.)

3. What screen resolution do you want?
More is better I'd like at least 900 vertical resolution, however this is not a deal breaker as I will likely use an external monitor as well.

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

5. How much battery life do you need?
~2 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 games.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Office apps, scoping software, web training seminars (nothing terribly processor heavy).

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
250GB minimum

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I've purchased new and refurbs in the past from newegg, tigerdirect, woot, amazon.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2-3 years

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

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'm not locked into any particular brand, however I have plenty of experience with Lenovo business class (T series) and have liked them over the years.
I hear that ASUS also has nice offerings from a price/value/quality perspective.

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Windows 7, or Windows 8 OS. Minimum 8GB RAM.

Thank you.

 

[velo3100]

I would stick with lenovo as they are very good with business laptops. The t400 series is the best for what you need. I don't know which is the best as I don't use them and they are made for the tasks I do. However they are perfect for you as you have used them and have a good reputation.

Asus are good but their main focus is multimedia and not business users.