Buying New Laptop, need advice/recommendations

[Kenny536]

I live in America. My price range is 800-1100. I don't want a Mac, and I don't want overheating to be an issue.

I will not be using it for gaming.
I want it to have great processing power, ram, etc. (so I can multi-task).
I want it to have a fairly high battery life.
I want it to be compatible with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

Size and resolution isn't a great concern, portability would be nice. I also want it to be durable, don't want to replace it in 2-3 years.

Nothing else is really of any importance, at least not that I can think or right now.

Please let me know if you need more info.

I need advice on which laptop to get, and where to get it. Money is an issue, I just want the biggest bang for my buck.

Right now I'm just looking at some on Newegg.
I am looking at a "business" laptop, the HP probook - it has a great battery life, and I don't really care about high quality audio. What do you think of this?

[Alaron]

We generally recommend Dell and Lenovo over HP.

[Kenny536]

Why?

[Alaron]

Better build quality and support.

[glc]

Buy a Dell Latitude from Dell's small business site, or buy a Lenovo.

[zscully]

You could take a look at this one on Dell.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/noteb...00&mo=2~MT6500
It starts at $574. If you customize it to include 4gb of ram($60), a 320gb hard ($60), the better 9 cell lithium battery($75), and change the operating system to include a free upgrade upgrade to windows 7 ($30) then you get probably what you are looking for at $799.

If you don't want the faster processor you could knock off a good chunck of money by customizing this to exactly the same way for about $610. http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/noteb...deals_anav_2~~

[glc]

The Inspiron is not a business laptop. The Latitude is.

[Khalil]

The best Laptops on the Market are Asus hands down but they are more money. I sell a ton of Lenovos as well and we rarely ever have any issues with them.
Last month alone we sold 83 Lenovo laptops, great laptops for the money.
I have to completely disagree with glc, I repair more Dells than all other brands combined, they are not as bad as HP but have a lot of issues, I also noticed many of the brand new Dells come with recertified hard drives.

[MrDravenX]

I have a Dell, well I have two but one of them is the wife's computer. I haven't had any problems with a Dell laptop. No HDD problems at all.

[glc]

Khalil, Dell has several model lines. I'm specifically recommending a Latitude here, which is their "flagship" business laptop, built for heavy duty use to compete with the Lenovos. The latest Latitudes are quite impressive. Not all Dell laptops are created equal.

Another reason I like Dell laptops is they still offer a XP downgrade on certain machines - and support a good portion of their laptops with XP drivers. It's not like a lot of companies that stuff Vista down your throat and do not have XP drivers for anything any more. We get quite a few posts here from users that have a new laptop with Vista, decide they don't like it, and want to put XP on it - and there are no drivers available.

[Kenny536]

I am deciding between the Lenovo Thinkpad T500 and the Lenovo Enhanced Thinkpad T500.

The enhanced is more eXpensive but from what I gather, the only difference is that the enhanced has the business version of Vista, dvd burner, and a different wifi card. The business version of Vista is irrelevant because I am going to get Windows 7 Pro 64 bit from my school. The dvd burner I can live without. And the different wifi card.. I think the Thinkpad Wifi is better even though the Intel one costs more. Therefore I'm going with the the regular T500, which is 160$ cheaper.

Here is a link for the model:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...menu_area=true

It is 939$ - but I am thinking about doing a few upgrades, I put my justifications in parenthesis below, let me know if you think the upgrades are a good deal:

+ hard drive upgrade from 160 5400 RPM > 320 GB 7200 RPM (+50$) (faster and larger HD)

+ 15.4" WSXGA+TFT, w/CCFL Backlight (+75$ - this is so I can get 1680 X 1050 resolution and a better screen)

+ 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM (32.50$) (this is so I can utilize a 64 bit operating system)

+ 9 cell - Li-Ion Battery (70$) (much better battery life)

So after doing all that, the total comes out to:

$1,166.50 cents

After a coupon code (USPSEARCH), I save 175$, so it goes down below 1000$. After tax, it is back up to $1053.50 - that is the total after everything. This coupon code is very nice! It expires in two days though.


Is this a good deal? Any customizations that I included that are not worth it? Any additional customizations that I should consider?


One other concern I have is that in the customization screen, it says the current version of vista for this laptop is not eligible for a Windows 7 Upgrade. I'm pretty sure this means that they will not provide a free upgrade to Windows 7, which is fine because I get one through my school anyway. But I just wanted to make sure that by "not eligible" they do not mean that it is impossible for me to upgrade because of hardware limitations or something. This is not the case right? If I upgrade to Vista premium for 50 more bucks, then I am eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade.

[glc]

Go for it. It just means it doesn't qualify for the free upgrade because it comes with Vista Home Basic.

If you have any Bluetooth devices such as a smartphone, the $20 Bluetooth upgrade is worth it. That way, you can do things like sync your contact lists, etc. without messing with a cable. With some phones and providers, you can even tether the phone to the laptop for Internet access.

[Kenny536]

I missed that the WSXGA+ had CCFL backlighting and not the LED. LED screens supposedly improve battery life and offers screen clarity, but the 1680 by 1050 resolution is also great, and only the + has that. I'm not sure which one to get anymore, based on this thread of people analyzing which one is better, there are mixed reviews of either choice. Some people think the LED screen is washed out.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=320218

I am leaning towards sticking with the WSxGA+ just because of the resolution, and I do not think I will be that picky about a CCFL vs LED screen.

For the warranty, I'm considering getting the "Mobile 1Yr Depot to Total 2Yr Depot Warranty" - which adds 69$

The return policy is not great - they charge a 15% restocking fee.

Also, Ill take your advice and add the bluetooth incase I need to sync my contacts or something like that, and the camera in case I ever need that (total of +50$ for both)

[glc]

1680x1050 can be pretty painful on a 15" screen. Why not save money on the screen and use an external monitor when you want high res?