Computers & Networking

[myapplemonkey]

Hi!  I'm a first year university student looking for a new laptop that won't kill my back while I'm carrying it around the campus and will last until I'm done in about five years.  I've been looking into getting a Netbook lately, but I know that's not really what I've been wanting.  I want a proper laptop with all the features (optical drive, lots of space for music and other media and notes, etc).

What I'm looking for is something that's light weight, has a long battery life (like "up to 6 hours" or longer, maybe?), and won't kill my budget.

I would love some suggestions on what you think is good and am open to anything.

Thanks! 

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

You are missing only one piece of information. Please give a max budget - $400? $800? $1200?. There are many price points and we'll be sure to point out our opinion of the best machine in that price point.

[myapplemonkey]

Whoops! I guess the max budget would be no more than $700...

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Thank you! I'm at work at the moment so please give me a couple of hours to do some research. I'll post as soon as I have some suggestions. If anyone wishes to jump in, I wouldn't be offended.

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Here is a listing of machines that match your criteria as far as price, Windows 7, laptop, and ultra-portable (under 5.5lbs). I haven't checked battery life yet. Please give me an idea of any of these appeal to you or you have additional specifications?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olstemplatemapper.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%...

[RedWyv3 Best Buy Employee]

Based on brand, portability, battery life (5.5 hours), processor (i3) and value, here is my recommendation.

It comes in any color you want, as long as it's Biscotti.

HP - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive - Biscotti

[NoNoBadDog]

I would not buy any of the Intel products until the recal is complete, and we know how many chipsets are affected.

[MichaelHWG]

If you are buying a new laptop may I suggest waiting until the start of March. I am aware of several models that Best Buy currently carries that are being refreshed and should be available by the end of this month maybe even sooner.

Personally I think it would suck to buy one now only to find out next week the same model is available for sale with slightly new features.

by the way when I say refreshed I do not mean an out right new model I simply mean processor change, and added features to the current systems available.

[Entropy]

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NoNoBadDog wrote:

I would not buy any of the Intel products until the recal is complete, and we know how many chipsets are affected.

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The recall IS complete and we know how many chipsets are affected - All Sandy Bridge chipsets (Associated with Core i3/i5/i7-2XXX processors, not ones with three digit model numbers) are affected, and it only matters if you're using SATA ports 3 through 6 (Ports 1/2, assuming your numbering starts at 1 not 0, are not affected).

All affected products have already been pulled from the market.  This means nearly all Sandy Bridge desktop motherboards (ones supporting the Core i3/i5/i7-2xxx).  I'm not sure if Sandy Bridge laptops were even available yet (the spec page above doesn't specify which Core i3 it is based on) - However in most laptops, there are only two SATA devices (single hard drive and an optical drive) and no place to add any more, so an issue with SATA ports 3-6 is irrelevant and these units might not be recalled.

[NoNoBadDog]

The 6 series shipped on almost all Intel product during this quarter, Sandy Bridge or not.  This includes notebooks.  Again, only time will tell the truth in this matter.  See this article:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug