Looking for a new laptop. Please help me choose.

Lenovo Thinkpad T510, 520, 530. Excellent quality, durable, solid screen resolution, well built. Dell, i'm sorry to say (yes, I've owned a couple), is not even in the same league along with many of the others.

Asus are always rated near to the top for reliability & you can get them for a good price. Toshiba & Lenovo are usually near the top also.

Here's a 3 year reliability study & it went in this order

1. Asus

2. Toshiba

3. Sony

4. Apple

5. Dell

http://bitsonline.org/news/111-asus-leads-in-laptop-reliability-beats-all-other-competitors-

+1 on the Lenovo. If you go with Dell, get their business class computer. It's considered to be higher quality than their consumer line.

You might want to find someone with Windows 8 and see if you can stand it before getting a laptop with Windows 8. It was created for touch screen devices and it's clunky and a step backwards from Windows 7 on non-touch screen devices in many ways.

Lenovo Thinkpad or Dell Latitude line is the way to go. No doubt about it. Both offer great build quality and options. Quality keyboards. And matte screens too! I personally lean Lenovo, but Dell's offerings are alright too.

Think about what size of computer you want. Do you want something thin and light? 12.5 inch? 14 inch? 15 inch? Something that is extremely powerful to run multiple VMs at once (but might be heavy)? Something that is adequate for office work, watching youtube videos, etc?

I will say: even the bottom barrel 2013 Thinkpad or Latitude will smoke the %#@^ out of your 2007 D830. So don't be oversold on power unless you really need it, and know you need it.

If I were buying a laptop today, I'd buy the Lenovo Thinkpad T430. Best combo of price, size/portability, build quality, power, and options (i.e. the ability to run both an SSD and a HDD simultaneously). If you go for T430, definitely get the 1600x900 screen. If you go for the smaller X230 (not recommended by me due to crappy trackpad), definitely get the IPS screen. If you want a bigger computer, 500 series is good too. Basically, once you go Thinkpad, you never go back.

Before buying anything, read reviews online for specific model via google and youtube search. Also, I think getting an SSD is worth it. Makes everything load up MUCH faster. Also, don't be afraid of Windows 8. It takes about a week to get used to, but overall it is much better than Windows 7. Better speed, security, forward/long-term compatibility, connects to wifi faster, etc. Lots of small improvements that make it worthwhile.

One other thing. If you don't need a new Thinkpad *right now* and are willing to wait a couple months, they'll probably be releasing updated models this summer with the newest intel chips....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haswell_%28microarchitecture%29

Might be worth the wait due to speed, efficiency (less fan noise, more battery life) improvements.

Best place to monitor for laptop deals is slickdeals.net (use search and deal alerts) so that you don't miss anything.

Chromebook Pixel

I got the Q500A-BHI5N01 from Asus. Solid looking laptop, runs smoothly, 6 GB of ram and a solid price for it's features. Ergonomics are smooth, the screen is solid and the overall performance of the machine runs well. There isn't a separate vRAM for the computer, but the integrated graphics processor does a sturdy job regardless. The only downside is the low battery life of 5 hours.

Any mainstream laptop is going to be more than fine for your needs.

Things to check:

- Battery life: rated at least 3.5 hours, preferably more.

- Keyboard: try before you buy. A cheap keyboard will make you miserable.

- RAM: Get at least 6GB RAM, preferably 8GB. It's the cheapest and most valuable upgrade.

- Screen: 13-14" should be enough, and will be easier to carry.

You can get all this for under $500.

everyone thnks for the tips (sorry bout poor spelling keyboard is going to sh*t as we speak) y current laptop has 2gb ra which is pretty crappy huh/ what speed should the processor be? I'd like to spend less than 500 bucks if at all possible again uses will be surfing web email word docs ppt netflix and youtoob for the ost part no games etc

Do not worry about processor speed. Anything you can buy today will be more than enough. (Source: I work for a CPU-manufacturer.) RAM is much more important for usability.

AMD wrote:

Do not worry about processor speed. Anything you can buy today will be more than enough. (Source: I work for a CPU-manufacturer.) RAM is much more important for usability.

This guy is a fool. There are certain CPUs that you can buy today that will be lacking. i.e. Atom, AMD E-250, ARM. Stay away from these and you'll be fine.

RAM is inconsequential as long as you have 2-4 GB or more (which everything new will have). Best usability improvement is SSD drive.

If this guy really works at AMD, it's no wonder Intel is kicking their arse.

i'm surprised no one has said to go for a tablet. something like the microsoft surface pro - even though i've never owned it - seems like it will replace the laptop pretty soon. does everything a laptop does, but not nearly as big.

Any thoughts on this unit? I can get it through work for $490.

Dell Inspiron 15

Processor 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3337U processor (3M Cache, up to 2.7 GHz)

Operating System Windows 8, 64-bit, English

Display 15.6 HD (720p) WLED with Truelife (1366x768)

Memory2 4GB3 Single Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz

Hard Drive 500GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive

Optical Drive 8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)

Video Card Intel® HD Graphics

Warranty 90 Days Premium Phone Support + 1 Year In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis

Weight 4.96 lbs

bump.

After more reading, as other suggested, it seems that Asus and Toshiba make reliable machines. If you had $550 or so to spend on an Asus or Toshiba, what model would you pick? I think I'm interested in Windows 7...not 8.

mark bailey wrote:

Asus are always rated near to the top for reliability & you can get them for a good price. Toshiba & Lenovo are usually near the top also.

Here's a 3 year reliability study & it went in this order

1. Asus

2. Toshiba

3. Sony

4. Apple

5. Dell

http://bitsonline.org/news/111-asus-leads-in-laptop-reliability-beats-all-other-competitors-

This. The stats say that Asus and Toshiba are at the top; I would stick with them. The difference between the top brands and the bottom ones (HP, Gateway) is vast.

If you're not doing anything intense, you can get by with an i3 processor or A8 type of AMD processor and the normaly 3-4 gbs of ram that the 400-500 dollars that the mainstream laptop will cost.

As I said before, buy a computer with more than 4GB of RAM. It is the single best upgrade to any machine stock machine.

If you plan to be typing, try to test-drive the keyboard - at a store, or if a friend owns one.

Do not stress about brand reliability ratings - you would be very unlucky to get a bad machine from a major manufacturer.

If you will be carrying this around with you, are you sure you want such a big machine? (If it will be sitting on your desk, of course that's fine.)

AMD wrote:

As I said before, buy a computer with more than 4GB of RAM. It is the single best upgrade to any machine stock machine.

If you plan to be typing, try to test-drive the keyboard - at a store, or if a friend owns one.

Do not stress about brand reliability ratings - you would be very unlucky to get a bad machine from a major manufacturer.

If you will be carrying this around with you, are you sure you want such a big machine? (If it will be sitting on your desk, of course that's fine.)

AMD's advice is the best. --BY the time most reliability ratings are out, manufacturers have stopped making the models the reliability ratings are based on. You would indeed be very lucky to get a bad unit from any manufacturer.

One of my good friends runs the repair center for one of the biggest tech companies in the USA. I've talked brands with him on laptops for over a decade. We talk this stuff 3-4 times a year. His opinion changes all the time. Every company has "sucked" at some point with a bad run, or a tough design to repair.

I've owned all the major brands. In every class. Desktop replacement sized laptop, to net book, tablet.

I used to swear by Toshiba. Got seduced by a Sony, and tho many people talked negative about Sony cos of the extra cost...it served me longer than anything else.

In your price range I'd go with an Asus or a Toshiba. Dell...heard too many horror stories.

To add irony, I type this from my first Mac. Wanted something superlight...and Macbook Air is sweetly designed By buddy and I both morphed from PC's to Macs full time in the past year.

Another buddy of mine is a corporate evangelist form Microsoft, recently for Windows 8. So I got to play around with Windows 8 a year go, and contrary to the lukewarm reception and shock to some people, I thought it was revolutionary and really cool. At a developer fete in Santa Clara, the developers were all loving it.

As for processors, I used to be up on all things AMD, but not in the past few years.

I am really impressed with the current intel series, think the finally solved the glut of confusion they had with too many classes of processors. Get a core i5 at least, and at least 4 gigs of ram.

new laptop wrote: ...Dell Inspiron 15...

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 from 2008 -- so yeah, not really the same, but a couple quick thoughts nonetheless. Overall, it's been great. No reliability issues, perfectly good for watching videos, photo and video editing, etc.

The one downside is size. My laptop generally lives on my desk, but I do take it with me for travel sometimes, and it's just too damn big and heavy. I'm preparing to upgrade, and am thinking of getting a 13" ultrabook. At most, I'd get a 14" screen. Just my take based on my experiences with this 15" machine -- of course it depends on how you plan to use it.

(To be fair, I also paid for an extra-big battery, which bulges out the back and adds extra weight. Mine weighs in at close to 7 lbs, so maybe the one you're looking at, at just 5 lbs, wouldn't be so bad.)

Thank you!