I need some advice from those people that are familiar with laptops.

Things I am looking for:

14in screen minimum
at least 180 gb HD
at least 4gb ram (if possible)
GOOD battery life.
under/around $1000

Uses:

I will be using this computer for school assignments. surfing the web, streaming movies. I mainly need the computer to do my homework, and most of the programs I will be using are Word and Powerpoint. I will be streaming TV shows and movies regularly, and I will also be surfing the web. I will need good mobility (not to heavy) and long battery life. I will probably be listening to music while doing assignments. I will probably travel around with it too.

I will not be doing any gaming on it.

Things to note:

A friend of mine has an Asus and it seems to do all the things I mentioned well. The main things I dont like is the glossy cases that most of them have because they leave fingerprints like noneother, the mouse pad does whack things at the wrong times.... sort of cheap feel. I am really trying to avoid HP and Compaq, as well.

Other than that I am new to the laptop market and I really need help sifting through brands and specs.

When I studied abroad in London, all of my roommates had Macbooks/Pros and I got used to using them. They seemed to rarely have any problems and they are made quite nicely. A Macbook would be a little above my price range but, if it ends up being more reliable in the long run then it is worth it.

What I DON'T want:

Crappy build quality. I need something that will last me the next few years and I don't want to replace parts or be on the phone with IT all the time.


Thanks.

 

I highly recommend that you look for ULV processor based laptops if you are looking for long battery life on such a big laptop. I highly recommend the Acer Timeline line of laptops.

 

13" MacBook Pro - $1200. I would say the extra money is well spent. I'm using a 13" MacBook (over a year old) and I love it. Great performance and great battery life. The keyboard and mousepad are awesome too, double click is a two finger click, very functional. Also the new 13" MacBook Pro has dedicated graphcis, LED screen and a backlit keyboard.... those are the things I'm jealous of.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-673-_-Product

SU4100 is Dual Core CPU, Ultra Low Wattage
Graphics has HD Video acceleration so no worries on video
Has a huge 6-cell battery
Resolution is decent for a 14"
It's only 4.4lbs
It's only about 1" thick closed.
It has HDMI output

This laptop is rated at 8+ hrs of use.

 

Since you listed "around $1000" I would also recommend a MacBook Pro. That's what you're looking for, it will fulfill all the needs you listed, and more. Just check out the specs on Apple.com for the 15 inch. You might find "love at first sight." Haha.

I've got one as well, the 13 in, and am a college student, so I pretty much use it the same way. My opinion, this Mac is such a great thing, like a best friend, to have during college.

 

I would lean towards Asus, Toshiba, or Apple Rob. Just look through each model that matches up with your wants and needs. I did a little digging for you. Check out this laptop reliability report. =). You're welcome.

Kevin

 

Get a macbook man. I have a 15 inch macbook pro and Im in love with it, Im on it right now. It has so many cool little tricks and stuff, even with word and excel (or pages and numbers) as their called on Macs.

 

I picked up a Lenovo Ideapad and for around 600 from frys.

 

Which ever laptop you do end up getting I suggest you pick It up online at Newegg.com. They have a Bill me later option for anything over $500, which Is no payments or Interest for 6 months so Its easy on the wallet. You can pay a little at a time with out being charged Interest. Plus they are super quick on shipments

 

i have a 13 inch macbook pro i paid a little over a G for it and it runs great its fast, great for streaming movies and like you i use it for school asignments on word and power point they are easy to carry around and if your a pc person you can always run windows on it.

 

IMHO the reliability of the MacBook is definitely worth the few extra hundred bucks. It is 3 years old, meaning it has lasted longer than my two PC laptops (a Compaq and a Toshiba) lasted combined! And its still going strong with no major issues.

The only issues I've had were:
Premature battery failure - covered under warranty
Screen power supply issues - covered under warranty
Failed power cord - happened 2 weeks ago, so well after the warranty expired. New power cord came with its own 1 year warranty.

 

go to frys, you can get an open box hp laptop that blows your requirements away for less than $600.

 

Lenovo. Their build quality coupled with their customer support makes them the best bang for the buck

 

As you'd like to stay away from HP & Compaq, may I steer you toward the brand I've been buying for my last 3 laptops, and which have served me well for roughly 10 years now - Dell. I found this for $699 while looking for one @ Sam's Club for a co-worker. It's got a 17" screen, as does the Inspiron 9300 I'm using now. It has 4GB of RAM, Windows 7, which has had pretty good reviews by people who have used everything from MS, including XP & Vista, and it has all the basics you'll need to get started. You have the option of using OpenOffice for free, which I have on my Asus 1000HE netbook, and which works fine, or you can probably pick up a student-priced copy of MS Office for cheap. I managed to get the latest version of MS Office through my wife's work for only $10 on the Enterprise License "Friends & Family" purchase option. One thing I like about the Dells I've had is the fairly consistent quality of their touchpads, which support edgemotion & sometimes multi-touch. At least they're better than the touchpad on my Asus netbook...

Hope that helps, and keep in mind that you can probably pick this same computer up from Dell directly or via Costco (if you're not a member of Sam's Club or don't have one near you). If you want to check out the other Dells @ Sam's, go here. Looks like shipping's included in the price.

Good luck.

 

Damn Steve Jobs **** Jockies...

Take a good look at the notebook I linked, it's as good as any macbook at half price. Also, if you want battery life, stay away from higher wattage CPUs.