<p>Unfortunately, my 15.3" i3 2.3ghz, 4gb ram Lenovo Laptop is busted. I'm going to need something new to get the ball rolling come next fall, when I am enrolled as a freshmen. Two years ago, that laptop went for around $350. I'm willing to go a bit higher to sub $500 for something with a smaller screen (11.6" - 14") and a long battery life (7+ hours). Granted, those luxuries can be expensive, so I'm willing to make some spec sacrifices as well. As far as operating systems go, I would say either windows 7 or 8 is fine. A non-touch screen is also perfectly fine with me. Also, if nothing comes to mind, is there a place I could go to find laptops with these specific specifications? Thank you, to whoever may post here.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to go just a bit higher still, Office Depot currently has a Dell 14R core i5, 8GB ram, 1 TB hdd, touch screen with Windows 8.1 for $569. I recently bought one for my son and the battery life is very impressive. The processor is a U-suffix which means ultra-energy efficient . It’s 14", light and portable. Also, as a bonus, it has an optical drive, ethernet port and actual trackpad buttons (these last two are getting harder to find on some portable ultrabooks).</p>
<p>A 7+ hour battery life is probably what’s going to be hardest to get on that budget.
If you’re not familiar with Newegg, it has some good search features for laptops by specs and price: <a href=“Are you a human?”>Are you a human?;