College next year! (woo!) Need a solid laptop

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Budget: <800, hopefully around 600-700, but if theres an awesome deal at 800ish, i'll take it.</p>

<p>What I need listed by preference:</p>

<p>-Strong battery life
Is 4hr + reasonable? [btw i dont have that much experience with laptops at all, but i am certainly a computer geek, so dont call me a noob too much ;-) ]</p>

<p>-Speed
3-4GB RAM and a solid processor? whats a solid processor? i have no idea</p>

<p>-Decent Video card
Preferrably with 3.0 shaders, but 2.0 is fine? i want to be able to play games on Source engine comfortably, thats games like css,tf2, yeah? i also hope that Starcraft II can be ran? and nba2k9? haha obviously i like playing games, so i'll stop listing now. So mid-line games?</p>

<p>-Portability
I am 6'0 160 pounds, I dont have much experience with laptops, what do you think i will be comfortable with carrying around all day class to class?</p>

<p>So essentially, outside of doing homework and taking notes with the laptop, i will be using the internet and playing games alot. I understand a hardcore gaming laptop is going to be outside my budget of <800$, but i dont think im asking for one. or am i?</p>

<p>Black Friday is coming up, im sure there are lots of awesome deals out there. How are these 2 i fished up?
<a href="http://i33.tinypic.com/x3yemb.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://i33.tinypic.com/x3yemb.jpg&lt;/a>
<a href="http://i37.tinypic.com/f05f8j.jpg%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://i37.tinypic.com/f05f8j.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If any more information is needed, ask! Im really anxious to get a laptop (at a bargain!) =]</p>

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<p>Check out the Lenovo ThinkPads. They are very durable/sturdy. You can check them out at Lenovo</a> select a country/region Take a look at the T400 and T500 in particular.</p>

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<p>I would wait. Black Friday deals this year aren't very good, and those laptops don't have an video cards. I would wait around for a better deal to pop up (I'm going to college next year to and am doing the same thing). Check for good laptop deals throughout the year at slickdeals.net, bensbargains.net, or notebookreview.com.</p>

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<p>My daughets both have Macs but at 1200 each beyond your budget. Dont forget the printer but actually at most schools you can print things in the library or elsewhere. Both my d's left their printers at home after the first year. I wouldnt get one unless they give it to you free.</p>

<p>I have a Compaq presario laptop that I bought at best buy last year for around 600$. It has a very wide screen, wireless, (which u need to have) and it's been pretty reliable.</p>

<p>When u buy one, try to get it during a tax-free weekend. This will save you 4-6%. Check your schools It website because they might have some deals also.</p>

<p>In the end, the decision is yours. Go to a best buy and look at all the possibilities</p>

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<p>As far as I can tell, I would be hard pressed to find many laptops with a decent graphics card that can play all those games and the specs to match the requirements at the price range specified by the OP. The main problem would probably be the graphics card. Maybe wait for a bit until the sales roll around or up the budget a bit.</p>

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<p>check out the dell outlet for a xps m1530 with a nvidia 8600 card...if you're lucky there'll be one in that range though it might be over. (dell.com/outlet)</p>

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<p>I've took some interest to lenovos , can someone compare/contrast ideapad and thinkpads?</p>

<p>Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 - 77583DU - $799.00
Lenovo</a> - IdeaPad Y510</p>

<p>Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 - 405163U $749.00
[Lenovo</a> - IdeaPad Y530 High Performance Media<a href="is%20the%20Intel%20Integrated%20Graphics%20X4500%20enough%20for%20my%20gaming%20purposes?%20what%20about%20in%20comparison%20to%20the%20laptop%20i%20listed%20before?">/url</a></p>

<p>Elite ThinkPad SL500 15.4" widescreen with discrete graphics
[url=<a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=3028784E14494EB697E744B7DC445A1A%5DLenovo"&gt;http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=3028784E14494EB697E744B7DC445A1A]Lenovo&lt;/a> - ThinkPad SL500 15.4" widescreen](<a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=811FB24E497B4DBC8494650A23798A6D%5DLenovo"&gt;http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=811FB24E497B4DBC8494650A23798A6D)&lt;/p>

<p>Okay i'm going to stop listing because im actually very unsure about all these.
So whats around 800 dollars, with a video card that can play like CSS and have 3.0 shaders thats not bigger than 15.4".</p>

<p>I dont know anything about the processors/videocards/wireless of those thinkpads on the website? which one is the best match for me?</p>

<p>And are those sale prices certainly bargain prices? or should i hold out longer..?</p>

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<p>The IdeaPads are Lenovo's consumer line, and don't have the same reputation for quality that the ThinkPads have had since their IBM days. Though I'm not at all saying they're bad---I just don't know much about them.</p>

<p>I would suggest the SL series if you don't want to go over $800. If you're willing to go over that, you should look at the R series.</p>

<p>As for sale prices, you should definitely wait to see what deals become available.</p>

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<p>will the Lenovo have better sale prices, or should i look into retails such as best buy ?</p>

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<p>also, i found a neat website that lists video cards by power (class 1,2,3, 4)
so i suppose i should aim for a laptop that has one of the class 2 video cards? does anyone know of a decent laptop that has one of those video cards?
man laptop shopping is haard...</p>

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<p>


Don't even buy a computer from Best Buy; you can always find a better deal online. I'm sure that Lenovo will be cutting prices during the holiday season.</p>

12

<p>Okay sweet.
Well ive been kind of unsure regarding the size of the laptop that would best suit me.
Again, i am 6'0, 160 pounds, from what i read it sounds like 17' is too big, and 6 pounds is fairly heavy?
What should i aim for?</p>

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<p>The more I research Lenovo, the more I'm liking them. I'm thinking about replacing my oldest son's laptop as a surprise and after doing a bunch of research as well as reading suggestions here on CC, I think we'll go with Lenovo when the time comes. I actually chatted online with one of their sales reps and he said that they will be having Christmas sales. He also said that there is a 21 day return policy so keep that in mind.</p>

<p>14.1" is a great size. I have a 13 inch MacBook and it's fine for me but for someone who does a lot of research and typing, I think 14.1 is perfect. Check out the ThinkPad T400.</p>

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<p>Oooh! Thanks for the scoop! Christmas sale! YEAH! I love the holidays even more.
Online sale right? awesome =]</p>

<p>14.1? Hmm, i guess i cant be sure unless i have the sizes in my hands to have a good feel for them. I'm kinda interested in 15ish..
Yeah! i was looking into the T400 and I felt it was awesome! The T500 is pretty slick too, I need to study compare those 2 some more. </p>

<p>Have fun surprising your son!</p>

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<p>Ebay is good ;)</p>

<p>especially with Live</a> Search cashback - Live Search </p>

<p>getting 25% off of a laptop can lad to a great deal ;)</p>

<p>ASUS</a> N80Vn-A1 Notebook 14.1" 2.0GHz/4GB/320GB/DVDRW - eBay (item 170277203922 end time Dec-06-08 17:17:17 PST)</p>

<p>which is $742 after the 25% off and you get a 9650 GT which is a very good video card for that price and will easily maxout all source games.</p>

<p>and gentechpc is a great reseller.</p>

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<p>the Live Search cashback seems like alot of hassle
plus, how are ASUS notebooks? I do not know much about them nor have i heard much about them...
I usually avoid ebay in making my purchases...
But wow, that DOES seem like an awesome deal there!
But yeah, the cashback hassle kind of kills it for me.</p>

<p>I'm def looking forward to that Lenovo sale though</p>

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<p>You can go on the Lenovo website and actually "talk" ichat with a customer service person who will answer any questions you have about the product or pricing. That's how I found out that they plan on having a Christmas sale as well as their current Thanksgiving Promo. Maybe they will give you an idea of what to expect in terms of sales.</p>

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<p>Hmmm... I took a longer look at the ASUS posted by chipmoney. my friend told me that there is an ASUS place near where i live so it is very fast/simple to drop off the laptop if anything were to happen.
and it definitely seems like a great laptop for that 742$ price...
Can anyone else give me their opinions regarding that laptop or offer similar alternatives? (due to my wariness of ebay...)</p>

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<p>Asus</a> N80Vn-GP011C: First Impressions/Review - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion</p>

<p>here is 38 pages of discussion about that laptop ;)</p>

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<p>Just to close things up:
I got this sooped up Ideapad y530 for an AWESOME price (about 550?)
Lenovo</a> IdeaPad Y530 Laptop: Core 2 Duo T5800 2 GHz, 4GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, DVDRW, WiFi N, 256MB nVidia 9300M, Bluetooth, Vista Premium X64 $649 - SlickDeals.net Forums</p>

<p>Its been delayed heavily due to high demand, if someone knows of an equally good deal if not better, lemme know xD
I cant wait!!!</p>