buying a new laptop

[Nicole_73]

1. What is your budget? less than $400

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? I want a laptop not a notebook with a 15" screen or bigger (I'm assuming that's what you mean by size?).

3. What screen resolution do you want? not sure

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? somewhat portable

5. How much battery life do you need? 2-3 hours

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)? no games

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Spreadsheets, email, FB, some pictures

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? at least 500

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? as long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? not sure

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. just what the best product for the least amount of money, brand name not important

13. What country do you live in? US

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I just wanted want a laptop that I can use for spreadsheets (preferrably one that comes with office if possible), surf the web, check email, facebook, etc. Not for gaming. A friend of mine recommended an ASUS at Best Buy with an Intel 5th generation i3 processor for $329 but i've found some that are cheaper but have an AMD A8 series processor (he's into computers a lot). I would prefer the cheaper one but I also want the best one!! There is my dilemma, any help is appreciated!

 

[hollyrbraswell]

Laptops are available of different rates. All have different specifications. So that select the one which have the features you want.

 

[hang-the-9]

Just going by price is usually a bad idea, especially in laptops. ASUS is a good brand, one of the top ones in reliability. For basic use, the i3 is a good CPU, the A8 CPU will be about as fast but you want to look at the brand. ASUS and Lenovo are the top two aside from Apple in reliability, with Dell, HP and Acer behind them in that order. Plus the screen, keyboard, hard drive, warranty length, etc.. all factor into the price and what you would select. Cheaper laptops will have lower resolution, possibly smaller and lower quality screens, spongy keyboards, etc...

 

[Nicole_73]

Just going by price is usually a bad idea, especially in laptops. ASUS is a good brand, one of the top ones in reliability. For basic use, the i3 is a good CPU, the A8 CPU will be about as fast but you want to look at the brand. ASUS and Lenovo are the top two aside from Apple in reliability, with Dell, HP and Acer behind them in that order. Plus the screen, keyboard, hard drive, warranty length, etc.. all factor into the price and what you would select. Cheaper laptops will have lower resolution, possibly smaller and lower quality screens, spongy keyboards, etc...

Here are the ones I have been looking at:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i3-4gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-spin-pattern-in-black/4352000.p?id=1219735415083&skuId=4352000

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-celeron-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/4476600.p?id=1219751666691&skuId=4476600

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-laptop-amd-a6-series-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/4481400.p?id=1219751654199&skuId=4481400

Which one is the better deal for the money?

 

[lcedminttea]

For spreadsheet and multi-application use, the primary criteria you should look at are (1) the CPU, (2) the RAM, and (3) the quality of your display.

If those 4 are ones you're looking at, I recommend stepping into a best buy to see what they look like. Off the three above, I'd pick http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i3-4gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-spin-pattern-in-black/4352000.p?id=1219735415083&skuId=4352000 and update that system RAM to at least 8GB.

On brands: try to stay as neutral as possible with brands. It's true that brands with greater presence (Dell, HP, Asus, Apple, etc) have larger sales, bigger samples, and therefore more reliable reviews (but they also have a higher budget to pay for better reviews). I'd stick to seeing if the hardware works well.