Laptop Recommendations

stack

stack

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Oct 22, 2007
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Looking to get a new laptop in the next week, and would appreciate any reviews opinions. you guys might have.

It will be PC - I don't want to get into a mac vs PC debate.

I'm looking to get something in the $1,000 range. I don't need anything crazy, mostly just IM work, might load the occasional game, and every now and then I like to edit videos. For those reasons I'm thinking i7 processor will be good (over the i5).

Here's what I've got on my radar at the moment:

Newegg.ca - Refurbished: ASUS G74 Series G74SX-BBK9 Notebook Intel Core i7 2670QM(2.20GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory 1TB HDD DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (My current fav choice)

Newegg.ca - ASUS K55 Series K55A-DB71-CA Notebook Intel Core i7 3610QM(2.30GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 4000

Newegg.ca - ASUS K55VD-DS71 Notebook Intel Core i7 3610QM(2.30GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 750GB HDD 5400rpm DL DVD+/-RW/CD-RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 610M

Any recommendations? I've never bought of newegg before - how are they at honouring service agreements (if I buy extended warranty for example?).


No reason they are all ASUS, it just seems that ASUS is more commonly rated well on newegg.

All thoughts/opinions appreciated!
 


I had been looking for a while but I really believe the best choice is local ads(craigslist/kijiji).

Last week I got a 1400$+ laptop,

i7/geforce gt640m/SSD drive & 700GB sata/12GB ddr3 ram/17inch/genuine win7

for 700$ on kijiji. I heard this advice from a friend and it held true twice for me... the best time to shop is the last few days of each month - desperate renters and nice toys are the first thing to go. The deals go super quick, I'm usually at their front door within a half hour of them posting the Ad. Don't waste time asking questions, ask if you can meet them now with the money, double check the details once you get there and haggle politely.
 
Hurr Durr Inb4 everyone says to get a mac.

If you go with the refurb make the extended warranty doesn't vary from their standard extended warranty. If it does go with the K55VD. Side not if you go with the refurb and it's scratched up or not to your liking there is a restocking fee with Newegg.
 
I have an ASUS G73S, which is very similar to the G74. Very solid unit, would recommend.

Just a heads up Linux driver support sucks on the ASUS, stuff like getting the backlit keyboard to work is a PITA.
 
Do you plan on traveling a lot with it or will you be docking it and using dual 22"+ monitors, external keyboard and mouse? Might make a difference in your choice
 
Thinkpad X series with IPS display. Get an SSD it's the best investment you could make over anything else.
 
CLKeenan said:
Do you plan on traveling a lot with it or will you be docking it and using dual 22"+ monitors, external keyboard and mouse? Might make a difference in your choice
Click to expand...

Docking version that would be me.

Want to grab an i7, 8B 1TB 17+" Dell for this purpose ($869)
 
CLKeenan said:
Do you plan on traveling a lot with it or will you be docking it and using dual 22"+ monitors, external keyboard and mouse? Might make a difference in your choice
Click to expand...

Travelling quite a bit between Canada and South America - I might have an external display at one end, but that's down the road. 95% of use will be on the road.

Jameel said:
Thinkpad X series with IPS display. Get an SSD it's the best investment you could make over anything else.
Click to expand...

Sorry I am a complete tech newb - is it possible for me to buy the reburbished machine and, and then purchase and add-in an SSD at my local bestbuy or computer shop? Or are laptops not able to swap in and out parts like desktop towers?
 
Jameel said:
Thinkpad X series with IPS display. Get an SSD it's the best investment you could make over anything else.
Click to expand...

SSD is overrated for basic IM stuff, you can put your lap in sleep mode, and if you start the laptop, everything is loaded within sec. Makes only sense if you run many application parallel, where you need a good IO

for basic stuff nothing resource intensive, i5 or i3 4gb-8gb ram, would be enough but make sure you have a big display, 1920x1080 resolution, small resolution sucks, scroll there and there, to see everything. And also monitor outputs would be important if you want use your laptop on a pc monitor, maybe 2 outputs, so you can plug 2 monitor ;)
 
stack said:
Sorry I am a complete tech newb - is it possible for me to buy the reburbished machine and, and then purchase and add-in an SSD at my local bestbuy or computer shop? Or are laptops not able to swap in and out parts like desktop towers?
Click to expand...

Yes it's really easy to do yourself as well. Keep in mind that ASUS with 1GB HD is probably 2 500 GB HDs. So you'll take one out and plug in a SSD. Most computers don't come with recovery disks these days either so you'll have to clone over the old hard drive to the new SSD so that you have a recovery partition.
 
zimok said:
They're a lot faster is the short answer.
Click to expand...

Meh. Faster to boot by far. Faster to load applications (assuming they reside on the SSD). Things are defiantly snappier but it won't blow you away as much as you think it will. I would say still get one, just keep your expectations reasonable.
 
I just got this a few days ago and it's the best value per dollar I've ever spent on a laptop or desktop I custom built:

Acer - 11.6" Aspire One Laptop - 2GB Memory - 320GB Hard Drive - Ash Black - AO756-2623

It's the perfect size for travelling and when I'm at home I use it as a desktop (hdmi out to monitor and wireless keyboard/mouse). The new "Celeron" is actually a Sandybridge scaled down i3. Spend another $130 and upgrade to 8GB of RAM and a 7mm SSD and you have something that can't be beat for the price.

It runs photoshop fine, runs Vegas video fine, and unless you play some hardcore games, it will run games fine as well (I've played Portal 2 and GTA4 at high settings with no issues).

Seriously, don't let the "Aspire One" name fool you, this isn't like their regular line of netbooks... it's more on par with the original Macbook Air than anything. This dude has the best review for it that I've seen:

Amazon.com: MWebb's review of Acer Aspire One AO756-2808 11.6-Inch Netbo...

Seriously, I don't know why Acer isn't marketing the hell out of this thing. I picked it over $800 laptops.
 
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