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0eyvind · Jul 26, 2009, 04:30 AM

Hello.

I'm on the market for a new laptop, but as I have never bought one, I think it would be good with some advice.

Basically what I'm looking for is a laptop for studying, but also medium gaming, and perhaps Photoshop.
It has to be well constructed, so I can take it with me without having to be worried it will break if I handle it carefully.
I'd like to have one with a long batter-life per charge.
It has to be in 15" range, and preferably not too heavy.
Wireless network is indeed a need.

Somewhy I prefer a dualcore, I do not know much about that stuff though.
I want it to be able to run programs like iTunes, Firefox, Word and perhaps Photoshop at once, without being too slow on it.

Does anyone have any suggestions to specifications I need for this?
Maybe someone can suggest a brand that sounds like what I'm looking for?

I'm all new in the laptop world, so any suggestion is welcome.

Thanks!
0eyvind

PS. Price-range would be in 700-1000$ preferably.

N0help4u · Jul 26, 2009, 04:40 AM

I like Toshiba

Dells are suppose to be about the best

Don't buy ACERS they shut down on you all the time.
I only know of four and they ALL had that problem.

I like Best Buy better than some of the other stores.

ScottGem · Jul 26, 2009, 04:47 AM

The requirement for Photoshop is a key issue. While almost any machine will satisfy your needs, Photoshop requires a bit more.

I would recommend HP or Toshiba (HP is the top selling brand in the world). I would recommend a laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 (or better), 4 Mgs of Ram and 320G hard drive. You should be able to find find one in your price range.

HPs have a feature called ProtectSmart which will lock the hard drive heads if you drop it protecting your data.

Dells are actually not the best, haven't been for a while. They aren't bad machines, but they have slipped considerably in the last couple of years.

danielnoahsmommy · Jul 26, 2009, 04:50 AM

Don't buy dell, customer service sucks and if you want help from us reps you have to pay for it. Their regular help is from India, long waits, scripted speech,not helpful... not willing to fix major issue if it costs them too much. Also they tend to use refurbished parts when they do repairs.

N0help4u · Jul 26, 2009, 05:05 AM

I knew Dells were in the upper range
Glad to know that has changed.

I thought most customer service is foreign now.

0eyvind · Jul 26, 2009, 05:07 AM

I've always liked Dell computers general, but I have heard of the costumer service.

My desktop is in fact an Acer, and I haven't had any real issues with it. Then it of course could be the laptops that aren't as good.

Photoshop was maybe a bit too far, I don't use it that often and I'm not even sure I would have it on the laptop.
But how about Lightroom? That's actually what I should have said I wanted, as it would be light touching up and organizing I would be doing on the laptop.

HP has always been doing good in my experience, so that is an obvious possibility.

I would recommend a laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 (or better), 4 Mgs of Ram

How do I determ if a CPU is better than the one you said? A higher T-number just, or is there a list I could look on?
And I assumed you meant 4 Gbs of Ram (:

Should I look on HDD RPM?

Thanks for the help so far!
0eyvind

ScottGem · Jul 26, 2009, 07:06 AM

Whoops, yep I meant 4G of Ram. And yes, generally the Higher the T number the better the processor. Most laptop processors are in the T series. You can also check Intel.com for a list of processors.

The AMD Turion X2s are also very good processors so if all else is equal, I wouldn't reject such a machine aout of hand. But I've seen several T6500 machines in the $600-$700 range.

I wouldn't be concerned about HD RPM.

0eyvind · Jul 26, 2009, 07:55 AM

All right.

A quick check in a local store, and I found this:

HP dv6-1223eo

• AMD Athlon Dual Core QL-65 CPU
• 4 GB DDR2 RAM
• 500 GB SATA hard drive
• 15,6" HD BrightView monitor (1366 x 768)
• 512 MB dedicated graficRAM
• Up to 1790 MB graficRAM (ATI Radeon HD 4530)
• Lightscribe Super Multi DVD burner
• Wirless network 54 Mbit
• Numpad, cardreader and remote
• Webcam with integrated digital mic
• Windows Vista Home Premium

The above is translated from danish, so probs a few errors (:

Looks all right, in my pricerange - but how's the CPU?

0eyvind

N0help4u · Jul 26, 2009, 08:00 AM

I heard Panasonic tough book is the best and military approved.
Have no idea the price range.

ScottGem · Jul 26, 2009, 02:46 PM

That looks like a very nice machine. The Athlon processor is comparable to the Core 2 Duo.

Eelarch · Jul 26, 2009, 02:49 PM

Do not buy a dell , they break a lot

0eyvind · Jul 26, 2009, 03:11 PM

Thank you for all the help!
I Will return to here if there is anything else I'm wondering about.
Cheers Scott!
0eyvind