If you had $800-1000 right now to buy a laptop, what would you buy?

Vicenarian

Vicenarian

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Customer needs a good performing, reliable laptop this week. I don't follow all the new models that closely, so I was wondering if anybody here had some recommendations. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Client wants to do some light gaming on it, and wants to be able to connect it to his hdtv for viewing HD video. I noticed a lot of laptops in this price range, in stores near me, are from Sony...and a lot have integrated intel GMA graphics. Will the integrated intel graphics be enough to do light gaming?

Edit:

Preferably something with a 15" screen or larger, and client only wants something new, not used.
 
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Sony is my favorite laptop brand (next to Apple, but that's a whole different world) and without a doubt I would go with the Sony Vaio VPCEC290X Laptop which starts at $819.99. Base specs are...

Screen: 17.3" LED backlit
CPU: intel Core i3 350-M (2.26GHz, Dual Core, Quad Threaded)
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 (512MB)
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1066MHz
HDD: 320GB 5400RPM
Disk Drive: CD/DVD Combo

This laptop is a beast because it has a relatively low power usage, and at the same time can be even a gamers laptop all in a sleek, sexy package that is a Sony Vaio laptop.

P.S. for an extra $80 you can add a Blu-Ray player to make this the ultimate laptop under $900.
 
If he wants to pay a premium on battery life and a fancy illuminated logo, have him get an Apple. (I don't have anything against Apple, I just don't think they are worth the money and the drones of mindless followers that they create is disastrous).

My personal preference for everything they make is ASUS. Granted their support sucks (that's what you're there for, right?). I have an Eee PC right now, which I use for basics, but primarily as a Thin-client, but If I had the money, I'd look at one of their laptops.

If he's not doing much with media, and doesn't absolutely need the storage requirements, then get a SSD because the performance gain is pretty drastic.
 
Used Macbook Pro. More than enough computer for most people, ability to dual boot with Windows 7, the most solidly made laptop there is other than something military grade.
 
Well, I'm kind of stuck to something running Windows, because the client runs a lot of windows apps he has already bought licenses for.
 
JosephLeo said:
Sony is my favorite laptop brand (next to Apple, but that's a whole different world) and without a doubt I would go with the Sony Vaio VPCEC290X Laptop which starts at $819.99. Base specs are...

Screen: 17.3" LED backlit
CPU: intel Core i3 350-M (2.26GHz, Dual Core, Quad Threaded)
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 (512MB)
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1066MHz
HDD: 320GB 5400RPM
Disk Drive: CD/DVD Combo

This laptop is a beast because it has a relatively low power usage, and at the same time can be even a gamers laptop all in a sleek, sexy package that is a Sony Vaio laptop.

P.S. for an extra $80 you can add a Blu-Ray player to make this the ultimate laptop under $900.
Click to expand...


That looks awfully tempting too! Might have to get myself one of those LOL
 
Re:

I was thinking about that this morning on my way to work. Seriously!
I would buy the latest generation of Macbook. I currently use a MacBook 2006 edition as my laptop.
 
wow lots of apple fanboys...oops I mean users, here. :)

Buying used isn't an option unfortunately, and a macbook pro is sort of out of his price range if new...and a regular macbook only has a 13.3" screen. This laptop is sort of going to be a desktop replacement, if you get what I mean...so I would prefer 15" + of screen size.
 
I typically recommend Lenovo on a bang for the buck and reliability basis, although these are general use and business machines rather than any kind of gaming system. If the client wants to do anything beyond the most basic gaming, I recommend steering away from the laptop in favor of a desktop due to a gamer's need (whether real or imagined) to upgrade graphics on a fairly regular basis.

The store I'm at has sold several hundred Lenovo laptops while I've been there, and a grand total of one has had to go back to the factory for major repair. They're solid enough that I got one for my mom whose computer skills are, shall we say... limited.

I don't have anything against Apple other than the price.
 
That Sony has really not-so-good specs for the price. The fact that it only starts with a 5400rpm hard drive boggles my mind. I've seen better spec'd laptops around the $600 range I think.
 
arrow_runner said:
That Sony has really not-so-good specs for the price. The fact that it only starts with a 5400rpm hard drive boggles my mind. I've seen better spec'd laptops around the $600 range I think.
Click to expand...

I agree they aren't great specs for the price, but the quality is amazing. In the past year I've only gotten about 4 Sony laptops, and 2 desktops out of the hundreds of PC's I've repaired this year.
 
JosephLeo said:
I agree they aren't great specs for the price, but the quality is amazing. In the past year I've only gotten about 4 Sony laptops, and 2 desktops out of the hundreds of PC's I've repaired this year.
Click to expand...

Mine didn't survive a can of beer being tipped into it :o

Parts are expensive as well. I had one recently that needed a cracked screen replaced. The screen was £268 + vat and even on Ebay £221! Can't remember the model number.
 
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