What do i look for right now in a laptop ?

[Mokmo418]

2nd half of july, the back to school sales will soon start, so i have 2 questions. Answer whichever you want these are pretty much separate.

1. Are the back to school sales a good time to be shopping for a laptop ?

2. What would be the specs of a mid-range laptop (looking at around 700-800$ CDN) at the moment?

A little background here, i am finishing my first year in college, i am using a 2-yr-old 17" HP dv8000 series laptop which due to its size i cannot bring much to school. So i'd be more into getting a 13 or 15" laptop that has decent battery life.

Extra question:

3. What is a decent battery life on a laptop nowadays ? Like simple browsing with or without wi-fi.

[boomhower]

What are the used going to be? Do you also have a desktop or this going to be your only machine? Oddly enough the best deals I have noticed in that price range are clearanced Dell's at BB. I would highly suggest to get the money for an extended warranty to cover the until you are done with school, preferably with next day in home service. I did that for three years with the Dell I had in school and it was worth the money in gold. Nothing like having a HD full of work and the motherboard going out. Having it replaced in person the next day in my dorm room was worth double what I paid.

[Ichigo]

forum.notebookreview.com

[Parasitic]

I would probably look for an ExpressCard/34 slot. I'm finding it to be useful and a lot of fun.