*EMERGENCY* T-Minus 4 hours to buy laptop

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
I am having a laptop bought for me this afternoon. I won't be there to input the final decision and parry the idiocy from the Best Buy employee and block his attack of lies with +4 deceit.

What in particular should I direct the purchaser to look for? This is going to be a fairly entry level laptop. Is there any tier that should be observed? E.g. if you spend $600 instead of $500 you start moving into laptops that would have some semblance of competency with games? I've been happy with my last two PC's Athlon setups and I see dual-core is available even at the low-end.

My belief with electronics purchases that have extended warranties based not on brand but cost is to buy the most features possible from the sh*tiest brand and get an extended warranty, so I am not concerned with brand really.

A blu-ray burner would be nice because I'm tired of burning multiple DVDs to back things up but not sure what coin has to be dropped for that.
 

wwswimming

Banned
Jan 21, 2006
3,695
1
0
send him to Fry's and have him buy one of these
http://www.frys.com/product/5948914?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

"Toshiba P505D-S8935, 18.4" featuring AMD Turion™ X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-74 "

$600

not stripped down - 4 GB RAM etc.

only thing is, you have to go to the store to buy it.

plus it's probably been more than 4 hours.

plus you may not live near a Fry's.

plus you may favor battery life over monitor size.

plus you may not want a 9 pound laptop.

but it's the best recommendation i had available at the time !
 

Excelsior

Lifer
May 30, 2002
19,047
18
81
My understanding is that at the entry level, AMD offers more bang for the buck. Blu-ray burner will not be available at entry level. But...how will this laptop be utilized? On the go much or at a desk? Etc.
 

Decembermouse

Member
Dec 18, 2009
141
0
0
No no! If you're going to go AMD (which I would at this point in the game), get an Athlon II!! The Athlon RM-74 is built off of AMD's old K8 design architecture, which dates back to 2003. The new Athlon II's are built off of the K10.5 architecture currently in the Phenom II processors and are very competitive with the Core 2 Duo's in Intel laptops.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Gateway+-+Laptop+with+AMD+Athlon%26%23153%3B+II+Dual-Core+Processor+-+Coffee+Brown/9605383.p?id=1218130488875&skuId=9605383&st=athlon%20ii&cp=1&lp=5
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
3
0
Provide more info. What size? Do you want dedicated graphics for games? What screen res? How much to spend?
 

coldmeat

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2007
9,231
139
106
I think it's a little late now. 5 hours ago was when they bought one.
 

coolVariable

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
3,724
0
76
FAIL

OP wants advice but then ...
... goes to Best Buy to buy the laptop.
... doesn't even go himself to make the decision.
 

StageLeft

No Lifer
Sep 29, 2000
70,150
5
0
Hi Guys, thanks for the ideas, but I did run out of time. The laptop was a gift and I didn't know I was going to be there to get it, but I was so influenced the decision. We ended up with a HP Pavilion for $700 with a blu-ray player and HDMI although not a blu-ray burner. Its got an AMD dual-core as opposed to Intel, 500 gig HD and 4 gigs ram, which is quite standard. ATI 4200 card I think. I could have had a laptop more gaming capable but really I do that on the Xbox 360 anyway and you have to spend a lot of cash to get a decent gaming setup on a laptop.

This thing has a 17" screen though and rated at over 5 hours battery life, so in practice it should get at least 4 which is not bad considering its freaking huge screen. Also it's so big it has a full numeric keypad. I was able to read reviews on the laptops while I was there so this one was rated well.

It's a good step up from our last laptop (same price but 3 years old).
 

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
5,401
2
0
For $700 I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a laptop with a blu-ray BURNER. I'd say the specs are pretty good.

I've heard a few bad things about HP's quality over the past few years, so good luck to you. Hopefully this particular one will be pretty good.

I highly doubt you'll get 4-5 hours out of the battery. If you get 3-3.5 I'd be impressed, but you never know.