Laptop recommendation - 800 budget

[vshah]

I'm looking for a basic use laptop, 12 to 13 inches, max price of 800. Weight and design are important, battery life not so much. I'd like for it to have an ssd.

Is it worth waiting for haswell notebooks to be available?

 

[Essence_of_War]

I would start here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6906/best-thin-and-light-laptops-april-2013

The Sony VAIO S is right on the cusp of your budget. It doesn't come stock with an SSD, but it has a great display.

Given that Haswell really is supposed to be good for notebook/ultrabook battery life, it might be worth it to wait.

 

[vshah]

unfortunately ssd pushes it way above my budget as they only offer a 256. since I don't care that much about battery life, the reason to wait for haswell would be lower prices on older ivy bridge parts...

 

[marcplante]

You can also buy a notebook for ~$600 and pick up one of the $150 250-256 GB SSDs that come up fairly regularly as an upgrade.

Then drop the stock Hd onto a USB 3 or wireless case as an external backup/drive.

 

[Essence_of_War]

unfortunately ssd pushes it way above my budget as they only offer a 256. since I don't care that much about battery life, the reason to wait for haswell would be lower prices on older ivy bridge parts...

There's a really good deal on the non-haswell dell inspiron for ~600 USD and free shipping:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/dell-haswell-desktop-deal-sale,22919.html

It has a caching SSD, and while the display is nothing to write home about, it weighs in at around 4lbs and is under and inch thick.

You could always spend another 170 on a 250 GB Samsung 840, grab a 2.5'' drive enclosure and you've got a back-up system in place too, while coming in just under budget.

 

[vshah]

looks like a good deal. i'll have to ask my friend if 15.6 is too big for her though
thanks for the help!