Please recommend a laptop for the wife.

[MentalIlness]

The wife has been wanting to pick up a laptop for some time. And the money is available now to do just that.

She will only be using it for very very light gaming (Age Of Empires I - II) and mostly watching movies/Youtube/browsing.

What is recommended these days based on this ? I know almost nothing about laptops/notebooks.

And of course as always, the cheaper the better. But willing to pay more for a better notebook.

However, she does not want a netbook.

 

[infoiltrator]

Lenovo G570 (43348PU) Intel Core I5 2430M 2.4 GHz 15.6 inch 4 gb 750 gb HDD HD3000 There are those who think LENOVO built its reputation on business class laptop (Thinkpad etc), people love and hate Idea pads, look solid for price to me. This one good processor, weak on gaming video, acceptable speakers.$500

Lenovo Z570 (1024AUX) Intel Core i3 2330M 2.2 15.6 inch 6 gb 500gb HDD Nvidia GT520M (Multimedia version) graphics card.

Asus A53E-EH31 Intel Core I3 2310M 2.1 4 GB 500GB 15.6 INCH HD3000 video

Toshiba L745D-S4230 AMD A6-3400 HD 6520G 1.4 4 GB 640GB HDD

Anyway best choices are INTEL I3-I5 with extra video card or AMD A6 or A8 Llano series.
CPU numbers do not translate to match Desktop. Almost all resolution is less than ideal for serious gaming, but acceptable. 14.6 inch is about as large as a truly portable laptop goes, 15.6 is better for gaming/movies, a little large to carry, 17 inch are serious desktop replacements and gamers
Look for INTEL at least 2.0 MHz, HD3000 (ON cpu graphics). Better with GPU.
Amd A6 or A8 cpu at least 1.4.
At least 4 gb of memory, more is better but can be upgraded (2 slots one filled makes this easier), video shares memory.
HDD 500 GB is considered most reliable (may be dated info).
SSDs make Laptops fly, if you can live with 128gb or 256 gb SSD best way to go.
Some do not support SATA3 which might save money or allow larger drive.
Read reviews and experience with SSDs, there have been issues,best are : Crucial M4 is most often mentioned, Intel, or Samsung, research others.

How much battery time do you need? May have to carry extra/ car charger. Or inverter.
Feel of keypad and touchpad and buttons are important.
There are custom Gamer laptops built to order.

Lenovo has a website that lets you build your own. So do others.
Asus offers more "features". Toshiba between two. These three usually seem to make "good" units.
HP, Acer, Dell are on a one by one evaluation protocol for consumer grade laptops.
This is surmise on my part, seems to fit facts.


You may want HDMI out for monitor/tv support. USB3 is nice. Speakers do not matter if you want to carry separates, ditto keyboard, mouse.

Include case with accessories for travel.

 

[ther00kie16]

Wow, this topic is pretty dead since new year's.
I'm only posting because of an outstanding deal today. If you only have $500 or less, go for a i5. Integrated graphics is a bit better with Llano but Sandy Bridge is faster and gets better battery life. Anything by Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Samsung or good Acer is fine. A refurb xps 15 starts ~$600 so with a sale, $500 or a little more is possible. But for <$750
http://slickdeals.net/f/3784638-HP-...0M-WiFi-N-6-Cell-Win-7-Prem-703-Free-Shipping

You get 1080p, dedicated video card that can even play BF3 at 1080p and blu ray. Nice thing about CPU is it's unlocked & overclockable with k10stat, which you can read about in dv6 llano owners lounge (google it). It won't be as good as i7 quad but it'll certainly put up a fight against i5. With 5&#37; cashback (ebates), it ends up a little over $700 after tax.

So if you were to compare to a $450 (or almost $500 after tax) i5 with integrated graphics, which is a decent deal, $200 more buys you 1080p, dedicated video card (will satisfy her graphics needs for many years) & blu ray. If she values blu ray or high resolution screens, it's definitely worth it. On the other hand, if she wants a portable 13" or 14", that's a completely different market with few options other than integrated video.