Requesting laptop search-help

[kyonu]

Hi,

I've been following Anand for many years, but never got into the forum-going ideal. However once I found myself in the market for a laptop, I noticed Anand's section here which has a lot of nice threads pointing at decent machines.

I know the hardware I'm looking for, and I'll go ahead and post it below:

AMD A6/8-series CPU (preferably a 3500/3800 respectively--don't need the extra tiny boost)
Integrated 6620G graphics (6520 is fine also, not a huge difference)
Memory and HDD do not matter, I will be replacing them with 2x4GB modules and an SSD anyways
17" Screen is very important. I have big hands and love wide-angle views.

Price point I'm aiming for: $500

I've seen several laptops under the $500 dollar mark, but every single one of them is 15"... I figure I'd wait until just after Christmas for the sales, but if someone can find one right now that would be fantastic.

I'm not a huge gamer on a laptop (my PC is pretty rockin' for that), but I'm looking for something to take to work and play casual games with at friends houses.

BONUS POINTS: If you can find an ultra-slim version, no matter the cost, that would be fantastic. :whiste:


Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide. I've been searching for weeks, and seem to miss all the good deals. (Black Friday/Cyber Monday didn't quite have the right units.)

 

[Zap]

Hello kyonu, and welcome to AnandTech forums.

Will be pretty tough finding an ultra-slim 17" notebook, and even tougher to find one for under $500. 15" notebooks are cheap because that's where the volume is.

Closest I could find is the Toshiba Satellite L775D series, running around $600 for an A6 APU with 17" screen and 6.2 pounds. No mention of thickness, but it looks pretty thin and is really light in weight for a 17". Subtract around $80 for an A4 APU, and add around $80 for an A8 APU.

 

[kyonu]

Hello kyonu, and welcome to AnandTech forums.

Will be pretty tough finding an ultra-slim 17" notebook, and even tougher to find one for under $500. 15" notebooks are cheap because that's where the volume is.

Closest I could find is the Toshiba Satellite L775D series, running around $600 for an A6 APU with 17" screen and 6.2 pounds. No mention of thickness, but it looks pretty thin and is really light in weight for a 17". Subtract around $80 for an A4 APU, and add around $80 for an A8 APU.

Yeah, that's what I figured. It doesn't have to be super slim or anything and I'm totally fine with a bulky one, I would just like it to meet the previous requirements. I noticed a 17" A6 on Newegg for about 589, and have configured one at Toshiba's website for 549, I'm just trying to get it that 50 bucks off.

 

[kyonu]

UPDATE:

I just made a list in my Newegg shopping card with the following items:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834214477
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231472
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820171545

Which after the Promo code would come out to $765 shipped.

My question is--is it work it for now? Should I wait for better deals? Do you think I could save 60-100 dollars during the Christmas sales on this setup?

Thinking about it, getting an A6 Quad with a 6520, 8GB memory, 120GB SSD and 17.3" screen with 1600 x 900 resolution is a pretty smokin' deal at that price...

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Looks like everything should match up perfectly. Good luck on the purchase!

 

[kyonu]

Looks like everything should match up perfectly. Good luck on the purchase!

Thanks. I should mentioned I will just spend the extra 30 bucks on the following drive (+ a 20 dollar rebate) as it is easily twice as fast (via reviews):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227726

This brings the build to a total of 794.97 after shipping. I'm pretty sure I can't find a laptop with the same or better specs out there for 800, so I think it's a decent buy.