Trying to Decide on a Laptop...

[Ignimbrite]

Hey, so I'm springing for a new laptop and since every review I read makes me more conflicted about what I think I want I thought I'd come to you guys for advice.

Price range: max $2000, unless there's something absolutely amazing that's a couple hundred more.

I'm looking for a PC (unless someone can give me a really good reason to get a Mac). Minimum 13", maximum 15.6", not too bulky or of low build quality (needs to be sub-6 lbs). I'd lean a bit toward the smaller notebooks, but if it comes down to a 15 vs a 13 and the 15 is obviously better I'll easily go for that. At least 6-8gb memory and a minimum of 500gb storage (preferably 750). Minimum 2.0Ghz processor. This all includes more basic laptops that can be configured directly from the manufacturer to meet these specs.

As for stuff I've looked at already:
HP Envy 15 - I really like the build and it gets good feedback from most people. My main reservation is this shit I hear about the reds looking orange: how serious is this issue?

Sony Vaio S - It's nice and compact, and it's still easily configurable to the specs listed above. My biggest issue is the SSD stuff: I like the *idea* of SSDs, but the fact of the matter is that they're way more expensive than normal drives at the moment, so a 500gb SSD for this pushes it a few hundred past what I'd like to spend. I'd still be more than willing to pay up if it's a really good comp, but I'm not sure yet.

I'm headed to college next year so it should be not so heavy/bulk as to not comfortably fit into a backpack/on a desk.

Thanks everyone!

 

[mnewsham]

The laptop in my signature is probably something similar to what you want to be looking at, I would say look at Sager notebooks, specifically this one. If I were in your position I would get that notebook with everything standard except upgrade the RAM to 16GB and then buy this SSD on newegg.

That will get you a system with 1920x1080 screen (good), 15.6" screen (good), 2.2Ghz quad core i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, GTX 560m (good), and a 500GB SSD all for slightly more then 2 grand.

 

[Ignimbrite]

This is me rooking it up here, but can one install that SSD on most laptops?

 

[mnewsham]

This is me rooking it up here, but can one install that SSD on most laptops?

One can install any 2.5" hard drive (solid state or normal hard drive) in most any laptop as long as it is a standard 2.5" drive bay.

You will open up the hard drive bay (2-4 screws) then take off the cover, pull out the hard drive and slide in the solid state drive (align the connectors with the internal connectors in the laptop and it will slide right in)

 

[rabbitz]

Do you need an optical drive? If not, why not get an optical bay hard drive caddy, buy a cheaper ssd and keep the original hdd that comes with your laptop for storing things that don't require ssd speeds (music, movies, installer files etc...)

Anyway, if you can wait why not wait for ivy bridge + kepler? If you're in Canada you can pick up a price error thinkpad t520 off kijiji for cheap... I have one right now and paid $800 (laptop) + $260 (ssd) + $10 (optical bay hard drive caddy) + $45 (ram) for a computer with a 2860qm, 740gb total storage (240gb ssd + 500gb 7200rpm drive), 2x4gb 1600mhz cl9 ram, 1600x900 hd+ display, and all the build quality of a thinkpad. Sure, graphics aren't that great but if you want to play games, I think you should wait for the next refresh of laptops unless you want a big, hot, low battery life machine... my thinkpad lasts 7+ hours of REAL running time... not just a theoretical maximum with no usage. It's the difference between sitting anywhere I want in class, and scrambling to first to class so that I can sit next to the few (if any) outlets so that I would have enough power to last long enough to type up a page or two of class notes...

edit: btw, don't buy a sager. They are big, heavy and will make you hate having to move it ever. I think my thinkpad is bulky at 5.57 lbs.... the sager is 6.83 lbs with 2-3 hour quoted battery life... not suited for college at ALL.

 

[mnewsham]

Do you need an optical drive? If not, why not get an optical bay hard drive caddy, buy a cheaper ssd and keep the original hdd that comes with your laptop for storing things that don't require ssd speeds (music, movies, installer files etc...)

That's a good thing to consider, I use my laptop for watching my blurays alot and thus didn't really consider it an option for him, though it may be.

 

[Ignimbrite]

I figure that I can always get an external (can I?), because the whole SSD in place of the optics drive thing is starting to sound like a really good idea.

 

[mnewsham]

you can also get an external HDD, it all depends what you wanna do.

 

[Anteaus]

Does it need to be capable of gaming? You have a nice budget. If you want a solid choice I'd look at Lenovo Thinkpads. It will run cool and you can get all the latest tech. The only downside is they don't come with consumer GPUs so if you're looking to do serious gaming they aren't that good, but they can handle any other kind of multimedia. .02

 

[Ignimbrite]

No, I'm not a big gamer. And I've heard good things about the Lenovos: I'll look more into them. Thanks!