What do you look for in a laptop?

[bhanson]

Portable
- 13.3" Maximum, anything larger sucks
- <4 lbs Maximum, anything larger is a brick
- <3 lbs preferred
- 6 hour battery minimum, 8-10 preferred

Since for me the purpose of a laptop is to take it places, if it does not meet the above criteria then I might as well have a desktop.

After that, I just need something powerful enough to reasonably accomplish my tasks.

Laptops I've owned:

iBook: 12", 4.9 lbs, 6 hour battery. At the time there were not very many options for 12" laptops with long battery life at a modest price. In order to come in around $1000 I had to sacrifice a bit of weight.

Dell Mini 1012: 10", 3 lbs, 9 hour battery. I needed a cheap, basic machine to use all day away from home.

ASUS UL30VT-X1: 13.3", 3.7 lbs, 7-9 hour battery. This is the laptop I am currently using and it is functioning as a DTR. It's not the fastest, but it is nearly as portable as my netbook but still has enough juice to serve as my primary machine. It has switchable discrete graphics too, although I don't really use it the extra omfph is nice when connected to power.

 

[Zebo]

IPS display
13.3" or less
Sandy Bridge processor
<4lbs
Good battery life and build quality
Windows

I also want a laptop that's either comes with a Intel SSD or is easy to upgrade with the Intel or Sandforce drive of my choice. I'm not interested in a laptop like the Macbook Air that comes with a mediocre SSD stock since it's just another thing I would have to replace.

Basically I want a X220

I would not order one with ssd it will be 2-4x as much as newegg and putting it in yourself which takes all of 2 minutes and a Philips #1.

I got a deal on a gskill sandforce drive for $90 which would have costed $475 from HP and been a slower intel drive in elitebook.


Now I gotta sell the 7200rpm it came with...Never even turned it on.


Matter fact never pick any options. memory is 2-4x as much, HDD/SSD's are 2-4x as much when configuring. I order stripped except screen upgrades. e.g. dreamcolor, ips, HP radiance Lenovo flexview, dell's wide view, dells RGB etc

 

[Born2bwire]

Overpriced pretentious bullshit. That's why I only buy Apple products.

 

[Ichinisan]

Overpriced pretentious bullshit. That's why I only buy Apple products.

Quoting so Necky can read your post. (Ignore option = DEFEATED)

 

[HAL9000]

Quoting so Necky can read your post. (Ignore option = DEFEATED)

Ignore option = UPDATED

 

[Ichinisan]

Ignore option = UPDATED

 

[TridenT]

I don't buy laptops, but generally I'd look for price, battery life, speed, and weight.

Price is the biggest deciding factor of all.

 

[HAL9000]

I don't buy laptops, but generally I'd look for price, battery life, speed, and weight.

Price is the biggest deciding factor of all.

Fair enough, do you buy laptops for portability or power?

 

[TridenT]

Fair enough, do you buy laptops for portability or power?

Depends. I like both and both can be attained. It just depends on what the price is.

 

[LookBehindYou]

I'm getting ready to go back to school and am picking up a new laptop. I've been a pc guy all my life, but am really thinking about picking up a mbp, just can't make up my mind. There are so many laptops out there, its hard to distinguish the junk from the good. A mbp may be a bit overpriced, but at least i know i'm getting a quality machine.

 

[stargazr]

I still prefer Thinkpads for build quality, and also they have an excellent warranty. Battery life had been an issue but they have come a long way with some of their current models.

 

[TwiceOver]

Battery Life, Weight, Dimesions (nothing over 1" thick), Screen, Processor, everything else.

In that order. Less than 6 hours is generally unacceptable, 3.5 pounds max, I don't understand why there are any laptops on the market that are fat ass 1.5" thick...

 

[KMFJD]

Windows OS

This

 

[Nik]

oh look neckbeard is trolling again

http://forums.anandtech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

 

[dpodblood]

For me a netbook fills my needs. The main disadvantages are that it's not very powerful, and the screen has a very small resolution. But I already have a full desktop/gaming PC so my heavy duty computing needs are filled by that. The netbook is great for using as an IM/web surfing machine on the coffee table, or it's quick and easy to pack up for trips.

 

[sourceninja]

My list is simple.

It needs to have a good display, light weight, awesome battery life, and a very very large multi-touch trackpad.

Everything else is secondary to me.

 

[sdifox]

For me the battery is just auxiliary power for when I walk from one room to another.

 

[dpodblood]

For me the battery is just auxiliary power for when I walk from one room to another.

Same here.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I would not order one with ssd it will be 2-4x as much as newegg and putting it in yourself which takes all of 2 minutes and a Philips #1.

I got a deal on a gskill sandforce drive for $90 which would have costed $475 from HP and been a slower intel drive in elitebook.


Now I gotta sell the 7200rpm it came with...Never even turned it on.


Matter fact never pick any options. memory is 2-4x as much, HDD/SSD's are 2-4x as much when configuring. I order stripped except screen upgrades. e.g. dreamcolor, ips, HP radiance Lenovo flexview, dell's wide view, dells RGB etc

Normally I do just that but if a manufacturer happened to offer a reasonably priced upgrade to a Intel SSD I would probably go ahead and get it from them. I'd only trust a Intel SSD in a OEM system since it has fixed specs so the OEMs don't have the option to mess with it.

Sandforce vs Intel isn't as clear cut as it appears at first, I've owned both and the difference in performance isn't particularly noticeable. Also Intel drives do have the benefit of being a more proven design.

 

[HAL9000]

I'm getting ready to go back to school and am picking up a new laptop. I've been a pc guy all my life, but am really thinking about picking up a mbp, just can't make up my mind. There are so many laptops out there, its hard to distinguish the junk from the good. A mbp may be a bit overpriced, but at least i know i'm getting a quality machine.

I can whole heartedly recommend a MacBook Pro, the price may seem steep, but once you go Mac you Wont go back, it's worth it for the software and build quality and customer service.

 

[sdifox]

I can whole heartedly recommend a MacBook Pro, the price may seem steep, but once you go Mac you Wont go back, it's worth it for the software and build quality and customer service.

Of course you can't go back. You are broke.

 

[HAL9000]

Of course you can't go back. You are broke.

You are if you don't earn money. Definitely.

 

[ElFenix]

Better than 1366x768 resolution. I hate that shit!!!!!!!

14" monitor preferred, dedicated GPU

this. though a 15.6" widescreen isn't much bigger than 14" 4:3 was.

i hate 1366x768. we've gone completely backward from options that were available 8 years ago. even 1600x900 is lower resolution than my (still chugging along) latitude d600. soon some cell phones will have more resolution than most laptops.

 

[SunnyD]

usually a computer.

 

[aceO07]

There's a rumor (possibly no chance) that the Thinkpad x220 will have an option for 1600x900 (+IPS).

I'd rather have the 12" 1400x1050 (IPS) of my x61t. It'd be the perfect laptop if it was a bit lighter and had a faster cpu.

A few of the older Thinkpads have nice IPS displays. I have the T42p with 15" 1600x1200 IPS, and T60p with 15" 1600x1200 IPS.