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Contributor
Posts: 12
Registered: 01-27-2009
uchual
0

shopping for a laptop

Hi there,

 

I am currently shopping for a laptop. These are my specs for it:


- 15.6 or 14 inch screen; I will use it for travel, so I don't want a bulky desktop replacement. I would like something very portable, with decent battery life (3-4 h).

 

- Main use is document handling (Office applications), web surfing, light movie watching and gaming.

 

- Fast startup time. I have Vista in my desktop at home and I found it reasonable, compared to XP (in my older laptop). Don't know how it is with Win 7, I assume is faster.

 

- 250-320 GB HD is fine for what I need; at least 3GB RAM.

 

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Exalted Expert / Community Ambassador
Posts: 2,261
Registered: 02-07-2008
Morfanos
0

Re: shopping for a laptop

If gaming is important to you, be aware that any laptop equipped with a "real" video card is going to need more electrical power to run, even when you're not playing, compare to a laptop equipped with a IGP(Integrated Graphics Processor).

 

So for a laptop capable of real gaming, I'd recommend this one for $749.99:

 

Gateway 15.6" Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz Laptop (NV5909H) -  Black

Gateway 15.6" Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz Laptop (NV5909H) - Black

 

It's a good laptop processor (not the best but it's quite good for that price level), 4GB of RAM, a 640GB HDD and for gaming, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, one of the best video cards that can be found on a laptop below the $1500. In all, it's a pretty good laptop for everything on your list with maybe the exception of battery life. You can probably get around 2h30-3h but not much more, at least not on that 6 cell battery.

 

Now, if gaming isn't important or you meant light games (2D games or 3D games with very low requirements), I would suggest this model for $649.99:

 

Gateway 15.6" Intel Core I3-330M 2.13GHz Laptop (NV5905H) -  Black

Gateway 15.6" Intel Core I3-330M 2.13GHz Laptop (NV5905H) - Black

 

The specifications are pretty close the other laptop mentioned above. The main difference are that the HDD is smaller, 500GB instead of 640GB, and and IGP integrated in the CPU meaning it's going to be even more energy efficient than a standard IGP. For that reason, that laptop should have a minimum of 3h of autonomy, maybe 4h.

 

 

 

Until next time,
Morfanos

":smileysurprised:30:smileysurprised:...:smileyvery-happy:"

 


Contributor
Posts: 12
Registered: 01-27-2009
uchual
0

Re: shopping for a laptop

Thank you for the advice, Morfanos.

 

Based on my needs and budget, I feel this could be my best bet:

 

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-15-6-amd-athlon-ii-x2-m300-2ghz-laptop-nv5321...

 

What do you think?

Exalted Expert / Community Ambassador
Posts: 2,261
Registered: 02-07-2008
Morfanos
0

Re: shopping for a laptop

How much are you willing to pay (not including taxes) and is 3D gaming important to you for that computer?

Until next time,
Morfanos

":smileysurprised:30:smileysurprised:...:smileyvery-happy:"