Fox Needs a Laptop

[Fox_Blaze]

......and she needs help finding the right one for her needs.

My netbook, a Dell Inspiron Mini, is slowly dying as it chugs through its last leg of life. It's original hard drive is slowly dying, and is too beyond its warranty to be replaced. Frankly, I do not want to invest any more into this thing as it does not even fulfill all the things I want to do with a computer.

I'm not looking to buying for another 2-3 months as my family is moving to Minnesota in about 5-6 weeks, but I do want to shop out a good laptop beforehand so I know exactly what I want. That way, I can better budget the rest of the funds I have towards other important things.

I do a whole lot of multitasking. Web browsing, digital drawing with two or more programs while also using a graphics tablet (currently a Wacom Intuos4), gaming, and more recently, some video animation editing.

I am not really concerned with getting a laptop with top of the line specs. I just want something that will sufficiently handle the mentioned multitasking fairly well.

I'm open to all sorts of options that are within a $700-$900 budget. Maybe not the most specific request in the world, but I'm hoping if I get more personal trusted suggestions, I'll be able to narrow down my search significantly

[Will T.]

Almost a year and a half ago I got my current HP Pavilion machine for $1000 at Costco, which has served my all-purpose needs very well, including gaming, web browsing, etc. It has a nice 17" screen, and I know they come in several different sizes (I think 17" is the largest).

I don't know exactly what types of machines are available in the Pavilion line right now, but I've seen last year's late-year models and they're pretty similar to mine, with some significant upgrades (darn that whole "Technology marches on" thing, making my poor machine feel obsolete so quickly... ). I'd imagine that if you look in the right places (like Costco, where I found my machine and instantly fell in love with it) you can find the current generation of them. They seem to run in the upper end of your price range, but might go a little beyond. For the quality though, you might want to go for it.

Another benefit to shopping at Costco if you can, no matter the model of computer you actually get, is that they'll add an extra year of warranty onto whatever the manufacturer offers. My machine has a 3-year warranty thanks to that.

[Fox_Blaze]

Unfortunately, in Rapid City we do not have a Costco, and all the Costcos where I'm going to live are all clustered in Minneapolis xD ( We DO have Sams Club, however, but its not quite the same )

But on a positive side, I have been looking at the Pavillions myself when I shopped out by my lonesome, and I was impressed so far.

[Gizanked]

aren't your family all cheeseheads? how are you going to cope living in minnesota?

[Fox_Blaze]

aren't your family all cheeseheads? how are you going to cope living in minnesota?

It's going to be quite...interesting.

[gator]

I do a whole lot of multitasking. Web browsing, digital drawing with two or more programs while also using a graphics tablet (currently a Wacom Intuos4), gaming, and more recently, some video animation editing.

I am not really concerned with getting a laptop with top of the line specs. I just want something that will sufficiently handle the mentioned multitasking fairly well.

Please be more specific. What programs are you using for drawing? What games are you hoping to run? What video editing and/or animation programs are you using?

[Fox_Blaze]

Oh, nothing too demanding I don't think.

I use a combination of Paint Tool SAI and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 2011 for my art programs. Neither are really that complex or demanding in my mind.

I want to be able to run games like TF2, L4D, minecraft, and I also have my Assassins Creed games I haven't played in forever. There is also an MMO i want to start playing again, but overall I have no idea just how much graphics I need, especially if I want to buy more powerful games in the future. In the games category, I am just not sure what specifically want to play now that I think about it, but I want to be safe for at least a couple years.

Haha, by animation I just mean tedious drawing and editing of individual frames in SAI and plunking them into AVS Video Editor. I'd like to be able to run programs from an Adobe Creative Suite someday, however.

I am willing to go a bit above my budget, but that depends on how much my parents will contribute towards the purchase since they believe I will also be using whatever laptop I get for college coming in the fall.

[One_Medic_Army]

Quick search on Newegg pulls up several options.
This ASUS looks pretty nice.

The big thing if you want to game on a laptop is to find one with a dedicated video card, might also help with the video editing and drawing.

[Flash]

Multitasking means RAM, buy more than you think you'll need. For me, 8 GB is the minimum I'd get in a new system these days.

[gator]

The one that OMA linked seems like a good starting point. Given that you may potentially use this laptop for 4-5 years, you'll probably want something on the higher mid-end to lower-high end.

Depending on when you look to buy, odds are Dell or HP might have a coupon for some of their laptops that might provide a compelling option. For example, HP is currently running a coupon:
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/298739

Which leads to a potential config like this which seems really good for $905 (+ tax/shipping)


I'd probably stick on the Intel side and say anything in the Core i5/i7 range, along with a dedicated GPU that's in either class 1 or class 2 in the list below, and 6GB-8GB memory is probably a decent starting point.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison ... 130.0.html