Laptop Selection...

DreadStarX

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302
Location
Washington State
Hey gents,

I've done a bit of searching, and rummaging around the web to find GOOD laptops, but I'm struggling to find one for the price range, and the abilities I need.


What I want:

1. Photoshop / Adobe Products
2. Surf Web (Via wifi hotspot)
3. Play SOME games, not all. It doesn't need to run Crysis on full graphics. I play EVE a lot, but I just need to be able to login, and sit. Not actually play, cause that would be bad :p

My range for money is $400 - $550 ($600 with taxes). This is my early Graduation/Christmas present from family members. So I would like to keep the price low. It's only going to need to last me a year to two years of actual use. After that, it'll be retired to a 8 to 10 year old, or my mother who is in a desperate need of a new laptop.

I've found some decent laptops, but heck, I know nothing about Laptop hardware, other than its no match for desktop hardware.

Before you start telling me, oh go grab an alienware or whatever, remember, price is everything when you're a broke college kid who spent too much on a desktop :D


Edit:

These two laptops were suggested by another member of the forums.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216575
http://biz.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7737005&CatId=4935

Below is the one I was looking at, but aren't sure.
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-3521/pd?oc=drtl15i567d&model_id=inspiron-15-3521
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Built
OS
Windows 8 64bit Professional
CPU
Intel Q9400 Quad Core 2.66Ghz
Motherboard
Gigabyte
Memory
G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1600
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GeForce 560GTX
Sound Card
On-board
Monitor(s) Displays
24" LCD
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
160GB WD
WD Caviar Black 640GB
WD 500GB
WD 1TB
WD 1TB
PSU
Cooler Master 1300W Silent Pro
Case
Sunbeam Transformer Black
Cooling
Fans
Keyboard
Logitech G15 (Original Screen + 18G Keys)
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
10mbit up/down Fiber Optic
Browser
FireFox / Chrome
Other Info
SF is amazing!
Dreadstar mate for those prices I would go the Dell the HP and be VERY wary of Toshibas I have had a few new and for fixing and still got a couple now and have had quite a few problems with them. I think mainly because they are now made in China. If you do go Toshiba I would advise you to get an extra years warranty.

I would steer clear of Acer personally but I also like the Samsung's and Asus brands.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Own build (new) Desk1 / Asus ROG Win 7 / Desk2 1st build
OS
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
CPU
Desk1 i5 3750K / Laptop i7 GTX 860M / Desk2 i5 2500
Motherboard
Desk1 Asus P877-V / Desk2 Gigabyte H67 UD3H / Laptop ?
Memory
Desk1 8GB (1866) / Desk2 16GB (1333) / Laptop 8Gb DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Desk 1& 2NVidia GTX 650 & Laptops on board Intel
Sound Card
Desk 1 & 2 -XONAR DG Realtek High Def audio Laptop
Monitor(s) Displays
Desk 1 Benq HD 2450 / Desk2 Philips 24" / Laptop 17.5"
Screen Resolution
1920x1080 D1 & D2 & Laptop 1
Hard Drives
Desk1 Samsung 120GB 830 SSD
Asus ROG 256GB 850 Pro SSD
Desk2 Samsung 840 256 SSD
Toshiba 120GB EVO
PSU
Desk 1 Corsair HX 1050/ Laptop ? / Desk 2 Corsair HX 650
Case
Desk 1 Cooler HAF XM ? Toshiba laptop / Desk2 Coolermaster
Cooling
Fans on all Desk1 -2 Desk2 - all Coolermasters 5 Laptop ?
Keyboard
Desk 1 MS Sidewinder X6 Desk 2 MS Sidewinder X 4
Mouse
Desk 1&2 - Gigabyte MS 900 gamer - laptop - Logitec wireless
Internet Speed
ADSL2+
Other Info
One other Desktop (tester) and spare Toshba laptop both with SSD's
Running Kaspersky 2016 ISS on all machines config'd identically
Logitec audio stereo systems on each machine (x3)
Canon MG5250MFC
Router/modem TP-Link running WPA2SK
FWIW: I have had several Toshiba's since the 286 days and have had no problems with them.
Rich
 

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Toshiba Laptop Qosimo X870
OS
Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1
CPU
Intel Core I7
Motherboard
Toshiba Qosmio
Memory
16 Gigs
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M
Monitor(s) Displays
17.7" laptop
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
256 Gig SanDisk SSD for C
256 Gig Intel SSD for D
Internet Speed
50/25 FIOS
Antivirus
Vipre (all you can eat for 10 machines)
Browser
IE and FF
Other Info
I have dos 6.22, wfwg 3.11, win98, 2000 and xp VHD's available for testing. MS's Virtual PC works great.
Dreadstar mate for those prices I would go the Dell the HP and be VERY wary of Toshibas I have had a few new and for fixing and still got a couple now and have had quite a few problems with them. I think mainly because they are now made in China. If you do go Toshiba I would advise you to get an extra years warranty.

I would steer clear of Acer personally but I also like the Samsung's and Asus brands.

I shop via NewEgg. Simply because I can do the "BillMeLater" and what not. Its the easiest way for me to pay for things.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Built
OS
Windows 8 64bit Professional
CPU
Intel Q9400 Quad Core 2.66Ghz
Motherboard
Gigabyte
Memory
G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1600
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GeForce 560GTX
Sound Card
On-board
Monitor(s) Displays
24" LCD
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
160GB WD
WD Caviar Black 640GB
WD 500GB
WD 1TB
WD 1TB
PSU
Cooler Master 1300W Silent Pro
Case
Sunbeam Transformer Black
Cooling
Fans
Keyboard
Logitech G15 (Original Screen + 18G Keys)
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
10mbit up/down Fiber Optic
Browser
FireFox / Chrome
Other Info
SF is amazing!
FWIW: I have had several Toshiba's since the 286 days and have had no problems with them.
Rich
Hmm well Rich I wasn't so lucky and had at lest two hard drives let go and the answer was to install SSD's. Plus I found the bloatware on the Toshys very annoying.

Dreadstar mate you have to go with what you feel is right mate I am only quoting from my experience with these machines. If you do go with Toshiba then again I would advise the extra years warranty mate.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Own build (new) Desk1 / Asus ROG Win 7 / Desk2 1st build
OS
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
CPU
Desk1 i5 3750K / Laptop i7 GTX 860M / Desk2 i5 2500
Motherboard
Desk1 Asus P877-V / Desk2 Gigabyte H67 UD3H / Laptop ?
Memory
Desk1 8GB (1866) / Desk2 16GB (1333) / Laptop 8Gb DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Desk 1& 2NVidia GTX 650 & Laptops on board Intel
Sound Card
Desk 1 & 2 -XONAR DG Realtek High Def audio Laptop
Monitor(s) Displays
Desk 1 Benq HD 2450 / Desk2 Philips 24" / Laptop 17.5"
Screen Resolution
1920x1080 D1 & D2 & Laptop 1
Hard Drives
Desk1 Samsung 120GB 830 SSD
Asus ROG 256GB 850 Pro SSD
Desk2 Samsung 840 256 SSD
Toshiba 120GB EVO
PSU
Desk 1 Corsair HX 1050/ Laptop ? / Desk 2 Corsair HX 650
Case
Desk 1 Cooler HAF XM ? Toshiba laptop / Desk2 Coolermaster
Cooling
Fans on all Desk1 -2 Desk2 - all Coolermasters 5 Laptop ?
Keyboard
Desk 1 MS Sidewinder X6 Desk 2 MS Sidewinder X 4
Mouse
Desk 1&2 - Gigabyte MS 900 gamer - laptop - Logitec wireless
Internet Speed
ADSL2+
Other Info
One other Desktop (tester) and spare Toshba laptop both with SSD's
Running Kaspersky 2016 ISS on all machines config'd identically
Logitec audio stereo systems on each machine (x3)
Canon MG5250MFC
Router/modem TP-Link running WPA2SK

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom Built
OS
Windows 8 64bit Professional
CPU
Intel Q9400 Quad Core 2.66Ghz
Motherboard
Gigabyte
Memory
G.Skill 4GB DDR3-1600
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GeForce 560GTX
Sound Card
On-board
Monitor(s) Displays
24" LCD
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
160GB WD
WD Caviar Black 640GB
WD 500GB
WD 1TB
WD 1TB
PSU
Cooler Master 1300W Silent Pro
Case
Sunbeam Transformer Black
Cooling
Fans
Keyboard
Logitech G15 (Original Screen + 18G Keys)
Mouse
Logitech MX518
Internet Speed
10mbit up/down Fiber Optic
Browser
FireFox / Chrome
Other Info
SF is amazing!

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Own build (new) Desk1 / Asus ROG Win 7 / Desk2 1st build
OS
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
CPU
Desk1 i5 3750K / Laptop i7 GTX 860M / Desk2 i5 2500
Motherboard
Desk1 Asus P877-V / Desk2 Gigabyte H67 UD3H / Laptop ?
Memory
Desk1 8GB (1866) / Desk2 16GB (1333) / Laptop 8Gb DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Desk 1& 2NVidia GTX 650 & Laptops on board Intel
Sound Card
Desk 1 & 2 -XONAR DG Realtek High Def audio Laptop
Monitor(s) Displays
Desk 1 Benq HD 2450 / Desk2 Philips 24" / Laptop 17.5"
Screen Resolution
1920x1080 D1 & D2 & Laptop 1
Hard Drives
Desk1 Samsung 120GB 830 SSD
Asus ROG 256GB 850 Pro SSD
Desk2 Samsung 840 256 SSD
Toshiba 120GB EVO
PSU
Desk 1 Corsair HX 1050/ Laptop ? / Desk 2 Corsair HX 650
Case
Desk 1 Cooler HAF XM ? Toshiba laptop / Desk2 Coolermaster
Cooling
Fans on all Desk1 -2 Desk2 - all Coolermasters 5 Laptop ?
Keyboard
Desk 1 MS Sidewinder X6 Desk 2 MS Sidewinder X 4
Mouse
Desk 1&2 - Gigabyte MS 900 gamer - laptop - Logitec wireless
Internet Speed
ADSL2+
Other Info
One other Desktop (tester) and spare Toshba laptop both with SSD's
Running Kaspersky 2016 ISS on all machines config'd identically
Logitec audio stereo systems on each machine (x3)
Canon MG5250MFC
Router/modem TP-Link running WPA2SK

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home Built
OS
Windows `10 Professional 64bit
CPU
Intel i5 [email protected]
Motherboard
MSI P67A-GD55 (MS7681)
Memory
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 16G
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce GT520 1GHz
Sound Card
Realtek High Definition Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
Haans G 241
Screen Resolution
1600X1024
Hard Drives
Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
PSU
OCZ ModXStream Modular High Performance 500 Watt
Case
Rosewill Challenger-U3
Cooling
Just Fans
Keyboard
Kensington K64338B
Mouse
Microsoft wheel mouse 1.1A
Internet Speed
240.0 Mbps
Antivirus
ESET Internet Security
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
SuperAntiSpyware-Pro
Malwarebytes (Premium)
Kerish Doctor
I've shopped here for laptops..and purchased , as you will notice they offer easy pay on most all of these.. NO extra charges for using EASY Pay.. no interest charges. They will bill your CC once a month until payed off.. YOU will receive the laptop in not more than a week of a few days.
Must have one of the Credit cards they accept.
If you do NOT like it then you HAVE 30 DAYS TO RETURN no RESTOCKING FEES, NO PROBLESM GETTING YOUR FUNDS BACK.
Search Results for Laptops — QVC.com
 

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway 17.3" LCD Intel Dual-Core, 8GB RAM 1TB HDD Windows 8 Laptop
OS
Windows 8 - 64-bit
CPU
2.2GHz Intel Pentium dual-core B960 processor with 2MB L3 ca
Memory
8GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD Graphics with 128MB of dedicated system memory
Monitor(s) Displays
17.3" Ultrabright HD widescreen LED-backlit LCD
Screen Resolution
1280 X 1024
Hard Drives
1TB hard drive-1000 GB HDD
DVD-Super Multi DL drive
PSU
Intel B960 processor
Case
XXXXX
Cooling
XXXXX
Keyboard
Multi Gesture Touchpad
Mouse
USB - portable mouse... I added this
Antivirus
Avast
Browser
I E 10
Other Info
I see nothing about Motherboard info.
I'm not sure about Sound Card
Ports :(3) USB 2.0, (1) HDMI, (1) VGA, (1) Headphone out, (1) Microphone in, (1) Ethernet LAN

•Fast Wi-Fi wireless and wired Gigabit Ethernet networking
•HDMI output
•Kensington lock slot
I have no idea what all this actually means

My Computer

Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Gateway 17.3" LCD Intel Dual-Core, 8GB RAM 1TB HDD Windows 8 Laptop
OS
Windows 8 - 64-bit
CPU
2.2GHz Intel Pentium dual-core B960 processor with 2MB L3 ca
Memory
8GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD Graphics with 128MB of dedicated system memory
Monitor(s) Displays
17.3" Ultrabright HD widescreen LED-backlit LCD
Screen Resolution
1280 X 1024
Hard Drives
1TB hard drive-1000 GB HDD
DVD-Super Multi DL drive
PSU
Intel B960 processor
Case
XXXXX
Cooling
XXXXX
Keyboard
Multi Gesture Touchpad
Mouse
USB - portable mouse... I added this
Antivirus
Avast
Browser
I E 10
Other Info
I see nothing about Motherboard info.
I'm not sure about Sound Card
Ports :(3) USB 2.0, (1) HDMI, (1) VGA, (1) Headphone out, (1) Microphone in, (1) Ethernet LAN

•Fast Wi-Fi wireless and wired Gigabit Ethernet networking
•HDMI output
•Kensington lock slot
I have no idea what all this actually means
Thanks for all the replies!


Newegg.com - Refurbished: DELL Inspiron I15-3520 Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 6GB Memory 1TB HDD 15.6" Notebook Windows 8 64-Bit

This is what I found, and will most likely go with. I've asked several of the Cisco guys in here, and they said for the price it was good.

Just bear in mind that the person who rated that laptop did not buy it from Newegg.

Refurb products have sometimes been beaten to pieces.
Very true Jadin and Dread it might be worth finding out if there is any transferable warranty left on this machine. Easy done if you can get some details on the year of manaufacture - or do a search by model or serial numbers.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Own build (new) Desk1 / Asus ROG Win 7 / Desk2 1st build
OS
Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
CPU
Desk1 i5 3750K / Laptop i7 GTX 860M / Desk2 i5 2500
Motherboard
Desk1 Asus P877-V / Desk2 Gigabyte H67 UD3H / Laptop ?
Memory
Desk1 8GB (1866) / Desk2 16GB (1333) / Laptop 8Gb DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Desk 1& 2NVidia GTX 650 & Laptops on board Intel
Sound Card
Desk 1 & 2 -XONAR DG Realtek High Def audio Laptop
Monitor(s) Displays
Desk 1 Benq HD 2450 / Desk2 Philips 24" / Laptop 17.5"
Screen Resolution
1920x1080 D1 & D2 & Laptop 1
Hard Drives
Desk1 Samsung 120GB 830 SSD
Asus ROG 256GB 850 Pro SSD
Desk2 Samsung 840 256 SSD
Toshiba 120GB EVO
PSU
Desk 1 Corsair HX 1050/ Laptop ? / Desk 2 Corsair HX 650
Case
Desk 1 Cooler HAF XM ? Toshiba laptop / Desk2 Coolermaster
Cooling
Fans on all Desk1 -2 Desk2 - all Coolermasters 5 Laptop ?
Keyboard
Desk 1 MS Sidewinder X6 Desk 2 MS Sidewinder X 4
Mouse
Desk 1&2 - Gigabyte MS 900 gamer - laptop - Logitec wireless
Internet Speed
ADSL2+
Other Info
One other Desktop (tester) and spare Toshba laptop both with SSD's
Running Kaspersky 2016 ISS on all machines config'd identically
Logitec audio stereo systems on each machine (x3)
Canon MG5250MFC
Router/modem TP-Link running WPA2SK
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