Don't know where to start, but my budget is $350.oo and . . . Yeah. So do yous guyses wanna help a pal out with some recommendations?
Get the one with a screen and a keyboard. But serious, what do you want from it? Gaming, Editing, Basic?
Ah, I guess I didn't think about that. I'm not really sure, actually. Not gaming, mostly just for basic things like writing, using Photoshop, maybe Vegas if I ever feel like doing that again. Something with a decent processor, and I'm not too worried about battery life. Right now, this is the one I'm sort of leaning on.
That seems like the ticket item then, though don't ask me if the price is any good, dollars are not my forte.
The biggest bottlenecks on the laptop you linked are the hard drive and the processor. Finding a laptop with a decent CPU is a pain, but I'd highly recommend AMD's. I have an A10 in my laptop (paid $600 for it about a year ago) and I don't come close to maxing it unless I'm doing seriously processor intensive stuff (converting lossless video, mostly, which is usually 20GB+). The hard drive is only 5400rpm which is typical of laptops, but if you can find one that's 7200rpm it'll be a noticeable difference. You could always update to an SSD when you have the money, but I kind of regret going with 5400rpm. Edit just took a look in your price range and found these two: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834257581 This one has an A8, but it'll be probably a similar speed to the Intel in the ASUS you linked. It is, however, a lot thinner (good for portability), has a larger hard drive (still 5400rpm tho), and 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB. It's cheaper as well. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834257632 This one is an A6 but a better clock speed, haven't checked the benchmarks to compare. It's stylish and very portable, I was actually looking at this one when I was laptop shopping (though it was more expensive back then). It has 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive for the same price as the ASUS. For sub-$1000 laptops imo HP really is king. Great values for your money without sacrificing weight/appearance. Their keyboards can be a little mushy but it's nothing you can't get used to.
TIL my idea of "decent" is of a much higher standard than other people's. I haven't looked at laptops in a while, but I always felt like comparable PCs and laptops had about a 30-50% price difference, not sure if this is still true, but it may be something to consider. Misty's post is good stuff, I'd definitely go for the refurb, if you're going to pick one. IIRC, when dealing with 2D rendering (Photoshop/Vegas) processor speed is your hot ticket item. Unfortunately it's not really practical to build your own lappy, so HP is the way to go, just keep in mind, HP batteries are unreliable.
orzI wish I had a more reliable response, but I did start narrowing my search to laptops similar to the ones you posted, Misty, so thanks. I found a Toshiba that I really liked ( the color was goddamn ugly though ), but BestBuy was completely sold out in my area and it's like shit, no one else has the model either.While my dad was looking ( the first chance I gave him to look ), he seemed to find this Samsung, which doesn't seem bad, but jesus, I'm so awful with computers that I don't know left from right, and that I've been basing a lot of things on the size of the HDD, the processor speed, and the fuckin' graphics card because what am i doing am i doing this right. Oh right. I know everyone's kind of like "hey water u doin disk drives aint cool no more" but I feel the need to have one because I'm paranoid, and it would really be convenient. ( this one was a thing too )I'm not exactly stuck on the idea of having more than 5400rpm because that seems fine to me and I think I'll be alright with it. I really just feel like I need someone to tell me that I'm not fucking up here and being derp because i know nada about computers and their quality. orzBut thanks to everyone who gave assistance/replied. ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
This is absolutely true. Without fail, you will always get better performance and specs out of a desktop at a cheaper price. I tend to give people computer shopping the benefit of doubt and assume that, if they're looking for laptops, they have a reason for wanting a laptop. I haven't really had any issues with my HP's battery life. Had it a year and it's still as good as new, get around 5 hours of use out of it (and I tend to keep the screen brightness all the way up lmao). But I don't really read up on battery reports, just speaking from personal experience. A laptop battery will only work as well as you treat it: if you overcharge it, it's going to fry regardless of who makes it. @Saxima, if you really don't know what you're looking at, feel free to post links/model names in here and we can go through them for you. Toshiba http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba...lver/7941053.p?id=1218874493593&skuId=7941053 CPU: This one has the AMD A6 processor, which is part of the series I was talking about. Clock speeds look good. Its PassMark bench score is 1628, which will help us compare it to the others. Screen Size/Resolution: 15.6" screen at 1366x768. This is the screen size & res I have, I like the size of the laptop because it's a good compromise between "this thing is a pain to lug around (17.3")" and "I feel like a giant using this." I will say that the resolution is a bit small, I do a lot of side by side window stuff and I typically use a second monitor for it when I'm at home. However, you really won't find a larger resolution in a sub-$800 laptop. RAM: 4GB of DDR3. This is a perfectly adequate amount of RAM for 90% of laptop owners. If it ever proves to be a bottleneck, RAM is very cheap to upgrade, and this system will support up to 16GB (though tbh, the highest you'll really ever want to go is 6GB, maybe 8GB). Hard Drive: 500GB @ 5400rpm. Disc Drive: Yes GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7520G. Benchmark score is 464. USB: 1 USB 3.0; 2 USB 2.0 Price: $309.99 Other Notes/Thoughts: None Samsung http://www.frys.com/product/7350094?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG CPU: This one has the AMD A4 processor, which is part of the series I was talking about. Benchmark score is 1654, making it a little better than the Toshiba, but by a small margin. This is likely because it's a quad-core, while the Toshiba is a dual-core. Screen Size/Resolution: Same as Toshiba. RAM: Same as Toshiba, though it's only expandable up to 8GB. Hard Drive: Same as Toshiba. Disc Drive: Yes GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7420G. Benchmark score is 456. This is a step down from the Toshiba, but not a major one. USB: 2 USB 3.0; 2 USB 2.0 Price: $248 Other Notes/Thoughts: This one is, overall, a bit better than the Toshiba, and cheaper to boot. ASUS http://www.frys.com/product/7550846?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG CPU: This one has the AMD A8 processor, which is part of the series I was talking about. Benchmark score is 2724, making it a lot better than the Samsung and the Toshiba. Screen Size/Resolution: Same as both Toshiba and Samsung. RAM: Same as Samsung. Hard Drive: Same as both Toshiba and Samsung. Disc Drive: Yes GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7640G. Benchmark score is 623. This is a notable edge over both the Samsung and the Toshiba. USB: 2 USB 3.0; 1 USB 2.0 Price: $348 Other Notes/Thoughts: MY SISTER HAS THIS LAPTOP. So overall, the ASUS is the most powerful. Its CPU and GPU are markedly better than the other two laptops, which is understandable considering the higher price point. It's still within your budget if at the max, so that is a consideration, but it is a good machine and it would definitely meet your needs. They all would, but with the video editing, the ASUS would give you some speed advantages. Hope some of this helps.
We've had about half a dozen HP laptops in this house, the battery always seemed to be the first thing to go, it may have been from overcharging, since most of the laptops never actually left the house (I know, right?) but they all went in about a year. The batteries are easy/cheap to replace, though and when they go they still work for about 10 minutes, but it's only good enough to move around form place to place.
