Laptop from US ~ $500 for basic usage/performance

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techie_007

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Need a laptop for Dad to use for his office. He will be carrying it around with him, so prefer a lighter model.

  • What's your Budget? $500-$550 US range
  • What will be your primary usage for the notebook be? web surfing & office apps. No games, not much music or movies either.
  • What size and weight considerations do you have? Should be light, since Dad needs to carry it around. 13 or 14" is preferred, with 14" his sweet spot, since he doesnt like text that is too small for him to read easily. May go for 13" if no good 14" options.
  • Any brand that you prefer, or any brand that you detest? MUST have international warranty. Any brand that provides it is acceptable, + good service available in India. I know of Dell & Lenovo that have international warranty valid in India. Prefer Dell's at-home service, have good experience with them.
  • Any other considerations? Good battery life, webcam, backlit keyboard preferred if possible in budget, open to buying refurbs with warranty from Dell Outlet/Lenovo outlet etc

Currently checked out a few laptops. One I liked was the Dell Inspiron 14z, but with backlit keyboard and all comes to $570 without factoring in taxes, so probably closer to $600 here.

The other interesting laptop right now is the 13" Vostro V131 with Ubuntu: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bqctt2&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&model_id=vostro-v131

Has decent webcam, good battery life, backlit keyboard etc for <$500, only issue being that dad would prefer a 14" if I can find a good one instead of a 13".

Still need to see lenovo models if theres anything good around.
 
Thinkpad E430 ftw! Upgrade following items:

wifi + BT

battery

Micro SSD 16GB

720p cam (or no cam, your choice)

All at $629 with international warranty + thinkpad guarantee.
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I found this one particularly good..

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satellite-R845-S85-14-0-Inch-Laptop/dp/B005KP0BJU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335390501&sr=8-1

Amazon has it for $600, so it ll go beyond the 500 mark u have set.. but read about it if u r interested.. good config

i5 proccy, plenty of RAM, fantastic screen, and 5 hrs+ battery life,, ~10 hrs if u go on the Eco mode. Stays pretty cool with the temp as well. Build quality is nice as well.

At under 2kg, i think it ll be a good choice. BT is missing i guess.

I dont find lenovos to be very reliable somehow.
 
System components
  • Intel Core i3-2350M Processor (3M Cache, 2.30GHz)
  • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
  • 14.0" W HD (1366 x 768) LED AntiGlare, Midnight Black
  • Intel HD Graphics (WWAN or mSATA capable)
  • 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
  • Keyboard - US English
  • UltraNav with FingerPrint Reader
  • 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
  • DVD Recordable
  • 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 48WH - 75+
  • 65W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
  • ThinkPad 1x1 b/g/n

Just $459! Go for a Battery upgrde ($10), camera upgrade ($30) -> So $499.

So that's a decent deal!

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=77160E70986F3A542955F35F555662EF

Another option is the Vostro 3450

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bqct41a&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&model_id=vostro-3450

You can add a 'Backlit Keyboard with Gesture Touchpad, English' for just $20 and get it for $519.
 
Need info on warranties people!. Does anyone know if I need to purchase a specific warranty from Toshiba/Lenovo to get international coverage?
 
techie_007 said:
Need info on warranties people!. Does anyone know if I need to purchase a specific warranty from Toshiba/Lenovo to get international coverage?
Click to expand...

AFAIK thinkpads have international warranty by default and can be extended too. #[member='sunny27'] can confirm it.
 
Warranty on thinkpads irrespective of the type of warranty (international warranty is standard) can be extended for any period by the user. it costs about 7k to extend the warranty upto 3 years on all components apart from the battery and charger which carry standard warranty of 1 year. the battery warranty can be extended separately to three years.
 
Question about the Lenovo Edge e430: Anyone know how the 16Gb cache drive works? They mention the Lenovo Hard Disk Performance Booster software, which I guess is some sort of data caching software.

I am guessing the cache should provide quite a boost to boot up times etc.

My thought is: can I buy an aftermarket 16Gb drive separately (cheaper) and then enable/install this software?

Anyone know about this?
 
Wait for 3-5 days, I have ordered a 64 gb msata ssd for my Thinkpad x220 and then I shall review it and let you know the kind of performance boost you can expect.
 
H2O said:
I don't want to hijack the thread, but if is there a way ti make the inbuilt 16GB SSD on the Thinkpad E430 work simultaneously with Ubuntu and Windows?

This is also an option

http://www.logicbuy....ndle/35686.aspx
Click to expand...

From what I understand, Lenovo seems to be using a caching software (example and most likely is Diskeeper Express Cache) to do the caching of the most frequently used files using the low capacity mSATA SSD. So it wont work if you had Linux on the laptop since the particular software will probably not be available.

Alternate would be to get a larger mSATA drive and install it by yourself. Then you can probably install whatever you want on it, and if the drive is sufficiently large enough, you can partition it to run both Linux and Windows
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Ok, so based on everyones recommendations, the initial Dell V131 13" is out because of enough 14" options available
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Dell 14z:

Core i3, 6Gb, 750Gb, wifi + BT, Backlit KB, Home Premium, 1 yr basic support ( i can transfer that to India) = $555 (+taxes)

Vostro 3450

Core i3, 4Gb, 320Gb, Wifi+BT, Backlit KB, Home Premium, 1 yr basic support = $520

Lenovo Edge 430

Core i3, 4Gb, 320Gb (7200rpm), Wifi, Home Premium, anti-glare display, webcam, upgraded batt, 1yr warranty = $500

Optional 16Gb micro drive = $60, BT = $20

Toshiba L740

Core i5, 3Gb, 320Gb, Wifi, Webcam, Home premium, 1 yr warranty = $499

Will probably skip Toshiba because of bad support stories for international warranty n otherwise that I have seen online. The best option price-wise seems to be the Lenovo without any micro drive or BT (dad doesnt use BT anyway, else can get the <500rs adaptor
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The only confusion I see that the Vostro has going for it is the backlit keyboard for only $20 more, else everything is fine with the lenovo. 14z is out for being too exp here because I need to up the warranty for international support.

Any opinions on Vostro 3450 vs Edge 430? Build quality etc?
 
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