Tricky laptop specs for less

November 9, 2010 4:09 PM

My uncle is looking for a laptop with a certain set of specs. He saw a Sony laptop like it, but he's wondering if there's a laptop with the same specs, but more wallet friendly.

He has seen this laptop:
Sony VAIO Laptop / Intel® Core™ i7 Processor / 16.4" Display / 6GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive

There's a deal for it at Best Buy for $1299.

However it doesn't have a real HD screen.

He currently has a Dell laptop with an i5 processor with 8GB of RAM that seems to startup slow right out of the box. His even older Dell laptop with 2GB of RAM seems to be more speedier.

He wants something with a real HD screen and the above specs. The brand of laptop doesn't matter. The maximum possible price should preferably be $1300.

posted by antgly to Technology (8 answers total)

"HD screen" might not mean what he thinks it means.
By definition, HD = 720p = screen resolution of 1280x720. Most computer displays can do this or better. In fact, your old CRT could do HD, even though the term didn't exist yet.

Higher end HD, such as for Blu-Ray, = 1080p = screen resolution of 1920x1080.

Maybe the "HD screen" means it's not a widescreen (16:9) display?
Then there's not much to worry about; any widescreen display with a native resolution 1280x720 or greater is HD.

P.S. (secret) Most people can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p anyway.
posted by bartleby at 4:39 PM on November 9, 2010

it's likely 1600x900, judging by the sony vaio with similar specs i just googled. That would put in as a 16:9 but somewhere between 720p and 1080p.

IMO, you don't really need 1080p on that size screen.

What does he intend to do with it? If he's not gaming, or doing CPU intense work, he doesn't really need an i7. The ram is nice, but 4GB would also get him by. Might be worthwhile to trade off on those specs for a higher res screen or other features.

If he is gaming, then he also needs to be concerned with what the video is. Those specs alone won't help if it has an awful GPU
posted by utsutsu at 4:54 PM on November 9, 2010

Looked at another way, pretty much any laptop with a Blu-Ray drive should by default be capable of the maximum HD video commercially available, since that's Blu-Ray. It'll probably also come with an HDMI output, meaning he can hook it straight into a big giant flatscreen plasma tv with just one wire.

So if this is his 'movie machine', that'll cover it. Just get a laptop he likes that has a Blu-Ray drive and probably the biggest widescreen display, and it'll cover all 'real HD' bases.
posted by bartleby at 5:01 PM on November 9, 2010

Also, keep in mind that Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day are all coming up very quickly, so if you are in North America, it might be a good idea to wait and be ready to jump on a good deal.
posted by utsutsu at 5:02 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: To narrow it down in the order of importance from greater to lesser importance is this:

1. Price
2. Display quality
posted by antgly at 5:12 PM on November 9, 2010

An i5 with 8GB RAM should make for a fast machine, outside of very demanding tasks. But I think that machine should be plenty fast for most consumers, which leads me to think something is wrong, especially if the older laptop is faster. Does he have spyware/crapware/bloatware/etc? Need a fresh install of Windows? If price is his primary concern with a new laptop he'd likely be better off figuring out what's wrong with the current machine.
posted by 6550 at 6:17 PM on November 9, 2010

But I think that machine should be plenty fast for most consumers, which leads me to think something is wrong.

This was my first thought as well. That's a great machine that should run most laptops under the table.

Also, I recommend building his dream machine on Dell.com several days in a row -- prices there can fluctuate wildly. And of course, Black Friday coupons are already available. Keep an eye out for more as the day approaches.
posted by coolguymichael at 7:43 PM on November 9, 2010

I'll agree with 6550 and coolguymichaeal. The new i5 should be a fast machine. I'm willing to bet it has Norton or (worse yet these days) McAfee installed on it. A quick run of the Norton Removal Tool or McAfee Product Removal Tool might speed things up.

Failing that, I would recommend a clean reinstall directly from Windows (or alternate OS) install media. Do not reinstall from the recovery partition or recovery media.
posted by sockpup at 10:19 PM on November 9, 2010 [1 favorite]