Picky girl looking for a new laptop.

April 20, 2013 4:21 PM

These are the things I want in the laptop....

I need to get a new laptop. The one I have now is driving me insane. I've been looking at Best Buy every now and then but haven't had anything catch my eye and if it does, it has a lot of bad reviews or enough to make me wary of buying it.

Here's a list of things I want in a lap top.

1. Price range: Nothing over $800.

2. Speakers on the top and pretty loud speakers too. The ASUS I have now, the volume isn't very loud and the speakers are on the bottom of the computer.

3. 17 inches

4. Light weight.

5. Be able to use for Skyping and not have a weird messed up webcam with bad video quality

6. Have a DVD player!! My ASUS does not have one.

7. Doesn't overheat.

8. When I plug earphones in, there won't be a beeping sound when no videos or music is playing. My ASUS does this for some reason and it won't stop.

9. Ones that I heard aren't too great are Dells and HP's.

Can someone please recommend me a good laptop? I don't game, I just use facebook, browse the internet,youtube, watch DVD's videos every now and then and need to be able to put music on my mp3, and Skype.

I'm not interested in a tablet or an Ipad. I have an Ipad but don't use it much. I like the idea of a lap top.

Thanks in advance.

posted by Autumn89 to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Best answer: Here's a Newgg search for 17" laptops with DVDs and webcams. It's hard to check on speakers there but at least it will get you started. I also filtered it to eliminate anything over 7 pounds, but there didn't seem to be any super light laptops on that list.
posted by pombe at 4:46 PM on April 20, 2013

Best answer: I would look at the Lenovo g780:
http://shop.lenovo.com/gbweb/GB/en/learn/products/laptops/essential/g-series/g780/index.html

17", dolby audio, 720p HD webcam, configurable for < $800

I will say that 17" and lightweight are pretty much at odds with each other.
posted by bluecore at 4:47 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: What does "lightweight" mean to you? Laptops with 17" screens are usually desktop replacements, which means that they tend to be both heavy and hot. I've also yet to run across a laptop that has particularly loud speakers.

Are you only going by the reviews on Best Buy? You might want to look at other vendors or even notebook forums. Some of the forums will actually tell you what specific notebook you could get based on your specs and price range.
posted by sm1tten at 5:06 PM on April 20, 2013

Does it really need to 17 inches when you travel? I would personally go with a smaller one and a external monitor for when you are at home. You can get a nice 22" monitor for 150 bucks.
posted by johnpowell at 5:08 PM on April 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

3. 17 inches
4. Light weight.

These are not two things which go together. Which one do you care about most?
posted by bonehead at 8:46 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Just out of curiosity: have you handled a 17 inch laptop yet or have you just been shopping online?

I ask because I too was initially convinced that I absolutely needed a 17 inch screen, and after about 6 months fussing and browsing Best Buy and Dell Direct and New Egg, I wound up puchasing one online (a Dell - which I've personally always had great experiences with), going to Best Buy to pick it up, and after about three seconds of handling the display model, knowing I'd be leaving that thing behind and cancelling the transaction. It was huge, it was heavy, and the battery was a damn cinder block. Travelling with that thing would be a nightmare. The idea of taking it to classes or a coffee shop was ridiculous. And I was looking to replace a tv and a desktop, and wouldn't be travelling with it often, but I still instantly recognized it was just too darn big and weighty to really function as a laptop. If it's just going to sit on your desk and not budge, by all means, go for it, but otherwise, I highly recommend considering smaller models.
posted by involution at 2:45 AM on April 21, 2013

Response by poster: Well I like mostly a 17 inch because it is bigger, and the ASUS I have now is pretty lightweight. Also, I hardly take my lap top anywhere. Only when I leave home for a few days..which is hardly ever.
posted by Autumn89 at 6:55 AM on April 21, 2013

I have a laptop this big and the darn thing is indeed heavy, but I only travel with it once or twice a year. It is doable, but it functions basically as a desktop for me, since my husband hogs our desktop machine. I would not want to travel with it a lot. I've not found a 17 inch that is particularly light, I'm afraid. I've had both Dell and HP, and Dell was better than HP.

I hear you about the speakers, but in my experience laptop speakers are just not that good. My life is so much better since I got this Logitech usb speaker bar for my laptop. You can hunt around and find it for cheaper than this price. I watch a lot of movies and tv on my laptop, and also listen to music without headphones, and this makes a huge difference in sound quality, and, since it lives on top of the laptop, does not take up extra space.

Also, I carefully use compressed air to clean dust out of my laptop periodically (I went on the laptop manufacturer's website and followed their recommendations on how to do it properly). This makes a difference in the heat issue, I've found.
posted by gudrun at 8:34 AM on April 21, 2013