New Laptop Time

[ase]

I am buying a new laptop to replace the 4.5 year old, 8.2 lb, 15.4" baby laptop. Almost anything would be an improvement.

The top contenders are the Toshiba Portege R705-P35 (CNET loves it) or maybe a Satellite for the larger screen; Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4820T(norabombay loves it); and the Samsung QX410 (the Best Buy salesman would love it, if he could afford it). My father is pushing far more affordable HP Pavilion dm1z, but it's an 11.6" screen so that's a giant no. The sweet spot in this era of degenerate 16:9 widescreen is no less than 13" and preferably a 14" diagonal. Also, after my adventures with the Pavilion zv6000, I'm not rushing back into HP's customer service embrace. And then there's the bloatware, and - okay, HPs are at the bottom of the list with Dells.

As much as I want awesome specs that will last another four years, realistically, this is my 2012 school laptop. If I stay on track, I should be in a better place, financially, in two years, so it's not necessary to buy a laptop I can run into the ground. However, this is my school laptop, so it must be absolutely reliable, portable, and comfortable for extensive word processing (13" screen being a minimum and one I'm not totally happy with). So I'm back to the "it will last forever (for a laptop)" $600 - $900 range.

Comments

[sraun]

Why is Dell at the bottom of the list? In my experience, Dell makes two wildly different qualities of laptop - their home/consumer line (Inspiron), and their business line (Latitude). The Inspirons are cheap - they look pretty, have a decent price/performance ratio, and fall apart if you look at them the wrong way. The Latitudes are nice - they don't look as nice, you don't get as much screen real-estate / processor / RAM / HD for the money, but it'll last. They reliably last three years for sales-droids in the field who don't really care about their computer - they figure there's always another one coming. I've gotten 6-8 years out Dell Latitudes as my personal laptop.

[ase]

Dell's at the bottom of the list because I'm shopping in the Inspiron price range.

[sraun]

Reasonable. Have you checked the Dell Outlet store? I've known a number of people who were very happy with the deals they got there.

[ase]

Not yet: I really want a new, very portable laptop with excellent build quality and a good CNET review. If I get into the program I'm applying for, the laptop will need to carry me through full time school in 2012 and a financially lean internship that would end sometime in 2013. Something older, whatever the specs, is unlikely to meet those needs.

[sraun]

It could be worth checking - the Dell Outlet store can stock anything Dell sells, so current Dell Latitudes are definitely in the running. You can find returns or scratch&dent at significant discounts, with standard Dell warranties. Returns are 'someone didn't like it/ didn't meet their needs', scratch&dent are just that - minor cosmetic flaws.