Now I’ve never owned a laptop before, but I know it’s a delicate balance between various factors, such as functionality, screen size, and battery life – I just don’t know what exactly that balance might be. My main uses for the thing are browsing the Internet, word docs, photoshop, and watching videos.
As an example of a couple models I’m looking at: This HP Laptop is $1,049 has a 13.3" screen, whereas a near identical model from HP (here) has a slightly larger screen of 14.1", and is $250 cheaper! Why? Is the larger size that much more inconvenient? Feel free to address any other points I may have missed.
I’m open to almost any kind of laptop, with the sweet-spot being around $1,000. Any good deals I’ve missed elsewhere? Which kind do you use? And what would you suggest for screen size?
We bought the dell vostro 1000(AMD AthlonTM 64 X2 Dual-Core processor TK-55 (1.8GHz/512KB) for travel and I use it in the front room while I’m watching tv. It has been a nice little unit. We got the one with xp instead of vista and it was just under 500 bucks I think.
I’ve been looking at laptops for a while. I already have an iBook, which I love and is the machine that leaves the house when I travel, go to club meetings, etc. I have an ancient (it will be 10 in October) IBM desktop that I’d like to replace with a PC laptop.
I have a heavy-duty Dell at work that’s pretty good; several of my friends have had trouble with theirs, though, and had to have them replaced. It seems that the quality isn’t quite what it once was, so I’ve been looking at other brands. I’m sure others will weigh in on that issue.
It looks to me like the display is fancier on the more expensive Dell you linked to and it also has a fingerprint reader, HDMI output, and fancier audio. The more expensive laptop also weighs about one pound less (that makes a big difference to me).
I’d also be interested in hearing others’ opinions about these and other laptops.