# Which laptop is the best bang for the buck?



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

I'm looking to replace an old POS laptop/netbook and found 3, but can't decide. Before anyone says, "Get a Mac" - I'm a PC guy, sorry. 

Choice 1 - *$749.99*
INSPIRON 14Z	Inspiron 14z	
PROCESSOR	2nd generation Intel®Core™ processor i5-2430M (2.4GHz) with Intel HD Graphic 3000	
COLOR	Espresso Black	
MEMORY	8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory	
HARD DRIVE	750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive	
DISPLAY	14 inch High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with True-Life	
WIRELESS CARDS	Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 & Bluetooth 3.0	
BATTERY OPTIONS	65 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery	
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE	8x CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD +/-R Drive) with Roxio Starter	
SOUND OPTIONS	HD Audio 2.0 Support SRS™ Premium Sound	
Adobe Reader	Adobe Acrobat X Reader	
Webcam	Integrated 1.0MP HD Webcam	
WIDI	Wireless Display Application & Driver	
Network Card	Integrated 10/100 Network Card

Choice 2 - *$549.99*
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated Processor (2.4GHz/1.5GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
AMD Radeon(TM) Discrete-Class Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
FREE UPGRADE to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
FREE UPGRADE to 640GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
No Additional Office Software
No additional security software
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard)
15.6" High Def LED HP Brightview (1366x768)
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
802.11b/g/n WLAN

Choice 3 - *$484.99*
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
AMD Dual-Core Processor E-450(1.65GHz, 1MB L2 Cache) + AMD Radeon HD 6320M Discrete-Class Graphics
6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
320GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
No Additional Office Software
No additional security software
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
11.6" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366 x 768)
No Internal DVD or CD Drive
Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone
802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

I tend to like Intel processors over AMD. I've just had bad luck with AMD.

And for info, the best laptop for Windows is a Mac laptop according to a few tests. Just sayin...


----------



## David Ortiz (Aug 21, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> I'm looking to replace an old POS laptop/netbook and found 3, but can't decide. Before anyone says, "Get a Mac" - I'm a PC guy, sorry.


Congrats on the 10K posts! You have quite the range of screen sizes there. Do you have a preference?


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

David Ortiz said:


> Congrats on the 10K posts! You have quite the range of screen sizes there. Do you have a preference?


Thanks!
Not really...I can zoom if it's too small.


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

lparsons21 said:


> I tend to like Intel processors over AMD. I've just had bad luck with AMD.
> 
> And for info, the best laptop for Windows is a Mac laptop according to a few tests. Just sayin...


Isn't it a pain to put Win7 on a Macbook Air, which is a slick machine.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Out of those three... Option B.

I think the 14" screen on the more expensive one, made the big difference for me.

6GB -> 8GB... not much in my opinion, since you can get the other 2GB difference (maybe a 4GB chip) later on for a smaller dollar amount.

You can't upgrade the 14" screen.

The hard drive's size difference is minor, given if you are already hurting for space at 640gb, you are going to be hurting if you have the 750... and if you really need 7200rpms... you can always upgrade the hard drive later on if it is a problem.

Are you going to use WIDI? 

The rest of the software/include exclude is fluff, as none of them are the full versions.

Option C... is just throwing your money away..

I just did this whole comparison the last 72hours... Ended up with a Toshiba at right bout the same specs and pricepoint as your Option B.


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Isn't it a pain to put Win7 on a Macbook Air, which is a slick machine.


Not from what I've read. They use bootcamp, which is a way and a utility to install Windows on the machine and ensure all the right drivers are there. But, all of that said, if you are thinking going that way, get into some Mac support forums and ask specific questions.

I don't use Windows on my iMac and my laptop is an el-cheapo Acer W7 machine that gets very limited use because I don't have any strong needs for a laptop from anyone.

And yes, that Macbook Air is one slick box! I had one for a few months, but couldn't come up with enough uses to make it really worthwhile, so I sold it for almost what I paid for it new.


----------



## David Ortiz (Aug 21, 2006)

I'm an Intel guy myself, so I can't really answer your original question. AAA members get special deals at Dell.com. Costco also has Dell laptops. Do you have access to either of those?

Bensbargains.net is also a great place to find Dell deals and coupon codes.


----------



## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

"lparsons21" said:


> I tend to like Intel processors over AMD. I've just had bad luck with AMD.
> 
> And for info, the best laptop for Windows is a Mac laptop according to a few tests. Just sayin...


Bang for the buck and Apple generally aren't found in the same sentence, unless theres a "not" in there 

And it really must be asked, primary use?

I'm assuming general basic stuff like web, email, document editing. Any photo/video editing etc?


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

David Ortiz said:


> I'm an Intel guy myself, so I can't really answer your original question. AAA members get special deals at Dell.com. Costco also has Dell laptops. Do you have access to either of those?
> 
> Bensbargains.net is also a great place to find Dell deals and coupon codes.


The Dell (expensive one) I can get for no interest for 6 months, which is a plus. I'm just torn because the Dell's XPS 13 Ultrabook: IT-friendly, 128GB SSD and backlit keyboard standard, arrives in February for $999.


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

dpeters11 said:


> ...
> 
> And it really must be asked, primary use?
> 
> I'm assuming general basic stuff like web, email, document editing. Any photo/video editing etc?


General use with some streaming. I run my small AV setup with a network controlled remote via the PC.


----------



## David Ortiz (Aug 21, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> The Dell (expensive one) I can get for no interest for 6 months, which is a plus. I'm just torn because the Dell's XPS 13 Ultrabook: IT-friendly, 128GB SSD and backlit keyboard standard, arrives in February for $999.


I saw this in Vegas at CES and it is beautiful. I would wait.


----------



## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Best Buy had a Lenovo spec'd out very well (i5, 6 GB, 750GB HDD, 15.6" screen, etc) for under $600. I really like Lenovo.


----------



## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

If you're willing to go outside of those 3 I would look at one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246195

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215245


----------



## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Isn't it a pain to put Win7 on a Macbook Air, which is a slick machine.


The Air require slightly more work as it does not have a built in optical drive. But add an external Superdrive and it's good to go.



lparsons21 said:


> Not from what I've read. They use bootcamp, which is a way and a utility to install Windows on the machine and ensure all the right drivers are there.


Bootcamp allows you to partition your main HHD to a Mac partition and a Windows Partition. You can make them any size you want. On my iMac, of my 1 TB drive, Windows gets 100GB. In theory, you can dedicate 100% to Windows if you wanted. Then Bootcamp takes you through the steps to load Windows (WIN7 Only via BC). You then have the option to tell the machine which drive to boot to. And you can reboot to the other from inside each other. Works pretty slick.

But I really just use Fusion.


----------



## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

I know this is a little more than you were looking to spend ($799 starting price), but the Sony S Series laptops are fantastic. The 13" one is only 3.8lbs. Lighter than a 13" MacBook Pro. Also thinner. It looks great, too.

The battery is rated for 7 hours. But you can get a $99 attachable battery slice that DOUBLES that to 14 hours.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...d=10151&langId=-1&identifier=S_SB_SERIES_PAGE

My wife has one that only Best Buy sells. It has a hybrid flash/platter hard drive which makes for really fast drive access.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...lver/3519978.p?id=1218408962680&skuId=3519978

At $950, I don't think it is as good a deal as the ones that Sony sells directly, though.


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

If you're stuck on one of those three and not shopping for alternatives:

Choice 1 - hands down, no competition.

Why?

Well, there's the 'more memory' thing. You'll be doing more and more as you use the machine and you'll want that memory as bloatware of all forms increases.

You'll want the extra oomph in the CPU. Maybe not now, but you will.

The hard drive - bigger and, more important, LOTS faster. Boot-up times, wake-up times, *everything* is faster with a faster drive. I cannot stress this particular option hard enough.

The difference is $200. For that you get more memory, faster CPU, more disk, FASTER disk, Bluetooth and more. That's less than $10/mo when you amortize it over, say, 2 years.

If you're NOT wedded to one of those three, I recommend checking techbargains.com to get the latest discount codes and sale prices. You'd be surprised what's out there.


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Sigma - check out the Sony Outlet Stores: http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...0151&langId=-1&identifier=S_SonyStyle_Outlets

I've bought new laptop products at 50% off there.


----------



## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Keep any suggestions coming. Unless a great deal pops up before the Dell in post #10 I'll be weighing options.

Also, the lighter/smaller (while still semi powerful) the better.


----------



## billsharpe (Jan 25, 2007)

If you have a Costco card, this HP may suit your needs at $500. My daughter bought one of these last week -- Beats Audio speakers are best I've heard built into a laptop.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...rypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsInCategory


----------

