Laptop recommendations?

[bort]

Well, the time has come for me to get a new laptop. I've put it off as long as I possibly could, but I need something new now.

Right now, I have a 1st generation Asus EEE PC, and while it's been really good to me, it was never intended (or designed) to be an only computer. I now need a laptop that I can consider my only computer. If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions, please help me! I'd consider myself above average in "tech savvy", it's just been a while since I've shopped, and there are a lot of new options on the market.

To help, here's what I'm looking for, with highest priority listed first:
-- $500 or less
-- PC (no Mac, Linux, etc...)
-- Small and light (10" to 13" screen)
-- Anti-glare screen (no glossy screens if at all possible)
-- Long battery life
-- "Big enough" hard drive. Anything over 100 Gb is fine.
-- Powerful enough graphics to watch shows on Hulu or iTunes.

Any thoughts? Am I crazy to expect something good for the price range?

Thanks!

[rocksanddirt]

The Dell Inspiron series can be had for around your $500 price point, with sufficient juice to be an only computer. Battery life, isn't so great if you are work'n the machine, but lots of places have plugs....

<url>http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebook ... =lthp</url>

[TUBAD83]

Check out the Dells and Toshibas on WalMart's website--a good selection there.

JJ

[Kayla]

I second the Toshiba on the Wal-Mart website. They have the best memory for the price, and if you ever wanted more, there's the possibility of upgrading the RAM and/or hard drive, depending on how much your processor can handle.

If you can shell out about $100 more, the Dell Studio 15 laptops are also a good option. One big thing with them is customer service which is lacking.

[Wyvern]

Check out the Samsung NC10. I have got one and love it. Battery life is market leader at 5-6 hours.

It is worth getting 2Gb of memory for good performance, while note it does not include a DVD drive. But I prefer it being light and use an external drive if necessary.

Although sold as a 'Netbook', I think it could well be used as an only PC. If my desktop computer packs up, I may well do so.

[bort]

Thanks, everyone! I have some new options to check out.

Neptune, I've been looking at the Samsung as well. Does it live up to its hype?

[Wyvern]

Neptune, I've been looking at the Samsung as well. Does it live up to its hype?

All I can say is that it has more that fulfilled my expectations. Has done everything I have asked of it so far and is small and light enough to be really portable. I even put it in the side pocket of my tuba gig bag and take to orchestral rehearsals - getting on the web when they are practicing a piece I'm not in

It seems to fulfil all your requirements specified in OP.

[bort]

I will give this one some serious consideration. Do you have any problems watching streaming video or iTunes movies on your machine?

[Wyvern]

I will give this one some serious consideration. Do you have any problems watching streaming video or iTunes movies on your machine?

Videos have worked fine. As I said before, I would recommend buying extra memory for top performance. Something I have learnt from previous experience.

The NC10 is to me exactly what a laptop should be. Light and portable, got plenty of disk space, good performance and incredible battery life - I have as yet never run out of battery power! Oh, and a great built in webcam which I regularly use to chat on Skype with my girlfriend while out and about.

My only slight criticism would be the touch pad can be a bit small, but I use a bluetooth mouse if seriously working on it anyway.

[bort]

I can still hold off a little bit, but more and more, the price of high-end Netbooks is creeping up.

I have the same EEE you mentioned, though I don't have the nLite version of Windows XP. It'd be cool to know how to change the driver of the screen to 1024x768 too. I have the speed adjuster, which is nice, because 630MHz is awfully slow. Send me an email if you have a chance to tell me (or point me) to something about the screen resolution.

I'm more than willing to tweak, and I've already tweaked a bit...but at some point, it's still not enough for my needs and the physical restrictions (tiny screen and wearing out keyboard and trackpad buttons) are still there.

[bort]

Wow, that looks cool! Thanks!

[DonShirer]

Read this month's Consumer Reports. You might alter your requirements.

[bort]

Thanks, Don. I'll try to check it out. What a tease though! What'd it say??

[DonShirer]

I admit it was a bit of a tease. CR rated Macs as tops in 3 out of 4 laptop categories, and 2d in the other!

I know many people must use MS op systems because of work requirements or compatability problems with a particular app, (I had to use both MS and Mac before I retired), but at home I use only Mac, not only because of the notorious MS problems, but because my wife threw up her hands at ever figuring out MS OS complexities.

[bort]

No problem, thanks for the hint! I was guessing Mac vs. PC.

But work, Windows, everything else aside...when it comes to Macs, I just don't prefer them. They're cool and all, but I'm just a PC. Yes, I've spent plenty of time on Macs too. I'm going to try to check out that Samsung this weekend. That or the Toshiba are my leading contenders now.

[bort]

Part 2 --

I'm pretty set on the Toshiba. Now, what to do with my old EEE.

I'd consider selling it (to get something, old computers don't really have a premium), but I firmly believe in physically destroying the hard drive before unloading a computer. The EEE has a solid-state hard drive that is attached to the motherboard.

Any ideas from the techie TubeNetters out there?

[Rochester2013]

Hey, I see that you said you are pretty well set, but I have a suggestion.

I just bought this laptop (link below) and got it. It is a great little machine, I currently have a mac (running OS X 10.4.11) and another desktop PC (Windows Vista Basic, got it a couple weeks after the release) and I prefer this one much more. It is running Vista Premium 64-bit, with 3 Gb RAM and a pretty fast processor. I don't have to reiterate to you all of the functions though. It is refurbished, but I wouldn't know if it didn't tell me and have a sticker on the bottom that saws "reconditioned."

Good luck, and it is worth checking out!

http://tinyurl.com/computer12" target="_blank

[bort]

Yup, Toshiba is looking mighty sweet. Thanks for the heads up though!