Looking for Guidance to Purchase a Laptop

Hi,

I'm looking for a laptop to purchase for my mother who uses it primarily for usual web surfing, a bit of multimedia, and other normal day work (not business related). One of the main criteria for her is the cost which should adhere to the price tag of $700 and below (w/ S&H + Tax)--more or less. Another major criteria is the size of the monitor: min 15". These two points, cost and size overwrite all other features.

Obviously, this would take out Samsung, Sony, and Apple as they are more expensive than her budget. I have narrowed down the selection to 10 brand-models with the following features persisting more or less in all the items:

CPU: Intel Core i3 (if i5 for that price, the better)
Memory: DDR3 (2GB and up)
Hard Drive: 200GB+ (I am more concern with RPM, 7200 is much preferred)
Optical Drive: Dual Layer CD/DVD +/-R (if it is RW, the better)
Wireless: As long as it supports WPA/WPA2 and -N
Wire: Min 100MB
Video: Min Integrated Intel 128MB+ (1366x768)
Battery: Min 6 cell
Connectors: 1x HDMI

After searching for a few days, I've come up with the following list. What I'm looking is for people to share all the negative reviews they have either personally experienced or read because that way I can weed out the models with known issues. Yes, it's a bit strange request but I think this is the best way to minimize the future headaches. I list them in no particular of preference and specify the short coming of the components with respect to what I listed above and also certain extra amenities included in the package that deviates from the original ceiling with negative (-) and positive (+) sings:

1) Gateway NV5930u: $650 w/ S&H + Tax?
(-) 500GB 5400 RPM

2) Acer Aspire 5740-6025: $700 w/ S&H + Tax?
(+) Intel Core i5-430M 2.26 GHz (3M cache)
(-) 500GB 5400 RPM

3) Asus K52F-A1: $750 w/ S&H + Tax?
(+) Intel Core i3-350M 2.26 GHz (3M cache)
(-) 320GB 5400 RPM

4) Toshiba Satellite A500-ST6644: $780 w/ S&H + Tax
(+) 320GB SATA, 7200 RPM

5) Acer Aspire AS5740-5513: $650 w/ S&H + Tax
(-) 320GB SATA, 5400 RPM

6) HP Pavilion dv6t: $750 w/ S&H + Tax
(+) 320GB SATA, 7200 RPM w/ HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive
(-) Wireless-G Card

7) HP G62t: $650 w/ S&H + Tax
(+) 250GB SATA, 7200 RPM
(-) 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066 MHz

8) Dell Vestro 3500: $700 w/ S&H
(+) Intel Core i3-350M 2.26 GHz (3M cache)
(-) 250GB, 7200 RPM

9) Dell Inspiron 1564: $640 w/ S&H
(-) 320GB, 5400 RPM
(*) Webcam
(*) Dell 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card

10) Dell Studio 1555: $760 w/ S&H
(+) 320GB SATA, 7200 RPM
(*) Dell 1397 Wireless G


If by any chance you know of any site that offers any of the models above, please do hesitate to share.

Sincerely,

Thank you for your replay.

Strangely, many people have sworn to HP's quality but others have made negative remarks. I was being gravitated toward HP G62t, Acre's, and Toshiba but didn't want to completely exclude Asus and Dell. I'm in tough spot right now as they all pretty much offer the same features except that you really don't know what they have under the hood.

If you have more comments please don't hesitate to share.

mb67,

Apparently HP is getting a bum rap as some swear to its credibility--I don't know but negative reviews are outweighing the positive ones. Asus is becoming more attractive if I may say but Dell still worries me because all the reviews I read on Studio 15[58] do indicate that there is something wrong with the hardware and occasional shutdowns have been reported. Toshiba, even though it's a bit out of the price range, seems very stable but the price makes it unattractive.

mb67,

Sure, the high end Dell models have a far better track than the mid-range ones which are the one I'm targeting. At this point, I'm more inclined toward Asus and Acer's but haven't dismissed the Dell notebooks.

Funny I can see the majority of hardware failures are power DC jack related. As a matter of fact, my mother's Dell had problem with DC jack and the technician attempted to put a new one with no lock; then asked to replaced the entire motherboard... and something else... and the battery. So at the end we would have ended up shelling $500 to repair the laptop.

Another issue that nobody seems to be pointing out is the resolution on these laptops. Aside from Dell Studio 1555 which comes with 1080p, others are equipped with mere 720p which is very disappointing. Does anyone think such resolution might appear a bit flimsy? I would have root for Dell Studio 1555 if there was little complain about it--apparently it does have some issues but can't figure out they geared toward 1557/8 or 1555.

Asus and Acer are very attractive at this point.

Thank you Powerpack. I would love to know whether there are well known hardware issues with Acer models mentioned in OP.

It's interesting that almost everyone swears to certain brand's credibility. I too have read a few posts regarding Acer's overheating issue but mostly for a bit older models. Of course, every price range has its own set of defined qualities so sweeping generalization for the entire brand, rather than a specific model, can be misleading.

Another issue that has been bugging me is that if you have noticed, almost all the models, except Dell Studio 1555, provide 720p resolution LCD. Does anyone think such resolution would be an issue? Why all of sudden these mid-range models down graded to 1366x768?