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Buying a new laptop for college, need help

post #1 of 5
Thread Starter 

I'm pretty much not very technologically adept, to be honest - I know my way around with a computer more than, say, my parents and older family members, but I don't claim to know shit.

Basically, I had a Toshiba Satellite L305D-S5895, and I loved it very very much but after three good years my roommate dropped it while it was running, ruining the hard drive. When I took it to a computer person they said that it was fixable, but would cost about as much as buying a new laptop, and plus, my power cord jack was slightly damaged and he said that would only lead to more problems.

 

That being said, I loved the click-close latch thing a lot, and would love to find a new laptop that has that as well (but the computer dude told me that's not likely, so I suppose I can live without it if need be.) Also I liked Windows Vista more than Windows 7, just because I liked the format more; but I could live without that as well if need be. Or shit, maybe I'm wrong and Windows 7 actually is better? More info would be swell.

 

My requirements are:

1. Comes with Microsoft Word, is good for word processing etc;

2. Good for downloading free music and movies, and good definition would be awesome. Watching movies on my Toshiba was a little shitty. Also it was very quiet, so good sound would be great.

3. Good for some light gaming. I mean like maybe Lord of the Rings online or Skyrim. My Toshiba ran LotRo pretty well for a while, but then after a while it wouldn't work at all anymore. Idk.

4. I like to use Photoshop. My Toshiba handled that fine, so I'm sure whatever I get that meets these other requirements will be alright.

 

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Really I would like to be suggested specific models, not just brand names. Thanks emot-awesome.png

post #2 of 5
Thread Starter 

Oh, and about price range: cheapest of the cheap you could think of would be preferred! Honestly $550 might be my max - and if that means I have to sacrifice some of my less important priorities, then so be it. Like I said, I loved my Toshiba and it was pretty cheap I think!

post #3 of 5
There are a few good machines for under $500 that would equal or better than your current Toshiba. Dell Inspiron i15 series, Lenovo G series, Asus A50 series and the HP G6 series per example.

Look for them in Amazon.

cheers ...
post #4 of 5

Your Toshiba was 15", so I'm assuming that you're going to get another. Besides, since you are not really into the computing thing, you probably won't get into the trouble of buying a used one.

 

Do you really need a new MS Office license? If yes, the student version will cost you about $120. So for the computer and OS, it's $550-$120=$430. If you don't need PowerPoint, the starter version is usually included in the price.

 

Most brands are shipping with Win 7 now. There seems to be no way to get around the included Win 7 license fee, and I suggest you to just go with it. Most people do believe Win 7 is better, actually many went from XP straightly to 7, skipping the Vista.

 

You mentioned some light gaming and ... Skyrim? That's not very "light" gaming, even though its not super intensive neither. Are you sure that your Satellite L305D-S5895 could handle that? For the graphics card on your new computer, Intel 4000 HD would be the lowest possible for running Skyrim at low settings with reasonable frame rate.

 

At $550 total there are not many choices. Check the models qhn suggested and calculate the price careflully. Inspiron 15, Lenovo G580 and HP 650 all offer below-$500 options. If you really need 4000 HD and MS Office at the same time, look for some sell/discount.

 

@qhn

ASUS A50? Isn't that a phone?


Edited by MrKoala - 10/9/12 at 12:25am
post #5 of 5
From what I read so far, yes, ASUS A50 is a Garmin-Asus smart phone running on Android 2.1

cheers ...
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