Laptop Recommendations?

[Tanya]

Does anyone have recommendations on laptop? preferably under $600.
Uses: regular internet stuff and some light photo editing. prefer larger memory. I don't want a huge laptop (13-14 inches maybe) - my last one was 16' i think and I found it big and heavy. I am thinking not a "netbook" given I want internal memory and some light photo editing?

And no - I don't want a tablet I've gone over and evluated things and prefer a laptop.

Thanks!

[Jeff]

I would head over to Cnet and read some reviews. Then basically make your choice from what you see there with what feature you want. Their cuts off in price ranges are 600 below and 600-800 then more on up but that should give you a really good feel of what is out there. They allow you to sort off on the left side by screen size and weight and so on.

Pretty much all laptops now days are all the same with just different features. They all have the same processors, the same mother boards, few options from hard drive manufacturers. They just assemble them. I personally like the Levino, formerly IBM. They tend to be a little more stronger for traveling around. They make sure they use higher quality parts rather than shiny parts with flashy graphics. They aren't as pretty but they last. You can always put a skin on them from like iPhone 6 Cases, Custom Phone Covers Skins For Electronics | Skinit if you want it to look different. But it is more important to get the features you want really. Dell has been improving their game lately too with better well thought out designs.

Here are the laptops under $400-$600 $400 - $599 - Laptop Reviews - CNET

Then Here are $600-$800 $600 - $749 - Laptop Reviews - CNET

My Recommendations for hardware you might want is.
64 bit intel CPU. You could probably get by with an I-5 vs I-7 as you can get a faster I-5 for cheaper than an I-7. I-7 is a much beefier chip and great for hard core gamers, programmers etc people that need maximum performance. AMD Chips, while fine you can run into unusual problems with certain software and well, lets face it going to AMD might save a couple bucks, $10-$20 overall but when you run into those weird issues, your going to spend more than that fixing them, I just don't recommend AMD for the average person unless you want to tinker with your PC.
Ram I would get as much as you can.
Hard Drive - Depends, Solid State, much faster however Less Space and more expensive. Regular drive, then I would go for highest RPM drive you can find. 7200 Minimum RPM. I tend to prefer Seagate over the others but over the years I have had better stability with seagate drives vs western digital. However they are all the same really.
Graphics card I would chose in this order, NVIDIA first choice, Intell Second Choice, ATI Radion falls into that tinker group but much more so and so for the average person I would just avoid the ATI Radion.

Beyond that it's all bells and whistles like if you want heated seats in a car. Hope that helps.

[Tanya]

That definately helps Thank you!

[Snowshoe]

I use CNET for research too. Ditto that suggestion.

[PinkDragon14]

Personally, I would stick to HP. Dell (IMO) still isn't up there yet. I've always had reliable machines and great customer support from HP. I second what Jeff said as far as specs go. If you have Best Buy or another electronics store near you (not familiar with what's up there in Canada), I suggest heading up there and playing with the machines. Then, once you tested them out and find one that suits you, order it from Amazon or another online store if it ends up saving a few bucks. If you didn't find one in the store, then shop around online. Customer reviews are also very useful! CNET is also very helpful as far as tech reviews go.

Whatever you do, stay away from refurbished machines. Those are like playing the lottery - sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not.

[Scoutpout]

friends just got a great deal on a Lenovo from Basics. i think under $600 regular price $949, 1tb, the middle-of-the road i7 chip, and i think 8gb. its a 15.6" class, they've managed to squeeze a number pad to the immediate right of the keyboad. Personally i like the size of my 14", but it doesn't have a number pad, which isn't a problem unless i'm travelling (i use port replicator and have keyboard mouse and screen at work/home), then grin and bear it It was on sale end of july, then again 3 weeks ago.

[Labradorks]

I have two: one for work and one for home. The home one is a bigger Sony Vaio. It's older - like five years old. I have dropped it several times and have never done any maintenance besides keeping the virus ware updated. It was about $500 on sale and worth every penny. It's kinda big, though thin and light for a larger and older laptop.

My work one is an HP Elitebook Ultrabook or something like that. It is very small and light. I think they are around $1,000. It's a PIA, but then again, I use InDesign and other piggy software. Also, I cannot stand the screen. It's too small. I use a dock at work connected to two huge monitors, but at home it's a nightmare, even with wearing glasses.

[Woody]

I would be doing some price comparing before buying a laptop off of Amazon. I looked around a few months ago the prices on Amazon were completely overpriced. Mainly 3rd party sellers with prices that didn't make any sense when compared to a Costco or Best Buy. If you are a Costco member their warranty program trumps all others. They give you an extra year over the manufacturer plus you can buy an extended at a reasonable price.

That being said I would stay away from an HP. I have owned several of them and am on my last one I will buy. One of them the HD failed after less than two months and I have to reinstall one they sent me in the mail myself. The current one I am on overheats all the time and I have it on a cooling pad and I don't care for the color controls and graphics card. This one has a dual.

I would also stay away from a Acer. We owned one of them and it did not last at all. They have a cheap price tag on it for a reason.

An IT guy at work I trust recommended Lenovo or Asus as brands to look for.

[Charlotte K.]

Duplicate post.

[Charlotte K.]

The one type of refurbished laptop would be one from Apple Stores, which comes with a year of Apple Care like a new one. Photo editing is easy with their basic program. The current ones online are out of the range of what you would like to spend. A couple weeks ago they had some for $100 less, if I remember correctly.

A friend in IT also recommended Lenovo machines, although they can be heavy if the old style.

The little Asus Transformer a family member got has a screen that cracked easily. It has amazing features and software for the price. I tend to use hand me down or refurbished Apples, so the fragility of the Asus shocked me. I guess cheap is cheap?