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Best $700 range laptop?
I was looking into buying a separate laptop for Windows Phone development since I have a Mac, and am not interested in running a virtualization of Windows. I am wanting a sub-700 dollar laptop with reasonably good specs and preferably a 15" or larger display.
Have you always been a Mac user? If so, I think my advice will be of use. I've always had good experience with Toshiba laptops, they aren't built like Macs but you get more than what you pay for, durable, top end of the class and lower end of the price for every category of laptops.
HP latops break down within a year or two. Think of them as the new Dells. Under no circumstance should anyone over the age of 25 buy a Dell. Dells are the Walmart of laptops. They work for now, for cheap and will break because they are so cheap. It's a rarity that a Dell laptop doesn't have a seized hard drive after 2 years of use. Mostly because they are used by college kids so being cheap is fine. For work a Dell is simply unacceptable. I would choose HP over Dell if you absolutely had to.
I've heard good things about Acer and Samsung, but have very limited experience. Samsung hasn't been making laptops for very long and neither has Asus or Acer so there's not a lot of data.
Sony laptops look gorgeous. They're fast, they're light. They're also hard to use and get really hot on your lap. I would love to afford the new Vaio Z, but it's far to pricey for me. If you're a Sony guy in that you have a PSP, PS3 or want a Sony tablet S the Vaio should interface well with those products. Sony makes the best looking laptops in my opinion, though once you start pricing out what you want you end up with something more expensive than it's corresponding Apple competitor.
Lenovos are going to be the best performance and quality, but I'm not so sure on price. My friend loves his IdeaPad and I've been working on my ThinkPad T61 for almost 4 years at work now.
Buying a Windows laptop is a great idea between May and October because of all the back to school deals like Bestbuy blue label program. Unfortunately it's hard to find sales on Lenovos. Also, OfficeMax is closing, (at least the one in my town) so you may be able to pick something up at 30% off or whatever. Slickdeals.net is a great website for getting the best bang for the buck too.
Good luck with the battery life on your bigass screen. My 4+ year old Toshiba 17" still chugs away, but if I take it off the charger for more than 10 minutes it gets to 10% battery life and wants to shut down.
My recommendation, go to a store, type on the Toshibas and Lenovos and go from there. If this is primarily a work machine, Lenovo is likely your first choice.
HP latops break down within a year or two. Think of them as the new Dells. Under no circumstance should anyone over the age of 25 buy a Dell. Dells are the Walmart of laptops. They work for now, for cheap and will break because they are so cheap. It's a rarity that a Dell laptop doesn't have a seized hard drive after 2 years of use. Mostly because they are used by college kids so being cheap is fine. For work a Dell is simply unacceptable. I would choose HP over Dell if you absolutely had to.
I've heard good things about Acer and Samsung, but have very limited experience. Samsung hasn't been making laptops for very long and neither has Asus or Acer so there's not a lot of data.
Sony laptops look gorgeous. They're fast, they're light. They're also hard to use and get really hot on your lap. I would love to afford the new Vaio Z, but it's far to pricey for me. If you're a Sony guy in that you have a PSP, PS3 or want a Sony tablet S the Vaio should interface well with those products. Sony makes the best looking laptops in my opinion, though once you start pricing out what you want you end up with something more expensive than it's corresponding Apple competitor.
Lenovos are going to be the best performance and quality, but I'm not so sure on price. My friend loves his IdeaPad and I've been working on my ThinkPad T61 for almost 4 years at work now.
Buying a Windows laptop is a great idea between May and October because of all the back to school deals like Bestbuy blue label program. Unfortunately it's hard to find sales on Lenovos. Also, OfficeMax is closing, (at least the one in my town) so you may be able to pick something up at 30% off or whatever. Slickdeals.net is a great website for getting the best bang for the buck too.
Good luck with the battery life on your bigass screen. My 4+ year old Toshiba 17" still chugs away, but if I take it off the charger for more than 10 minutes it gets to 10% battery life and wants to shut down.
My recommendation, go to a store, type on the Toshibas and Lenovos and go from there. If this is primarily a work machine, Lenovo is likely your first choice.
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