so I need help finding the right laptop

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

I can design and build a computer with my hands tied, but I'm so picky I can't find the laptop I want

to give you an idea of what I need it for, I am seventeen and will be going to college next year in the city

 

Must have features:

good battery life. 5 hours minimum

relatively thin. doesn't have to be a macbook air, but I want it thinner than my brother's Asus G73

good keyboard. something that I can type comfortably on. I will be using this a lot at school, so that will help.

reasonable size. 13-15 inch is my ballpark 11 is too tiny to type, 17 is a bit cumbersome, but not a dealbreaker

 

things I'd like

I'd love to have a 1080p screen for watching movies.

more than the standard 4gb of memory, but more than 8gb is unnecessary

a haswell CPU. lower power, great onboard graphics that's enough for League of Legends at a friend's house.

metal chassis. at the very least I want a solid laptop that can last me the test of time. if they weren't so expensive I'd jump on a lenovo T440 now (or maybe even a macbook pro retina if i had $1400 laying around)

 

things that don't really matter:

SSD. as long as I can install the 7mm 2.5 inch SSD I already have, the stock drive doesn't matter

GPU. I am not going to game much on this. I still have my gaming rig.

touchscreen. it's cool, but I don't find it necessary for a laptop. 

 

last is my price range. I'm not looking to spend more than $800 on a laptop

 

what recommendations do you guys have? 

[nixproducer]

Take A look at this

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

looks like a very good option. I'll have to stop by Best Buy to take a look at it. meets all my criteria except the 1080p display. if only lenovo sold a y510p with optimus and an ultrabay battery instead of SLI.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

do you know of any inexpensive options that include a 1080p display? it's not a necessity, but I would certainly prefer a laptop with one, which is the only reason why a macbook pro retina was actually appealing to me

[junky]

Well, 

 

I can design and build a computer with my hands tied, but I'm so picky I can't find the laptop I want

to give you an idea of what I need it for, I am seventeen and will be going to college next year in the city

 

Must have features:

good battery life. 5 hours minimum

relatively thin. doesn't have to be a macbook air, but I want it thinner than my brother's Asus G73

good keyboard. something that I can type comfortably on. I will be using this a lot at school, so that will help.

reasonable size. 13-15 inch is my ballpark 11 is too tiny to type, 17 is a bit cumbersome, but not a dealbreaker

 

things I'd like

I'd love to have a 1080p screen for watching movies.

more than the standard 4gb of memory, but more than 8gb is unnecessary

a haswell CPU. lower power, great onboard graphics that's enough for League of Legends at a friend's house.

metal chassis. at the very least I want a solid laptop that can last me the test of time. if they weren't so expensive I'd jump on a lenovo T440 now (or maybe even a macbook pro retina if i had $1400 laying around)

 

things that don't really matter:

SSD. as long as I can install the 7mm 2.5 inch SSD I already have, the stock drive doesn't matter

GPU. I am not going to game much on this. I still have my gaming rig.

touchscreen. it's cool, but I don't find it necessary for a laptop. 

 

last is my price range. I'm not looking to spend more than $800 on a laptop

 

what recommendations do you guys have? 

There are several options, but currently, I'm going to recommend the Acer V7-482PG:

 

- 14.0" / 2kg form factor

- GT 750M DDR3

- I5-4200U

- 6-8 hours under light use (tested)

- very good IPS / AHVA 1080p display

 

review

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

I decided to go with an Asus Q501LA. I get it in the mail, and the seal is broken, so this should have been sold as an open box, not new. I know something was up

look closer when I open the laptop up, and i find that it was dropped before it was sent to me. don't have a picture, as I was disgusted and took it to Best Buy immediately(who i ordered it from)

the guy there was pretty helpful, saying he would try and have one in my hands that day. as it turned out, they did not have any new laptops, but he did say he had a floor model. I said i'd take a look. upon close examination, there was only a minor imperfection in the finish, and there happened to be a spot where the finish was worn away under the burglary sensor on the back.

I asked about the discount. guy says 10%. I say 15% and he checks with his supervisor. in the end, I got it for $595 after tax, nearly perfect.

I like it quite a bit, and apparently mine has 8gb of memory even though it was supposed to have 6gb. now to install a SSD