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Laptop under $500

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I'm looking for a new laptop, its main use will be programming, school work, and media such as movies and listening to music. Being cool and quiet is one of my main priorities. A dedicated gpu would be nice, but I doubt it fits in the budgets well. Reasonable battery life is important too, I need atleast 4 hours. I did find this which looks pretty good; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834318575 but I'm not very knowledgeable about laptops. EDIT: Willing to buy used/refurbed as well. As long as it still works well, I don't mind a few scratches and dings.

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It is OK.. but it is only dual core and you pay premium beause it is i7 I think there may be cheaper i5 version.

There is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834318581&cm_re=Y40-70-_-34-318-581-_-Product

but its dual core as well, only difference is that the i5 has 1.7ghz clock speed vs 2.0

EDIT: i5 one also has 8gb ssd

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There is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834318581&cm_re=Y40-70-_-34-318-581-_-Product

but its dual core as well, only difference is that the i5 has 1.7ghz clock speed vs 2.0

EDIT: i5 one also has 8gb ssd

Those clock speeds are without boost I think. Personaly I would go for the i5 + hybrid drive as it will feel more snappy. It wont be as good as dedicated SSD but it will be better than HDD. Laptop looks OK to me but check few reviews just in case.

 

EDIT: Sometimes slower CPU may turn out to perform better in laptops than the faster version, why? Depends on the cooling => thermal throttling.

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I know you mentioned you want a dedicated graphics card, but it would be really hard to find one with that budget. I actually have a laptop and it's similar to the one I will link to you (the only difference is the maker-- Toshiba, not Lenovo), but it's really good. It has an APU, not a GPU. I'm able to play games such as BF4 and Borderlands 2, even though I know you mentioned it wasn't for gaming. It's a quad-core AMD CPU, which would be great for what you are using it for. It's also $330, which is cheaper than what I bought mine for.

 

Link for Lenovo: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-15-6-laptop-amd-a8-series-6gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/2996026.p?id=1219567191659&skuId=2996026

 

I also found a laptop that has an i7 and no dedicated graphics, but like I said, it's out of your budget.

 

Link for Asus: http://www.amazon.com/F550LA-SS71-Non-touch-Notebook-Computer-i7-4500u/dp/B00LAMPZWK/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429899061&sr=1-2&keywords=i7+laptop

 

I would suggest getting a laptop with an APU; they can be very powerful, and you aren't really looking for gaming. You'll probably need more power in your processor rather than the graphics. Also, I would suggest building a desktop unless you are just looking for portability. I used to just use my laptop, but I've really been converted to desktop PC gaming rather than on my laptop. I wish you luck, and I hope this helps!

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I know you mentioned you want a dedicated graphics card, but it would be really hard to find one with that budget. I actually have a laptop and it's similar to the one I will link to you (the only difference is the maker-- Toshiba, not Lenovo), but it's really good. It has an APU, not a GPU. I'm able to play games such as BF4 and Borderlands 2, even though I know you mentioned it wasn't for gaming. It's a quad-core AMD CPU, which would be great for what you are using it for. It's also $330, which is cheaper than what I bought mine for.

 

Link for Lenovo: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-15-6-laptop-amd-a8-series-6gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/2996026.p?id=1219567191659&skuId=2996026

 

I also found a laptop that has an i7 and no dedicated graphics, but like I said, it's out of your budget.

 

Link for Asus: http://www.amazon.com/F550LA-SS71-Non-touch-Notebook-Computer-i7-4500u/dp/B00LAMPZWK/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429899061&sr=1-2&keywords=i7+laptop

 

I would suggest getting a laptop with an APU; they can be very powerful, and you aren't really looking for gaming. You'll probably need more power in your processor rather than the graphics. Also, I would suggest building a desktop unless you are just looking for portability. I used to just use my laptop, but I've really been converted to desktop PC gaming rather than on my laptop. I wish you luck, and I hope this helps!

I'm thinking that lenovo and maybe upgrade to an ssd.

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I'm thinking that lenovo and maybe upgrade to an ssd.

 

Awesome! Like I said, I really don't think you'll need the GPU power as much as the CPU power. You'll save SO much money if you just go with an APU. By the time you get to a laptop with a GPU, you're spending over $600 easily.

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Awesome! Like I said, I really don't think you'll need the GPU power as much as the CPU power. You'll save SO much money if you just go with an APU. By the time you get to a laptop with a GPU, you're spending over $600 easily.

Any idea what category of SSD it would need? Would it be mSATA or M.2?

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Any idea what category of SSD it would need? Would it be mSATA or M.2?

 

I asked my boyfriend because SSDs are out of my area of expertise, and he said you would need to upgrade to this: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429900585&sr=1-1&keywords=250gb+ssd. And he also said you would need to re-install Windows if you do so.

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I asked my boyfriend because SSDs are out of my area of expertise, and he said you would need to upgrade to this: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429900585&sr=1-1&keywords=250gb+ssd. And he also said you would need to re-install Windows if you do so.

I didn't know new laptops used sata 3. Thanks.

 

And yeah, I'm reinstalling windows as soon as I get it to remove the crapware

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