My Wife Wants a New Laptop For Her Birthday in 2 Days - Help!| Off-Topic Discussion forum |

bravenrace MegaDork
6/9/15 2:30 p.m.

Is there any one source that has the best prices with fast shipping?
Any suggestions on what to get? Here's the required specs -
- 15-17" monitor
- Minimum RAM - 8GB
- Minimum HD - 500GB
- Intel i5 or i7 processor
- HDMI slot
- Under $700

turboswede GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:32 p.m.

Amazon or Costco

bgkast GRM+ Memberand UberDork
6/9/15 2:34 p.m.

x2 on Costco

BoxheadTim GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
6/9/15 2:35 p.m.

Or the closest Apple store, although that's not going to meet the "under $700" criteria.

When I shopped for a new laptop for my wife around Christmas I bought an Acer 15" touchscreen at Costco. That just snuck in under your budget cap. The ones with either biggers screens or full HD resolution were all more expensive.

GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:40 p.m.

Do you really need to be so specific about the CPU class?

Here's a list of laptops that meet your specs, minus the CPU restrictions...modern computers all have excessive processing power for everyday tasks anyway.

bravenrace MegaDork
6/9/15 2:41 p.m.

No Costco's near us.

bravenrace MegaDork
6/9/15 2:43 p.m.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Yes.

GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:43 p.m.

Here's the one I'd recommend out of those:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6R42AH7053

Edit: And I'd recommend ordering from NewEgg too.

GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:44 p.m.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to GameboyRMH: Yes.

Just curious, why? i7/i5 are just brands for mid-range and high-end CPUs (like BMW 3-series/5-series...Intel actually had to get permission from BMW for these names!) and AMD CPUs work just as well.

bravenrace MegaDork
6/9/15 2:46 p.m.

Okay, so say I raise the limit to $750. This would be a good deal then?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/447591/Vostro_15_3558_156_Laptop_Computer_-_Black

GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:49 p.m.

If you raise the limit to $750, I'd change my recommendation to this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834318532

Specs are virtually identical to the Dell you're looking at, but I'd prefer Lenovo's hardware quality. Also has a newer OS (maybe not as nice an interface...but it'll be supported longer).

turboswede GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:50 p.m.

bravenrace wrote: No Costco's near us.

There's this thing called the internet and on the internet there's a Costco website....

Then again someone who waited until 2 days before his wife's birthday to shop for a berkeleying laptop probably should make the effort to drive whatever distance it is to the nearest one and pickup something shiny while he's there.

bravenrace MegaDork
6/9/15 2:51 p.m.

In reply to turboswede:

Go away please.

Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:51 p.m.

Asus, off Amazon with cheap next day air or free 2 day air.

turboswede GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/9/15 2:54 p.m.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to turboswede: Go away please.

Why? I'm enjoying the desperation show.

bravenrace MegaDork
6/9/15 2:59 p.m.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Those actually look really good. Our current computer is a Lenovo and we haven't had any problems with it, it just got slow over the years. Thanks. :)

spitfirebill PowerDork
6/9/15 2:59 p.m.

I've been told Office Max and Office Depot sometimes have good deals. Then there is the Evil Empire, Best Buy.

scardeal Dork
6/9/15 3:01 p.m.

In general I've seen good build quality with Apple, Lenovo and Dell (at least their business lines).

slefain UberDork
6/9/15 3:09 p.m.

turboswede wrote:
bravenrace wrote: No Costco's near us.
There's this thing called the internet and on the internet there's a Costco website.... Then again someone who waited until 2 days before his wife's birthday to shop for a berkeleying laptop probably should make the effort to drive whatever distance it is to the nearest one and pickup something shiny while he's there.

He hasn't missed the deadline yet. He's got two days to get a present. Whether he buys it months ago or an hour before midnight doesn't make a difference as long as she gets it on her birthday. Hell, maybe he didn't have the money til today.

Dr. Hess MegaDork
6/9/15 3:13 p.m.

TigerDirect has a bunch that meet you needs. Probably Sub-$300.

MCarp22 Dork
6/9/15 4:20 p.m.

GameboyRMH wrote: AMD CPUs work just as well.

If you want a laptop with a 3 hour battery life that also roasts your thighs, AMD is the way to go!

edit Actually it would seem that AMD also has ~15W TDP APUs, but even the flagship A8-6410 is a lot slower than the basic i5-5200u

bmw88rider GRM+ Memberand Dork
6/9/15 9:28 p.m.

Too bad you need one right now because the next gen Intel processors launch in about a month and a half.

Lot of options in the dell line

I5: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/inspiron-15-5558-laptop/fncwv2319b

I7: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/inspiron-15-5558-laptop/dncwv2366b

Only bad thing with the lower end Dell units are they use 5400 rpm hard drives with pretty bad iops ratings. Lower end I5 with an SSD will usually perform faster in most situations.

mikeatrpi Reader
6/9/15 9:52 p.m.

I'll second the SSD recommendation. It really wakes things up.

GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
6/10/15 7:19 a.m.

An SSD is vastly quicker but also vastly riskier. They can fail unrecoverably with no warning. For your everyday user who doesn't make backups, that's a lot of risk.