college bound and unsure! need help

[johnmca]

Us what do i neeed!?
General Questions

1) What is your budget?
1500 and under

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
15-16"

a. Netbook; 10” screen or less
b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
US

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

a. Like: Sony HP DELL
b. Dislike:Toshiba Acer

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
Probably not

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
School tasks (goin off to college) and some multimedia

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Both

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
No, maybe the occasional flash game on the internet

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
enough to get through a class

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
on-line is ok, but in store is better

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. If you are unsure of what to purchase, we would highly recommend you check some notebook screens before you buy to see what you like. You may also wish to take a look at the notebook screen guide for more information.

* Netbook resolution: WSVGA
* Actual resolutions: 1024x600 and 1024x576
* Offered on Netbooks 10" and smaller
* Netbook standard resolution. This is the lowest resolution available, and is designed to easily read text and icons on smaller-sized netbook screens. However, this leads to a somewhat “crowded” display that can generally only handle one visible window at a time. Typically not available on larger machines.
* Standard Resolutions: WXGA, HD, 720p
* Actual resolutions: 1280x800 and 1366x768
* Offered on larger Netbooks and Notebooks up to 16"
* Lower resolution screens offer big text and icons that are easy to read. Less stuff fits on the screen, which translates into more scrolling. Multiple windows can be worked with, though they may have to overlap some.
* Midrange Resolutions: WXGA+, HD+, 900p
* Actual resolutions: 1440x900 and 1600x900
* Offered on all Notebooks. Keep in mind text will be very small on a 12" WXGA+ notebook.
* A set of in-between resolution options that are found on some machines. Considered base resolution on 17" inch and higher laptops. Text and icons are smaller than standard resolution screens, and more windows fit onto the screen. These resolutions are very good for working with multiple windows side-by-side, without having to overlap them.
* Maximum Resolutions: WSXGA+, WUXGA, FHD, 1080p
* Actual resolutions: 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 1920x1080
* Offered on Notebook 15" and larger
* On these screens text and icons will be very small. Text can often be hard to read, though some do like it. A very large number of windows fit on the screen, and there will be little need to overlap any of them. Max resolution screens are good for applications that require high detail (CAD, graphics editing, etc.)

The 1080 screen sounds nice for watching blue ray and I think on some you can adjust the resolution so that I could get bigger text if I need it. I guess the 1366x768 would be great too though

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Matte preferred

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Yes

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
A few years

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
500 tops

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
Blue Ray!

[mrPico]

ASUS UL50Vt
ASUS UL50Vf
ASUS UL80Vt

Great battery life and enough for no graphic intensive applications.
Will have to add Blu-Ray by yourself or buy from a reseller that will do it for you.

Take a look at the bargain section in this forum. HP ENVY 13 and ENVY 15 are on sale. They do not have an optical drive but you can use Blu-Ray external. The ENVY 15 has a good screen resolution starting at $949.99 Battery life is around 2 hours.

Another good alternative is Sager NP2180. Battery life around 1-2 hours.

[Johnny T]

If you want a matte screen you will have to look towards business notebooks. Whether those are "good looking" or not is purely up to you. The Thinkpad T510 (with integrated graphics) and the soon to be released (refreshed) Dell Latitude line are both good options to consider. The refreshed Latitudes will look identical to the existing ones.

[Bronsky]

The New Spec'ed Envy 15 with the ATI HD5830 GPU is hard to beat. HP sells a lot of these by offereing great deals on the 15. The 15 had heat problems in the past but that seems to been addresed in the latest refresh.

Bronsky

[johnmca]

So the current envy 15 has dealt with the heat problems? I had heard bad things about that

Does any know of drawbacks to the envy and or the Sony F series?

[johnmca]

So the current envy 15 has dealt with the heat problems? I had heard bad things about that

Does any know of drawbacks to the envy and or the Sony F series?