Reliable notebook for Mom

[Aquitaine]

1) What is your budget?

$600-$650, can go a little higher if it's absolutely necessary.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

Thin and light or mainstream - would prefer 14" or 15", but should be 5 pounds or less.

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

US (Delaware)

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

a. Like: Dell, HP
b. Dislike:

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No.

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

Web browsing and email. Maybe occasionally a movie on vacation. Light usage only.

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

Mostly it will stay in one place but it needs to be portable for the rare occasion when it doesn't.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

No games.

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

4 hours. Anything above that is gravy.

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?

It'd be great to head down to Best Buy and take a look, even if we then end up ordering something else. Not an absolute requirement though.

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

Win7.

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer?

Standard resolution - 720p is fine. 1080p is overkill and netbook is too small.

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

Makes no difference.

Build Quality and Design

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

Mildly. She'd like to be a stylin' mom.

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

Should last 2-3 years, but given her needs that shouldn't be hard to do. Would like to be Soon and have it within the next 2-3 weeks.

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

120GB would be fine. SSDs would break the budget.

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

Yes, but no blu-ray required.

[SmidgenPC]

Considering how light of usage this would be, just about any laptop would do fine. Since you would like to go to Best Buy and look at it, you may just as well do that. Generally Best Buy, Walmart, and others have weekly deals, and picking up such a laptop would be a good bet.

Otherwise, I generally think a Dell Studio 15 would be great, or the Thinkpad Edge.

[Aquitaine]

Yeah, I'm not really worried about whether the laptop will do what she wants - any machine these days would. I guess I'm mostly concerned with quality, decent LCD (older eyes), and warranty support. I've only owned one higher-end Dell XPS and my Envy so I'm not really familiar with the lower end of the market.

[spgift]

In terms of warranty, ASUS usually has a good warranty. If you pick one of their CULV laptops that might just do the trick.

One such example is the ASUS UL80Vt- A2. A summary of the specs is:

1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core 2 Duo Processor
4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM
320GB Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Super Multi Optical Disk Drive
14-Inch Widescreen HD LED LCD Display
NVidia G210M Graphics with 512MB DDR3 + Intel GMA 4500MHD (Switchable VGA)
Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) Operating System
8 Cell 5600mAh Battery

The price is a little out of your range at approx $720 but I think it is worth the price.

Another, less expensive alternative, CULV would be the Lenovo Ideapad U-450p. The specs include:

1.3GHz Intel ULV Processor
3GB (204-Pin) DDR3 SO-DIMM Memory
250GB 5400RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive, DVDRW Drive
14" (1366x768) 16:9 LED Display, Intel GMA 4500M Graphics
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life

The price on this one is more "pocketbook friendly" at approx $590.00.

Hope this helps.

[fabarati]

Do what I did, get the cheapest Dell Vostro 3500, but get it in red.

[Aquitaine]

Going with the Vostro. Found a $200 off coupon for a higher-end u450p IdeaPad but the Vostro had pretty much everything it did for the same price, plus a better warranty. Thanks for the recommendations!

[fabarati]

Good choice. We took delivery of it yesterday, and except for the crappy touch volume keys, it's quite good. Good build quality, good touchpad, good performance, good display, decent keyboard when you get used to it, decent battery time (managed 3-ish hours of xvid playback in mpc hc using ffdshow tryouts, streaming from my laptop using win 7s home group at 75-100% brightness and balanced power setting).

[Aquitaine]

I actually went with the 3400 instead of the 3500 -- they seem pretty similar though.

[fabarati]

That's true. Probably would've gotten that one had it been available here.