LF a light, portable, cheap laptop

[ton247]

General Questions

1) What is your budget?
No more than $800
2) What size notebook would you prefer?
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
USA
4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: any
b. Dislike: not really looking at Apple

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
No
6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Taking it to class, hauling it around town in a backpack, note taking, Youtube vids, possibly movies, music (a little bit of everything)
7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Both, but mostly taking it to class every day
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?
Don't need that many since she'll be carrying the power brick with her, no less than 2 hours though
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?
doesn't matter
11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 7
Screen Specifics
doesn't matter
13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?
matte/non-glossy would be great
Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
doesn't matter
15) When are you buying this laptop?
before mid August
16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
at least 3 years
Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
no less than 500gb, no SSD
18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
Yes, CDRW/DVD-ROM
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So my sister got into graduate school and she's looking to replace her 10 lbs 8+ year old hp. Not really looking for a netbook, but something like a light 13"-14" laptop that can do a little bit of everything (no games). The thing has to be as light as possible (so no huge 9-cell batteries or gigantic power bricks). It has to have an optical drive. A nice warranty would also be great.

[idiot101]

You should be be able to get your hands on Intel's and AMD's next generation hardware around June-July. Please resurrect this thread then. All the designs that are going to available have not been announced yet. There are going to be lots of benefits like improved battery life, thinner and lighter form factors, good thermals, better graphics performance and better builds with most issues from the last generation ironed out.

[Bronsky]

To be sure, Ivy Bridge notebooks will provide a bump-up in power and battery efficiency. However, manufacturers will be significantly discounting their current models to make way for their refreshed models. The obvious choices for a grad student are the small and light business class notebooks like the Lenovo Thinkpad X220, the Latitude 6320, The Thinkpad X1, and Vostros (V131 and 3350). If you watch the Dell and Lenovo outlets, you should have no problem picking one of these units up new within your budget. There are also some first-gen ultrabooks that should be deeply discounted over the next month. The HP folio 13, Toshiba Z830 and possibly, the Asus UX31, should be available well within your price range.

[ton247]

Sounds good! Gonna spend the evening checking out the ones you mentioned.