Laptop suggestions

Let's look at the classic netbook specs and the specs of an older laptop.

$400 Netbook:

1.6 GHz Single Core Processor
1 GB of memory (can be expanded to 2)
Usually around 8-32 GB solid state drive, but if you find one that isn't a SSD they're usually around 200 GB and slow.
Usually the screen size varies from 8 to 10 inches
Very limited and outdated video card.

Now, let's add $100 to that, which the original poster said they can do and get a normal laptop that's about 2-3 years old (as in, it was released to market that long ago, but still new)

$500 Laptop:

2.0 to 2.9 dual core processor
2-3 GB (comes with) but can be expanded to 4-8GB (depends on model)
Usually comes with a 300-700 GB hard drive and can be expanded to 1.0 TB
Screen size varies from 13 to 17 inches. Usually it's around 15-16
The cheapest and weakest graphic card that is available (and still being produced) for laptops now is probably about twice as good as the Netbooks.

Netbooks were made for people who travel. Not for at-home use because they suck that way. Laptops are made for at-home/at-school use.

And since he has the money to buy a laptop, he should buy a laptop. Not a crappy netbook that is already outdated.

 

As I said in my post, netbooks are better for carrying around purposes. As a college student, it gets real heavy when you put books, notebooks and full sized laptop in your backpack. This ain't highschool where you have your lockers to put stuff; you have to carry around everything pretty much all day.
Laptops are better if you want "better" performances. If you want to play game or something like that, laptops are better, bc netbooks tend to get sluggish if you do things like that. But if you're main purpose is simply to take notes, search web, do online homework, work on powerpoint..etc then you probably won't see much problem with netbook at all. Personally, my netbook works just fine and it isn't slow at all most of the times. If you simply just compare spec by spec, you would just assume that laptops are "better" , although it really depends on what you are looking for. But I assure you that not all netbooks are "crappy" because it really depends on what you mean by "crappy". But since OP isn't a college student, I guess it could make more sense to buy laptop with extra money. But when you buy laptop, be sure to check the ratings on amazon or other websites, as I said before. Just reading the specs isn't enough; you need to see what the real users have to say about it. Hope this helps.

 

Then it's a good thing he's 16 and not in college, isn't it?

 

And the ones that are heavier tend to have better more clunky hardware, and therefore is more expensive.

 

No its the opposite actually! They are cheaper as the bigger parts are cheaper and heavier!

 

We're talking about modern laptops. Not old 20 pounds ones that don't even have a CD-ROM drive.

And if you read my poster, you would have seen the word "better" somewhere in there that makes your entire post irrelevant.

Also, you're wrong. Cheaper laptops have less parts. They tend to have a small harddrive, lack certain things such as an optical drive, or have less USB drives, while they have smaller video cards and smaller screens because they're cheaper to make when small. While more expensive (such as the worlds best gaming laptop) have a dual-core processor, 1.0 TB hard drive, bluray/DVD reader and burner, I think 8 USB drives, a SD card reader, the best video card on the market, a 18 inch screen that is 3D and so on.

Please note, I am not talking about the 2000 dollar thinner-than-an-inch ones. :rolle:

200 dollar laptop
4,000 dollar laptop

Which looks bigger? And don't say "the first one" - just because the picture is bigger, that doesn't make the laptop bigger and heavier.

 

Hmm the second one is a Panasonic tough book. Its a outdoor rugged laptop that the British army use! They are mostly shock adsorbing materials to keep them safe! Those things are bomb poof! I can get one of those for about £200 as well lol.

I have a laptop here for repair that cost next to nothing and its rather chunky! Is only 6 months old. Cheap laptops = cheap parts that they find from anywhere and thus don't really last that long. Anything from mid to high price range will last you a long time. Cheap laptops are false economy.

Steven keep out of this as its rather obvious you know nothing! :rolle:

 

Actually the really high-end laptops are heavy and large simply because the current state of technology means that the best components are going to be larger then those that are not so good, as more room needs to be allowed for cooling, a larger battery, or just to physically fit them in to the case (e.g. dual video cards, meaning you need to fit two of them in instead of one, or RAID storage).

Large screens are possibly the most easily observable case of bigger = better (of course smaller screens are better for travelling, but if this limitation was removed everyone can agree that a bigger screen is preferable).

Laptops that are large and heavy tend to either be old or really good (or special purpose like the link above). Anything inbetween are smaller by comparison.

The highest performance technology will always be large and heavy because the performance aspect is developed first before form factor is optimised.

 

Thank you for clearing that up. And Jiggles, don't be an asshole. Not only are you better than that, you don't have reason to be.

 

This this a forum so I can...

Laptops with that kind of thing are far from laptops. There are few consumer laptops that fall into that. The general rule is that the cheaper one is heavier, Cheap batteries that are heavy etc. My MBP (costs a fair bit got dual gfx etc) weights nothing! Dads partners Acer makes a good door stop!

 

If I was to buy a PC laptop my only two choices would be a Lenovo ThinkPad or a Panasonic ToughBook.

I used to have a ToughBook back in college, that system was built like a tank. Someone once knocked it off a desk while I was using it. I picked it up and went about my business. Though they are expensive, I got lucky and got mine for free.

The ThinkPads are not cheap, but they are well built. Looking at the Lenovo site they look just out of your price range. Though keep an eye on the Lenovo outlet. http://outlet.lenovo.com/ They have some good deals pop up from time to time.

I wouldn't write off Dell. The Latitude series is pretty good. In the business world you'll find everyone with has a Lenovo ThinkPad or a Dell Latitude. Of course they are not cheap either.

In laptops you definitely get what you pay for. If you baby them the cheaper ones can hold up.

I guess the question is, what are you looking for? Do you just want a computer for now and you'll buy a new one if it breaks in a year or two? Do you want a computer that you can take to hell and back for 5 years, that you give to someone after that?

Alo what are you going to use the system for? Photoshop, movie editing, gaming, internet and music, writing papers?

 

I've had no issue with the Acer that I've had for about 4 years. It didn't come with alot of software and didn't have a lot of ports, but that was 4 years ago so maybe they're including more now. I just use it for general internet surfing and other basic stuff. Good luck.

 

In my experience, Acer is a good brand to have for general internet browsing, listening to musc, school, and so on.