Laptop/Notebook Recommendations

[Rabbitry]

Hey all,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop or notebook and want to know if anyone has a good recommendation. My needs are very low; it has to:

1) Have windows 7 (what would I do without it?)

2) Have the capacity to run Microsoft Word, Adobe programs, and internet research (mostly text articles, no heavy graphics)

3) Have a comfortable keyboard

4) Battery life is a plus but I plan on using this mostly in my office, which has a plug

5) Be very cheap

Does anyone have experience with a laptop that meets these specs?

[IRToni]

You might want to add how big you want the screen to be. Just FYI, 15 and 17" are usually cheaper than 13", but often also have worse components and bad battery life.

[DustSNK]

I just ordered this bad boy. Has metal finish, quad core cpu,and 1gb dedicated graphics card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246328

[Pas]

Definitely a step in the right direction with the Ideapad. It's the poor man's Macbook. I'd like to have one with a SSD.

[juilletmercredi]

Before I switched to a Mac, I had lots of success with Toshiba Satellites. You can get an inexpensive but durable Toshiba for around $400, and they have comfortable keyboards and can run Windows programs. The battery life was okay for a PC - 2-3 hours. I had a 13" screen. If you are going to be using it mostly in the office, I would either get a 15" or I would buy an external monitor.

I'm also going to second the IdeaPad - I had an IBM IdeaPad way back when before Lenovo bought them out - my first year in college, which was 2004 - and that mf'er is STILL RUNNING. My aunt has it. It's built like a brick, but the Lenovo version are much sleeker.

[MakeYourself]

My best advice is to switch to Mac Sorry.