The few main things that I'd like, in descending order of importance:
- Processor with Sandy Bridge
- Decent graphics card
- 7200rpm HDD or hybrid drive
- At least 4GB DDR3 RAM
- Non-shit battery life
- As little bloatware contributing to the base config cost as necessary
What I've been looking at:
(*note: I just regex'd the end specs into BBCode format, a lot of the things on here are junk. The core specs are what I really care about.)
Maingear ex-L 15
- Primary Display: 15.6" HD+ 16:9 LED Display (1920x1080) (Included)
- Chassis: eX-L 15 Performance Chassis With Matte Black Finish (Included)
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz/3.3GHz Turbo 8MB L3 Cache GT2 $217.00
- Graphics and GPGPU Accelerator: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 460m 1.5GB GDDR5 with Matte Finish Screen (Included)
- Memory: 8GB Kingston DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM (Dual Channel) $73.00
- Hard Drive Bay One: 500GB Seagate Momentus XT 7200rpm Hybrid SSD Hard Drive 2.5" SATA $88.75
- Memory Card Reader: All-in-One Integrated USB 2.0 Flash Card Reader & Writer (Included)
- Optical Drive One: 8X DVD Dual Layer Burner (Included)
- Network Adapter: On-board Gigabit Ethernet (Included)
- Wireless Network Adapter: Integrated 802.11b/g/n Wireless - up to 300Mbps! (Included)
- Audio: Integrated High Definition Audio (Included)
- Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth Technology Module (Included)
- Web Cam: Integrated 2.0MP Webcam (Included)
- Primary Battery: Removeable Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh (Included)
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (Included)
- Angelic Service Warranty: Lifetime Angelic Service Labor and Phone Support with 1 Year Hardware Warranty (Included)
- Advanced Warranty: 30-day ZERO dead pixel guarantee (Included)
- Product Subtotal: $1,955.75
HP ENVY 17
- Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- Processor: 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
- Graphics card: 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6850M Graphics [HDMI]
- Memory: 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- Hard drive: 1.5TB 5400RPM Dual Hard Drive (750GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
- Office software: No Additional Office Software
- Primary battery: One 6-Cell and One 9-Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Display: 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
- Primary optical drive: Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
- Personalization: HP TrueVision HD Webcam
- Networking: Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
- Keyboard: Backlit Keyboard
- Included Software Bundle: Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 9 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 9
- Price: $2,014.99
DELL XPS 17
- Operating System: Genuine Windows® Home Premium, 64-Bit, English
- Processor: 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz
- Memory: 8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
- Keyboard: Standard Keyboard - English
- LCD: 17.3" HD+ (900p) LED Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam
- Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus
- Hard Drive: 1.0TB 500GB 7.2k HDD x 2
- Color: Elemental Silver Aluminum
- Integrated Network Adapter: Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card
- Adobe Reader: Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9
- CD ROM/DVD ROM: Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
- Sound: JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3
- Wireless Plus Bluetooth: Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000
- Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed): Microsoft® Office Starter:[/b] reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
- Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed): McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 30-Day Trial
- Battery: 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- Hardware Support Services: 1 Year Basic Service Plan
- Data Safe: DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
- Mobile Broadband: No Mobile Broad Band Selected
- Sub Total $1,329.99
I could also get a Lenovo Thinkpad or a Sony VAIO, but I don't quite know for sure if I'd be getting a good deal for the costs. Right now, it looks like the dell XPS is probably my best choice, but I was wondering if you fellow SENers had better recommendations for a college laptop that'll last me through the next six years. If you do, don't hesitate to post them: I would greatly appreciate the help
None.