Noob Help

[Underdog]

Hey Guys and Gals of Tech-Forums,

As you can tell by my post count, I'm a noobie in this forum. As well, I'm a complete computer noob. So I just wanted to say hi and to apologize of my complete lack of knowledge. So bear with me. Well, here it goes...

Basically, my old compaq laptop P.O.S. is horrible. After 2 years old its slowly breaking down. Finally, after many hours trying to convince my parents, they have agreed to get me a new laptop. Basically, whatever I save up, they agreed to match, so I'm probably going to be looking into something in the $800 dollar range in the end. Basically, after that point, I've got nothing. I have no idea what to look for in a computer. So that's where you guys come in. You seemed to be a pretty helpful bunch and not a group of 10 year old forum trolls.

Here's a list of what I'm looking for:
1) Webcam
2) Can play some games (specifically Age of Empires/ possibly starcraft 2)
3) Good battery life
4) Beyond that, who knows (I sure don't )

So, I'd really appreciate it if you guys could give me some guidance on what I should look for. (Brand, processor speed, I7 Processor???, Windows vs MAC, screen size etc.)

Thanks, and if this is out of place, I'm sorry, and if I'm on the completely wrong forum, sorry again. Just let me know.

 

[MindoverMaster]

You're fine, dog. Welcome to TF!

For brand, I'd suggest ASUS or Toshiba. Both good names as well as performance.

Battery life depends on what components you have, but most batteries last at least 5 hours.

The i7 might go over your budget. i5 should do you good. That line is Intel processors. I'm not sure of the latest laptop cores, though.

If you were thinking the above, go with Windows. That is most likely the OS you ran before. For MAC, you have buy directly from Apple.

For screen size, 15" and 17" are the norm. the higher you go, the less battery life you will have.

 

[Underdog]

Thanks for the reply, and I'll keep your recommendations in mind. Also, just to clear the airwaves, I know a decent amount, but when I came here, I felt pretty lost looking at threads about graphics cards where there were more numbers than letters lol.

 

[MindoverMaster]

No problem. Don't worry about GFX cards until you have to

 

[95BlackGA]

What kind of budget are you wanting to stay around? There's a good bit of laptops out that can game pretty good, just depends on how much you're comfortable spending.

 

[Underdog]

Hopefully, I'll be somewhere in the 700-800 dollar range.

 

[Underdog]

What do you guys think of this one??? ======> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...lack/9701931.p?id=1218153002507&skuId=9701931

 

[MindoverMaster]

DO NOT buy from BestBuy. You will pay an arm and leg.

(btw, that link does not work, give us the specs)

 

[Numbers]

Best buy overcharges for their preset pieces of crap. The worst part is that a lot of their stuff isn't put together right - for instance, an piece of crap mobo with crappy BIOS that won't allow you to overclock the AMD X2 Athlon attached to it.

I know some people have said good things about Lenovo lately, but I would personally avoid them due to their history of terrible customer service.

If I were you, I'd chip in an extra hundred and spend 900ish on an i-7 420QM laptop w/ a 1GB Dedicated GFX Card and 4GB of RAM.

 

[IsabellaWinTeam]

Hey Guys and Gals of Tech-Forums,

As you can tell by my post count, I'm a noobie in this forum. As well, I'm a complete computer noob. So I just wanted to say hi and to apologize of my complete lack of knowledge. So bear with me. Well, here it goes...

Basically, my old compaq laptop P.O.S. is horrible. After 2 years old its slowly breaking down. Finally, after many hours trying to convince my parents, they have agreed to get me a new laptop. Basically, whatever I save up, they agreed to match, so I'm probably going to be looking into something in the $800 dollar range in the end. Basically, after that point, I've got nothing. I have no idea what to look for in a computer. So that's where you guys come in. You seemed to be a pretty helpful bunch and not a group of 10 year old forum trolls.

Here's a list of what I'm looking for:
1) Webcam
2) Can play some games (specifically Age of Empires/ possibly starcraft 2)
3) Good battery life
4) Beyond that, who knows (I sure don't )

So, I'd really appreciate it if you guys could give me some guidance on what I should look for. (Brand, processor speed, I7 Processor???, Windows vs MAC, screen size etc.)

Thanks, and if this is out of place, I'm sorry, and if I'm on the completely wrong forum, sorry again. Just let me know.

Hi,

You should have no problem finding a laptop in your price range with the basic specs that you require. There are many affordable PC options. You should check out the Toshiba Satellite M505-ST5408. It has a 14 inch screen, a 2.13 GHz Intel® Core™ i3-330M processor, and 4 GB of RAM so it will definitely be fast enough for what you will be using it for. It is also within your price range.

What do you think of this option? Do you have any questions?

Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team