Laptops- HP, Dell, ect?
Hey,
I'm a senior in High School this year, and, as I work on submitting applications, my mind invariably turns to happier things- Researching laptops. My dad has promised me a new one for college, but I want to get the best for his money, and I'd ideally like to set my sights on something I could pay for myself, if it came to that for some reason. I currently have a Dell Inspiron 1527- I don't remember how old it is, but I've had it for several years and it's in dire need of replacement- It could be fixed, but I'm not letting my dad sink any more money into the thing, so I've just stopped telling him when something on it stops working.
Anyways, these are my tenative criteria:
- I want a real laptop, not some puny netbook-like thing that is crippled if I try to download something and watch Hulu at the same time. This being said, size isn't a huge issue, as long as it isn't some terribly bulky, heavy monster. My backpack currently weighs in at about 25 lbs and I can handle that fine, so lugging around an 8 lb laptop really doesn't bother me much.
- I want something that comes with Windows 7- My Dell has Vista. Enough said.
- It should have decent gaming capabilities, but it doesn't have to be fantastic. Enough for the Sims 3, probably- I'm not big on computer games, but I'd like for it to be able to run and support some relatively well.
4. Ample memory and hard drive, decent graphics, decent battery life, ect. ect.
5. Under $600. Preferably a good amount under that, but that's my personal roof.
Color doesn't matter to me much, nor does having a webcam built in. My Dell has one, and I've yet to use it seriously.
Any reccomendations or experiences are appreciated!
Also, what are the general opinions of the different brands? I was happy enough with my Dell (Before it started dying, that is), but I've heard HPs are really nice. Opinons? (I'm a Windows person, so no Macs)