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I've been looking around for a new laptop lately, not having much luck unless I want to spend $2k or more. I'd like to keep it under $1k. Requirements are an i5/i7 (consider an i3 depending on price difference), minimum of 4gb (more if no expansion slot), 15-17" screen (prefer 16:10 ratio but will accept 1920x1080) and anti-glare. My 5 year old powerbook had a better resolution than a lot of these 17" notebooks today, wtf? Longer battery life the better (obviously). And it has to have a dedicated graphics card, nvidia is preferred but ATI is not a deal breaker. A blu-ray reader would also be on the wish list, but not an absolute requirement.

If I could find those specs in a laptop that isn't built of fingerprint-hungry material or have some bulky ugly design, then I'd be happy. So far I haven't come across much.

I did find this one, but it appears the bevel around the screen is shiny which is a deal breaker for me.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230077

Hmm, I would definitely recommend you a Lenovo Thinkpad - those things are built like bricks and are as reliable as hell. Unfortunately it's only the high-end ones which have Nvidia graphics in, and they're almost double your budget

Although that's UK prices - perhaps it will be cheaper in the States.

Ooh they are cheaper:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=37&Code=T520_DISCRETE&category-id=7162ACCF009D2872F8BA28660C1EC3B5

Unfortunately I wouldn't rate the 4200M much, it'll serve your basic graphical needs (Low - Medium in modern games) but not a lot else.


Plus, you guys get all those mail-in rebates, so you could probably get it cheaper, and there's also lots of Lenovo vouchers hanging around on teh interwebs.

I'd second buying a ThinkPad, I've got one of the cheap ones (SL510), and it is pretty solid and reliable. I bought it after my Acer Aspire went kaputt and I too decided I just wanted something reliable. Though I shot a little lower with specs than you, but then I'm only using this for pretty basic stuff and had a pretty low budget at the time.

ThinkPads come with built in technology to keep your hardware safe, though what you get kind of depends on the range, I went for the SL series, so I still get a spill resistant keyboard and a shock absorbent hard drive, but I don't get a roll cage. So it isn't as durable as a T-Series, but despite it being more cheaply made it's still pretty damn solid and I have idiotically dropped it (with no damage). I am clumsy after all.

Info on the ThinkPad's Rollcage.

One little thing I loved when I got it was when going through the start up process, instead of saying, "HERE HAVE ALL THIS JUNK SOFTWARE YOU DON'T NEED" it politely asked if I wanted Norton and if I wanted to set up MS Office and that was it. The additional software you do get is the ThinkVantage Toolset, which is there just for keeping an eye on your laptop's health and I've found it to be pretty useful. But no junk, no mess, nothing to uninstall.

Another thing about the software, ThinkPads come with 'Lenovo Enhanced Experienced 2.0' (mine is 1.0), but basically Lenovo have played with Windows 7 to make it boot a lot faster and for applications to load quicker. If that doesn't sell it...it comes with a nipple mouse and because I've got one, I never use my trackpad.

If you want a good quality ThinkPad, I think your best best is a T-Series. Though they do cater for people with lower budgets. SL series and Edge Series seem to be the cheaper ranges.



Of course, the downside is you pay more for what you get, but I wouldn't say they're expensive, it's just they're not the cheapest. But then going for the cheapest laptop for your spec isn't always a good idea. They're not that stylish looking though, they've pretty much kept the same design for years, but you don't buy laptops because they're pretty. There's other decent laptops out there, but I can say that I fell in love with my ThinkPad.

The spill resistant keyboard is genius. It has a load of channels underneath the keyboard, if you spill liquids then it runs through these channels and gets drained out of holes in the bottom. There's a test video on YouTube where they pour a whole bottle of water over it while running. Hang on a sec...

I've seen some of the rapid boot stuff, pretty epic, but I don't think all models have it unfortunately. When they were demoing it they had a huge prize for anybody who had a laptop that booted faster.

However, I've not decided to try the torture test on mine, I'd hate to find I've ended up with a faulty model and my laptop explodes on me. After all, regardless of what brand you buy, there will always be faulty models out there.

Once I get another job, I might consider buying another ThinkPad, but just with a much bigger budget.

Has anyone ever had a Samsung laptop? I really like the design of them, but unfortunately they don't seem to offer military discounts.