Laptop? Yes please.

Bushi

It's been around five years since I last bought a laptop, and I honestly have no idea if I'm shooting myself in the foot on this one or not. It SEEMS like a good deal in relation to the other sites, but I could just being looking in all the wrong places. Anyway, the specs:
HP Pavilion dv6tse Select Edition series
Components
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-460M Dual Core Processor (2.53 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 DDR3 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA] - For Dual Core Processors
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard)
• 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Backlit Keyboard with HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
Total: $1,008.99
Am I in the clear, or should I try something else?

Figgy

What do you want to do with it?

amateurhour

That's a great laptop. Everyone's got an opinion as to whether or not HP is a good product, but I can personally endorse them as I've used several over the last few years with no real problems.

The only thing I'd consider is adding a bigger 8 or 12 cell battery to that order.

Also, I'm a fan of docking stations, but that's just me.

Figgy

My brother-in-law's HP laptop has been in for repairs no less than four times in a little over a year. He had to pay for the fourth.

Anecdotal, I know.

Bushi

Thanks folks!
And, it's a general use laptop. Editing word/powerpoint documents, viewing videos, websurfing, and maybe some light gaming.

Baron Dirigible

Those specs are massive overkill for what you plan to do. 8Gb of RAM for websurfing and "maybe some light gaming"? The CPU and GPU aren't as ludicrously overspecced, but still above and beyond what you'll actually need.

Also, that's a fairly low resolution for a 15" screen.

Have you seen one in person? What's the trackpad like? Or the keyboard? How about the weight? Forget about the tech specs for a moment: for your computing needs, just about every computer made in the past three years will suffice. Think about the things that make the laptop.

amateurhour

Yeah, I didn't know you just wanted a starbucks special...

Just find something with a good dedicated graphics card (512 is fine, even 256 for light gaming) 4 gigs of ram, hdmi out, a core i3..

hell, you can get all of what I listed above and a blu-ray for around $700 if you price shop

mrt144

amateurhour wrote: »

That's a great laptop. Everyone's got an opinion as to whether or not HP is a good product, but I can personally endorse them as I've used several over the last few years with no real problems.

The only thing I'd consider is adding a bigger 8 or 12 cell battery to that order.

Also, I'm a fan of docking stations, but that's just me.

I have the HP dv6 and it's got 4 gb of ram. It works just fine for gaming.

Figgy

Ya, the reason I asked was because people often spend too much on a laptop relative to what they will do with it. Don't spend more than 700 bucks for a laptop unless you need the hardware (gaming, video editing, etc).

amateurhour

Also, and this is purely my opinion in the matter, but when are you looking to buy?

I know that most people feel like warranties are the devil, but if you buy around July/August most of the office supply stores/best buy kind of places severely drop the price of laptops (to compete with online prices) and they usually offer bonuses on the extended warranty.

At Office Depot last year they ran a deal where all laptops under $700 were eligible for four years of on site repair + one free screen replacement and damage protection for $200...

usually the warranty plans are garbage, but this one was actually a pretty good deal.

Namrok

So, take all the advice you've gotten, and do this with it.

Goto newegg and save a query with all the specs you've come up with. Run it once or twice a week until you see some laptop that is exactly what you want, and $200-300 off. Then buy that. A few years ago I got this one amazing Toshiba that way. Took me a month or two of waiting for just the right deal.

Sadly I think Toshiba is selling exclusively through Best Buy these days? I just know they aren't on newegg anymore.

Sad face.

Klundtasaur

Baron Dirigible wrote: »

Those specs are massive overkill for what you plan to do. 8Gb of RAM for websurfing and "maybe some light gaming"? The CPU and GPU aren't as ludicrously overspecced, but still above and beyond what you'll actually need.

Also, that's a fairly low resolution for a 15" screen.

Have you seen one in person? What's the trackpad like? Or the keyboard? How about the weight? Forget about the tech specs for a moment: for your computing needs, just about every computer made in the past three years will suffice. Think about the things that make the laptop.

I think he nailed it--specs are the last thing you probably need to worry about if you're just using it for basic stuff, and that machine in particular seems much overspec'd for what you're talking about doing with it.

Much more important is the basic, day to day functionality of the machine--and for that, it's helpful to hit up a brick and mortar for an hour or so to try the feel of a few different brands and models. Does the trackpad/buttons/keyboard layout work for you? How comfortable is it to type on it (eg--do the palmrests dig uncomfortably into your wrists)? How does the display look in person (brightness, color)? And that does seem to be a rather low resolution for a larger screen like that.

I typically use techbargains.com as my baseline for prices--if i can find it cheaper than the specials listed there, i know it's a good deal.