I need a laptop...help me???

[WarreN]

So I consider myself pretty tech savvy but i've been out of the game for a minute because I haven't been gaming as much anymore.

Anyway, I've come to a point where I REALLY need to get a laptop. Just for everyday shit like browsing, social networking, watching tv/movies, etc. All my things are in storage, including my desktop and I need to have a computer of my own for obvious reasons jk

Soooooo....Any ideas? Anybody recently gotten something similar and have a review? Where to buy? What NOT to buy? etc...

What Im looking for:

Something simple but with decent performance. I'm not going to be gaming or video editing on this thing, but I also dont want to have one with a screen that's only 3x my BB screen size. Feel me? Most importantly, price must be under/around 400 and a DVD drive is preferred (wishful thinking I know)

Thanks in advance for the help playas! (btw I belong to a tech forum, anandtech.com but I figured I'd post here as well just in case and I like you guys )

[blibblab]

So I consider myself pretty tech savvy but i've been out of the game for a minute because I haven't been gaming as much anymore.

Anyway, I've come to a point where I REALLY need to get a laptop. Just for everyday shit like browsing, social networking, watching tv/movies, etc. All my things are in storage, including my desktop and I need to have a computer of my own for obvious reasons jk

Soooooo....Any ideas? Anybody recently gotten something similar and have a review? Where to buy? What NOT to buy? etc...

What Im looking for:

Something simple but with decent performance. I'm not going to be gaming or video editing on this thing, but I also dont want to have one with a screen that's only 3x my BB screen size. Feel me? Most importantly, price must be under/around 400 and a DVD drive is preferred (wishful thinking I know)

Thanks in advance for the help playas! (btw I belong to a tech forum, anandtech.com but I figured I'd post here as well just in case and I like you guys )

For sub-$400, you might have to look at refurbished or older series models, which isn't too bad. You won't have the latest & greatest from the i3/i5/i7 processors, but a core 2 duo, 250gb, 15.6in display could be had.

Personally, I would spend the few extra hundred or so and pick a laptop with an i3 processor as it's always good purchase a little more computing power than you need now as you never know what you may wish to use the laptop for a year or two down the line.

Check out the usual deal forum sites (slickdeals, fatwallet, techbargins, etc) - I was able to get a new acer i3, 500gb, 15.6in from Office Depot for $480 (after bing cashback of $75) in Feb for my father. So deals can be had too...

[IRockNvegas]

Circuitcity.com , great lower end laptops at good prices around 299 and have what your looking for.

[Cisco419]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Compaq+-...&skuId=9700678

This is the laptop I picked up prior to going to Vegas in March. It pretty much describes everything your looking for. I got it at $350 on sale and with tax and bs it came out to about $400 so it fits your price range too. For the price its a pretty kick ass deal.

[Charles~]

My sister just bought this one, it's dope.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...&skuId=9716078

[aria]

If you want to get back to gaming, I'd go with Alienware. But definitely not cheap.

[WarreN]

Nice job guys! I'm liking some of these options...I'll keep you guys posted.

@aria, yea, I won't be gaming again until I move and I still have my desktop PC for that

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Guest]

Oh yea one more thing no one really has mentioned is that Costco usually has some pretty awesome laptops that are fully loaded and always under MSRP. Plus you get the benefit of almost return whenever you want type of warranty that comes along with it. My cousin had a laptop that he kept for 3 years, and I guess the screen had a few bad pixels, he was able to get a full refund on it.

My Costco HP laptop is getting up to 5 years old,and its still solid as a rock. I did my own memory upgrade on it so it can run Windows 7.

[nassau]

With what you want to do, sounds like the Ipad may work for you..