OK, I'll be going away for school in August and I'm gonna need a new laptop. I can spend up to about $1000 on any laptop my heart desires, but it has to meet these requirements set by the school:

• Core 2 Duo processor
• At least 2GB of RAM
• WiFi with a/b/g
• At least 160GB hard drive

Aside from that, I'd also like a decent discrete video card so that I can play games, and good battery life for notetaking. I obviously don't want a monster either, since I need to carry it around.

I've found these two on Newegg:

Lenovo IdeaPad Y510

• 15.4" screen
• 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo
• 4GB RAM
• 250GB HDD
• 256MB GeForce 8600M GS
• 3 hours battery life advertised, users report about 2.5 hours on battery saving settings

ASUS F8 Series F8Sn-D1

• 14" screen
• 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo
• 3GB RAM
• 250GB HDD
• 512MB GeForce 9500M GS
• Tests show battery life ranges from 1.75 (DVD playback) to 2.5 (Internet browsing) hours on battery saving settings

The only issues I have with these two are battery life... To be honest, if the second one got 3 hours or more I'd buy it in a heartbeat. So anyway, does anyone know a good laptop that fits these criteria? If not, which would you buy?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16834147659

Not as good for gaming but you have 100$ to spare on a hicap battery or accessories or something.

Oh and 8400GS is about as discreet as you can get, other graphic cards are more power consuming.

 

Note taking, Internet-based stuff, and programming mostly. Gaming is not number one priority, but my last laptop had an integrated card, and it was absolutely horrid.

 

just stay away from apple and your set!

build one?

 

I went with the Lenovo, by the way. It should arrive either tomorrow or Monday.