Friend needs a laptop, and I hate laptops.

I'm a desktop guy. I know how to build my own desktop computers just fine, and I've asked for help from this forum for my last builds back in 2011, and they're still working great.

But my friend needs a laptop, and it's about as foreign to me as Apple products.

His current laptop has the following specs:
2GB RAM, 150 GB HDD, a non-HD monitor, etc. It's 10 years old.

He wants a more current replacement.
He's looking for the following:
A full 1080p HD capable screen, a sufficiently large hard drive, Windows 7, at -least- 4GB of RAM, and a quicker CPU. Basically a general all-around upgrade.

He is not a gamer, at all. Not even a little bit. He primarily needs it for art. It needs to be able to run photoshop, and he also runs drawing pad software, etc, otherwise just general internet browsing/movie watching. Nothing fancy.

His price range is $400.00-600.00.

Can I beseech the more laptop comfortable people of this forum for some recommendations?

Lenovo Outlet. Get good computers for small price.

My gut reaction is that find a laptop with a 1920x1080 resolution screen in the price range is going to be extremely difficult even in a refurbished laptop. 1600x900 would be possible though.

What size? Like mentioned above 1080p is still tough at low prices.

One option is clearances/sales for last year's models using IVB CPUs to get 1920x1080 at that price range.

Not sure if you want to go this way but a Surface Pro with student discount I believe is $675. The Surface Pro seems to be well received by artists but not necessarily for photoshop (small UI issues).

1080p on a laptop (or any computer monitor) is just a marketing ploy. Nobody really needs it unless the sole purpose of the computer is to watch HD movies (or if he is an artist that creates 1920x1080 art). Lower that requirement and a bazillion laptop options open up. I also agree with a slightly used Thinkpad.

Photoshop and drawing and you say a 1080p screen makes little sense.

It makes a huge difference to productivity.

Meaker said:

Photoshop and drawing and you say a 1080p screen makes little sense.

It makes a huge difference to productivity.

Click to expand...

1080p specifically, as in 16:9 ratio, as in HDTV.

your friend might also consider the surface pro. You may have heard of penny-arcade. Their artist used a surface pro and enjoyed it alot. He has, since, moved to the surface pro 2.

His surface pro review:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/02/22/the-ms-surface-pro

You can find them used on ebay sometimes for about 600$

edit: forgot to note: it is 1080p

schizrade said:

Lenovo Outlet. Get good computers for small price.

Click to expand...

this. every time someone wants a cheap laptop this is where i get it. ive bought probably 20 from them this year and haven't had an issue yet

Valnar said:

1080p specifically, as in 16:9 ratio, as in HDTV.

Click to expand...

So that makes the other 16:9 resolutions better like 1366x768 and 1600x900? Pretty much your only other choices in this price range....

JaguarSKX said:

My gut reaction is that find a laptop with a 1920x1080 resolution screen in the price range is going to be extremely difficult even in a refurbished laptop. 1600x900 would be possible though.

Click to expand...

Naw, when I was searching for a 1440p ultra book recently I came across a couple 1080p 14-15" laptops in that range with a 4th gen Haswell. Not refurbished either. Buying it new with Windows 7 opposed to 8 might be a problem though.

I doubt he can get get a decent 1080P laptop for $600. That resolution in a laptop generally requires a video card, and they bump the price a good little amount.

Well at $700 you can get intel iGPU machines from sager with a 1080P IPS display.