Laptop Advice/700 Budget

[jesyjames]

So, I'm looking for a laptop. Budget is roughly 700, lower is always better. Needs are pretty minimal on it-- basic web, email, word processing, multi-media.

Priorities--

1) Screen. It needs to have a nice display on it. Ideally 1080p on a 15", but i would settle for a lower resolution if it has a better picture (more accurate, ips etc)
2) Trackpad. After using apple trackpads it's kind of hard to use other ones.
3) Responsive. If it had an SSD in it, great, if not at least a 7200 rpm hd would be nice
4) Performance. Ideally I'd like an i5 minimum


Does anything fit the bill?

I'm completely flexible on size.

 

[Kueller]

Best Bang for the Buck:
The Inspiron 15R Special Edition from the Dell Outlet is a nice all around machine with it's radeon 7730 card.
They start at $729 before coupons. You just missed a 20% off any outlet desktop/laptop coupon that would've brought it down to $583.
15.6" 1080p display, not IPS though.
i5-3210m Ivy Bridge
750GB 7200rpm
6GB RAM
Radeon 7730
No idea how the trackpad is on this particular model. For something like that I'd recommend trying them yourself at a B&M store.

If you'd prefer build quality to graphics power:
The business class Latitude E5530 can be configured with an i5-3210m Ivy and 1080p display for about $700. Other options you will want will push it past $700 though. This would be a new CTO machine, not from the outlet, if you have an aversion to using the dell outlet.
If you prefer Thinkpads to Latitudes, the T430/T530 (14"/15" respectively) can be configured with i5-3210m, 1600x900 display (not IPS), 320gb 7200rpm drive, 4GB RAM for $687 through the Lenovo Barnes&Noble affiliate site.

Finally the budget friendly options:
Dell Latitude 5420 from the outlet
14" 1600x900 display
i5-2520m Sandy Bridge
4GB RAM
250GB 7200rpm
$529 - They regularly run coupons for this model, currently 15% off brings it to $423.

Dell Latitude 5530 from the outlet:
15.6" 1920x1080 Display
i5-3210m Ivy Bridge
4GB RAM
320GM 7200rpm
$549 - No Coupon available for this model at this time, it's a fairly new model so coupons are less common.


Many of these laptops have a mSATA port that will allow the addition of a 1.8" form factor SSD later. You're probably not going to be able to get i5+1080p+SSD for $700 without some creativity, those are all premium options. I would personally go with one of the less expensive machines and add an msata, or good sized (240GB-256GB) standard 2.5" SSD.

 

[knight427]

^Those are great recommendations, but "wide-view" does not mean IPS to Dell. I believe the only IPS options are in the workstations. "Premium Panel" is a dead-pixel warranty afaik.

 

[Kueller]

^Those are great recommendations, but "wide-view" does not mean IPS to Dell. I believe the only IPS options are in the workstations. "Premium Panel" is a dead-pixel warranty afaik.

I missed that dell has standard, wide-view, and super-wide-view panels, thought it was just standard and wide.

 

[knight427]

That's one minor thing that has bugged me about Dell. They have so many marketing names for their screens, you never really know what they mean without investing some research time.