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Hi all,

So I'm growing weary of having an older, larger laptop at home in place of a desktop and traveling with a netbook that is starting to feel slower with each trip, not to mention having files in both places and not being able to keep track of it all... I'd like to pick up a 14" or 15" PC, preferably with a mix of SSD and a hard drive for storage. It seems like all the new PC's are coming with Windows 8 installed so I don't think I have much choice there. The whole Ultrabook/midrange/slim-and-light set of pigeon holes makes sifting through the reviews and guides a pain in the backside. So, I know there are a good number of guys on here that are in tune to what's out there and what's worth shelling out cash for. I've got a budget of about $1,200, give or take. Any advice or suggestions you guys have would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!
Adam

With a $1200 budget you may want to look at a Macbook Pro. I've always been a Windows guy, but my nephew recently got a Macbook Pro for $1100 and it's one smooth bitch.

If you want to save some money I really like my Toshiba. It does everything I need and only cost me about $600 a couple of years ago. Still runs like a champ. I'm sure they make one that would have all the features you're looking for. Good luck Adam.

My IT brother-in-law suggested Toshiba years ago. Never any problems with dropped laptops and notebooks. Well under your price range.

Thanks THUMB's. I'm purposely staying away from Mac's because I have a ton PC based everything... And I'm stubborn, can't forget that. Anyhow, I've had good experience with Toshiba's and Samsung's in the past so I'd like to stick with those

I picked up an ASUS about a year ago from Amazon's returns department for $500 that rivals most desktops in power and speed. It is quiet, runs cool, battery life is 3 to 4 hours, depending on what you're doing. It's got plenty of usb ports, built in camera (for those into such nonsense ). Let's see, what else, it's got 4gb of memory, 500gb hard drive, 2.1Ghz CPU. I don't know what any of that means, of course, I can barely turn the damn thing on, but it does what I need it to do with ease.

Perspective on capacity, I can run Wordperfect (word processor ), Thunderbird, Firefox, DreamWeaver (html coding ), and Fireworks (photoshop ), and a few other things, all at the same time.

I prefer to use the trackpointer device instead of a touchpad, which leads me to only a couple manufacturers. I picked up two , one for me, one for the wife, about a year ago I would say. Lenovo T500 thinkpad. I like the style and overall layout and the horsepower is there. I would assume now you are stuck with Windows 8, but I got mine with XP installed. no SSD drive, but you can build as you go. I paid under $800 for them each.

Thanks for the input guys. I think I've made my decision... I need to figure out what I want and do some more reasing! I did a little poking and prodding today and came to a couple of conclusions. First, I love a light laptop. I also really like a bigger screen so either a 14 or 15.6". I have an external HD that has all of my crap on it so actual storage capacity isn't a massive issue, but I want to be able to load my music and some movies onto it without slowing it down. I really liked the Samsung series 9 Ultrabook with 128Gb and since it has a USB 3.0 port (external HD uses a 3.0 cable) I think I can live with that amount of internal storage. Should I be looking into the memory being upgradeable and the internal HD being replaceable...?

Lastly, can you recommend a website that has a lot of reviews for me to sift through, and maybe a buying guide or two...? Thanks everyone!

I have always Liked Toshiba... Have two for our office and I use one at home. They are great! The one I have at home, I as well got from Amazon returns and it has been fantastic!

Asus ranks as my #1 with toshiba in a close nrd. Most computers are a sum of its parts though and it might be worth looking at what is put in it if the info is possible to get.

If your not trying to use it as a gaming machine, then 4 GB ram will hold your for a long time, I think 4 GB is standard nowadays so no worry. I would think most processors would hold you too. I7/5/3 series or AMD A series both hold well at moment.

Only thing you may ever be concerned with is the video card. I've heard good reviews about intels integrated video, HD 4000 or something i think. I would think 512 Mb video memory will hold you but HD video might strain it.

My last thing to nitpick would be windows 8, play around with a touchscreen a little before deciding to go without it. Its a little gimmicky but sorta needed. You can always stay in desktop mode like previous versions of windows too.

Thanks for the info guys, it's much appreciated!