Laptop purchase incoming

[Hatedregret]

So thanks to the help I've gotten from here and stickies, I will be ordering all my parts for my new desktop build. Very excited about that. However, I know absolutely nothing about laptops and my wife decided at the last second that she wanted one over ordering two desktops....

So my question is what in the sweet name of baby jeebus should I look for in specs as laptop specs are in a league of their own. Right now I've picked this one out.
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Qosmio...6177959&sr=1-1

From what I can gather, It's sexy as far as the processor and video card is concerned(assuming nvidia 460 is a close model to a desktops? >.>) but its only a dual core despite the nice 2.5GHz. Is the price about right for what I'm getting? She's latched onto this particular one pretty bad.

Any help is, as always, appreciated and once I get my parts and build my desktop expect some pics^^.

[Logain]

That laptop is a beast. If you're getting something that large, you might as well just get a desktop. If you are carrying that anywhere it's going to get old FAST! Not to mention dismal battery life and the amount of heat that graphics card is going to put out could heat a small apartment. I really don't suggest anything over 15" for a screen width, and even that is a bit much.

What exactly are you doing with this laptop? Gaming? Work?

[Hatedregret]

Not for myself, but she does do gaming. Mostly WoW, though I'm doing my best to talk her into trying out T.E.R.A. and Rift when they come out. Had planned on getting into XIV, but um....

So yeah. She wants to be able to sit on the bed mainly. I'd much rather just build two desktops. It is good then? Other than the whole scorch marks on my bedspread type of thing? Maybe I'll look into a under unit for cooling?

[Senji]

That looks like the one to buy for quality/price/performance. It will run Tera and Rift well, overkill for Wow by a huge margin.

Seems pretty dumb though. You can build a desktop + netbook + monitor for that or desktop + wall mount tv. Your prerogative, but don't find yourself staring at a minivan instead of a sports car and wonder what happened.

[Melena]

I got my wife a sony at Bestbuy, i7 6gb ram, 640gb hdd 16.4" screen, nvidia 460m. cheaper then that as well. It looks like it was discontinued but if you have one near your house, see if they still have it in stock. The current model at bestbuy is a 420m and 500gb hdd.

[octopus]

Not sure if you've seen: http://www.xoticpc.com/

[Hatedregret]

Believe me, I'd love to get the price down a bit while not skimping on the specs too much. Won't be ordering until Friday so still scouring everywhere to find something worthy. She really likes that one, though I may be able to push some sense into her(ugh) and rationalize(roflcopter) with her.

I just found this one http://www.amazon.com/N53JF-XE1-15-6..._ob_pc_title_2 which isn't pretty per se, but specs aren't much less. Only thing is the screen size. Trust me, that's the first thing she'll look at over clock speed or video card >.>

[orinthia]

If it's not too late, check this one out:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.p...el_name=NP5160

Has nvidia optimus, 540M+intel switchable graphics for some semblance of battery life, and it seems to weigh about 6lbs. Not much pricier than that asus for more options, and definitely more portable than that toshiba.

[Hatedregret]

Aye, a bit late, but that one is nice. I literally ordered it a half hour ago. The ASUS that is. I'm so excited about my rig build now that it's ordered I'm ready to forget all about her laptop >.> Thank you all for your help.

[NiggaFromHarlem]

Since we're on the subject...:

Can anyone recommend a quality laptop that is cheap (i.e. < $500)? Most of what I will do on it is word processing and web browsing, definitely no gaming. The only sort of high-end (lol) thing that I'd really like is for it to be able to play videos (youtube, dvd, etc.) without encountering any slow down or choppy performance. A nice battery life would be awesome too.

I haven't bought a laptop in years so I'm not exactly sure where to start. Any ideas?

[Gredival]

Since we're on the subject...:

Can anyone recommend a quality laptop that is cheap (i.e. < $500)? Most of what I will do on it is word processing and web browsing, definitely no gaming. The only sort of high-end (lol) thing that I'd really like is for it to be able to play videos (youtube, dvd, etc.) without encountering any slow down or choppy performance. A nice battery life would be awesome too.

I haven't bought a laptop in years so I'm not exactly sure where to start. Any ideas?

For just word processing, web browsing, and video-play back this should be more than adequate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146995

[NiggaFromHarlem]

For just word processing, web browsing, and video-play back this should be more than adequate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146995

Thanks. Something like this was exactly what I was looking for.