Finding a ~700$ laptop

1. What is your budget?

-up to 800 is what im looking to spend, so 699+tax is my aim. i would go higher if it meant significant improvment, but not more then 950$. i made a error in the title

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

-15.6

3. What screen resolution do you want?

-doesnt matter

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

-desktop replacment, if i need to carry it around alot i would buy a 12 cell battery

5. How much battery life do you need?

-it will be plugged in mostly

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?

-i'd like to play medium settings on bf3/skyrim

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)

-hdmi to tv

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

-not much

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
-any Canadian site, bestbuy,tigerdirect, staples would be nice but im open to a online canadian site like newegg.ca etc.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
-as long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

-just cd

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

-only had one hp, and its okay. it flickers and the hinge snapped, so i am replacing it.

13. What country do you live in?

Canada.

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.

-would prefer dark colors.

ive done my own research, i'd like to get a i5 cpu and something around #100 on notebookreview for GPU.
If it has 4gb ram, i would upgrade it later on to 8.


Now basically looking for a 15.4, i5, 540m or comparable for less then 799$

The best laptop for that price range IMO is THIS one from Newegg. Much better graphics than the comparably priced Intel model.

the A8 with the 6620g is slightly faster than the 540m.

sorry for somereason when I read the benches on notebookcheck I happen to only check the ones that the 6620g was ahead in. Anyways they should be comparible, most of the benchmarks had i7s as cpu which would skew the results a little.

yes the i5 is probably better than the A8 but the A8 does beat the i5 in multitude applications I think due to having 4 cores. The A8 is better than the i3.

http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/hp-p [...] 21931.aspx

upgraded with 1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]

looks like a sick deal plays skyrim on high on benchmark tests and its only 600$

yes the i5 with the 540m is the best choice.

yes i need a 15.4, a must.

still looking at the asus i posted.

http://dealnews.com/HP-dv6-tse-Cor [...] 45300.html

HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition customizable Notebook PC for $805 after tax
A2Z58AV

dark umber
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M Processor (2.4 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) Turbo Boost to 3.0 GHz
2GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, VGA]
FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
No additional security software
30% OFF High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
15.6" High Definition HP LED Brightview (1366x768)
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
802.11b/g/n WLAN
Standard Keyboard with numeric keypad
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Really? the benchmark tests show that it preforms better than the 555m

I am in the same boat as you waiting on my tax return.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compu [...] 849.0.html

a mac for video but you can also try asus.