New Media Laptop

1. What is your budget?
>> $500 - $750

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
>> 13" - 15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
>> 1366x768 or the one higher

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

5. How much battery life do you need?
>> not important

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)?
>> no games.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
>> Heavy web surfing, frequently pushing HD video to TV. No games, photo / video editing. Remote desktop usage, productivity software usage, listening to music.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
>> 250GB is sufficient. SSD unnecessary.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
>> Newegg, Ebay, Amazon. This is all I am aware of.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
>> 4-5 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
>> Standard DVD burner is sufficient but not necessary.

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.
>> I like Lenovo - fast and courteous service, solid laptops that perform well, don't overheat. I have an X200 in the office
>> I have a Toshiba U405D that is very capable of giving my 1st degree burns. I find Toshiba's service rude and poor in general. My colleagues say the same about HP as well.

13. What country do you live in?
>> USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
>> I need a webcam
>> I am not sure if I need a discrete graphics card or not for my level of usage. I would prefer if I get an answer as to how and why you came to that conclusion (I'd like to learn more about this).
>> I am looking forward to the Thinkpad E430 but am not limiting myself to that.

The one on the left. http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary [...] ction=init