I could've sworn there used to be a thread devoted to this subject, but I'm not finding it here or TBLTS. I'm looking for my first new laptop in about 3 years. I'm coming off a relatively crappy Lenovo G570 that served its purpose well, if not spectacularly. My needs aren't particularly huge; I don't play that many games (outside of Crusader Kings II...that I do play on occasion), I don't do too much graphic work (occasionally I'll have to do a little design work with GIMP), no huge data analysis (outside of the occasional regression model, but usually those are fairly limited). I do occasionally stream stuff to it, and it's not atypical for me to stream from my laptop to my TV through HDMI. I work from my laptop at home 95% of the time, using my tablet when I'm away, so size and weight isn't a huge issue, although being able to travel with it is still nice.
I am not interested in a Mac, only in PCs. Ideally, I'd like something with a SSD because the fast boot is really appealing after the slog that was my old machine. Ideally I'm looking in the $500 to $700 range, but if there's a great model I should be looking at that's a couple hundred more, it's worth suggesting (the $3,000 rig on the other hand is right out). I have no idea if there's been any other major updates or improvements that I'm not aware of, and clicking through a few threads I haven't found anything.
One point of note: I'm looking to buy something by the end of the week. I had planned on starting this search in the next month or two anyway as my old laptop was showing signs of impending demise, but it suddenly died on me tonight and the chances of resurrection look very low indeed. So, what's my replacement going to be?
EDIT: Also, any device I get has to have an optical drive. Or I guess I could buy one of those separately and just connect by USB.
I am not interested in a Mac, only in PCs. Ideally, I'd like something with a SSD because the fast boot is really appealing after the slog that was my old machine. Ideally I'm looking in the $500 to $700 range, but if there's a great model I should be looking at that's a couple hundred more, it's worth suggesting (the $3,000 rig on the other hand is right out). I have no idea if there's been any other major updates or improvements that I'm not aware of, and clicking through a few threads I haven't found anything.
One point of note: I'm looking to buy something by the end of the week. I had planned on starting this search in the next month or two anyway as my old laptop was showing signs of impending demise, but it suddenly died on me tonight and the chances of resurrection look very low indeed. So, what's my replacement going to be?
EDIT: Also, any device I get has to have an optical drive. Or I guess I could buy one of those separately and just connect by USB.