The Glade 4.0

I hate laptops with a passion that burns hot.

That said, my wife is about due for a new one, and I plan on getting her one for Christmas.

What are people liking these day? She does play some games, but nothing too high end.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-15-j070us-15-6 ... uctDetails seems like a reasonable deal, (minus the lack of an optical drive)

but I've had no experience with the Envy line.

What kind of budget do you have?

How will she be using the laptop? Is portability important? Battery life?

What are the most demanding games that she plays?

I'm happy to give you some recommendations, as I wasted a lot of time researching laptops recently (for my girlfriend), and it sucks balls. But it's hard to say anything without more information.

That said, the HP Envy you linked is pretty big and heavy, too big and heavy for my tastes anyway. And I would strongly recommend getting a screen with a higher resolution than 1366x768 if possible. It's already dated today, and 2-3 years from now it's going to be painful. I'd also recommend an SSD whenever possible (sacrifice the other specs if you need to, it's worth it), but that can also be added after you buy it, and sometimes it's cheaper to buy the SSD yourself anyway.

Surface Pro 2

http://www.digitalstorm.com

Must convert others...

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

I picked up an Asus N550JV with an upgraded SSD. Have been loving it and seems to be able to play all recent games I have, thus far, just maybe not at ultra settings. It runs for about $1000. Windows 8 + IPS screen + touch interface. Not sure I can ever go back to a non-touch interface anymore on a laptop. So much quicker getting around.

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The Dude abides.

Was hoping total cost would be under 700, but I'm willing to go as high as 1000. She really mostly plays minecraft, but would play skyrim or the like if her laptop could play it.

*/eye twitch*

Personally, I'm biased against 15" laptops, and Numpads, and HP in general. With all that said, considering your budget, that HP laptop is probably one of the better options in that price range (for gaming).

But don't get that one you linked on Amazon. The graphics card in it uses shared memory and isn't that great, and the low-res screen isn't worth it. Those can be upgraded on that model. Check out this configuration: Customize your HP ENVY 15z-j100 ($675)
You can use coupon code SVD8492 to take another 5% off. The 8750M is a lot better than the 8650 that's in the model on Amazon. And it has the 1080p screen.

I don't know anything about the build quality, I'd just look up video reviews if you're interested. At that price point you're going to be sacrificing something for sure.

I think there's a pretty big jump in quality going from $600-$700 to $800-$900. Look at the Lenovo y410p and y510p. If you want something more portable, check out the Acer Aspire V7-482PG. With all of those you'll get a nicer display, a much more powerful laptop, and a better quality screen.

Oh yeah, and the Asus N550JV Screeling mentioned is worth looking into for sure. I would have mentioned it before but it was $1200 when I was originally looking at it.

But anyway, it's damn sexy. All aluminum, slim, nice build quality. If you can afford $1000 just get that.

Hey man, Windows 8 is sooo much better when you have some touch capability and that's no joke. It isn't ideal for every situation, but it isn't useless in every situation, either.

It can handle Skyrim - you can find a YouTube video of this laptop where a guy demos playing it and a few others. I also played Borderlands 2 with everything maxed, albeit with some chugging when I hit major fighting. Dropping some of the settings probably woulda made it like butter.


This. Most navigation doesn't require fine point accuracy, especially when web browsing. We already accept this paradigm on our phones and laptop. Plus you have the touch pad or mouse for instances you need absolute accuracy at the expense of speed.

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The Dude abides.

Fingerprints are forbidden on any screen I program on. Touchscreen laptops are useless to me, I'll never use them.

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In time, this too shall pass.

I had the same concern. When I have screen brightness set appropriately for my environment, I rarely see any. Do you have a smart phone or tablet, and if so, why the double standard for a laptop and phone/tablet?

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The Dude abides.

If the content is dynamic, smudges and fingerprints aren't as noticeable.

I use a black background with green text for my programming windows (yeah, old vt100 colors - "old school") and I tend to stare at the screen at times when I'm working through any illogic I've introduced.

That's when smudges and fingerprints drive me to distraction, and that's when I appreciate distraction the least.

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In time, this too shall pass.