Laptop decision making help

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Natedogg

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I'll be off to university in Feb (living in Res) and so I'll need what is essentially going to be my desktop replacement. I saw the Asus Zenbook the other day at incredible connection and wow that is the greatest looking laptop I've ever seen (even trumps any of the macs) but unfortunately it is far out of my price range and not really a desktop replacement. So what I'll need is a 15.6" screen (not too big but big enough to watch movies and the like) and a decently sized hard drive (>500GB) with an I5 processor. I also want something that I'll be able to look at for 3 years.The maximum I can spend is around R8000. I've been really interested in the Lenovo U400 (see link below) but it isn't out here and I'm not certain if I want to go through the hassle of importing it and then dreading to find out the custom/vat duties. If I was to order it, it would probably be through fry's, although I'm not 100% certain if they ship overseas as I haven't entered my CC details to check whether they really do (it looks like it though). So after doing lots of research, my options so far are:

1) Asus K53E - http://digitalplanet.co.za/p-124304...erformance-series-notebook.aspx?affiliate=326

It's a pretty cheap i5 which looks fantastic and has very good build quality.

2) Lenovo Edge 520 - http://digitalplanet.co.za/p-124148...ge-520-intel-core-i5-2410m.aspx?affiliate=326

Looks very nice but also looks pretty damn thick? (same specs as K53E)

Lenovo U400 - http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/u-series/u400/

Any advice welcome. Thanks!
 
Something that can't really be changed is the GPU or graphics so if your thinking of wanting to do some gaming on it pay some attention to what graphics it has.
HDD/Ram etc you can easy change/upgrade yourself.
SA stock seems to be behind the times, for what their selling as new is actually quite old overseas models.
This place will ship to SA but i ain't sure whether laptop policy is domestic only or international also.
HP DV6 range would be another option to look at,some like HP some not,I've had no problems with mine.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...UA_ABA_Pavilion_dv6_6180us_15_6_Notebook.html

Gigabyte maybe worth a look at also - not bad price for spec's
http://www.comx.co.za/Buy-Notebooks-Laptops-9WQ2532N-25OEZA-Gigabyte-Q2532N-Notebook-lp-46349.php
 
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Computer Mania has an i5 Acer with GT520 graphics for R6,499. K53E there is R6,299. Personally I'd stick to those, but the Lenovo really is a tough laptop, like the old IBM ThinkPads.
 
PostmanPot said:
Computer Mania has an i5 Acer with GT520 graphics for R6,499. K53E there is R6,299. Personally I'd stick to those, but the Lenovo really is a tough laptop, like the old IBM ThinkPads.
Click to expand...

Phoned computer mania and they had it for R7499 :/ Was this at a particular branch?
 
Apologies, meant R7,xxx for both laptops. Nope, catalogue/online. You'd need to check stock, otherwise they source stock from suppliers and you'll need to wait until next year for those suppliers to reopen.
 
Chaos Computers R6,499 Acer Aspire 5750 Core i5 2410m 4GB Geforce GT540m.

Got one in front of me, sweet laptop for the price.

GT540M is palced about 100th on a benchmark list, Intel HD 3000 at about 200th...
 
PostmanPot said:
Chaos Computers R6,499 Acer Aspire 5750 Core i5 2410m 4GB Geforce GT540m.

Got one in front of me, sweet laptop for the price.

GT540M is palced about 100th on a benchmark list, Intel HD 3000 at about 200th...
Click to expand...

I'll have a look at that, thanks.

Surprisingly, wantitall seem to have the K53E the cheapest I've seen and in my preferable colour and with a 640GB HDD as opposed to 500GB (it seems as though the K53 here is essentially the same as the A53 in the US)

http://www.wantitall.co.za/PC-Hardw...satile-Entertainment-Laptop-Black__B00568V8S4
 
Look at the Lenovo Edge 520 stk#NZ32SZA , we got the unit with 3G module @R5499.00 excl vat or R6268.86 inclusive

This is a once off special price as we cleared all the stocks there was in South Africa

Get this unit and still have some more extra cash to blow on other Xmas gifts

All Branches have stocks on these units
 
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