I've had my current laptop an HP Pavilion dv4 for about 4 years and I hate it. I need to replace it pretty soon and I'm not sure what I should be getting. My current computer is slow, overheats, has poor battery life, not enough memory and a bunch of other minor durability issues. I'm buying a new computer because I'm going back to school and soon will trying to get my first job in the workforce for graphic design. I need a computer that is going to have the power and memory to run all the major graphics programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, etc and have them look good. I would NOT like another HP as frankly my current HP is a piece of shit but I also went to best buy the other day to browse and half the display models were falling apart as well. My dad worked at HP for the last 10 years and we got a big discount but not anymore. Either way HP quality has gone way down in the last few years and I'm sick of their shit breaking and being finnicky, just had to toss my HP office center as well. The main factors this new laptop has to have are: 1. Not an HP 2. $650 max price, preferrably less than that. 3. Good for a graphic designer's workload and running those programs 4. Decent battery life (I bought the extended battery with my HP and it died in 6 months, now it powers down after 5 minutes unplugged) 5. Durability (I take care of my stuff and yet the HP still hasnt lasted. I value little things like no space between keyboard keys for dust and shit to get into. Mouse pads and buttons that wont break.) 6. Screen no larger than 15.6 7. Aesthetics (My HP is ugly, made of black plastic that smudges and feels gross on your hands, would love something silver, brushed chrome.) This is what stuck out to me most browsing at best buy: Samsung 15.6" Laptop 6GB Memory 750GB Hard Drive NP550P5C-A01UB - Best Buy Someone who knows better than me help me pick! I would be extremely grateful if any graphic designers would chime in with what you use and why!
Look to the trusty Dell manufacturer... Unless you wanna pull some over time at work and get a Razer Blade. I personally am not going to invest in a laptop until I see Revo SSD technology in them. There's just no point in those damn spinning disks. Lame!
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you won't get exceptional graphic performance from a laptop in that price range. Laptops in that price range may be able to offer decent looks in memory, processor, and storage but will severely lack in the most critical piece: graphics processing. The laptop you linked is a perfect example; onboard graphics chips is 13 year old technology. It steals from the available RAM and simply reduces graphical performance immensely. Definitely check out Amazon, I would be looking in the $900-$1200 range for your needs. This bump in price also significantly increases overall build-quality and reliability. The Samsung Series 7 teeters in that range and seems to be an exceptional laptop for graphic design.
Definitely an Nvidia look for any GTX or GT series card that has at least 1GB of vRAM. Stay away from any on-board stuff like "Intel HD4000" and stuff like that.
You get what you pay for, my man. If I was in your situation I would save up more so I don't have to settle for on-board graphics. I would much rather save and wait versus settling. Especially if the laptop is an investment, in which you're making money as a direct result of it. If I most absolutely had to settle, I would go for this one. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NP350...PDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1358908522&sr=1-5
You're going to have to choose between power (dedicated GPU) and battery life. Is there a reason you can't buy a desktop to work on?
The only problem is $650 isn't a heck of a lot of money. Any laptop for that price is going to have integrated graphics, which doesn't help running multiple, costly applications like Photoshop that DO have GPU acceleration features. A 5400 rpm drive like the one in the Samsung laptop is also going to be a pain when booting into Windows and opening the programs you need. Not to mention the RAM. Bottom line - you're going to have to spend more money if you really want a laptop with some power behind it, and you will have to sacrifice battery life. You may be better off saving up a bit of money, building a desktop rig, and buying a tablet to bring to school (if you're only using it for notes). If you're serious about graphic design, you have to invest in the tools you need for the job. 15 inches isn't a lot of room to work with anyways - a dual monitor is almost a necessity.
I checked this out: Best Laptops For Graphic Design 2013 There aren't any under $650, but here are a couple $700 ones. Amazon.com: ASUS U36SG-AS51 13.3-Inch Ultraportable Laptop (Black): Computers & Accessories Amazon.com: Acer Aspire V3-571G-9686 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black): Computers & Accessories