College Laptop + SSD?

So my friend needs to get a laptop for college this fall. She is willing to wait till July for it so I'm hoping for price drops by then on the new ivy bridge laptops. But it would be nice for her to get used to the laptop first and so I can get it prepared for her (ex. antivirus/microsoft office/ssd/backups)

Her budget is $900 and it needs to be portable so around 15.4" or lower will be fine. She wants to have a backlit keyboard as well. No gaming so a dedicated graphics card isn't necessary.

What I plan to do is to buy a laptop with the description above for below 800 and spend 100-150 on a 128gb reliable SSD. Then get a 2.5" usb 3.0 enclosure for the old laptop ssd.

Edit - I've looked at this laptop and noticed there are lighter ones (like the sony T) but far less powerful. But she doesn't need anything powerful. Just something that works and she can carry around. Durable, yet light. Should I get her this? laptop

Too late.. She got this "barf" zzz [facebook.com] Some guy convinced her to get it at staples.

Quote from APhamX : What I plan to do is to buy a laptop with the description above for below 800 and spend 100-150 on a 128gb reliable SSD. Then get her an external hard drive as well. Hopefully this won't void the warranty. ?

If you keep the original hard drive, you can pop it back in, in the event that you need any guarantee work done.
You could even buy it a USB case, so as to use it as a back up drive, making sure you don't delete the OS, so it can be put back in place if there's a guarantee issue.

Quote from RockySosua : If you keep the original hard drive, you can pop it back in, in the event that you need any guarantee work done. You could even buy it a USB case, so as to use it as a back up drive, making sure you don't delete the OS, so it can be put back in place if there's a guarantee issue.

Yea I was planning on doing that. Get a usb 3.0 powered 2.5" enclosure.

AFAIK, most OEMs have a policy of "if you open it, you void the warranty." So you'll need to be REALLY careful when you unscrew the drive cover.

A ~$800 13.3"-14" i5/i7 ultrabook + $100 in extended warranty would be my choice. It's portable and fast and you don't have to worry about fixing it for her. Plus SSD is already included.

The budget won't be enough for something like 14" Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon [engadget.com], but it should be enough for something like HP Folio 13 ($899, SSD included) or cheaper ( http://slickdeals.net/f/4376738-H...750-Tax-FS )

Search deals here for "Ultrabook" and you'll find several models that are below $800 price tag. Though be careful not many ultrabook allows users to replace hard drives without voiding the warranty.

More to read:
http://www.ultrabookreview.com/49...head-head/
http://www.inc.com/scott-steinber...-cons.html

Quote from bonkman : AFAIK, most OEMs have a policy of "if you open it, you void the warranty." So you'll need to be REALLY careful when you unscrew the drive cover.

Not to be contrary, but I don't know of ANY major mfr where this is the case. Dell, Lenovo, HP - heck, you can even swap drives & memory in Apple laptops these days. So the only limitation in swapping in a new HD is that the new drive will not be covered under the machine's warranty.

OP, I'd recommend that you have her take a look at the Lenovo T420. It's a VERY solid & extremely durable machine that will be able to last a long time. Very easy to swap the HD out. Keyboard is top lit rather than back lit, but still usable in a dark room.

Lenovo is announcing the Ivy Bridge model (which will be the T430) on June 5th, so if she's OK to wait until July they'll probably begin discounting the T420 by then.

Quote from Jeffbx : Not to be contrary, but I don't know of ANY major mfr where this is the case. Dell, Lenovo, HP - heck, you can even swap drives & memory in Apple laptops these days. So the only limitation in swapping in a new HD is that the new drive will not be covered under the machine's warranty. OP, I'd recommend that you have her take a look at the Lenovo T420. It's a VERY solid & extremely durable machine that will be able to last a long time. Very easy to swap the HD out. Keyboard is top lit rather than back lit, but still usable in a dark room. Lenovo is announcing the Ivy Bridge model (which will be the T430) on June 5th, so if she's OK to wait until July they'll probably begin discounting the T420 by then.

I've been told this by both Dell and HP. Maybe they changed?

Neither of them do it anymore. You can open up & poke around inside the machines to your heart's content & will not void the warranty.

Quote from Jeffbx : Not to be contrary, but I don't know of ANY major mfr where this is the case. Dell, Lenovo, HP - heck, you can even swap drives & memory in Apple laptops these days. So the only limitation in swapping in a new HD is that the new drive will not be covered under the machine's warranty..

That's what I think too.
Tearing a machine apart, may void a guarantee, but changing stuff that it user serviceable by ports on the underside of a laptop, should have no effect on the guarantee.

Still looking for one, just saw two from FP with xboxs. Any opinions?

Quote from APhamX : Still looking for one, just saw two from FP with xboxs. Any opinions?

The Dell that is on the FP is quite a powerful machine all around, with a nice screen. Way overkill for what you say she is going to do. I had a 15.4" in school and found it to be ok, but too big to sit on a desk to take notes, while having a text book open too. It was also kind of heavy when carrying it in a backpack with other text books all day long. I would recommend something smaller and lighter. A 13 or 14" model with an i5 is where I would aim. For collage students I really recommend budgeting in the accidental warranties too. You see so many machines get damaged, dropped, and flooded. Also if you are going to carry it around all day everywhere something will break. Buy a good machine that you intend to keep and buy the accidental too.

That looks like a good price on a really fast SSD. The Samsung 830 is what Apple is using in all their new machines, so it should be quite reliable too.

Quote from LiquidRetro : The Dell that is on the FP is quite a powerful machine all around, with a nice screen. Way overkill for what you say she is going to do. I had a 15.4" in school and found it to be ok, but too big to sit on a desk to take notes, while having a text book open too. It was also kind of heavy when carrying it in a backpack with other text books all day long. I would recommend something smaller and lighter. A 13 or 14" model with an i5 is where I would aim. For collage students I really recommend budgeting in the accidental warranties too. You see so many machines get damaged, dropped, and flooded. Also if you are going to carry it around all day everywhere something will break. Buy a good machine that you intend to keep and buy the accidental too. That looks like a good price on a really fast SSD. The Samsung 830 is what Apple is using in all their new machines, so it should be quite reliable too.

The only thing I saw a problem about 13" and 14" screen was the low resolutions. I was looking at that 90 dollar 830 120gb on the fp too.Maybe that acer on fp .

Quote from APhamX : The only thing I saw a problem about 13" and 14" screen was the low resolutions. I was looking at that 90 dollar 830 120gb on the fp too.Maybe that acer on fp .

You can get 1600x900 on the dell e6420's. Most all the latitudes I've seen in the past offer high res 14" screens.

Quote from APhamX : The only thing I saw a problem about 13" and 14" screen was the low resolutions. I was looking at that 90 dollar 830 120gb on the fp too.Maybe that acer on fp .

Ya thats the problem but if your not doing graphics or anything intense it should be fine for most school work. http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/7...ce=twitter looks like it would be a pretty good fit for most people. Cheap too, cheap enough I might not consider that accidntal, just buy another in 2-3years