Best laptop recommendations around $1,000 - $1,500?

I’m looking for something small and lightweight, but high quality. I don't want to feel like I'm lugging a brick around in my backpack when I travel. When I'm at home, I plan on docking it to an external monitor.

It'll be for office work and some moderate gaming. On my current old laptop, I play World of Tanks, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft on low settings. My goal is to crank those specific games up to max settings on the new machine, and if a newer title comes out, I'd at least want to run it on low.

I'm based in Washington, D.C., so I'd prefer to buy somewhere local that's easy to reach via public transit. Maybe somewhere like ADM, Architectural Digest, Links, or HGspot... I’d rather avoid big-box retailers like Best Buy, and definitely no huge shopping malls where you have to drive out to them.

Regarding the OS—Windows is optional. I’d love to find something with Windows 7, though I assume that's pretty much extinct by now. If I'm forced to go with Windows 10, I guess so, but I'm not thrilled about it...

The microphone and webcam need to be solid because I spend a lot of time on Skype calls.

Brand doesn't matter much to me, though I'd definitely skip Asus since I'm using one right now and the keyboard is just terrible.

A good warranty is a must.

Storage capacity isn't my main concern, but reliability absolutely is.

I'll be paying in cash.

I really value getting good customer support.

So, does it absolutely have to be what they call an "ultrabook"—which really narrows down my options and drives up the price—or can I just go with a standard 15" gaming laptop?

Windows 7 is on extended support now and you can't buy it anymore. It basically went extinct back in 2020. Even 8.1 isn't being sold—well, at least not to manufacturers. If anyone still has it, they're probably just working through old stock.

It depends on what you consider small, I guess. Would a 12-14" screen work, or maybe even a 15"?

Right now, I'm lugging around an Asus X550VB 15.6 which weighs about 5 pounds. It’s getting old, and honestly, I just want something thinner or at least way lighter. I don't even use a DVD drive, so that's one less thing I need.

I am a bit worried about the USB situation on those smaller laptops, though. I'd hate to plug in a mouse and an external keyboard only to realize I have zero ports left for a thumb drive. Are there actually decent USB hubs out there for situations like that?

As for Windows, my biggest headache is the Start menu. It's cluttered with all this junk—ads, weather widgets, Xbox stuff, photos... it's a mess. I'm really hoping there's a way to just shut all that nonsense off. If not, I swear I'll just wipe the whole thing and perform a clean install of Windows 7.

Alright. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but most 15" laptops weigh in around 4.8 lbs, which is pretty much what yours does. The smaller ones are lighter, sure, but they usually pack much weaker hardware. They just aren't built for gaming, so even if you spend $1,500, you're often stuck with mediocre graphics or just integrated chips. It’s always been this trade-off between portability, performance, and price. You really have to pick two. You'll either have to sacrifice how easy it is to carry or how much power it has, because ultra-lightweight gaming laptops are way out of this budget range.

Thanks for clearing that up. Which specific models would hit that sweet spot between being portable and actually having some muscle under the hood? I want to see if there are any sales running right now, or maybe look into picking up something used...

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/shop/index.php...ducts_id=14533 - This one’s at a decent price point. It has discrete graphics, too, though unfortunately, it only comes in the Asus Zenbook model. I'd say give it some thought. You can probably find it at a local Best Buy or something, so maybe go check it out in person. A bad keyboard could really drive you crazy.

Everything else I've looked at, a lot of it even in the $1,200 range $5000, doesn't have discrete graphics—just integrated. Even with discrete graphics, some newer games might only run on the lowest settings. Honestly, the only ultrabooks with truly powerful hardware are certain Dell XPS models, the Razer Stealth Blade, or the Blade Pro and the MacBook Pro. But those? The prices are just sky-high.

I hit up a few shops today, and honestly, it looks like the Zenbook is pretty much my only real move.

Now I’m just stuck deciding between Architectural Digest or HGspot. At Architectural Digest, $147 everything is a bit more pricey, but they throw in a bag, some extra cables, and an additional two-year warranty...

I think you might be misreading the pricing. If you check Architectural Digest, they list it as $2620 (either cash at the branch or a direct wire transfer). On the other hand, if you head to HGspot, the in-store price is $2766, but their website shows $7,862, so definitely double-check your payment method before you commit.

Seriously though! They really ought to hire a designer to clean up their website.

They’ve got three different prices listed—the standard one, a 5% discount version, and then this mystery third price?! I was just at the local Target, and the guy printed out all the product info for me (two whole pages of A4), but that third price is nowhere to be found. It shows up on the site, but not on the printout. Total fail.