Budget laptop recommendations under $500?

Location: Indianapolis - Washington, D.C.
Budget: up to $1167.
OS: no OS / Linux.
Screen: 15.6 inches or smaller, I guess.
Purpose: Web browsing, Microsoft Office, MATLAB, programming, music, and video.
Gaming: gaming : Hearthstone.
Battery: maybe somewhere between 4 to 7 hours.
Important: a wifi card that supports packet injection | making sure the machine works with Tails.
Portability: pretty average, though I’d prefer something lean and thin if possible.
Luxury: honestly, I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra for a backlit keyboard.
Warranty: 2 years or more, ideally.

Thanks.

You’ve got plenty of options here. Since the criteria are pretty loose, you can look at basically any brand as long as the specs hit what you need. Personally, I’d lean toward a new Dell Inspiron 15. It’s solid, thin, and comes with a three-year warranty—plus you get to pick the color 😬

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=laptop...ducts_id=12696

Look, other brands have candidates with similar specs too. Here’s my take:

General Use: Any modern laptop with either integrated or discrete graphics will work fine.

Gaming: Going with discrete graphics is the smarter move (mostly because of the dedicated VRAM), but even an integrated chip like the AMD Radeon HD 4400 or better should meet the minimum requirements.

http://www.game-debate.com/games/ind...0Of%20Warcraft

Battery Life: Standard stuff. None of them drop below 2.5 to 3 hours, though getting an exact measurement is tricky. The only one that really stands out would be the new Toshiba laptop, which pulls over 6 hours thanks to its slim, partially metal chassis—provided the price and components actually make sense for you.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=laptop...ducts_id=13115

But then you run into the graphics question: how well would an AMD Radeon HD 5500 handle Hearthstone at Full HD resolution? The resolution is what really drives the GPU load here...

Important Note: 😬 you’ll have to figure that out yourself... It really comes down to Tails and whatever hardware is supported.

Portability: The Toshiba laptop is about 2 kg, while most others hover around 2.30-2.40kg. Depends on the specific model.

Premium Feel: I think this Acer is the cheapest option with a backlit keyboard, so check the specs and everything else first:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=laptop...ducts_id=12634

Check sites like Best Buy or Amazon for the best prices. Warranties are standard, just like they were mentioned in that top thread, though keep in mind those Asus promos and the Toshiba laptop deals might still be valid.

Ugh, I was already looking at the Dell Inspiron, but then I totally blanked on how I'd actually grab an i5 version for $1067

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...ctID.326885200

Then again, over here, it's just the usual $1833 😁

This Toshiba looks pretty sexy, but honestly, if I'm already dropping $4,000, maybe I could just toss in another $200 and go for that Acer with the backlit keyboard... I guess I still need to chew on it for a bit. Anyway, thanks for the reply!

Look, for $4k you can get standard resolution and an integrated HD5500 graphics card...:

http://www.dell.com/en-us/lp/inspiron-5558...67/product/

Just grab a USB LED strip made specifically for that setup and call it a day:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/led-strip-lighting-usb-070900157