[Form in Post] Looking for a Developer Laptop on a moderate budget.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Country of purchase: USA

• Budget range: Under $1.5k

• Purpose (netbook, ultraportable, mainstream, gaming, desktop replacement, etc.): Laptop for web development supporting visual studio, mysql, and a bit of light gaming if I'm bored. I may also go into android app development.

• Screen size preference: As big as I can get it.

• OS preference (Windows/ Mac/ Linux): Windoze 7 preferable.

• Gaming requirements (example games and desired fps/settings): Dwarf Fortress, maybe Bioshock or league of legends. These games run fine on my 4+ year old laptop so I hope that a new one, even a budget one, wouldn't be too bad.

• Performance requirements (video, CAD, etc.): Just going to be doing GIMP stuff mostly.

• Method of computer support (office supplier, college bookstore, self support): Self mostly

• Brand preferences and reasons (already owned accessories, familiarity, business compatibility): I've always personally owned Toshibas, but I use an HP Elitebook at work that is sexy as hell. I have no particular loyalty to anything

• Any particular style that you like (examples are great): Not really. I like hard keys like on the Elitebooks, but I hate the arrows

• Which of the following qualities would you prefer? (Choose one, the other, or balanced)

• Long battery life -vs- Low weight: Long life

• Build quality -vs- Low price: Balanced

• Low noise/heat -vs- High performance: Balanced

Would you pay a premium for something that has:

• High resolution screen: Don't really care

• A great keyboard: A plus

• A great touchpad/mouse buttons: I don't care for touchpads and will pack a usb mouse

• Great audio: Don't care

List any features that are critical: (e.g. Optical drive, USB 3.0, SD card slot, ethernet port, HDMI port, bluetooth, VGA port, removable battery, glossy screen, matte screen, etc.)

• SSD would be a plus but not for a huge price bump.
• HDMI would be a plus.
• I hope the battery is removable!
• Less then 3 USB ports would be annoying but not a dealbreaker
• An sd card reader (I like photography) would be nice but ultimately just a plus.