Looking for decently cheap laptop (Sub $500)

[Meresgi]

Don't know too much on laptops other then im not every keen on HP's for a few reasons. My brother is looking for a laptop for just your basic stuff, maybe a little gaming, music and surfing the web. Nothing major that requires a lot of power or anything, but he was looking at Walmart.com's refurbished section which i'm not too sure about as Walmart sells crap goods anyways, I cant imagine their refurbished goods are that great of quality.

So anyone know a good, average person laptop free of major trouble for your average person? I live in a separate state from him so I can't really troubleshoot it if it breaks down on him or something, and i've never owned a laptop of my own other then some hand me down HP laptops that all had major faults with them I had to either fix, or junk the entire thing.

The cheaper the better within reason really.

[hey]

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF...w.r_cp.,cf.osb

Take your pick.

[bluefan]

Acer 3830TG, 4830TG or 5830TG. 13", 14", 15" respectively.

Or...Any AMD A6 notebook will do. Like the Asus EEE PC with AMD A6.

[Meresgi]

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF...w.r_cp.,cf.osb

Take your pick.

That's great, I was just searching myself and found this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA

[Coren]

I wouldn't touch acer/gateway/emachine with a 10ft stick. Some of the Asus models are decent sub$500, but you won't find much in that range from any manufacturer that isn't a complete crapshoot on whether it'll live to its second birthday.

[guartz]

^ I wouldn't agree with that at all.

Brands are irrelevant for the most part. AMD laptops tend to run hotter, so if you are in a habit of leaving your laptop on the bed or you have shedding animals I'd be looking towards Intel laptops. LIke I3 or I5 if you can find it cheap enough. However, most Intel laptops have shitty graphic processors (unless it has a dedicated one) so even light gaming might be sluggish.

[Binkie]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+L...20i3&cp=1&lp=3

Nice brand, 2nd gen i3. Be warned, the integrated graphics is bad.

[Tymon]

My particular opinion is that AMD Fusion APU laptops, especially new ones, have fantastic priceerformance ratio.

[Coren]

Don't have to agree. I run a computer repair shop and call it like I see it. I fix a lot of lower-end shit because its built like, well, shit. Plastic parts are shit. Cheap hinges are shit. Crappy construction = lower lifespan. Doesn't matter much what chip, though I personally hate the "intel dual core pentium" bullshit chips. At least the Atom is generally understood to be a low-end piece of shit. All integrated graphics on laptops are pretty shitty (compared to dedicated) by definition.

Whatever you buy, clean all the bloatware off of it first thing to speed it up. IE, make sure you get rid of whatever shitty AV gets preinstalled for you.

[xopher]

I've got a Dell XPS M1530 I'm looking to get rid of for about 300 bucks. It's in great condition. It's recently had the LCD replaced as well by a certified Dell Technician.

It's the model with the GeForce 8400M in it.

[richardd]

i cant stand laptops. but if i had to find a deal, i'd look for anything local, craigslist, or amazon warehouse and get a refurb with a 40$ 2 year warranty from square trade.

[Kohan]

I personally suggest Asus. As someone else said, Acer, eMachines, etc., are low-end, and awful.

However, do keep in mind that a higher price tag doesn't guarantee quality. Sony's VAIOs have always been shit, for example. Always do your research. Check out NewEgg and Amazon reviews, and Google for actual reviews on tech websites. Look into as much as you can.

[bluefan]

<3 my Acer 3820TG. i5 m480, AMD 6550M, 8GB Corsair SODIMM, 120GB Corsair SSD (after market of course). 13" model, so it's light as a feather. And it's the only TimeLineX model where there are independent fans and exhausts for the CPU and GPU. It's a solid machine.

[Coren]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I still think acers are shit.

[bluefan]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I still think acers are shit.

I don't disagree. 90% of their line up are shit. I would've replaced my old Asus Z96Js with another Asus when I came across the Acer 3820TG. I don't regret the decision.

[Cream Soda]

Stay away from HP!

[Hoss]

Why the HP hate? I've been looking at some laptops recently and kinda like some HP's I've seen.

[xopher]

I guess meresgi's never coming back to this thread.

[Cream Soda]

Why the HP hate? I've been looking at some laptops recently and kinda like some HP's I've seen.

My friend and I both got HPs in 2005 (diff models)

After about a year or so, we both had tremendous problems with the thing overheating and shutting itself off. The screen died out on mine, then about half a year later, on his.

Paid 200 to have my screen replaced, and the laptop itself finally took a shit about half a year later

[Mayareira]

When it comes to durability, I'd say Apple and Lenovo leads the market. Definitely go for a Lenovo at $500 range. My ThinkPad from 1995 (yeah, almost 20 years old) still working fine, *never serviced* except for the totally dead battery and a minor PC card problem. Same with 2 newer Lenovos 2010~, no problems at all.

Also heard good things about Asus, but never used one.