Buying a Laptop

[akif]

Hi all,

One of my younger cousins needs to buy a laptop for educational purpose. No gaming, no hi-fi graphics; just using basic packages like MS Office and some programming languages.

What would be the best buy (new) for such a use ?
Preferable budget is around 500 USD.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[kos]

If it's not for mobile use, go for a desktop instead. Eventually, these basic laptops will need to be replaced (if entry level laptops are purchased) as there is more need for other apps to run (eventually when your cousin finds better use for the laptop..... like gaming! =) ).

If you're still going for it... Acer and ASUS have a lot of no-frills models that are priced very cheap.

Hope this helps!

[minus-sign]

You'll want to have a minimum 2 gigs of RAM for a new lappy.

Toshiba Pentium Dual Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114611
Acer Athlon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115556

If I were locked into $500 with little/no chance to upgrade it later, I would probably go with the Acer.

You can always decide to build one to your prefferences at HP (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/series_can.do?storeName=computer_store&landing=notebooks&a1=Category&v1=Everyday%20computing) or Dell (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndozm1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=features~laptops_great_deals).

Certain times of the year, you can get coupons for PC parts and get a pretty good one for under 1k (Dell has one for their Vostro right now, but its not quite in your price range).

[akif]

Thanks for the replies...
Acer seems to be a reasonable option. What about MSI Wind ?

[MarcelDoel]

Hi akif,

I suggest you to surf some good deal sites which provides range of bargain you can check such as:

techbargains (http://www.techbargains.com/laptopcomputernotebookreview.cfm)
cheapdeals101.com (http://www.cheapdeals101.com/best-laptop-deals-17.html)

etc..there are many other sites available so you can find a laptop soothing your budget..

This will help I guess to save time and money both..

[Budfred]

A new Member posting links to businesses needs to be viewed with caution... Avoid visiting those sites without a fully protected PC and check out external ratings of the sites before purchasing from them... Members who have a history with PC Guide can generally be more trusted, but caution is always a good idea...

[MarcelDoel]

Hello Budfred,

Thanks for making everyone me understood to post site with their good references. You can search online for popularity of above 2 sites and you will see they are in good list of deal sites...

thanks again for warning everyone. But really m not spammer

[minus-sign]

MSI Wind uses the atom processors; its a netbook, not a notebook and is advertised as such.

That said, its a pretty powerful netbook! But even so, its going to be downright tiny (ten inch screen tiny) compared to a full notebook.
Tiny can be good if expected to carry it around all over the place, but tends to become an annoyance when expecdted to read whats on the screen.

Its your call, of course, but if you can afford a notebook, I'd suggest getting one if it is to be her primary computer solution.

[akif]

Thanks all,
Did a local market search yesterday, and came up with the following available options (we have a very small local market here):

Acer Aspire 4710G [$562]
Acer Aspire 5730Z (Gemstone) [ $593]
Compaq Presario CQ40-304TU Notebook (NJ117PA) [ $611]
HP 6530s Business Notebook (NC314PC) [ $636]
HP 540 Business Notebook (NL421PA) [$611]

Well, there has been some expansion in the budget, so now all these are within the affordable range for my cousin.

Acer Aspire 4710G is the reccommendation of the dealer, mostly because Acer is offering good after sales support to him.

So what do you people say ?

[classicsoftware]

Thanks all,
Did a local market search yesterday, and came up with the following available options (we have a very small local market here):

Acer Aspire 4710G [$562]
Acer Aspire 5730Z (Gemstone) [ $593]
Compaq Presario CQ40-304TU Notebook (NJ117PA) [ $611]
HP 6530s Business Notebook (NC314PC) [ $636]
HP 540 Business Notebook (NL421PA) [$611]

Well, there has been some expansion in the budget, so now all these are within the affordable range for my cousin.

Acer Aspire 4710G is the reccommendation of the dealer, mostly because Acer is offering good after sales support to him.

So what do you people say ?

What is the processor and RAM differences between the two Acer Models?

[minus-sign]

4701G (http://www.vimix.com/laptops-macbooks/acer-laptops/acer-aspire-4710g-4a1g12mi/prod_142.html) what i could find anyway...
(we have a very small local market here)
So do I, which is why I buy most of my stuff online where I live.

What I've seen of that 4701G...reminds me of why I avoid local dealers. Cnet did a review on it 2 years ago, and most of what I find now is replacement parts. Every single one I've found is a one gig RAM (supports up to 2) 533FSB. They may have stuck a 2GHz core2 in it but I'm pretty sure you'll come back with those numbers because i'm also pretty sure its been sitting in that dealer's shop for a few years gathering dust.

What I think (i may be wrong, but the info I've found tends to support my belief) is that the dealer is trying to get rid of an old PC he couldn't sell.

[akif]

Acer Aspire 4710G:
Core Duo Processor T2450
2.0 GHz / 533 FSB
L2 Cache 2MB
14.1" screen size
1 GB RAM
Max: 2GB

Acer Aspire 5730Z (Gemstone):
Dual-core mobile processor T3200
1 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB 2.0GHz
15.6" screen size
1 GB RAM
Max: 4GB

@minus-sign
Online buying is not a viable option here. We have to stick either with the local market or maximum to a neighbouring city market (which is slightly better). Btw, you were right about the Aspire 4710 G. So, now, should i finalize the 5730Z ?

[akif]

As the Aspire 5730Z had a delayed delivery of one week, so the cousin have bought the 4710G.

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions.