Looking for a Laptop $250 or under for my sister
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I run a computer repair facility.. and let me tell you, any laptop under 500 is almost always junk.
a good friend bought a laptop last year on black friday for 299, motherboard was dead within 6 months... it took him 3 weeks to get a new one. after having that for a few weeks the hard drive died.
Your best bet would be getting a used or off lease computer (or a refurb with an extended warranty form square trade) I'd make sure to avoid Acer, HP and toshiba if you can (people may have other opinions, but I see these in my shop with bad boards or other critical hardware problems all the time)
you could probably get away with a high end netbook if you can deal with the small size.
I did a quick look and found this... its 50 bucks more then your looking to spend so im not sure if it helps
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6651136&CatId=4947
good luck!
a good friend bought a laptop last year on black friday for 299, motherboard was dead within 6 months... it took him 3 weeks to get a new one. after having that for a few weeks the hard drive died.
Your best bet would be getting a used or off lease computer (or a refurb with an extended warranty form square trade) I'd make sure to avoid Acer, HP and toshiba if you can (people may have other opinions, but I see these in my shop with bad boards or other critical hardware problems all the time)
you could probably get away with a high end netbook if you can deal with the small size.
I did a quick look and found this... its 50 bucks more then your looking to spend so im not sure if it helps
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6651136&CatId=4947
good luck!
Mr Unoriginal
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$250 will be tough, for $300 you can find a lot. Just check the weekly circulars of Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, there is pretty much a $300 or under lap top every week. To the post above, I have been buying ~$300 Toshiba laptops for the last 7 or 8 years and have never had a problem. All relative, of course, but it's not fair or accurate to say that anything that low would be junk.
gamesterx23
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[quote name='Drnick']I run a computer repair facility.. and let me tell you, any laptop under 500 is almost always junk.
a good friend bought a laptop last year on black friday for 299, motherboard was dead within 6 months... it took him 3 weeks to get a new one. after having that for a few weeks the hard drive died.
Your best bet would be getting a used or off lease computer (or a refurb with an extended warranty form square trade) I'd make sure to avoid Acer, HP and toshiba if you can (people may have other opinions, but I see these in my shop with bad boards or other critical hardware problems all the time)
you could probably get away with a high end netbook if you can deal with the small size.
I did a quick look and found this... its 50 bucks more then your looking to spend so im not sure if it helps
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6651136&CatId=4947
good luck![/QUOTE]
I run a computer repair facility and I have never, ever come across a problem even remotely similar to this. Every single laptop (sans netbooks) that I've seen with problems has been a $500-$1500 laptop - every single time.
You can't attribute one bad experience to everything. . . .
a good friend bought a laptop last year on black friday for 299, motherboard was dead within 6 months... it took him 3 weeks to get a new one. after having that for a few weeks the hard drive died.
Your best bet would be getting a used or off lease computer (or a refurb with an extended warranty form square trade) I'd make sure to avoid Acer, HP and toshiba if you can (people may have other opinions, but I see these in my shop with bad boards or other critical hardware problems all the time)
you could probably get away with a high end netbook if you can deal with the small size.
I did a quick look and found this... its 50 bucks more then your looking to spend so im not sure if it helps
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6651136&CatId=4947
good luck![/QUOTE]
I run a computer repair facility and I have never, ever come across a problem even remotely similar to this. Every single laptop (sans netbooks) that I've seen with problems has been a $500-$1500 laptop - every single time.
You can't attribute one bad experience to everything. . . .
[quote name='Drnick']I run a computer repair facility.. and let me tell you, any laptop under 500 is almost always junk.
a good friend bought a laptop last year on black friday for 299, motherboard was dead within 6 months... it took him 3 weeks to get a new one. after having that for a few weeks the hard drive died.
Your best bet would be getting a used or off lease computer (or a refurb with an extended warranty form square trade) I'd make sure to avoid Acer, HP and toshiba if you can (people may have other opinions, but I see these in my shop with bad boards or other critical hardware problems all the time)
you could probably get away with a high end netbook if you can deal with the small size.
I did a quick look and found this... its 50 bucks more then your looking to spend so im not sure if it helps
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6651136&CatId=4947
good luck![/QUOTE]An article I read not too long ago said Toshiba actually had one of the lowest rate of incidences in the industry, Asus too. I have no idea myself, my Asus netbook is great though, never had a Toshiba.
a good friend bought a laptop last year on black friday for 299, motherboard was dead within 6 months... it took him 3 weeks to get a new one. after having that for a few weeks the hard drive died.
Your best bet would be getting a used or off lease computer (or a refurb with an extended warranty form square trade) I'd make sure to avoid Acer, HP and toshiba if you can (people may have other opinions, but I see these in my shop with bad boards or other critical hardware problems all the time)
you could probably get away with a high end netbook if you can deal with the small size.
I did a quick look and found this... its 50 bucks more then your looking to spend so im not sure if it helps
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6651136&CatId=4947
good luck![/QUOTE]An article I read not too long ago said Toshiba actually had one of the lowest rate of incidences in the industry, Asus too. I have no idea myself, my Asus netbook is great though, never had a Toshiba.
spbusdriver
CAGiversary!
I use to work at CompUSA when they were still opened, I saw alot of HP notebooks come in broken and I think seeing that can skew your perspective because people do not realize the shear amount of laptops HP sells that it can be two to three times as much as any other brand. I've had good experiences with HP and then I have had god like experiences with Asus. The only thing you are going to be able to get with $250 is a netbook and look at this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220777
And its mother
in pink and under $250; perfect for your ungrateful sister. Haters are going to hate on the Atom processor but I find it capable enough to do any single task you throw at it. Just don't ask it to do multitasking and gaming.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220777
And its mother
in pink and under $250; perfect for your ungrateful sister. Haters are going to hate on the Atom processor but I find it capable enough to do any single task you throw at it. Just don't ask it to do multitasking and gaming.[quote name='gamesterx23']I run a computer repair facility and I have never, ever come across a problem even remotely similar to this. Every single laptop (sans netbooks) that I've seen with problems has been a $500-$1500 laptop - every single time.
You can't attribute one bad experience to everything. . . .[/QUOTE]
i've had plenty of bad experiences with cheap laptops, that was just one. While I agree, these days laptops dont seem to be made nearly as well as they used to be (I've seen tons of 2 year old HP's and Dell come in with bad boards or other critical hardware problems) but saying you usually see problems with $500-$1500 laptops is sort of a misleading statement...because 95% of laptops fall into this price range. i was simply saying any SUPER cheap laptops are usually just that. these days a decent laptop can be had for 600-800 brand new pretty easily. if thats out of your price range then going used or refurb and isn't a bad idea. newer netbooks with dual core Atom chips actually perform pretty decent for average tasks. (if you can find one with the nvidia ion graphics chip, even better)
I'm a big fan of Asus laptops, Sony's are a close 2nd as well. Msi is another great brand that most people don't think of when coming to laptops (they make great motherboards) The newer toshibas don't seem as bad as the old ones, but i've seen far too many overheating toshibas to recommend them...maybe if they keep it up for another year or 2. Although with most brands, they have low end, entry level units and higher end units...hopefully quality control is better on the higher end ones.
good luck in your search, if I come across any laptops i think fit your needs I'll try to come back and post a recommendation.
You can't attribute one bad experience to everything. . . .[/QUOTE]
i've had plenty of bad experiences with cheap laptops, that was just one. While I agree, these days laptops dont seem to be made nearly as well as they used to be (I've seen tons of 2 year old HP's and Dell come in with bad boards or other critical hardware problems) but saying you usually see problems with $500-$1500 laptops is sort of a misleading statement...because 95% of laptops fall into this price range. i was simply saying any SUPER cheap laptops are usually just that. these days a decent laptop can be had for 600-800 brand new pretty easily. if thats out of your price range then going used or refurb and isn't a bad idea. newer netbooks with dual core Atom chips actually perform pretty decent for average tasks. (if you can find one with the nvidia ion graphics chip, even better)
I'm a big fan of Asus laptops, Sony's are a close 2nd as well. Msi is another great brand that most people don't think of when coming to laptops (they make great motherboards) The newer toshibas don't seem as bad as the old ones, but i've seen far too many overheating toshibas to recommend them...maybe if they keep it up for another year or 2. Although with most brands, they have low end, entry level units and higher end units...hopefully quality control is better on the higher end ones.
good luck in your search, if I come across any laptops i think fit your needs I'll try to come back and post a recommendation.
I paid $400 (new) for my Lenovo G530 laptop and in the 18 months I've had it, I've had no issues.
How long something lasts is going to depend a lot on how you treat it. I treat my electronics with care and can often make them last a while. I have a cheap $400 Compaq laptop that's 3 years old and still running strong. I've had the keyboard and DVD drive replaced in it, but the keyboard was my fault (the DVD drive was a case of my accidentally checking that box on the repair form instead of the keyboard's box and then just saying screw it).
Yes, cheaper laptops use cheaper parts. However, if you really think that buy spending more money you're going to avoid a crappy laptop and guarantee yours won't have problems (things really do just fail, contrary to what people seem to think) you need a reality check.
For $250 you aren't going to find much- if anything- above a netbook. If you get a used laptop, there's no guarantee that a part won't fail after your warranty runs out (if you're lucky enough to get one).
As with all electronics, things just fail. That's how it goes.
How long something lasts is going to depend a lot on how you treat it. I treat my electronics with care and can often make them last a while. I have a cheap $400 Compaq laptop that's 3 years old and still running strong. I've had the keyboard and DVD drive replaced in it, but the keyboard was my fault (the DVD drive was a case of my accidentally checking that box on the repair form instead of the keyboard's box and then just saying screw it).
Yes, cheaper laptops use cheaper parts. However, if you really think that buy spending more money you're going to avoid a crappy laptop and guarantee yours won't have problems (things really do just fail, contrary to what people seem to think) you need a reality check.
For $250 you aren't going to find much- if anything- above a netbook. If you get a used laptop, there's no guarantee that a part won't fail after your warranty runs out (if you're lucky enough to get one).
As with all electronics, things just fail. That's how it goes.
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