Basic laptop for $450ish or less

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carlamj

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I need to replace my six year old laptop. I had been trying to decide whether or not to spend money on a new battery when I discovered my cat chewed yet another power cord (Just call her Sparky!). I can't see spending to replace both and have the risk of something else dying.

I just use it for basics like light word processing, email, internet, photo editing (just your basic cropping, resizing type stuff that can be done with whatever software came with the camera) and genealogy research.

I know I want a 15 in. screen, (at least) 4mb of ram, a 500 gb hd and a DVD burner. I don't know much about which processors to avoid or technical stuff like that. Any recommendations on what to look for or avoid at all costs?

While I cannot afford to spend a lot, I also cannot afford to waste money on buying something of poor quality or that won't meet my needs in a few years.

Thanks for any advice!
 
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If you can get an ASUS laptop for under $450, or a Lenovo, then you'll have a good investment. 4GB RAM, ODD, 500GB HDD...those can be had around that price. 15 inches should be doable...lastly, the CPU. This is a tough one. Intel Celerons, Atoms, Pentiums...they are all basic single core CPUs that don't have much going for them. If you can get a Core 2 Duo AT MINIMUM (i3, then i5, then i7 comes after) or an AMD A4 (which is a decent dual core on the AMD side), then you should be good.

If you also want light word processing, download OpenOffice. It's a free, Java-based program from Openoffice.org that has word processing, excel spreadsheet, powerpoint creation...looks more like Office 2003 than anything. Google Chrome's the best web browser (Firefox seems laggy and too secure, and IE is too easily exploited) to look into IMO.

I would go through Newegg and use their 'adjusters' to tweak what you want, which should be no bigger than a 15.6" LCD/LED, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, and up to $450. I can't post the results here cause they keep getting broken. =( But hope my advice helps.

 
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I'm using a HP DV6-6135dx.  15" screen, 6GB Ram, AMD-A8 quad core cpu, dedicated graphics card. Purchased refurbished off ebay for ~$400. Very nice laptop and I highly recommend it

 
You can get something a lot better than you seem to think for $450.

Just watch woot.com and 1sale.com 

Laptops show up on those sites very often.

 
A co-worker gave me a power cord he no longer needed, so now that I can use my old laptop I can take my time and research what is out there in terms of replacements. And save a little more money. Unless the cat chews through something else.

Thanks for all of the advice. I feel like I can make a better choice now.
 
It wouldn't hurt to run by a local Best Buy store and take some time to do some product investigation in-store.  Unless you have a Fry's or MicroCenter nearby, Best Buy is likely to have the widest range of laptops in-store that you can check out with some hands-on investigation.

 
shrike4242 said:
It wouldn't hurt to run by a local Best Buy store and take some time to do some product investigation in-store. Unless you have a Fry's or MicroCenter nearby, Best Buy is likely to have the widest range of laptops in-store that you can check out with some hands-on investigation.
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This is great advice! Make sure you know exactly what you want in terms of keyboard style, screen siZe, and screen resolution.

I have a 15 inch that is only 1376 by 768 and I have hated it almost since we got it. Just can't fit enough on the screen for my needs.
 
Wal-Mart had a bundle at the end of the year that included a basic ASUS laptop, printer, case, and flash drive for about $300.  I believe the laptop had a slightly smaller HDD and no DVD drive.  However, you could pay a bit more and get upgrades.

 
My walmart had a HP 17inch laptop with an AMD A-10 CPU, 8GB ram, and a 750gb HDD for 500 bucks.  

 
I have a 17in Toshiba with those specs plus it has a dedicated gpu so it is good for gaming. I'd let it go for that price.
 
What is a reliable and dependable brand?

In a couple months for my girlfriends birthday I want to get her a new laptop. I have no real experince with them but id suggested acer to a few people who wanted a no frills one and they havent had an issue in 4 or 5 years with them.

I want something 500 or less for her that is well built and last awhile and she will play games but stuff like bejeweled or age of empires 2 he and other smaller games. She mostly does spread sheets and surfs the net with it. Was hoping I could find one with 64bit windows 7 so I didnt have to buy a copy.
 
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