Good laptops for under $800?

KingofOldSchool

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I'm looking to buy a laptop for when I go back to school in August. This would be my very first laptop and I can't afford a high priced one like a Mac. The most I could spend is probably around $800.

I saw a couple of Sony Vaios for around that price range, are they any good?

I'm not going to be playing very many computer games, if any, on here. Although if I could find one with a decent graphics card would be a plus, just in case.

Mostly I just want one that is reliable in the long term.
 
If you don't mind manufacturer recertified products, I'd wholeheartedly recommend uBid.com based on my own personal experience (and their pricing). If warranties are an issue, their products come with a 3 month warranty and extended optional warranties (though I wouldn't think those are necessary... all six of my family's computers are from uBid, and even the 7 year old one is still in find working order).

I recently picked up a HP Pavilion 2.2 ghz core 2 duo laptop with 4 gigs of ram, 250 gig hard drive, vista, 1680 x 1050 resolution screen, and a 512 mb geforce 9600 video card for $700.... which is far, far less than what I'd pay for it on HP's site, new (one with similar specs to mine would go for about $1200).

You could most definitely find something that meets your needs there for sub-$700... I've seen a few decent computers with similar specs to the one I picked up end at around $600. They also sell new computers, but I wouldn't recommend looking at those (most are far overpriced for their specs). At least, that's an option.
 
If I was you, I would look into a netbook especially if you are going to be quite mobile with it and bring it to school on a daily affair. I know Asus, MSI, Acer, and HP make some netbooks to name a few and they usally run from 300-500. Not sure if they would suit your tastes as this is just a suggestion. Here is a link to just see some general pricing as well. Good luck on your hunt for a laptop :) http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=772&name=Netbooks
 
There are plenty for 800 or less. Personally I recommend no larger than a 14" and preferably a 13" as far as size goes. If you pay attention you can grab a dell 1330 xps for at the top of that range. I had a 15" hp that I recently sold because I was able to grab a sony 13" sr series for $798 when all was said and done. Specs on that are 2.4 ghz core2duo2 processor, ati radeon 3470 dedicated graphics, 4gb ram, vista 64. Patience and being ready to buy when you see the best deal is key. Figure out what you prefer and watch the deal sites and weekly ads.
 
A Macbook ($1000) with student discount (10%) is $900.. can you really afford a $800 Vaio but not a $900 Macbook?

I use an Acer Aspire One netbook for school and love it, for the price it's impossible to beat -- it was less than $300, gets over 6 hours of battery life and does everything I need it to. If I had closer to $800, though, I'd definitely have gone with a Macbook or an HP tablet (something like the tx2635, also ~$900). My interest in the tablet is mostly because I do a lot of work on paper (math, engineering, physics) so I think it'd be convenient... if you're gonna be doing something with less problems (more reading / writing essays / etc) then the tablet probably wouldn't be worth it.

Note I'm not a Mac fanboy at all -- in fact, I've never owned one. Macbooks are great machines, though.
 
[quote name='Koggit']A Macbook ($1000) with student discount (10%) is $900.. can you really afford a $800 Vaio but not a $900 Macbook?

I use an Acer Aspire One netbook for school and love it, for the price it's impossible to beat -- it was less than $300, gets over 6 hours of battery life and does everything I need it to. If I had closer to $800, though, I'd definitely have gone with a Macbook or an HP tablet (something like the tx2635, also ~$900). My interest in the tablet is mostly because I do a lot of work on paper (math, engineering, physics) so I think it'd be convenient... if you're gonna be doing something with less problems (more reading / writing essays / etc) then the tablet probably wouldn't be worth it.

Note I'm not a Mac fanboy at all -- in fact, I've never owned one. Macbooks are great machines, though.[/quote]
Not sure what the point is there? I was just stating look around and there are lots of options. Personally, I don't recommend a netbook for school. Yea, the weight is nice and all but the keyboard is too small. The best thing to do is define the specs you want and then check online daily for the deals. You need to be quick to buy on some of the best deals out there. I have no preference to 1 manufacturer over another either, other than I don't care for gateway much. OP needs to check with where they will be going to school to see if they have any requirements as well. Many schools require a specific laptop for classes. Leave gaming out of the equation and pretty much any weekly ad $400 laptop will suffice. If OP wants to spend $700-800 I'd try and find a smoking deal and have dedicated graphics and decent gaming capability. I'll slap a couple links to some decent deals later.

This 1 is actually $629 in store not $679
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9172851&type=product&id=1218044029604
Oh yea, and if you want to get a mac buy it when they are giving you a free ipod in the spring/summer. Sell the ipod and you can get 1 for the price your looking.
 
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My response was more to the OP than to you.. maybe that's why you're not 'getting' my post?

but while we're at it, 85% full size (keyboard) is not too small.. I do a lot of programming on mine no problem

and I've never heard of any school requiring a specific laptop, other than law schools not allowing Linux (because of the software some of them use for exams being Mac/Win only)

Specs really aren't important, the weakest of modern laptops accomplish everything important. I doubt you could find a laptop weaker than my netbook if you tried -- intel atom, 512mb ram... yet even it can play HD (720p) video and handle basic games (warcraft 3).. all productivity software has been no problem (office, open office, jgrasp, mathematica, matlab, gimp).. specs are trivial. features (size, battery life, heat, screen quality, trackpad, etc) are far more important.

I'm not really gonna argue because it's all subjective but IMO i'd either get

if you can't spend $900: $300 netbook
if you can spend $900: macbook (if you want a notebook) or hp tx2635 (if you want a tablet)

i would never get a mediocre $600 6lb laptop.
 
I'm in a similar situation as you OP
we need to know what exactly you'll be using the computer for

Basic computing-email,web browsing, music, video, and DO NOT mind the smaller keyboard and screen which can bug somebody with sensitive eyes are bad vision. People who can't type well also will find the smaller keyboard not to their liking.
Netbooks also sometimes do not have optical drives and things like that so pay attention

Laptops around the 500 plus range you can get a dual core comp with a nice screen, they are a lot faster so you can do more "intensive" computing and watch movies or play games on a nicer bigger screen. They are a bit heavier and sometimes have worse battery life though

Do not get a Mac unless you have the money, a lot of computers will be just as if not faster for less, Macs do have great built in software and beautiful screens.
It's all up to you post more of what you want.

Koggit who said to get a "mediocre" laptop? Let's remember not to force your personal preferences on somebody else ;]
 
[quote name='SuxoR']Let's remember not to force your personal preferences on somebody else ;][/QUOTE]

I'm pretty sure when I preface my statement with "this is what I would do" I'm not forcing my opinion on anyone. Dick.
 
Well he is taking your opinion to heart


don't make it so damn biased, what if he goes on your opinion? He will be stuck with a lightweight net book that runs warcraft 2, while if he listened to anyone else he would have a decent notebook OR netbook that does what he wants

douche
 
Well, IN MY OPINION, if he goes with what I say he'll have made a great decision.

Are you seriously that daft? It's incredible.
 
Taken from Slickdeals.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...1&m_25=NIS0815&kc=segtopic~catalog_seasonal_1

Dell EPP has Inspiron 15 laptop for $470 - 7% off discount in cart = $437 ($420 with DPA) with free shipping. Thanks naderluvserica

Good upgrades to consider:

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9-cell battery [add $40]
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Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 (2.00GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
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4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD
8X CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
Integrated 1.3 MP Webcam w/Facial Recognition
6-cell battery
High Definition Audio 2.0
Norton Internet Security 2008, 15-Month
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^^ something like that dell is perfect. Unless your walking a long way to campus the weight won't be that big a factor. If it will be save for a lightweight laptop. I am also quite certain that if you asked advice for a tv koggit is one of the many that would tell you buy XXXX brand because that is what I have and it is the BEST! If you try and run multiple apps such as office software on that netbook good luck. And don't tell me it will if you use open office because at many schools you will need office software.
 
If you're not going to use it for heavy gaming, save your money and don't spend anywhere close to $800.
 
[quote name='AnotherStereotype']If you don't mind manufacturer recertified products, I'd wholeheartedly recommend uBid.com based on my own personal experience (and their pricing). If warranties are an issue, their products come with a 3 month warranty and extended optional warranties (though I wouldn't think those are necessary... all six of my family's computers are from uBid, and even the 7 year old one is still in find working order).
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I recently picked up a HP Pavilion 2.2 ghz core 2 duo laptop with 4 gigs of ram, 250 gig hard drive, vista, 1680 x 1050 resolution screen, and a 512 mb geforce 9600 video card for $700.... which is far, far less than what I'd pay for it on HP's site, new (one with similar specs to mine would go for about $1200).

You could most definitely find something that meets your needs there for sub-$700... I've seen a few decent computers with similar specs to the one I picked up end at around $600. They also sell new computers, but I wouldn't recommend looking at those (most are far overpriced for their specs). At least, that's an option.[/quote]

Amazon has some good deals on laptops when I looked last.

I bought this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Satel...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1236004688&sr=8-2

Thanks alot,
Saint
 
bread's done
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