Recommendation: Best Laptop for around $500?

David Fermani

David Fermani

Forza Auto Salon
Looking for a second laptop for the house. Can someone suggest the best bang for the buck? I only use it for Internet / Pictures / Videos / Kids Games. What should I look for when shopping around?
 
I've had good luck with all my Dell Laptops. HP is probably a little cheaper but I think they are more problematic.
 
Check out TigerDirect.com or Newegg.com. They have great deals on laptops frequently. I bought a refurbished Acer from TigerDirect for $399 last year and am very happy with my purchase. I was a little weary about buying a refurbished laptop, but I'm glad I did because I got a much better bang for my buck vs. buying a non-refurbished laptop. The laptop is a...



Acer 3500 (I believe)

15" Widescreen HD display

2.4GHz AMD x2 Processor

4GB of RAM

200GB Hard Drive

Dual Layer DVD Burner

Windows 7 Home (Came with Vista, but I was able to get the "Free Windows 7 Upgrade" through Acer)



Just my 2 cents...

- Derick
 
I bought a Gateway netbook and have had no complaints with it. Small size, 10 hour plus battery life and very fast for everyday use.
 
If you don't mind refurb, I got a Dell Inspiron 1545 from the Dell outlet for $340 shipped.



It has all the same warranty ect. and I had it inmy hands in less than 2 days.
 
Toshiba is the best bet, though Dell's aren't bad. Forget Dell if you need help/support. ASUS is also pretty decent. IMO, Sony and Apple make very crappy hardware from a reliability standpoint, but neither of those are really in your budget. Keep an eye on techbargains, they are "affiliated" with several vendors and when those guys need to clear out inventory, you will find special links. Being on the computer business, we get discounts to most brands, and the prices are usually better on techbargains. Also buy with Amex and your warranty will be doubled.
 
For that price it looks like you're looking for a netbook or refurb..though if you're running kids games I wouldn't recommend a netbook .they're convenient but definitely weren't meant to do anything beyond the bare minimum without burning out your chip set. Try cyberpowerpc but you can probably get 2010 model refurbs at 75% now that the new processors are out..and like most things the best time to buy things like this is in the fall(now) try slickdeals
 
Not trying to be a PC pooper here...but I would suggest a used Macbook. I've just heard so many horror stories of people and these $500 Dells and HP's. Not saying I am a PC hater or anything, I have an HP desktop that is 8 years old and still works flawlessly, but Mac's are just incredible, great battery life, great reliability. I have had my Macbook Pro for about 2 years now with no issues and it's still just as fast as it was when I bought it! Compatibility isn't really an issue anymore either.



The problem though is that your buying a used product, which I get is kind of... :nervous2:....but that's what *I* would do.
 
HP has always been a good machine in my books.



Honestly, you can't really go wrong with any brand these days. All of them have duds and all of them can have unique problems, and remember that a LOT of the issues can come from software, not hardware.



However, I will put out there that, in my opinion, Acer makes a complete **** product. I've owned 5 different ones, and every single one has had their hardware fail on me within the first year (in most cases, the first 6 months). 3 were hard drive failures, 2 were motherboard failures. I could never in good conscience recommend one to anyone.
 
David Fermani said:
Thanks guys - I actually ended up with the Toshiba L505D-GS6000 and love it. Exactly what I needed.
Click to expand...



Toshiba is an excellent choice, I'm sure you'll get some good use out of it, congrats.
 
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