Advice on buying a laptop? Forum

[jediknight2424]

0L here. I'm looking to get a new laptop for under $500. Does anyone have any suggestions on what criteria to look for in terms of processor/ram/brand?

I have a desktop so I could hold off my laptop purchase until closer to when the semester starts in August. Is there a compelling reason for me to wait?

[bhan87]

For under $500, you're either looking at netbooks or very very low-end laptop. Because you already have a desktop, I assume you'll want to use your laptop for schoolwork. If that's the case, one major criteria should be portability and reliability, which pushes in favor of netbooks.

You should hold off on your purchase and wait for ASUS to release their upcoming EEE Flare lineup:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/247627/a ... aptop.html

ASUS's EEE lineup is known for being very reliable and affordable (I've had mine for a few years and it's never given me problems). The new higher-end Flare netbooks are going to feature AMD's new APU systems (a combination of a CPU and GPU in an integrated chip), which are putting to shame Intel's Atom chips (the current go-to standard for low-powered portable PCs). Essentially, the new APU's will give you semi-gaming capability in your netbook (way more than necessary for regular schoolwork) at the same cost of current Intel Atom based systems. An ASUS EEE 1225B may be a good fit for you. $399 for a 12.1 netbook w/ a dual-core APU and 2 GBs of ram.

[bk1]

If you can stretch slightly you can get something that isn't a netbook for around $500. You can probably get something from ASUS's U or UL line with a Core 2 Duo with 4 gb of RAM. Going up to $600 you might even be able to snag something like a low end i3. Alternatively you could get a low end Lenovo Thinkpad with a Dual Core AMD A4 (the lower end of the Edge series can be under $500).

Basically at this point in time for under $500 you'll likely get a dual core Core 2 Duo or AMD A4 processor (maaaaaaaaybe an i3). Likely with 4gb of RAM, maybe 2gb. And at this price (and well almost any price) the brands I would trust most are ASUS and Lenovo Thinkpads.

Yes you should wait. Prices always drop or you can get something better for the same amount 7 months from now.

[jediknight2424]

I usually would not hesitate to wait, but I'm moving out of my parents house soon and would like to leave the desktop with them. I'll keep weighing my options. In the meantime, I'm trying to find a comp I can afford that would serve me well in law school. 500 is not a hard limit but I'd like to spend around there.

What do you guys think of this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Lapt ... Id=3869087

[bhan87]

I usually would not hesitate to wait, but I'm moving out of my parents house soon and would like to leave the desktop with them. I'll keep weighing my options. In the meantime, I'm trying to find a comp I can afford that would serve me well in law school. 500 is not a hard limit but I'd like to spend around there.

What do you guys think of this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Lapt ... Id=3869087

That looks like a steal. The specs are really nice.

[jediknight2424]

Oh. It's actually already sold out (which is deceptive because you can still add it to your cart).

[Scotusnerd]

If you're gonna go online, shop http://www.newegg.com

Best computer site you're going to find, period.

[holdencaulfield]

You don't need a stellar computer for lawschool. Bestbuy has several on sale for $349.99. Any one of them will have more than enough memory and power for lawschool.

More important than processor speed and ram is taking care of your laptop. Update and back-up frequently; use Microsoft Security Essentials; don't install a bunch of needless programs; defrag regularly....all of these will help keep your machine in tip-top shape.

Whatever happens...don't get a netbook. Outlining, researching, and writing papers will be much better with a full-size computer.