Looking for a basic (but good) laptop

Question: I am looking for a laptop computer and cannot afford anything over $800.00. I
want to be able to surf the net (wireless) and watch DVDs. What should I look for?

For a basic computer such as the one your looking for I usually recommend looking at either the HP line of laptops or the Dell offering. If you can afford a little bit more then I’d say look at the Lenovos as well.

Basically what your looking for is a laptop that’s within your price range but that will do that job and truthfully $800.00 is just fine. The specs you should look for are these:

• Dual-Core Processor (most of the single cores nowadays are low end Celerons)
• 1GB of RAM
• DVD Drive
• Wireless G or N adapter built in
• Windows Vista Premium

The size of the screen will obviously depend on your preference. The bigger the screen the more you’ll pay but a 15.4 inch monitor seems to be the most popular these days and offers bang for the buck value.

The laptop I really like right now is the Dell Inspiron 1520. It’s a very good price compared to competition. Just keep in mind that price includes a DVD player not a writer. The writing capability would be extra.

The Fake Geek

Append on Sept 21, 2007 – The Fake Geek’s take on three specific laptops!

Can you give me your views on the following 3 laptop computers. Looking for a
laptop for the internet (wireless) as well as to watch movies/DVDs.
1. Acer Aspire AS5570-4315 14.1″ Intel Core Duo T2450 1.83 GHz
2. Toshiba Satellite A200-AH6 15.4″ Core Duo T2450 2.0 GHz
3. Acer Aspire Intel Core Duo T2450 2.0GHz

Thanks!

Thanks for asking!

I’ll go through them one by one:

Acer Aspire AS5570-4315: Basic laptop with a 160GB Hard Drive, 1 GB of RAM and a Intel Core Duo processor. Probably the most basic computer you would want to buy but the 14′ screen may be a turnoff.

Toshiba Satellite A200-AH6: Bigger screen (15.4”), same Hard Drive, same processor, and the same amount of RAM.

I don’t know what the third one is but it’s probably comparable right? Basically the laptops your looking at the the same thing but from different brands. Your going to be paying for the Toshiba name and the extra inch of screen. The Acer name isn’t the greatest in the world but you do save a fair amount.

Basically here’s what your looking at:

• Acer or Toshiba brand.
• 14” screen or 15.4” screen. (Not much of a difference, but you did say your watching movies….)

It’s a tossup.

The Fake Geek