Last year's laptop in the $300-$400 range?

Seems like to get any decent specs on a laptop you have to start in the $600 plus category. Any of the Intel I-series anyway.

So what about a laptop from LAST year (or an earlier release that was in the $600 plus category) that's a really good value now?

Suggestions?

What is it for?
For about $400, you can get an Asus K53TA-BBR6; a full AMD dual graphics solution (A6 APU and 6650m). More and more of those set-ups are popping up, but with more recent hardware. That's what I got last year, and it plays pretty much everything I throw at it. HP and Samsung also make those kind of notebooks, but with more recent hardware.
TIP FOR PROS: It is also pretty easy to upgrade the processor in the K53, and going to an A8 MX processor that allows for DDR3 1600 makes an appreciable difference.

But that's not in the $600+ category. I don't know of much that has dropped that much, unless you go used. Maybe a DV6 with a 6750m and a Llano A8, but I don't know of any Intel-based higher-end laptops that have dropped that much, unless you're looking for an i7 with integrated graphics. Or a really, really lucky/good refurb find.

I'm down for looking at that ASUS...link?

Dual-graphics is a bit hit-or-miss as far as driver support goes, and it's not too great if you're all about benchmarks, but for the price, the real-world gaming performance and modability is great.
Here's a refurb for $300. Better than what I paid:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-K53TA-...38415908?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item4d07819a24

That's all I can find; it would seem they are going extinct.

This, though, is kind of like the newer version of it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215663
A tad out of your price range, though.

Check around for refurbs; geeks.com, Newegg, (dare I say) Tiger, etc.

EmptyWallet said:

Seems like to get any decent specs on a laptop you have to start in the $600 plus category. Any of the Intel I-series anyway.

So what about a laptop from LAST year (or an earlier release that was in the $600 plus category) that's a really good value now?

Suggestions?

Click to expand...

You can often find deals on laptop's being clearanced out by your local electronics retailer. They won't be posted online, but you can find great deals if you keep checking back. The really good online deals tend to get snapped up pretty fast.

I scored a last-gen Samsung Series 7 Chronos i7-2675QM, 8GB Ram, 1TB HDD, 900p screen and 512MB GFX for $384 from cowboom on cyber monday, but they were gone in <5 minutes.

Sandy's are good chips, maybe not quite the battery life as Ivy's, but not signficantly worse. Just make sure whatever you pick has USB 3.0 and something better than HD 3000 graphics.

Dell/Lenovo outlets can also have some machines in this price range depending on the coupons that are available at the time.

I think I'm gonna start checking Fry's/BB etc.