Best Budget Laptop => $750

E

elevashun

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Jul 4, 2004
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I am in the market for a new laptop. I never had a notebook, but being in college and constantly moving, it is a pain to carry my fulltower desktop around.

In short, my budget is $700-750 or less, no higher.

Priorities: Office Apps, surfing, multimedia (mostly movies, music, storage), portability
-15 inch screen or less

I will probably not game much with this laptop, so I prioritize CPU speed/storage/ram more then graphics. However, the possibility of being able to upgrade for gfx later down the line is always a good option.

With some research, I came across these two laptops:

HP Pavilion dv5000z
Dell e1505

The HP has great reviews, although it does not have many upgrade options (HD, gfx)

Any suggestions or input is greatly appreciated. I need to buy one soon!

Thanks in advance
 
im in the same boat.

pretty much i lurk around fatwallet, and i'm waiting for a killer deal on a laptop (preferably 300-400) to jump on.
 
I'm also in the same boat. Gaming isn't a concern for me either, but being able to play some Civilization IV or maybe if I'm lucky, WoW, would be a nice bonus (I'll still have a desktop for gaming though so it's not a big issue). My goals are the same basically: 1) Use internet 2) Office apps 3) Watching movies
 
Check the Dell outlet. I picked up a 1405 for 849 with the Core 2 Duo 2000, 2gb of ram, etc. You might have to get the 1800 though. I was shocked when i saw it on there for that cheap.
 
If you wanna save a bundle on Office software, download OpenOffice 2.1

Just a tip...:)
 
I'm pretty sure office isn't included in most laptop prices. At least not the ones I've been looking at.
 
Just an FYI, the topic should read "Best Budget Laptop <= $750".
 
Frozen, thats a good price, I'll check out the outlet. Also, anyone have any opinions toward brands. More specifically Dell vs. HP? It seems the E1505 is more upgradable then the HP Pavillions are.

With some research, most people say the Core 2 duo is the way to go (which the dell has). Although, the performance of the dual Turion is almost on par.

Are there any brands I should shy away from(Toshiba, Fijitsu, etc), or should I mainly be looking for the best hardware builds?
 
Just remember to check late at night. I always find the cheaper ones late at night and you can most of the time buy them without being beat to the punch. The Turion runs hotter from what I have heard adn the battery life isnt as good.
 
What you guys think about this?

HP Pavillion DV6226US
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavilion-15-4-Widescreen-Notebook-PC-DV6226US/sem/rpsm/oid/169875/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do#tabs

In short, is this the best deal out there right now for a budget of $750? Or can I get something better? At $700 after rebates, this is pretty packed. I'd like to have a non-integrated GPU, but realistically at this price its hard to find.

Also, will the Core Duo T2060 1.66ghz, being the lower end of the core duo series, be efficient for my basic needs and the next 2 years?
 
just to let you know something about Microsoft 0ffice...

For EVERYONE who thinks they need Microsoft 0ffice to do their work and actually pay for it... you are seriously flushing your money down the toilet.

www.openoffice.org (less than 100MB total to replace all the basic Office programs)

Get OpenOffice... $0, legally free "copy-cat" version of Microsoft 0ffice (can even open, create, and edit Microsoft 0ffice application file types ... like .ppt for presentations... using this bundled office software)

It's basically the same fucking thing(from what I've used), but free... so if you anyone buys Microsoft 0ffice, I laugh at your face! :cool:
 
just to let you know something about Microsoft 0ffice...

For EVERYONE who thinks they need Microsoft 0ffice to do their work and actually pay for it... you are seriously flushing your money down the toilet.

www.openoffice.org (less than 100MB download total to replace all the basic Office programs)

Get OpenOffice... $0, legally free "copy-cat" version of Microsoft 0ffice (can even open, create, and edit Microsoft 0ffice application file types ... like .ppt for presentations... using this bundled office software)

It's basically the same fucking thing(from what I've used), but free... so if you anyone buys Microsoft 0ffice, I laugh at your face! :cool:
 
Check out the Dell Inspiron 6400

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bndwe1d&s=bsd

Intel&#174; Pentium&#174; dual-core T2060(1MB Cache/1.6GHz/533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista&#8482; Home Basic
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
256MB ATI MOBILITY&#8482; RADEON&#174; X1400 HyperMemory&#8482;
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)

$699 before tax and shipping..

Compared to the HP you'll lose 40GB of HDD space but you gain radeon x1400 graphics
 
Frozen:

I found a E1505: / Core 2 Duo 1660/ATI X1300/80GB HD/ 1GB RAM at the outlet. Is certified refurbished restored to new condition? How was yours overall (cosmetically and performance-wise)?

Also, thanks for the link Heero. I'm thinking of getting that too since its brand new. I will call dell and see if they can give me free shipping. You think its worth the extra $40 to upgrade to the T2250 or even the $100 for the C2D T5200? I don't want to go over my budget, so less likely to upgrade the latter.
 
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