B7474 From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 247 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 years 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1392 times:
Looking to purchase a laptop in the next few days, maximum i'd like to spend is $500. Mostly going to use it to just watch movies, internet, e-mail, word processing and some photography. I've narrowed my choices to these I thought if anybody can give me any opinions on these choices, let me know. Also what is different with the AMD and the Intel is there a really big difference?
NoWorries From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 523 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (3 years 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1389 times:
I don't have any personal experience with the brand, but some supposedly knowledgeable people that I work with say that ASUS is always worth a serious look.
sunking737 From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 1930 posts, RR: 9 Reply 2, posted (3 years 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1378 times:
I have 2 Compaq laptops. purchased this year a month apart. CQ60. one at Walmart other Best Buy. We got the second one with a $100 discount. At Best Buy. It has been a lot easier with 2 laptops than 1 desk top. We are a family of 7.
Fly2HMO From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (3 years 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1337 times:
Quoting B7474 (Thread starter): Looking to purchase a laptop in the next few days, maximum i'd like to spend is $500.
You're options are plentiful but outdated at that price range. If you plan on seeing HD movies smoothly you'll need something with an i5 processor at least IMO. You'll also have to settle with Win Vista. Oh, and laptops in this range will not have high def screens.
Quoting B7474 (Thread starter): Also what is different with the AMD and the Intel is there a really big difference?
I've never used a computer that had an AMD CPU that I liked or thought that was moderately fast, quite the contrary from my experience, and I've used most of AMD's and Intel's range. AMD's are cheap for a reason.
Quoting NoWorries (Reply 1): I don't have any personal experience with the brand, but some supposedly knowledgeable people that I work with say that ASUS is always worth a serious look.
ASUS would be my top pick. However, be prepared to have bloatware pre-installed, but that's a given with any laptop this cheap.
My personal picks (take this from a computer builder):
Both are basically the same, but one is physically smaller. Win7 64 bit will give you great performance. HD movies should be fine.
Another good brand is MSI but there's none in that range with 64bit windows.
And I highly HIGHLY recommend buying from newegg. It's usually cheaper than the big brand stores and you don't have some annoying person pushing you one way or another for a crap computer. I've had great service from them.
B7474 From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 247 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1326 times:
Quoting mt99 (Reply 3): First off... forget best buy... go to amazon.com - no tax + free shipping...
The savings will help you get a bit better specs
mt99, unfortunately , living in New York, they charge you sales tax .
Fly2HMO, the second one sounds quite good, but do you think it will arrive before the 27th because i'm going out of the country the evening of that day to the Philippines?
757MDE From Colombia, joined Sep 2004, 1753 posts, RR: 7 Reply 6, posted (3 years 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1324 times:
Quoting NoWorries (Reply 1): I don't have any personal experience with the brand, but some supposedly knowledgeable people that I work with say that ASUS is always worth a serious look.
I concur.
I am writing from my ASUS laptop and I have been very happy with it from day one until this moment, it's more than a year old now!
I gladly accept donations to pay for flight hours! This thing draws man...
Dreadnought From United States of America, joined Feb 2008, 7763 posts, RR: 22 Reply 7, posted (3 years 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1308 times:
Quoting NoWorries (Reply 1): I don't have any personal experience with the brand, but some supposedly knowledgeable people that I work with say that ASUS is always worth a serious look.
Agreed. This one here looks like a hell of a deal. 2.2 Ghz dual-core, 500GB HD, 4 GB RAM, 16 inch screen, all for $499. Yes, it's manufacturer-refurbished, but a friend of mine got a refurbished ASUS and it was like new.
Ken777 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 7442 posts, RR: 5 Reply 8, posted (3 years 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1307 times:
Check up on the customer/tech support reputations before spending hard earned money. I used to only buy Dells, but then they moved small customer support to India and I dumped them after a week of misery. ANd I had always purchased an extended warranty to avoid problems!
Fly2HMO From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (3 years 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1286 times:
Quoting B7474 (Reply 5):
Fly2HMO, the second one sounds quite good, but do you think it will arrive before the 27th because i'm going out of the country the evening of that day to the Philippines?
Yes, but order it ASAP. Or if you want peace of mind, you could just get the expedited shipping option, they ship via UPS and have reasonable rates.
Of my 20+ orders with them, none ever got to me later than 3 business days, it was about 2 business day average most of the time, even if it was free shipping. Even if you order late night on a Monday, you'll most likely get your stuff on a Wednesday, or Thursday the latest for sure. They're very very efficient. You can't go wrong with newegg, I swear by them.
I overnighted a couple of things a few times, ordered my stuff mid-day and got the stuff early next morning.
Quoting Dreadnought (Reply 7): Yes, it's manufacturer-refurbished, but a friend of mine got a refurbished ASUS and it was like new.
That's the thing with refurbished items though, it's kind of a gamble. I don't buy them just because most of the people I knew that did ended up buying themselves a problem in the long run.
N1120A From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 25852 posts, RR: 79 Reply 12, posted (3 years 10 hours ago) and read 1109 times:
I picked up my Acer Aspire Timeline 4810TZ last year for $600. Not good for big time gamers, but excellent for my purposes (internet and word processing). 8+ hour battery life that I have verified in real life use. Light, thin and still has a DVD drive.
Quoting B7474 (Thread starter): Also what is different with the AMD and the Intel is there a really big difference?
I have owned both and have had success with both.
Quoting mt99 (Reply 3): First off... forget best buy... go to amazon.com - no tax + free shipping...
If Amazon is following they law, they will charge taxes in certain states.
Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 4):
I've never used a computer that had an AMD CPU that I liked or thought that was moderately fast, quite the contrary from my experience, and I've used most of AMD's and Intel's range. AMD's are cheap for a reason.
Complete disagreement. My desktop has an AMD and I have owned at least one other AMD, and have never had a problem.
Mangeons les French fries, mais surtout pratiquons avec fierte le French kiss
Fly2HMO From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (3 years 9 hours ago) and read 1101 times:
Quoting N1120A (Reply 12):
Complete disagreement. My desktop has an AMD and I have owned at least one other AMD, and have never had a problem.
I was talking strictly about performance. Intel has always had the edge in that regard. But both seem to be about as durable, save for a few years ago when AMD CPUs were known to spontaneously combust
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