Sub $500 Laptops
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
One of the most common request I get is for recommendation on a good, cheap general purpose laptop. This holiday season there are plenty of options in the sub $500 category. These laptops won’t be the lightest or fastest, but they will have enough oomph for general web surfing, office applications and multimedia playback.
Current favorites: Newegg.com - Toshiba Satellite L305-S5902 NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T3200(2.00GHz) 15.4″ Wide XGA 2GB Memory DDR2 800 160GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel GMA 4500M – Retail - $499.99
Best Buy Black Friday Doorbuster - HP G50-104NR Laptop with Canon 3-in-1 Printer for $349.99
If you are looking for an smaller, lighter option you may want to consider the new netbook category (recommendations coming soon). Netbooks don’t offer much storage and are somewhat cramped for typing but they are ultra light and cheap.
Consumer Reports (subscription required) notes that no brand stands out as the most reliable, with Sony, Lenovo (IBM), Compaq and Toshiba faring slightly better than the rest. In my experience, Lenovo machines tend to have the best build quality, especially their ThinkPad line.
After reading through the specs and reviews on the laptops below, I chose the Toshiba Satellite from Newegg.com. Overall, Toshiba laptops have a good reputation and this laptop will perform well with the Dual Core processor and 2GB of RAM. Reviews from Newegg.com and Amazon are positive. The Black Friday $379.99 Toshiba deal at Best Buy is attractive but I don’t think it is worth waiting all night in the cold for it – your call…
Note: I only listed laptops with at least 2GB of RAM, running Vista on 1GB of RAM is not a pleasant experience.
Sub $500 Laptops
Updated: Friday, November 21, 2008.
Legend: MIR=Mail in Rebate, Web=Online Only, BTR=Beat the Rush, BF=Black Friday.
Deal Ratings: *Ok, **Good, ***Great.
| Retailer | Price | MIR | Brand | Line | Model | Processor | RAM | Hard Drive | Screen | Deal Type | Deal Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Buy Online | $449.99 | No | Acer | Extensa | EX4420 5963 | AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 TK-57 | 2GB | 160GB | 14.1" | Web | * |
| Best Buy Online | $499.99 | No | Gateway | T-Series | T-6330u | Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3200 | 3GB | 250GB | 14.1" | Web | * |
| Dell | $499.99 | No | Dell | Vostro | 1510 | Intel Celeron M 550 | 2GB | 250GB | 15.4" | Web | * |
| Newegg | $449.00 | No | Acer | Aspire | AS4530 5627 | AMD Mobile Athlon 64 X2 QL-60 | 2GB | 160GB | 14.1" | Web | * |
| Newegg | $499.99 | No | Acer | Extensa | EX5630 4239 | Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 | 3GB | 160GB | 15.4" | Web | * |
| Newegg | $499.99 | No | Toshiba | Satellite | L305 S5902 | Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 | 2GB | 160GB | 15.4" | Web | ** |
| Best Buy | $299.99 | No | Acer | Aspire | 860361 | Intel Dual Core | N/A | 160GB | N/A | BTR | ** |
| Walmart | $438.00 | No | Compaq | CQ50 | 139WM | Intel Celeron 575 | 2GB | 160GB | 15.4" | BTR | * |
| Best Buy | $349.99 | No | HP | G50 | 104NR | Intel Dual Core | 2GB | 120GB | 15.4" | BF | *** |
| Best Buy | $379.99 | No | Toshiba | Satellite | L305D S5892 | AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core | 3GB | 160GB | 15.4" | BF | ** |
| Best Buy | $479.99 | No | Toshiba | Satellite | L305D S5893 | AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core | 4GB | 250GB | 15.4" | BF | * |
| Circuit City | $499.99 | $150 | HP | Pavilion | G50118NR | Intel Pentium Dual Core | 3GB | 250GB | 15.4" | BF | * |
| Circuit City | $399.00 | $150 | HP | Pavilion | G50108NR | Intel Pentium Dual Core | 2Gb | 160GB | 15.4" | BF | * |
| Office Depot | $489.99 | No | Toshiba | Satellite | M305D S4831 | AMD Turion X2 Dual Core | 4GB | 200GB | 14.1" | BF | ** |
| Office Depot | $479.99 | No | Toshiba | Satellite | L305 S5894 | Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 | 3GB | 160Gb | 15.4" | BF | * |
| Office Max | $429.99 | No | HP | Pavilion | 2172 6465 | AMD Sempron | 2GB | 120GB | 15.4" | BF | * |
| Radio Shack | $499.99 | $100 | Gateway | M-Series | M-7305u | Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 | 3GB | 250GB | 15.4" | BF | * |
| Walmart | $448.00 | No | HP | G60 | 121WM | N/A | 3GB | 160GB | 15.6" | BF | * |
tagged under: black friday.Laptops
