Need a cheap, lightweight laptop...did I mention CHEAP?

Lenovo x130e.

8hr battery, under 4lbs, and ultra-tough since it was designed for K-12 students. Think of how tough a thinkpad is ++ they added extra toughness like a 1/4th of an inch bumper around the screen.
 


Asus all the way. Their laptops have the lowest warranty return rates in the industry.

I bought this 13" one few months back but at $699 ish it's about $200 more than what you're looking to spend... ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS U36SD

I've got an i5 2.5ghz version with 8 gigs of RAM. No SSD yet, cause it's a bitch to open. There is a version, U36SG, with SSD but I couldn't find one in this part of the world to buy. I'd love it more if it had a 1080 antiglare screen, but it's light and the 8 cell battery lasts forever. I was doing some last minute video editing on it at a conference I was at in London in October and I got 4 hours out of it running a bunch of Adobe apps at full power. With lighter work on powersaving modes I've squeezed over 8 hours out of it.

Asus has so many models, with new ones coming out all the time, that you can surely find some great deals out there that fit your budget.
 
+1 for asus . I have three of them and they are extremely durable . But certain models come with soldered ram , better watch out .
 
tl;dr all the reply's

I too concur with the ASUS Laptops being the best for the money right now.

Just remember that 95% of ALL the Laptop Intel CPU's are either only Dual Core or Dual Core with Hyper-Threading to make it look like it has 4 cores. The are just two extra logical cores virtualized by the two physical cores.

Now this isn't that bad for a laptop since the physical 4 core CPUS do wear the battery down quicker. But they won't perform as well as a true Quad Core would.

I'm not up on the AMD offerings right now so I can't comment on those.

But if you would prefer a laptop with the True Intel 4 Core
cpu you will be a $1,000 & above. Outta your budget for this I know.


This from here saves me having to re-type the info:

[Solved] I5-2410M Cores vs Threads - CPUs - CPU-Components

"If you want a laptop or an all-in-one PC with a quad core Intel CPU, then you need to get something with a Core i7 CPU. However, not all mobile (laptop) Intel Core i7 CPUs are quad core; some are only dual core CPUs. On the other hand all desktop Intel Core i7 CPUs are quad core.

There are many mobile Core i7 CPUs so I'm not going to list them all. Here is how you can tell the difference though:

1. Core i7 ending with "M" are all dual cores; example: Core i7-2637M.
2. Core i7 ending with "LE" are dual cores embedded into the motherboard; example: Core i7-2655LE.
3. Core i7 ending with "QM" are all quad cores; example: Core i7-2630QM.
4. Core i7 ending with "QE" are dual cores embedded into the motherboard; example: Core i7-2715QE.
___________________________________________________________________________




I personally don't like how they taut the damn i5's as a Quad core when NONE of them are. They're using Hyper-Threading for two extra "Logical Cores".

You have to be careful with the i5's though because not all of them have the Hyper-Threading that you WILL want.


I helped my Postman pick this ASUS out a few months ago and it's pretty nice for the price.

ASUS - Notebooks- ASUS K55A


Newegg has them refurbished for $444.99 right now. Regular $699.00 new.

Newegg.com - Refurbished: ASUS K55A-RBR6 Notebook Intel Core i5 2450M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 750GB HDD DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 3000


I also like Lenovo's and the IBM Think pads.


Good Luck in your hunt!!


DISCLAIMER: I don't give a DAMN about the weight of a Laptop. ASUS says it weighs about 2 lbs with the battery in it. Is that heavy? NOt to me. I all I care about is that it WORKS, it's pretty durable, and I'm able to SEE the screen!!! Lulz
 
No one has said Apple yet on a cheap laptop recommendation thread.

1245269396018.gif
 
I've had probably 20-25 Dell D630's and D830's since 08 that I have refurbed, updated, tinkered with to use having sold or given( just gave my 9 year old son one with Win7 32 bit ultimate)

They're a total workhorse for under 200$ .. Not super light or tiny@ 4.3lbs but the price/value ratio is hard to beat.

Run Windows7 64 bit Ultimate if you upgrade to at least 4Gig of memory. I've run Win7 32 and 64bit ultimate. Win8 32bit for awhile in beta. Ubuntu, Kubuntu -and just did one that's running Snow Leopard perfectly except wireless. I the need to upgrade to Lion so wireless works, shoulda bought that first but Snow Leopard was 30$ for the hard copy of the DVD..

If you want their maximum potential and lightest weight- remove the Optical drive add 8Gig of ram and a small SSD for about 200$ extra still@ under 400$

I'm running one with 2gig(Snow Leopard) one with 4 gig and small 250G 7200rpm WD Scorpio which cost under 100$ to add- and am using Win7 64bit ultimate and both work fine for movies, surfing and my day to day ops for under $300 total.. Also can get super cheap docking stations for these(far better than the newer cheap plastic ones that don't have the monitor shelf)
and are among the cheapest to replace from batteries to LCD screens if you ever do break it. Their only real weakness is the GPU.. I have both with the Nvidia NVS 135m and the Intel. You're not going to play 3d intensive games.

They also only have onboard 802.11G chip


They do have one systemic issue with GPU's overheating and crapping out if you let the cooling get clogged with dust .Just made sure to keep clean of debris and haven't had any issues since I'd become aware of the potential and kept up on preventive maintinance.

If you get one and need help PM me and I'll help you out with getting it up to par like a new machine. I've done so many, I keep drivers for all iterations and OS's on Thumb drives and will hook you up with what you need.


Newegg.com - Refurbished: DELL Latitude D630 Notebook Intel Core 2 Duo T7250(2.00GHz) 14.1" 2GB Memory 80GB HDD DVD/CD-RW Combo Free shipping and this is just about the fastest Core2Duo they offered. I think they did do a 2.2 core2 as well if you can find them.


Again these aren't tiny and or lightweight like a macbook air but price/performance it is hard to beat at the price point.

Oh and seriously It's hard to go wrong with an Asus their quality and customer service are amazing. I just prepped one of these for a friend for a Christmas present.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-A53U-EB11-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Mocha/dp/B0089WLZV4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1357014908&sr=8-8&keywords=asus+laptop]Amazon.com: ASUS A53U-EB11 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mocha): Computers & Accessories[/ame]


if you can get a great deal but doubt you can get a better for less than this offer

or if you want to look toward a Mac check out this deal

Newegg.com - Refurbished: Apple MacBook MB402LL/A Notebook Intel Core 2 Duo 2.10GHz 13.3" 2GB Memory DDR2 667 120GB HDD 5400rpm DVD/CD-RW Combo Intel GMA X3100
 
^ so let me get this right, you're recommending a 2KG 6+ year old Dell laptop ?
 
very good quality laptop, is very portable used by children in Rwanda and other remote villages. And less than $100 on popular auction site.

$T2eC16JHJG!E9nm3pkoZBQ3Kv1Jgow~~60_57.JPG



One_Laptop_per_Child_Ethiopia.jpg
 
I went with an Asus from Tiger Direct. It was $360 and had everything I need. Looks like a pretty solid little unit. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom