Need a laptop for under $500

ushy86

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Aug 22, 2008
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Hi guys, it's been awhile since I was on these forums. I come to you guys to ask for help finding a laptop for under $500 Canadian. This laptop is for my mother and will mainly be used for web surfing, video and movie watching and such.
I'm looking to get one from either Tigerdirect.ca or newegg.ca. If somebody could recommend me a laptop for that price range it would be greatly appreciated.

P.s From what I have looked at it seems i3's seem ideal, but let me know if anything else out there is good for the price range if you could please. A laptop with WIFI would be great and on top of the list, thanks guys appreciated !
 
Solution
i was actually gonna link those lol. i didnt think you would need the i3 as much since youre gonna use it for web surfing and movies.

from what ive seen the sandy bridge pentium B940 scores about 30% more on passmark than the pentium p6100, and the p6200. and the core i3 370m scores about 10% higher than the b940. the only benchmarking scores out there so far are from passmark.

so go with the first laptop you linked. it looks solid, looks nice. go for it :D

computernugget

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Apr 24, 2011
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meanwhile.

here are a couple that found. pretty good for the price.

acer aspire with pentium P6100 2.0 ghz. dual core $360
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215114

acer aspire with amd e-350 dual core 1.6Ghz $360
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215057

acer aspire with sandy bridge pentium B940 2.00Ghz $400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215107

the sandy bridge pentium for laptops seems to be really good. good performance, pretty low price. and the amd e-350 will give you better battery life even though its not the fastest cpu out there.

 

ushy86

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Aug 22, 2008
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1. What is your budget?
My budget is about $400-$500 Canadian, trying to keep it under $500 after taxes if possible or close to it.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
I haven't ever had a laptop before, so I'd say standard size and screen, but not the mini notebooks.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Well maybe 15-17" monitor, so w/e resolution that gets

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
This laptop is just for a family member, it is not a replacement for a desktop, it's just so they have something to use at any time.

5. How much battery life do you need?
The more the better, not sure the av. battery life. But I imagine it will be used at home mainly and plugged in.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Seeing how it's for my mother probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to be able to run non graphically intense games on low-med.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
This laptop will be mainly used for internet surfing, and watching videos/movies.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
320Gb maybe+, but this isn't much of a concern as long as it has 100+ Gb at least.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
www.tigerdirect.ca would be option number 1, as I can do a pickup etc. www.newegg.ca will do also if the laptops there are better, which I assume they have a wider range and better prices.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible. Like mentioned earlier this is mainly for net surfing/video/movie watching. Some thing that we won't have to immediately replace because it's getting slow with apps and such.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
The more the merrier, but I would at least like it to have one regular dvd drive, don't necessarily need a ROM/WRITER.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Not sure about which brands as laptops aren't my area of expertise. I know desktops but not sure about lappy's. So whatever is best for the price range stated.

13. What country do you live in?
Canada



 

ushy86

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Aug 22, 2008
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Thanks for the links I checked them out. What do you think about something more expensive like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230026&cm_re=a52f-_-34-230-026-_-Product
AND the downgrade version of http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230060&cm_re=asus_a52-_-34-230-060-_-Product
 

computernugget

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i was actually gonna link those lol. i didnt think you would need the i3 as much since youre gonna use it for web surfing and movies.

from what ive seen the sandy bridge pentium B940 scores about 30% more on passmark than the pentium p6100, and the p6200. and the core i3 370m scores about 10% higher than the b940. the only benchmarking scores out there so far are from passmark.

so go with the first laptop you linked. it looks solid, looks nice. go for it :D
 
Solution

ushy86

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Aug 22, 2008
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Okay, thanks for the help. I will most likely recommend this laptop to her. If she's fine with the price I'll order it, if not I'll go for that B940 you linked. But why not go for the i3 for a few bucks more :)
 

computernugget

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well the b940 is a sandy bridge pentium, and its faster than previous generation pentium. thats why i suggested that one. i mean the core i3 is fast, especially the 380m because its clocked high, but even then its around 12% faster than the way lower clocked b940.

i mean personally i would get the b940 because i wouldnt need any extra performance and it would suit my needs just fine. and i would save some cash and then use that to buy like ram or something. lol