Solved! Suggestions for a budget laptop (400$ and below)

[conquista]

1. What is your budget?
350$-400$ including tax/shipping, below 350 is fine also ^_^

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15.6

3. What screen resolution do you want?
- does not matter

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I guess its a desktop replacement laptop, but she never used the desktop besides for skype/internet/watching videos and dvds

5. How much battery life do you need?
3-4hrs?

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)?
no games

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
able to watch and stream videos, skype (pref inbuilt webcam+mic), surfing the web, and watching dvds

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
preferably 100gb+

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Tigerdirect or Newegg

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4year+?

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD RW

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.
Never heard of Lenovo, but if the laptop itself is good with no problems, brand isn't an issue

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
good lan/wifi adapter, and something simple for my mom to use.

thank you, I was looking around the 2 sites earlier, but couldn't make a decision, so I decided it would be the best idea to post here for suggestions.

 

[WR2]

Hello conquista,

A couple good options in your budget range @ NewEgg:

Both at $380 Acer Aspire AS5750Z and lenovo G570
The Acer has a higher spec Webcam which may be of interest to you.
That Pentium B940 2.00GHz CPU is an entry level Sandy Bridge model.
Check the NewEgg customer comments and see how others like these laptops.

 

[gilla409]

If you're okay with ordering from Amazon, I HIGHLY recommend the Acer Aspire 5552-7474.

15.6" LCD Screen
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 2.2ghz Processor
4gb 1333mhz DDR3 RAM
320gb HDD
DVD-RW
Windows 7 Home Premium

$399.99 with free shipping

http/www.amazon.com/Acer-AS5552-7474-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B005GSK6BY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316032253&sr=8-1

I just got this system a week ago, and I'm EXTREMELY impressed. I posted a review on the product listing on Amazon, if you'd like more info. I shopped for several weeks looking for the best notebook for $400, and this one is far and away the biggest bang for your buck. Everything that comes close to it's specs is at least $50 more, and typically lacks features that the Acer includes. Also, anything else in the $350-400 price range is usually slower, out-of-date dual core processors at best.

I seriously doubt you'll find anything better, but if you do, I'd be curious to see what you come up with.

Good luck!