Solved! Best notebook under 300$?

[Jack Rowling]

1. What is your budget?
300$ after shipping/rebates.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Notebook size, 15 inches and up.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
Best for the price.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
I'd like one, yes.
5. How much battery life do you need?
3 - 6 hours? Doesn't matter much to me.
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)?
I'm not much of a gamer, but I guess playing some games on low-med detail couldn't hurt.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Streaming HD video, programming, GIMP (photo editing.)
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
120+ gigs
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Nope.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Couple years at the least.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
CD/DVD drive/disc burner
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.
Thinkpad - Build quality
Acer - (brand loyalty)

Although it doesn't really matter.
13. What country do you live in?
USA.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
N/A

 

[jaguarskx]

There are none, unless you are looking for a used / refurbished / recertified laptop.

The $300 range will get you a new netbook which can be considered a small underpowered laptop. Not really good enough for games, but I did see a video of someone playing the Sims 2 on a netbook with a 1.6GHz Atom CPU and Intel GMA 3100 graphics core.

Based on what's listed on Newegg.com, the best laptop for $300 is a recertified DELL Inspiron I14R-1090DBK with an Intel Pentium B940 2.00GHz and Intel HD 3000 graphics core. However, it is out of stock. This is actually the most powerful graphics core you can get.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200385

The best laptop under $300 that they do have in stock is the recertified DELL Latitude D630 which has an Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz CPU and the much older Intel GMA 3100 graphics core.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200139


Just to give you a rough idea of GPU performance based on my best guess:

Intel HD 3000 = Desktop Radeon HD 5450
Intel GMA 4500M = 50% performance of the Intel HD 3000
Intel GMA 3100M = 33% performance of the Intel HD 3000


Good luck finding something in your price range.


Note:

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Portable means light enough to carry around, usually under 6lbs. Desktop replacement mean large and heavy.

 

[Jack Rowling]

Guess I'm gonna have to get a T60 then.

 

[jaguarskx]

IBM / Lenovo ThinkPad T60?

I think that's around the time IBM sold their desktop and laptop division to Lenovo.

 

[Jack Rowling]

Yeah, IBM, the T61 was released a couple months after, that's when Lenovo took over.

 

[jaguarskx]

ThinkPads are tough and reliable. My T40 still works.