$199 laptop from Best Buy (11.6" Celeron)

[Kaido]

Just a cheap laptop if you need one. No special sale, just $200 shipped:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-asp...lver/7498239.p

Manufacturer's page:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MNTAA.007

Acer Aspire
Windows 8.1 64-bit
11.6" LED screen with 1366 x 768 (Intel HD graphics)
2.16ghz dual-core Celeron N2830
320gb 5400rpm hard drive (upgradable to SSD)
2GB RAM (upgradable to 8GB DDR3L)
802.11 + Gigabit Ethernet + Bluetooth 4.0
(2) USB 2.0 & (1) USB 3.0 ports
HDMI out
SD card reader
5-hour battery (40w power supply)

Does not have: touchscreen, numpad, optical drive. Just a basic $200 laptop. Optionally throw in some extra RAM ($85-ish for an 8GB stick) & an SSD (available in up to 1TB these days) to beef it up a bit.

 

[RossMAN]

Perfect timing as I need a portable travel laptop for web surfing and downloading pictures, this is nearly perfect.

I have a spare SSD lying around, is that the correct SSD type and size to fit in this laptop?

Any suggestions on how to spend another $50 at BB?

 

[Kaido]

Perfect timing as I need a portable travel laptop for web surfing and downloading pictures, this is nearly perfect.

I have a spare SSD lying around, is that the correct SSD type and size to fit in this laptop?

Any suggestions on how to spend another $50 at BB?

It's not clear if it uses a 9.5mm or 7mm 2.5" drive. From the Best Buy comments:

I switched out the included hard drive for a SSD which was actually pretty painless and the performance of the laptop was considerably improved. I just created a factory backup on a USB drive using the included Acer Recovery Management software, swapped out the hard-drives, and re-installed the factory backup from a USB drive. The process was actually pretty quick since I used a USB3.0 drive.

$50 more? Probably upgrade to a 4GB stick of RAM if you can use it for Marketplace stuff:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/corsair-...e/1305172751.p

StartMenu8 is free:

http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php

You can also use Windows Defender for free Antivirus:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2325766

Although my current recommendation for keeping your computer clean is Avast Internet Security 2014 ($40 a year, or $80 for 3 years), which includes a feature called SafeZone, which runs Chrome in a fullscreen virtual environment to completely protect your computer while on the Internet:

http://www.avast.com/en-us/internet-security

It basically bulletproofs the laptop, similar to how the Chromebooks operate...all of the Internet-based stuff lives in a secure environment. In Avast, you can reset (wipe) the Safezone any time you want, although you can still optionally choose to download & save files you want to keep in a folder on your computer, so it's not like you're completely locked out (you can then scan those files in Avast to check for viruses).

 

[VirtualLarry]

No offense, but this was $179.99 last week / weekend. At least for a few days. Guess I should have posted it. I thought it was kind of weak, having only 2GB of RAM. But at least it's upgradable.

 

[RossMAN]

No offense, but this was $179.99 last week / weekend. At least for a few days. Guess I should have posted it. I thought it was kind of weak, having only 2GB of RAM. But at least it's upgradable.

Agreed. After mulling it over today, I think I'll stick with my slow Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Perhaps a clean Windows 7 install (or maybe LinuxMint) and SSD will breathe new life into it.

Besides BF/CM are around the corner and this frees up a few dinero :awe:

 

[Roland00Address]

It is a netbook, it is so much better than last years atom netbooks and a dozen times more usable than a netbook that is 2011 or earlier. But it is still a netbook. This CPU is roughly 20% faster than the e-450

 

[Roland00Address]

If you do not mind refurbished I think this Asus t100 is a better deal. 225 for a better screen and detachable tablet with docking.
http://touch.groupon.com/deals/gg-a...9_1327_0&sid=8207453095954410a648ff329596115a

 

[Kaido]

No offense, but this was $179.99 last week / weekend. At least for a few days. Guess I should have posted it. I thought it was kind of weak, having only 2GB of RAM. But at least it's upgradable.

None taken! Unfortunately that was a special sale & it's gone (I'm sure it will be back at some point), which definitely made it a hotter deal. However, I always get a ton of questions around back to school time about what laptop to buy - a lot of people are on a tight budget & just want a basic machine to surf & do Word or Google Docs on (while still being able to install Windows-based school software), and this is still a pretty good deal at $199 shipped; the closest laptops I've seen at this pricepoint are the 15.6" Asus/Toshiba models for $229 or the refurbished T100's for under $250, so getting a super-portable machine for $200 is still pretty decent imo, despite the low specs.

I'm surprised they still sell computers with 2GB RAM at all. The T100 does pretty well on 8.1 with the included SSD though (although this 11.6" has a regular HDD in it). I am a big fan of the T100 since it comes with a copy of Microsoft Office (that's $139 right there) & turns into a tablet - the touchscreen makes Windows 8 functionality a whole lot better!

 

[jjmIII]

Optionally throw in some extra RAM ($85-ish for an 8GB stick)...

Wonder if there is an access panel on the bottom? My latest Acer laptop had to be completely disassembled to install memory on the bottom of the motherboard. No hdd access either. I hate Acer for this!

 

[ultimatebob]

Funny... I thought that the 11" Acer Aspire's were Netbooks, not laptops. Maybe they stopped using that terminology now.

 

[Roland00Address]

Funny... I thought that the 11" Acer Aspire's were Netbooks, not laptops. Maybe they stopped using that terminology now.

The word choice on what netbook means has changed so much over the last 7 years or so (believe it or not the first EEE* pc came out in 2007) and there are so many meanings and different definitions for netbook, but to most people it can be summed up as this.

Netbooks are

Small, Slow, and Cheap

Ultrabooks are

Small, Fast, Expensive, and needs some form of SSD or Caching

...and then there are portable laptops that straddle the line. HP tried to create a term in between those two called Sleekbooks but this term never caught on.


*EEE originally stand for Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play

----

Now with the new atoms they are still the slowest of the modern cpus but whether they are truly slow and should use the same term as 7 to 3 year old computers? Well that is entirely subjective thus it is a netbook to some and a small laptop to others.

 

[Roland00Address]

On the positive side, RAM is upgradeable up to 8GB. But, this laptop doesn’t have doors on the bottom for easier RAM and HDD upgrades, so you’ll have to unscrew and remove the whole bottom panel in order to access these components.

http://laptoping.com/specs/product/acer-aspire-e3-111-c0wa/

I hope this answers your question to your satisfaction, a quick google search pulled up no images of the bottom panel or youtube videos of people disassembling it to show off the motherboard and repair options.

 

[Kaido]

Funny... I thought that the 11" Acer Aspire's were Netbooks, not laptops. Maybe they stopped using that terminology now.

Nah, netbooks were like little 9" or 10" wuss computers. I had a couple (still use the Dell Mini as a very portable network testing tool); they were generally terrible (mainly the tiny keyboard & horrible 1024x600 resolution, which cutoff menus & buttons that you needed to click on). An 11.6" running 1366x768 resolution is an entirely different animal in terms of usability.

Plus, this has a Celeron...modern Celerons are simply i3/i5/i7 chips without hyperthreading & turbo - just a basic dual-core chip, not like the Celerons of old. They're actually pretty nice :thumbsup:

 

[Staples]

Agreed. After mulling it over today, I think I'll stick with my slow Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Perhaps a clean Windows 7 install (or maybe LinuxMint) and SSD will breathe new life into it.

Besides BF/CM are around the corner and this frees up a few dinero :awe:

You considering using Linux. You used to be a pretty non technical guy for these forums. Have you changed that much?

 

[Roland00Address]

Plus, this has a Celeron...modern Celerons are simply i3/i5/i7 chips without hyperthreading & turbo - just a basic dual-core chip, not like the Celerons of old. They're actually pretty nice :thumbsup:

This is an atom baytrail celeron it is a dual core version that has better single tread than the atom 3740, worse multithread but these chips trade blows. All around it is worse than the atom 3770.

It is called celeron for two reasons the big one being Marketing and the lesser one which is the fig leaf, no current atoms have a tdp over a certain amount which if I recall is 5w tdp. If it has a higher tdp than it is a baytril celeron or pentium.

---

What I am saying simply this is not haswell it is not a modified i3, i5 or i7, it is instead a modified atom (baytrail)

 

[RossMAN]

You considering using Linux. You used to be a pretty non technical guy for these forums. Have you changed that much?

And you used to be the CostCo pizza and cookies aficionado, your point is?

Seriously I've been using LinuxMint on and off for a few years, works great especially on older hardware.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

FWIW IMO the keyboard is bad and the trackpad is worse. The battery will not last more than two-three hours during office productivity at mid-level screen brightness. The CPU is up to basic office/web use, though, especially if you remove the slow spinner drive with an SSD. I sold mine a week after I bought it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I sold mine a week after I bought it.

That kind of says it all...

I picked up two of the Asus N2830 Celeron 15.6" models, they included a DVD drive.

 

[s44]

Perfect timing as I need a portable travel laptop for web surfing and downloading pictures, this is nearly perfect.

You really should use a Chromebook for this, particularly with the dozen free GoGoInflight passes you get.

 

[RossMAN]

You really should use a Chromebook for this, particularly with the dozen free GoGoInflight passes you get.

Thanks for the suggestion. Any particular deal you'd recommend?

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-asp...&skuId=7498239

Now $179.99 at BestBuy.

 

[s44]

Thanks for the suggestion. Any particular deal you'd recommend?

Depends how picky you are about keyboard, screen, weight, CPU, etc.

The best deal for sure is the periodic Groupon deal on the refurb Acer C720 for ~$130. Refurbs may or may not have the free extras (GoGo passes, 100gb Google Drive space, etc).

The C720 is $200 new (though on sale at Amazon for $180 now) and the best horsepower per buck... The C2955u really flies with the super-light overhead of ChromeOS. Problem is the grainy-looking matte screen and the not-so-great-feeling keyboard. Touchpad is excellent, as on all Chromebooks. It also has a user-upgradeable M.2 SSD.

Slightly lighter (2.5lbs vs 2.8), totally fanless, with a somewhat nicer build, and $220 at Amazon is the Asus C200. This uses the dual Bay Trail Celerons you see on the cheap Windows laptops in this thread. Not quite as fast as the C2955u, but certainly fast enough in ChromeOS.

The C300 is the same unit with a 13.3" screen for $230 at Amazon. It weighs just over 3lbs.

The other one to really consider is the upcoming Acer CB5. 13.3", 3.3lbs, but the extra weight goes to ridiculous battery life: 11 hours for the $300 1080p model and 13 hours for the $280 13*7 model (all the ones above are 13*7). This uses Tegra K1.

 

[Kaido]

What I am saying simply this is not haswell it is not a modified i3, i5 or i7, it is instead a modified atom (baytrail)

Excellent, thanks for the clarification. RIP good Celeron chips

I have had good experiences with the quad-core Baytrails on other machines (surprisingly), as long as you have an SSD to go with it!

 

[Kaido]

Thanks for the suggestion. Any particular deal you'd recommend?

I have the 11.6" Acer Chromebook (with touchscreen...would not buy touchscreen again) & it's an absolutely great machine. However, the new model is due out shortly...a 13" with a 1080p screen & the Tegra K1 chip:

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Chromeboo.../dp/B00MHX6TIA

A bit more at $380, and while I love the portability of the 11.6", I would really love a bigger screen for my eyes since it's more or less my main machine at home these days.

 

[Kaido]

Depends how picky you are about keyboard, screen, weight, CPU, etc.

The best deal for sure is the periodic Groupon deal on the refurb Acer C720 for ~$130. Refurbs may or may not have the free extras (GoGo passes, 100gb Google Drive space, etc).

The C720 is $200 new (though on sale at Amazon for $180 now) and the best horsepower per buck... The C2955u really flies with the super-light overhead of ChromeOS. Problem is the grainy-looking matte screen and the not-so-great-feeling keyboard. Touchpad is excellent, as on all Chromebooks. It also has a user-upgradeable M.2 SSD.

Slightly lighter (2.5lbs vs 2.8), totally fanless, with a somewhat nicer build, and $220 at Amazon is the Asus C200. This uses the dual Bay Trail Celerons you see on the cheap Windows laptops in this thread. Not quite as fast as the C2955u, but certainly fast enough in ChromeOS.

The C300 is the same unit with a 13.3" screen for $230 at Amazon. It weighs just over 3lbs.

The other one to really consider is the upcoming Acer CB5. 13.3", 3.3lbs, but the extra weight goes to ridiculous battery life: 11 hours for the $300 1080p model and 13 hours for the $280 13*7 model (all the ones above are 13*7). This uses Tegra K1.

Yeah, and initially I was worried about getting the touchscreen version because it only came with 2GB RAM (not 4), but it's turned out to be absolutely fine, which was surprisingly. Chromebooks are awesome if you can live within their limitations :thumbsup: