Cheap laptop Acer Gateway $249.99 Target

[allisolm]

Need a basic laptop? Target has one online and in-store for $249.99

http://www.target.com/p/acer-gatewa...20gb-hard-drive-4gb-memory-black/-/A-14113569


Acer Gateway 15.6" Laptop PC (NE56R13U) with 320GB Hard Drive, 4GB Memory, Intel dual core processor - Black

Comes w/Win 7 - get Win 8 free or Win 8 Pro for $14.99

 

[rickon66]

Good price for basic laptop, buy today for sales tax holiday in many states.

 

[Roland00Address]

To get you an idea on the speed this sandy bridge dual core celeron (1.7 ghz) is roughly equivalent to a core 2 duo t9300 (2.5 ghz)

While the t9300 is a 3.75 year old processor its list price (tray $316) when it came out cost more than this laptop does, and most likely this laptop will have better battery life and can actually playback hd graphics on the integrated card. The screen will probably suck though.

 

[Macgyversite]

Great Deal.

 

[kc12kc]

Would you guys have any thoughts on whether this laptop is better than the Dell Inspiron 5030? I picked one up for roughly the same price -- it ostensibly has a faster processor, but no HDMI, and the screen doesn't seem as good. Full specs below:

Microprocessor Intel® Pentium® Dual Core™ Processor T4500 (2.3GHz, 1MB cache, 800MHz FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 ® Home Premium (64-bit)
Service Pack None
Memory 3GB Memory
Video Graphics Integrated Intel® Graphics
Hard Drive 320GB Hard Drive
Multimedia Drive DVD+/-RW Drive (Plays and Creates CDs and DVDs)
Media Card Reader Media Card Reader
Biometrics No
Bluetooth No
Lojack No
Display 15.6" High Definition Display
Fax/Data Modem No
Wireless Connectivity Wireless-N Card
Sound Integrated Audio
Keyboard Backlit - NO
Pointing Device None
Webcam Built-in 0.3MP webcam
Battery 6-cell Battery
Warranty and Support 1Yr Limited Warranty and Mail-In Service
Software 1 McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days
Software 2 Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
Software 5 Walmart Photo Icon

http://i.walmart.com/i/rb/0088411606076.pdf

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-15.6-...84OBK/16560727

Any thoughts you all may have would be very helpful. Thanks very much.

 

[Roland00Address]

Would you guys have any thoughts on whether this laptop is better than the Dell Inspiron 5030? I picked one up for roughly the same price -- it ostensibly has a faster processor, but no HDMI, and the screen doesn't seem as good. Full specs below:

The Pentium t4500 came out in Q1'2010 which may not seem long but it is based off 45nm penrym technology (aka 2 generations prior to sandy bridge or 3 generations prior to ivy bridge) which came out first time in January 2008. These Jan 2008 processors (for example the t9300 I referenced above is from a technology called penrym also known as 45nm laptop core 2 duo) the t9300 is actually faster than the t4500. The t9300 is roughly as fast as the celeron b820, the b820>t4500.

The gateway has better battery life, hdmi, faster cpu, more ram (also faster ram with no fsb limitation)

 

[kc12kc]

Thanks Roland, I will likely get this laptop. Do you think similar or better deals will come out like this in the next several months as new processors hit the market? Or would you say this is a good buy overall, given the price? I'm just looking for a good general use laptop to replace the one I have (it's nearly dead). Appreciate the time and advice.

 

[Roland00Address]

Thanks Roland, I will likely get this laptop. Do you think similar or better deals will come out like this in the next several months as new processors hit the market? Or would you say this is a good buy overall, given the price? I'm just looking for a good general use laptop to replace the one I have (it's nearly dead). Appreciate the time and advice.

Yes this is a good deal, I sell laptops for a living and it is hard to beat this deal, I will hop on it and not regret it. Here are some similar deals for comparison

If you live near a microcenter you can get this laptop for $10 dollars more plus local sales tax.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0394499
Thoughts
* It has 2 GB of ram, but ram is easy to upgrade, it has only 1 slot so you take out the 2gb and put in a 4 or 8gb stick.
* It has 1 usb 3 port and 1 usb 2 port. Only 2 ports is kinda sucky but hey one is usb 3
* Asus from the manufacture has a 1 year accidental warranty (1 incident) for free if you register the laptop after purchase, this is a big deal if you have people that may spill liquids or such.

If you live near a frys you can get this laptop for $30 dollars more plus local sales tax.
http://www.frys.com/product/7196822?...%20date:080312
* 2.1 ghz instead of 1.7 ghz with the same technology underneath makes this laptop up to 24% faster
* 500gb hard drive if you need the extra storage
* Identical in everything else since the laptop is the same series and same generation

So in sum this is an awesome deal, and the similar deals I posted above are the point of diminishing returns. If you are not near one of those B&M then you are not going to find a better deal for the under $400 price unless you get really lucky.

 

[hans007]

i think the B820 is a socketed chip too so you could swap it for a core i3 /5 possibly .

granted a core i3 2330m is like $75, or even more for core i5, but its a nice option down the road say 2 years from now when those cpus are going for $30 on ebay.

 

[batmanuel]

My Target had two left when I stopped into grab one today. It's a pretty snappy machine for the price, although there was quite a bit of preloaded crapware that had to be uninstalled during setup.

 

[etrin]

the frys unit would be great if we had a store in my area.
Arkansas only has a walmart, target and worst buy so out of luck.

we need a frys and a microcenter

 

[melchoir]

I must be missing something. How do you order online?

 

[cubeless]

I must be missing something. How do you order online?

looks like you don't... seems they shipped them all to stores and are closing out...

 

[bbhaag]

Early yesterday when this deal was posted you could order one online but now it looks like it's in store only. I should have pulled the trigger then.

 

[kc12kc]

Thanks Roland, et al. I picked up one of these today, and will be returning the Dell Inspiron. I'll likely be lurking around the forums in several months for recommendations on a monster desktop--either to build on my own, or for a good deal on one ready-made. It's been a while since I put one together! Thanks again for the tips.

 

[Throckmorton]

Acer Gateway? Did they merge?

 

[Roland00Address]

Acer Gateway? Did they merge?

Acer acquired Gateway in 2007. Acer keeps the name Gateway around for some people are more comfortable with that name just like some people prefer getting a Lincoln instead of a Ford. Acer which also owns Packard Bell fluctuates with Lenovo and Dell for who is number 2, 3 and 4 for number of computers sold world wide. HP sells the most computers a year by a very wide margin.

Lenovo acquired the IBM personal computing division (aka desktops and laptops but not servers) in 2005.

 

[ir0nw0lf]

Win 8 upgrade for free? When did MS offer that? Far as I know, there is no free upgrade offer from MS for any version of Win 8, min upgrade price is $14.99 for core and $39'ish for Pro. Or is it a Acer/Gateway specific offer?

 

[HESDog]

The Gateway offer is $14.99 for Windows 8 Pro.

 

[allisolm]

Win 8 upgrade for free? When did MS offer that? Far as I know, there is no free upgrade offer from MS for any version of Win 8, min upgrade price is $14.99 for core and $39'ish for Pro. Or is it a Acer/Gateway specific offer?

Dunno. The windows upgrade offer site here shows win 8 pro for $14.99 but I don't see anything about free. This is what it says on the product page at Target.com:

"You may have heard that Windows 8 is coming soon. But what you may not have heard is that you don’t have to wait to buy a new PC in order to get Windows 8 when it becomes available. Windows 7 PCs come out of the box with everything you need now and later – including Windows 8, for free, after it is released.

You'll also have the option to choose Windows 8 Pro – for just $14.99."

 

[Pheran]

Good price, but 1366x768 resolution sucks for a 15.6" laptop.