couple o' cheap laptops for the week of 8/16

[allisolm]

Best Buy has starting 8/16

Acer AS5516-5474 SKU 9396851 for $279.99
AMD Athlon 1.6GHz
15.6" screen
2GB RAM
160GB SATA
double-layer CD/DVD burner
media card reader
6-cell lithium-ion
Windows Home Basic

Walmart has starting 8/16

Toshiba L355-S7915 for $348
17"
Intel Celeron 900 processor. 2.2GHz
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
250GB SATA Hard Drive.
CD/DVD SuperMulti Drive (DVD+/-RW).
6-cell rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Windows Vista Home Basic

 

[13Gigatons]

Office depot has one for 449.99 - 20 = 429.99

Toshiba L505-S5966 http://www.officedepot.com/a/p...llite-L505-S5966-15-6/
15.6"
3GB
320GB
SKU: 502-074

 

[boomhower]

The Walmart one actually got a pretty good review at laptopmag, pretty darn good for the price tag.

 

[bhess]

I got the walmart 17' for my wife and my father got the same. I did put XP on the wifes but my fathers still work well with Vista.

Nice laptops but I don't expect them to last as long as others. They were $299 a few months ago.

 

[Ride2kmax]

Best buy toshiba for less.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...t0502001&type=category

 

[allisolm]

Originally posted by: Ride2kmax
Best buy toshiba for less.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...t0502001&type=category

Different model with less memory, smaller drive, smaller screen for not much price difference.

 

[Muse]

Best Buy has another Acer system @ $379.96 bundled with Canon MP240 inkjet printer/scan/copier, case (said to be a dicey fit), retractable mini-laptop mouse (Targus). Better specs on the laptop:

Acer Laptop AMD X2 2 GHz, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVDRW, WiFi N, 16" 1366x768 LCD, Vista Premium + Canon AIO Printer/Copier/Scanner + Optical Mouse + Laptop Slip Case $380

2.0 GHz dual core AMD QL-62
3 GB RAM
250 GB HD
Vista Home Premium (free upgrade to Windows 7)
HDMI out
eSATA port
multi card reader
Wifi N
Webcam

No rain checks, so check availability. The bundle deal here (and the other Acer system, from the OP) is on page two of their circular for this week.

 

[pcslookout]

Wow laptops have gotten insanely cheap!

How well do these work for gaming?

 

[msi1337]

Originally posted by: Muse
Best Buy has another Acer system @ $379.96 bundled with Canon MP240 inkjet printer/scan/copier, case (said to be a dicey fit), retractable mini-laptop mouse (Targus). Better specs on the laptop:

Acer Laptop AMD X2 2 GHz, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVDRW, WiFi N, 16" 1366x768 LCD, Vista Premium + Canon AIO Printer/Copier/Scanner + Optical Mouse + Laptop Slip Case $380

2.0 GHz dual core AMD QL-62
3 GB RAM
250 GB HD
Vista Home Premium (free upgrade to Windows 7)
HDMI out
eSATA port
multi card reader
Wifi N
Webcam

No rain checks, so check availability. The bundle deal here (and the other Acer system, from the OP) is on page two of their circular for this week.

I bought this one and it plays Guild Wars at max settings at 41 fps

havent gotten around to testing it with my steam games yet

 

[jjmIII]

Set up the WalMart 17" for a friend today.....well worth $350 :thumbsup:.

You do feel the single-core bog a bit, but I'm sure he won't notice coming off an old 1100 Celeron with 512 sdram .

 

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: pcslookout
Wow laptops have gotten insanely cheap!

How well do these work for gaming?

unfortunately not well..no dedicated graphics

 

[AMD K9]

How does one add in a graphic card on a laptop? Are people SOL when it comes to upgrading an integrated graphics system?

 

[htne]

I purchased the WalMart notebook the first day of the sale, and performed an immediate upgrade with Windows7. This notebook is VERY nice with Windows 7 in place of Vista Home Basic. The 17 inch screen is very nice, especially at this price point. Yes, the cpu is lacking a little, but really not bad. More than adequate for surfing / emailing / Office applications.

 

[Aztech]

Originally posted by: AMD K9
How does one add in a graphic card on a laptop? Are people SOL when it comes to upgrading an integrated graphics system?

Yep, SOL. You gotta know what you want to do before you buy.

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: AMD K9
How does one add in a graphic card on a laptop? Are people SOL when it comes to upgrading an integrated graphics system?

There are only a handful of laptops that allow you to upgrade your graphics card, but they all exist at the high end of the spectrum, costing much much more than these laptops.

edit: woops sorry for the necropost

 

[hkklife]

Our very own Anandtech did a nice AMD vs. Intel comparison using similar Gateway laptop platforms recently: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3618


In short, the Intel-based machines offer better battery life & overall performance but cost more. The AMD-based units have better gaming capability and come cheaper but at the expense of application performance and battery life.

I recently helped two people buy entry-level machines. One went with a Pentium Dual Core machine with integrated Intel graphics for business/travel use and the other got a cheaper Athlon X2 for basic home/student use alongside some very light gaming.

 

[metalmania]

Originally posted by: allisolm

Originally posted by: Ride2kmax
Best buy toshiba for less.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...t0502001&type=category

Different model with less memory, smaller drive, smaller screen for not much price difference.

smaller screen costs more for laptop (not Netbook).