Quality notebooks w/ decent prices?

[frx218]

I appreciate the input so far. (Thanks the laptops: NiteWulf, Lobbyone, Alimoalemand and DerSoldat.. )
updated list with details.

• - If you happen to find any laptop deals of any sort (500-800 price range)please feel free to post!
  - Who makes quality products?

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After a bit of research between the $500-800 range some patterns start to emerged. The differences between the notebooks under $1000 seem quite minimal; but under $500 decreases to another level. Ideally we want to find the best bang for the buck, but also a product with some quality. The Leveno at first looked like a perfect candidate as the specs for the price ($641) are pretty damn good, but the reviews are less then stellar as there looks to be a good amount of faults specifically the n1000 hardware and Leveno in general.

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So for the next few days I am going to be looking around for any deals and hopefully find something that stacks up similar to this:

• Processor: Intel core duo (How much of a decrease would a Pentium-M be? How much of an increase would core2 duo? Tradeoffs?)
  Graphics: A dedicated GPU would be sweet..but for this price range we likely will have to settle on integrated.
  Hard Drive: 80gig is a minimum.. but anything more would be defiantly be lovely
  Ram: Ideally 1gig, but 512 is easily upgradeable
  LCD: Personally I want a 14.1, but 14-15~ is reasonable.

Quality is important.

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Notebooks under $800

Gateway Notebook with Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Mobile Processor T2060 $749.99
Lenovo 3000 N100 0689 - Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66 GHz - 14.1" TFT $621 AR
Acer Aspire AS5570-2609 NoteBook Intel Core Duo T2060(1.60GHz) 14.1 $699
Compaq with Dual-core Processor T2060 $499
Toshiba Satellite A135-S2276 15.4 $549

 

[alimoalem]

go to the Hot Deals forum and search for a compaqaq v3000 (i think v3000). $500 gets you a core duo T2060, 1gb ram, 80gb hdd (i think), dvd burner, integrated graphics. you are not getting a new laptop from anywhere for $800 that you can game on. you could spend $500 on the suggested laptop and save the $300 for a future purchase/upgrading this one. i'm not sure when but there's this external laptop graphics card thing that's coming out where you can put a normal desktop gpu into it and use it for your laptop....not sure on the specifics or anything but just thought i'd mention it

 

[frx218]

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev...rue&y=7&x=39&Nr=100000&Ntk=all&An=text


EDIT: The price is good for the specs.. but I have read a lot of negative feedback to this particular model.

 

[frx218]

Originally posted by: alimoalem
go to the Hot Deals forum and search for a compaqaq v3000 (i think v3000). $500 gets you a core duo T2060, 1gb ram, 80gb hdd (i think), dvd burner, integrated graphics. you are not getting a new laptop from anywhere for $800 that you can game on. you could spend $500 on the suggested laptop and save the $300 for a future purchase/upgrading this one. i'm not sure when but there's this external laptop graphics card thing that's coming out where you can put a normal desktop gpu into it and use it for your laptop....not sure on the specifics or anything but just thought i'd mention it

How is compaq in terms of quality?I really wanna make sure the laptop is solid.

 

[Frugal1ty]

i just checked out that hp deal it looks like it's dead (ph quality is good, though compaq is not as good an that was a compaq laptop). this would be my suggestion. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115356

it just came down 30 in price and plus you can get a free pleather newegg notebook case if you're into that kinda thing, and don't mind advirtising for newegg. . . you could always sharpie over it.

. . .by the way i have been in the same predicament as you with that laptop thing, been lookin at that exact asus laptop also, and been wonderin what kinda acrobatics i would have to do to get my hands on one. . . it's prolly for the better that we dont have one if you know what i mean, we would spend time gunnin down folk on battlefield instead of writing that term paper.

 

[lobbyone]

<--- Click that

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Why not just save up more if you really want the Asus?

Another point: I don't get what you mean when you say "Graphics design" for your gpu, does that imply you plan to do photoshop work on it? If so you might want to look for something with a higher resolution screen, It helps wonders.

 

[frx218]

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: frx218
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev...rue&y=7&x=39&Nr=100000&Ntk=all&An=text

How is this laptop? I can get it for like $621

EDIT: The price is good for the specs.. but I have read a lot of negative feedback to this particular model.

if you can get that go for it...i think you linked the wrong thing cause a $9xx Lenovo came up for me...

here is the link to the thread on the $500 compaq. it is 15" and is compaq (not HP) but it's a good deal. i know HP makes quality laptops (i have a HP dv2000t), possibly the best PC laptop manufacturer for the average consumer. compaq is owned by HP but is the cheaper version...my friend has one and says he's satisfied but i've never seen the laptop and he's not one to admit he made a purchasing mistake so idk. if your local Office Depot has one on display, check it out and see for yourself how it is. or you can search for V6xxx series laptops at other stores just to see what the build quality is in general for that model.

pentium-M --> core duo = big jump. core duo --> core 2 duo = 5-10% improvement in benchmarks. the real benefit is that core 2 duo is 64-bit so it can handle 64-bit OS's while core duo is 32-bit. if you're going to stick with a 32-bit OS (Operating System), go with core duo.

there are a lot of Thinkpad T4x's on ebay that people recommend. they're pentium-M's though. i like thinkpads but i wouldn't trade off that much performance for build quality, personally.

if you can get that lenovo 3000 n100 for $600-something, it's a good deal. it isn't Thinkpad quality but it does have Thinkpad support so if something goes wrong, you're in good hands. the lenovo n100 i think is actually the best of the 3000's. c100 is what you should stay away from. but at that price, i'm sure half those reviewers that gave it a bad review would change their minds.

bear in mind that people usually write reviews when something is bad. i think my HP dv2000t is phenomenal and have intended to write a review or two (maybe even right here on AnandTech for others to read) but still haven't. i got my laptop in September. same goes for other people...they need motivation to write and receiving a bad product is big motivation

 

[frx218]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: frx218
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?lev...rue&y=7&x=39&Nr=100000&Ntk=all&An=text

How is this laptop? I can get it for like $621

EDIT: The price is good for the specs.. but I have read a lot of negative feedback to this particular model.

if you can get that go for it...i think you linked the wrong thing cause a $9xx Lenovo came up for me...

here is the link to the thread on the $500 compaq. it is 15" and is compaq (not HP) but it's a good deal. i know HP makes quality laptops (i have a HP dv2000t), possibly the best PC laptop manufacturer for the average consumer. compaq is owned by HP but is the cheaper version...my friend has one and says he's satisfied but i've never seen the laptop and he's not one to admit he made a purchasing mistake so idk. if your local Office Depot has one on display, check it out and see for yourself how it is. or you can search for V6xxx series laptops at other stores just to see what the build quality is in general for that model.

pentium-M --> core duo = big jump. core duo --> core 2 duo = 5-10% improvement in benchmarks. the real benefit is that core 2 duo is 64-bit so it can handle 64-bit OS's while core duo is 32-bit. if you're going to stick with a 32-bit OS (Operating System), go with core duo.

there are a lot of Thinkpad T4x's on ebay that people recommend. they're pentium-M's though. i like thinkpads but i wouldn't trade off that much performance for build quality, personally.

if you can get that lenovo 3000 n100 for $600-something, it's a good deal. it isn't Thinkpad quality but it does have Thinkpad support so if something goes wrong, you're in good hands. the lenovo n100 i think is actually the best of the 3000's. c100 is what you should stay away from. but at that price, i'm sure half those reviewers that gave it a bad review would change their minds.

bear in mind that people usually write reviews when something is bad. i think my HP dv2000t is phenomenal and have intended to write a review or two (maybe even right here on AnandTech for others to read) but still haven't. i got my laptop in September. same goes for other people...they need motivation to write and receiving a bad product is big motivation

Thank you Alimoalem! Your reply was very helpful. Regarding the Lenovo, on the surface it appeared to be a sweet deal but after some research it became apparent to me that not only the hardware is flawed but the customer service specifically on the Lenovo line is lacking. The deal is still tempting but it requires further inspection.

 

[NiteWulf]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
<--- Click that

Huh. Looks like this one might be in the running for this thread. Free all-in-one printer, too, so there's that or some ebay cash