Good laptop for under $600

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Good laptop for under $600

2008-11-06 23:05:43

OxenBreeder: Member; +46|6032|KTRI

I know this has probably been covered a million times, I searched and didn't find what I'm looking for.

Any-who, looking to buy a laptop between now and the end of the year. I'm currently doing research, but with so many reviews and options, I'm dizzy.

I'm looking at a dual core processor of course, and I know the shift has been towards Intel for CPU lately, is that true also for laptops? My current desktop is Intel, and I have friends that have AMD desktops, so I'm not biased either way.

With Vista I assume 2gb ram minimum, 3gb better. What am I looking for with video? I know a lot have shared memory for the vid card.

I might possibly want to play BF2, plus maybe Rfactor, nothing major will be played on it. It's not critical that I play BF2 on it, just wondering if it's possible with a $600 laptop.

Screen size 15.4 will be fine. HDD isn't a major issue, I just bought a 500gb external. I'd say minimum 160GB?

I'm thinking that after Thanksgiving that prices will go down somewhat? I know the retailers are struggling with sales at the moment, anyone had any luck negotiating prices in a retail store, like Best Buy or Circuit City for a computer? I have both (BB & CC) locally, and I'm not against buying on-line other than shipping charges.

So far my choices are HP and Toshiba, any suggestions? Anything else I might have overlooked?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Last edited by OxenBreeder (2008-11-06 23:07:36)

2008-11-07 05:35:40

Kurazoo: Pheasant Plucker; +440|6950|West Yorkshire, U.K

You will struggle to find a good one on your budget

http://www.laskys.com/computing/laptops … 50_bb.html

2008-11-07 05:36:01

Freezer7Pro: I don't come here a lot anymore.; +1,447|6463|Winland

HP's cheapo laptops aren't good, they use some real cheap stuff in'em (not just low spec, cheap touchpad, caps, screen etc). Toshibas are ok, but you should really look into Acer for those really cheap things. Or you might consider one of those sub-notebooks like the Acer Aspire One, HP 2133 or Eee.

The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP

2008-11-07 05:41:31

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6833|NYC / Hamburg

A 8600GT or a HD3650 will be perfect for games like BF2. Shared memory should be avoided. In your budget, I wouldn't exclude AMD completely. They are slower but still competitive perf/$ wise. 2GB ram will be enough but DDR2 is cheap and you can always upgrade yourself.

The important thing to look out for is the GPU really. Also battery life should be considered.

The HP dv5 series should be within your budget. I was looking at getting one recently, but decided on upgrading my desktop instead

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-11-07 20:40:25

OxenBreeder: Member; +46|6032|KTRI

Thanks for the heads up guys, like I said, looking at the reviews from many websites made me dizzy.

I may have to reconsider what I "really" want a laptop to do, I've got my ancient P4 3.0 to play my games on, well, until it I have to build another desktop. I will take a look at what max suggested (HP d5v) though.

Thanks again fellers for the info.

2008-11-07 22:57:03

VicktorVauhn: Member; +319|6658|Southern California

160 gig is actually pretty big for a laptop HD...

After 160gig the prices of 2.5in drives spike up pretty quick... Or at least that was the case when I was buying my laptop/2.5in drive for my PS3

2008-11-15 18:57:11

OxenBreeder: Member; +46|6032|KTRI

Well, I decided I didn't want a laptop to game after all, I've still got my ancient P4 3.0 for that. It'll be time to upgrade it within a year or two anyway.

Anywho, I think I got a good deal, I got a Compaq Presario C700, Pentium T2390, 2gb ram, 160gb hdd, Vista Home Premium for $389 after $50 rebate. I found it at Office Depot. I was looking at the 2.0ghz processors with 3-4gb ram for $549 and $599, but when I saw this one for $389 after rebate, I decided I could get the laptop, a new printer (Canon ip3600, $59 after $20 rebate) mouse for the laptop, and printer cable for less than what I wanted to spend originally, $600.

So it all totaled out to be something like $527, not bad imo?

It seems to be a good laptop, considering the Eee's are like $250+ and can't do all that this one will do.

Thanks for the input guys, that's part of why I joined BF2s.

Ox

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