Looking for a deal on a laptop

[whitsend]

My wife needs a new laptop and I'm trying to find a good deal.
Mainly she creates documents and flyers for church and stores pictures and does some minor photo edits.

I'm looking at these two currently. Both are $350

TOSHIBA Satellite C855-S5231 Notebook Intel Pentium B970(2.3GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214863

HP - Pavilion 17.3" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Pewter
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...8767478132&skuId=6623643&st=6623643&cp=1&lp=1

 

[kcinnick]

Tagging along for any good recommendations. Don't need a supercomputer, but something decent. No games, and I like full sized keyboards.

 

[cajunzx6]

My wife needs a new laptop and I'm trying to find a good deal.
Mainly she creates documents and flyers for church and stores pictures and does some slight edits.

I'm looking at these two currently. Both are $350

TOSHIBA Satellite C855-S5231 Notebook Intel Pentium B970(2.3GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214863

HP - Pavilion 17.3" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Pewter
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...8767478132&skuId=6623643&st=6623643&cp=1&lp=1

I've been a network admin for over 14 years, do your budget a favor and stay far away from the HP Pavilion lineup. Poorly built and drivers are never readily available when new toys come out. My company is an HP Shop so I have a bit more of an inside scoop on HP products then most people. Good luck

 

[dougstump]

The HP has a bigger screen and a larger hard drive. If you have a Best Buy store close you can usually "ship to store" for free if it’s not in stock, but you will have to pay sales tax. I've always had good luck with HP's both at home & work. I'm glad they started putting real number keypads on the laptops.

One suggestion, always upgrade the memory to the max the machine will hold. It's cheep and will speed things up.

 

[lamuskrat]

HSN.com and get a good one. Use the flex pay. Good package deals.

 

[Bosco]

Not sure why I bother as people always ignore my advice. Get something with an i5 processor and 4 gigs of RAM. Get a 120-256GB SSD for storage and you'll have a real sweet machine. Look on slick deals for a deal or scope out the dell/Lenovo outlet stores for refurbished and open box laptops.

 

[oldman45]

I am far from a computer expert but I use them heavily and buy top quality items. I have a laptop set up and running in my work unit and I have a portable that I use on the hood or trunk of the car at scenes I am working. Over the years I have had problems with about every make there is but right now I am using two HP Pavillions that have been in service for over 4 years and have been trouble free. Both have the 17" wide screen and I sure love the larger screen. I use them for reports in Word Perfect, diagrams using 2-3 different programs and a lot of photo storage. Not a problem there.

That said, this year I am asking the powers to be for a couple new laptops and will stick with HP.

 

[Slim]

Out of the two I would go with the Toshiba. Stay away from HP at all costs.

I would have to agree with Bosco on the specs though, would make for a very nice setup.

 

[buddy_fuentes]

I'm a contractor and go into plants and use a computer extensively. I have the HP with the 17" screen, several other contractors are using them too, and none of us have had any problems with them. Mine is almost three years old and has been used extensively. My only complaint is the weight, when you have to walk a long way and carry the computer, along with other items....IT GETS HEAVY.

 

[Renegade]

Newegg.com always has good deals on laptops and other computer parts/accessories, there aren't many places that can compete with their prices.

Like this: Acer Aspire AS5733-6426 Notebook Intel Core i3 380M(2.53GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics for $379.99.

I think this is the best bang for your buck as far as storage is concerned: Seagate ST320005LSA10G-RK 2TB BlackArmor NAS 220

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

Didn't someone have some anus laptops for sale a while back?

 

[Bosco]

Newegg.com always has good deals on laptops and other computer parts/accessories, there aren't many places that can compete with their prices.

Like this: Acer Aspire AS5733-6426 Notebook Intel Core i3 380M(2.53GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics for $379.99.

I think this is the best bang for your buck as far as storage is concerned: Seagate ST320005LSA10G-RK 2TB BlackArmor NAS 220

i3 with a 5400rpm drive is going to be slow. if you want to go cheap expect to bang your head against the wall and waste money with upgrades. some things are better to do right when you first buy them especially if you're going to be using it many times per day every day.

if i were to buy something now that's not meant for gaming it would be something like this: http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=445&Code=4180XH7

it's extremely slim and light, has the cpu and ram i suggested, is quality build and has a 1 year warranty, and all it would take to make it smoking fast would be an SSD like this one - http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/811...lc-internal-solid-state-drive-ssd-mz7pc128bww and you can put the spindle drive in an external usb enclosure and use it for movie/music storage and backups.

just looked at the first two links, seriously, avoid AMD processors. they used to be decent, now they're pretty craptastic. avoid shitty intel processors. spend the extra money for an i5. it's not like an AR where you can upgrade the shitty parts later with a processor. you get a shitty cpu and you're stuck with it because the motherboard will only support shitty cpu's and you can't replace a motherboard in a laptop. spend the extra money, get the right specs, and you'll enjoy your laptop for the next 3-5 years.

 

[catman3516]

best buy best buy best buy all day they have what you want with your price range

 

[homeslice]

I too work in an HP shop and would agree with the no nos to the Pavillion lineup. I also agree with Bosco, SSD, RAM, solid processor. Buy quality cry once. I can not emphasize enough the amazing difference with the SSD hard drives too. Wow. 13 second reboot on an encrypted machine.