~$500 laptop with a great display - what to get?

[yacoub]

Would like to know best laptop for around $500 with a great display. Or, put another way, the best laptop display available in a laptop costing around $500.

Does not need to play modern games, just handle word processing, surfing the net, and mild if any gaming.

Getting tired of reading through dozens of reviews only to find terrible displays, or pricing out laptops on sites like Dell only to end up at $1000.

 

[Dman8777]

Good luck. 500$ is solidly in budget laptop territory.

 

[yacoub]

Yeah, figures, considering there are no laptops with decent displays for under $900+, and no one in their right mind would spend that much for a non-gaming laptop. =\

I want this, but with a decent display http://www.anandtech.com/show/5037/dell-xps-14z-now-available
It's $550 on Dell but why pay that much for a garbage display that has one of the worst contrast ratios Anandtech has ever tested?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5037/dell-xps-14z-now-available

 

[kevinsbane]

Yeah, figures, considering there are no laptops with decent displays for under $900+, and no one in their right mind would spend that much for a non-gaming laptop. =\

I want this, but with a decent display http://www.anandtech.com/show/5037/dell-xps-14z-now-available
It's $550 on Dell but why pay that much for a garbage display that has one of the worst contrast ratios Anandtech has ever tested?

I paid $700 for my Lenovo Thinkpad x220, which has an excellent laptop screen. Mind you, I got it for 30% off with a coupon at the time. The IPS screen upgrade for the x220 is ridiculously good, better than every other $50 dollar upgrade I've ever made to a computer. Right now, the basic x220 costs ~$750 with the Premium HD upgrade (and 720p camera upgrade).

Edit: One caveat about the x220 IPS screen... the reds are a little orangey when I compare them to my U2311h. Otherwise it's great.

 

[M0RPH]

Well the XPS 15 with 1080P upgrade has a fabulous display and you can definately get one for under $900 at the Outlet. Can't help you with a $500 laptop, though.

 

[Zap]

That's like saying you want Rolls Royce luxury for Chevrolet Cruze price.

 

[yacoub]

Of the Windows laptops around ~$500, which has the best display?

 

[ther00kie16]

Wait for ARM tablets that run Windows 8? Superb outlet deal from Dell? Older used model off ebay? Those are only things I can think of. And 2 of them are impossible currently.