Best bang for the buck low end laptop?

[JEDI]

for sister who is going to use it for word and surfing the web.

Nowadays, all laptops can do this. so My 1st instinct was just buy one that's lowest price.

Am I right?

Or is there one low end model that's a better bang for the buck than the rest?

 

[fbrdphreak]

All depends how much you want to spend. In the $500 range, you're getting all Celeron M's. For a little more, you can get Core Duo/T64 X2. Just get a cheap, well built laptop and make sure it has enough RAM. Core Duo will offer better battery life than Celeron M, but most people won't use the extra performance.

I'd say find Core Solo but they're relatively rare

 

[imported_ToySoldier]

HP.com is offering this deal for $399 after $100 rebate. I would suggest upgrading to 1GB (add $50) Ram but this will do the job:

If one of you is a student... you get an extra $50 off.

Compaq Presario V3000Z
Operating System Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
Processor Mobile AMD Sempron(TM) 3400+ (1.80GHz/256KB)
Display 14.1" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 6150
Memory FREE Upgrade to 512MB DDR2 (2 Dimm)
Hard Drive 40GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
Networking 802.11b/g WLAN
Primary Battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

 

[cheesehead]

The Presario 3000z is, and has always been, an excellent value. Not the best laptop, but better than anything else below 600$. I only technically owned one for about two weeks (long story) before swapping out for a Dell 9100, but honestly - I wish I'd kept the Compaq!

It really depends on what you want. My X40 is definitely the "best bang for the buck" for me - it's portable, durable, and only cost me $650. However, the 1ghz Pentium M means that I cannot play games on it. (That's why I'm buying myself a gaming rig, likely for Winter-een-mas.)