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Best notebook - 500 €

B

Batou

Junior Member
Hi guys,
everyday i read Anand but i never wrote anything on your forum,
also cause my english is not that good...
Today a friend asked me about notebooks, since he wants to purchase one
next week, so i'm here to ask something about this.
He want to spend not more than 500 €, and he would like to get
a 17" screen, pretty big for the money he has, i know...
Anyway, the notebook won't be used for gaming, just for internet,
and videos/photos.
He needs also internet wireless connection to his modem.
I was reading Holiday buyer's guide of november 2010 here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4022/holiday-buyers-guide-notebooks/5
So, do you think there's some cool notebook that has a 17" screen
for 500€+/-?
Maybe better he get just a 15" screen?
Could you tell me which would be your personal choice for this
purchase?
Thank you very much in advance.
Anandtech is the best!
 
I don't know the current conversion rate for Euros and dollars, and I believe you're posting from Europe so I don't know where you would find the kinds of deals we see, here.

That said, since your friend doesn't need a good gaming laptop, he may not be expecting too much for his budget. For example, last week, Radio Shack had this very nice HP 17.3" laptop for $400 US with no rebate. Now, it's back to $600. I have occasionally seen other 17" HP's on sale at Office Depot and Staples for around $450 after rebate.

I always prefer to buy computers locally, just because, if there is any immediate problem with the machine, I can return it without having to ship it or go through an RMA process. If you don't live near such stores, you have to watch the sale ads for vendors that are able to ship to your location and do your homework to research each model that interests you.

Hope that helps. Good luck. 🙂
 
Thank you Harvey for being so fast :awe:
I'm checking that HP one. Do not worry about my location (italy!), if there's
something good in US, i'll try to find it here, prices are not too much different,
even if often laptops costs a bit more here than in Usa.
Maybe someone knows an Asus that could be ok with those requirements?
I would really love to get him an Asus if possible, but i don't know which one
could be ok. Anyone?
 
Ok, after an evening reading about notebooks i think i will get him this one:

Asus K52JC-EX098
Intel Core i3 370M / 2.4 GHz - RAM 4GB DDR3 - Screen 15.6" HD Ready - Hard Disk 500 GB - GPU nVidia GeForce 310M / 1GB - DVD SuperMulti Dual-Layer - Wireless LAN b/g/n - Webcam - Card Reader - HDMI - 6 cells battery - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Checked CPU and GPU, seems good to me.

It goes for 600 € here in italy.
Do you guys knows anything better for that price?
Anyone of you can tell me something about this Asus K52?
 
Batou said:
Ok, after an evening reading about notebooks i think i will get him this one:

Asus K52JC-EX098
Intel Core i3 370M / 2.4 GHz - RAM 4GB DDR3 - Screen 15.6" HD Ready - Hard Disk 500 GB - GPU nVidia GeForce 310M / 1GB - DVD SuperMulti Dual-Layer - Wireless LAN b/g/n - Webcam - Card Reader - HDMI - 6 cells battery - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Checked CPU and GPU, seems good to me.

It goes for 600 € here in italy.
Do you guys knows anything better for that price?
Anyone of you can tell me something about this Asus K52?
Click to expand...

How much is that in US dollars?
 
821 Dollars!
Do you know anything about that laptop?
Seems to have great parts inside, but seems not that cool for eyes lol.. and all images shows it brown -.-
Anyway for me inside>outside
 
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There are lots of good laptops that meet or exceed those specs for > $800. I'm convinced that most of the low to mid range laptops under any and all brands are built by the same three or four Asian factories and detailed with a BIOS and exact feature set to the specs of the company whose name is on the label.

Of course, there are some variations in the problems and good or bad details on specific models, which is why you want to search for reviews of the models that interest you. Once you have narrowed your choice, what interests me is the brand name seller's reputation for customer support.

One reason I like HP/Compaq is because they aren't Gateway. HP's tech support has helped me many times with my own laptop and laptops and desktops I've worked on for friends. Finding drivers and info is easy on their site, and even with machines that are out of warranty, they would charge for live phone help, but they've been very helpful through their live chat at no charge.

OTOH, when I've tried to search Gateway's site for specs and drivers, finding them is worst than difficult, and if you call their tech support line, the first thing they want to do is sell you something, instead of help you. They did that when I was trying to help a friend who was unfortunate enough to own one of their machines that was out of warranty. I called their toll free number looking for info because their search system couldn't locate current drivers for the machine, and all I wanted was a pointer to them. The jackass said he couldn't talk to me unless I bought an after-market service policy.

Other companies are somewhere in between. Fujitsu was helpful with phone and online support, but their site isn't as well organized. Lenovo is a bit cryptic to navigate, but once you figure out how to search their site, they have a lot of good info.

The bottom line is, you're buying into the company as much as the machine, itself. Choose a machine that is well reviewed from a company you can trust to be there for you when you need them most.
 
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Thank you for your advice about brands/support.
I've been ok so far with asus, but i admit i never had to call/write to them
for any kind of tech support. I always read many reviews before purchasing
any single part of my desktop, and write to real people as u see into forums
to hear something that i expect to be true about products.
At the end, i think i'll try to get that Asus for my friend.
Last question, since i'm new here @ anand forum, i tried yesterday to find
a "introduce yourself" thread but i didn't find anything. It really does not exist
or i was not able to find it? I wanted to say hello to anand people, maybe
someone can tell me where i can do it?
 
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