Centrino Laptop Under 1000?

[tyanni]

My brother is looking to get a laptop for college. He is looking to spend only 1000 or less. I would normally suggest a centrino, but is this possible for under a $1000? Also, for a college kid, on a fairly small campus, is a centrino necessary, or should he just get a Athlon or P4M that has better specs?

Tim

 

[AnyMal]

Watch for Dell deals, you should be able to pick one up very close to $1000 point, usually after rebates though.. Also check out their erfurbs, they carry the same warranty as new ones.

 

[Fritoz]

I purchased a refurb Thinkpad X31 on ebay for $1,000. No warranty on this one, however it was in Perfect condition and I've had no trouble with it for the entire time I've owned it.

 

[Wuzup101]

Make sure he checks out what deals his school has too. Many schools have discout programs worked out w/ the bigger vendors (IBM, Dell, HP, Apple) so that you can get their products at a discount. It's not huge but every bit helps a poor college student such as myself

 

[Abhi]

Taken from this thread at hot deals http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1280585&STARTPAGE=1&zb=471620


Cetrino Deals

Inspiron 600M
Pentium®M, Processor1.4GHz,14.1 inch XGA ATI 32MB Video
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
FREE TurboTax® Basic for Tax Year 2003
256MB,266MHz,2DIMM
30GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
FREE 24XCD-RW/DVD Combo Upgrade (from DVD)
1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-In
Service
Modem/NIC
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2100 WLAN (802.11b, 11Mbps) miniPCI Card


$1349 -$200 mail in rebate -10% off Coupon code= $1014.10 w/ free shipping and no tax in most states


OR


Inspiron 8600 Notebook loaded with

Intel Centrino Pentium® M Processor,1.4 GHz, 15.4 in UltraSharp Wide Screen XGA , FREE 4x CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R) Upgrade! (from Combo Drive), 256MB, 32MB NVIDIA® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go, 30Gb HD

$1399 -$150 mail in rebate -10% off Coupon Code = $1109.10 w/ free shipping and no tax in most states


I know there is a rebate etc... but both are hot deals on good machines...

 

[Abhi]

Almost forgot... with P4 Mobile processor.... (its a 8 lb machine btw)

Inspiron 5150 Notebook loaded with

Mobile Intel® Pentium 4 Processor 2.66GHz,15 inch XGA
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
FREE TurboTax® Basic for Tax Year 2003
256MB DDR RAM ,333MHz,1 Dimm
30GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
FREE 24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive Upgrade! (from DVD)
32MB DDR NVIDIA® GeForce? FX Go5200 AGP 4x Graphics

$1099 -$150 mail in rebate -10% off Coupon Code = $839.10 with free shipping

 

[virtuamike]

Best bet is to go with Dell. Sign up for SB mailing list so you can get the coupons. If you're lucky, you can score an IBM for around that price. I picked up an X31 for $1100 after shipping/tax/etc.

 

[tyanni]

Wow - this all looks good. I'll have to keep an eye on Dell deals, and let my bro know to also. Thanks!

 

[welst10]

I just received my compaq x1000 today. Centrino 1.4/15.4" widescreen/256/40GB/dvd/intel 802.11bg/32mb ati7500 for $982 shipped after rebates and coupons. This thing looks very well built and looks great too. I am quite impressed. Used to thing compaqs are junk. no moe...

 

[Corporate Thug]

i must agree with Abhi, the 600m is the way to go