Cheap, small touchscreen laptops (11.6" for $249 & $279)

[skrewler2]

I need to get my mom something to replace a huge C2D full tower she's been using, it keeps overheating (cleaning dust out etc didn't help) and I'd rather just buy her something new and portable anyways.

All she does is Facebook, email, surf web, very light photo editing (cropping).

I think these would be fine for that, but I'd want to replace the drive with an SSD.

Which of these can I replace w/ an SSD and would a standard ssd 2.5" fit or do I need a small form factor?

 

[Kaido]

I need to get my mom something to replace a huge C2D full tower she's been using, it keeps overheating (cleaning dust out etc didn't help) and I'd rather just buy her something new and portable anyways.

All she does is Facebook, email, surf web, very light photo editing (cropping).

I think these would be fine for that, but I'd want to replace the drive with an SSD.

Which of these can I replace w/ an SSD and would a standard ssd 2.5" fit or do I need a small form factor?

I'd lean toward the Lenovo - it has a better CPU (good for light photo editing). There's a drive upgrade video tutorial here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS69lFWxjbI

If she has an existing LCD monitor, you can use the laptop as a desktop with an HDMI to DVI adapter cable & an external keyboard/mouse.

 

[Kaido]

Deal is back, $249/Asus + $279/Lenovo.

The Lenovo has been working well. Not crazy about the battery life (probably 3 hours max). Also, sleep mode kills the battery. I've put it to sleep at 25% at night on battery and woken up with a dead laptop several times. Other than that, the touchscreen is good & surprisingly useful. It could definitely benefit from an SSD, but I need the storage space so I'm not going to bother upgrading it. Nice deal all around, can't believe what you can get for less than three hundred bucks these days!

 

[dafoomie]

That Lenovo has an mSATA slot so you can have an SSD and keep the hard drive that's in it. You'd need something like this.

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigitalssd-60gb-bp4-50mm-sata-iii-6g-msata-ssd-mdms-bp4-060/

 

[Kaido]

That Lenovo has an mSATA slot so you can have an SSD and keep the hard drive that's in it. You'd need something like this.

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigitalssd-60gb-bp4-50mm-sata-iii-6g-msata-ssd-mdms-bp4-060/

I'd assume that the mSATA acts fine for OS boot?

 

[dafoomie]

I'd assume that the mSATA acts fine for OS boot?

Yeah, that's what I intend to do as well.

 

[BadThad]

You're first link is an Asus, not Acer with an Celeron 1007U cpu.
The Lenovo has a Pentium 2127U cpu
Both laptops will be painfully slow, there cheap for a reason.

You do realize the 2127U is an Ivy Bridge CPU, right?

 

[Kaido]

You do realize the 2127U is an Ivy Bridge CPU, right?

Battery & sleep life reflects this fact

 

[RossMAN]

$259 Lenovo but only at Best Buy B&M
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ideapad-...rive/2452121.p

$278 Frys.com with free shipping starting at 7:00 AM
http://www.frys.com/product/7912910?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/10-1-tou...0Buy&cp=7&lp=1

Asus 10.1 touch-screen with AMD A4 CPU and Windows 8. $249.99.

 

[dafoomie]

So this is the inside of the Ideapad S210. I believe the mini-PCIe slot doubles as an mSATA but there's no place to mount it. Maybe you could tape it down but you're still sacrificing the internal wifi card to get it.

Ended up ordering an adapter so I can use the mSATA SSD I bought in place of the hard drive. Just have to remember that it'll only take a 7mm drive there.