GF needs a new laptop under $400...help!

[Rhezuss]

Yo! I know absolutely nothing about laptops except the basic so i'm gonna need a little help from you!

She'll use it for basic stuff like internet, emails, a little photo editing and mostly do her teachers stuff on it (Word, powerpoint, etc). She wants at least 15.6" of screen and that's about it.

We started checking out in stores and I don't know what to look at. So far i've seen C-50, E-350 and i3-380M CPUs, 320gb to 500gbs HDDs, 3gb or 4gb of DDR3-1333 by Toshiba, Acer or Lenovo.

So, what should I look at and what brand do you recommend?

Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I would recommend something with a low end sandy bridge i3. You can tell that is has that processor by the model number. If it has 4 characters after the i3 your good.

Also I would recommend something with an A4 AMD APU. Do not look at the other offerings from AMD unless it is one of the A4 A6 or A8 APU's.

 

[gmaster456]

I would recommend something with a low end sandy bridge i3. You can tell that is has that processor by the model number. If it has 4 characters after the i3 your good.

Also I would recommend something with an A4 AMD APU. Do not look at the other offerings from AMD unless it is one of the A4 A6 or A8 APU's.

I second this guy.

 

[Fox5]

Go on the Dell Outlet, you can get a core i3 or core i5 system for that price.

 

[Bateluer]

I would recommend something with a low end sandy bridge i3. You can tell that is has that processor by the model number. If it has 4 characters after the i3 your good.

Also I would recommend something with an A4 AMD APU. Do not look at the other offerings from AMD unless it is one of the A4 A6 or A8 APU's.

Not with a 15.6in screen anyway. There's some 15in E-350 machines floating around, with 720p resolutions. Ugh, crap. The E-350 chips shine in the 11-12in form factor, but its not what you're looking for.

 

[Rhezuss]

Thanks guys for the tips. I'm gonna check for SB i3s and i5s or the new AMD APUs.

 

[jacktesterson]

the i3-380m's are faster than the the i3 2xxx sandy bridges found in under $400 laptops. just sayin. Futureshop has 2 under $400 right now with that cpu

the Athlon II P340's are better than the 350's from AMD and found under $400

 

[Fox5]

the i3-380m's are faster than the the i3 2xxx sandy bridges found in under $400 laptops. just sayin. Futureshop has 2 under $400 right now with that cpu

the Athlon II P340's are better than the 350's from AMD and found under $400

There's a better gpu in the 2xxx i3s, that might matter for Direct2D and flash video acceleration.

 

[zCypher]

I'm sure anything with the i3 will be competent.
You basically want to stay away from laptops with less than 3 or 4GB RAM and single core CPUs.

There are quite a few Lenovo laptops that ship with 7200rpm hard drives which helps for performance too over the 4200 or 5400rpm hard drives you find in most laptops.