Laptop for mom

[khel]

Hey guys.. im planning to buy my mom a laptop for her birthday.. She'll most likely be just using it for emails and most likely facebook and its games. Just wondering if this laptop is good enough?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer---1...specifications

 

[lakedude]

That should be enough, barely.

You do realize that thing does not include Windows, correct?

 

[khel]

That should be enough, barely.

You do realize that thing does not include Windows, correct?

ohh didnt see that one.. just saw the price and didnt check but thanks for that info

 

[RossMAN]

Hot Deals to the rescue!

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2299404

 

[Anonemous]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834230600

or

(if you don't mind refurb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834101300

(Don't let the Celeron name fool you, nowadays the Celerons are about the same speed as i3's but without HT/Cache)

 

[khel]

Thanks for those who replied.. I like those choices but they are kinda too big for my mom i should have mentioned that looking for around 13' and lower .. I still have 17days to go so im not in a hurry "yet" haha

 

[Bonesdad]

Is $200 the top of your budget range??? Is a tablet good enough?

 

[khel]

Nah around 300$. I dont mind going over alittle

 

[RossMAN]

Have you considered the Dell Outlet?

Unfortunately it will be difficult to find a 13.3" laptop for $300.

Here's a Inspiron 13z - 5323 for $390 after coupon, unfortunately that's almost $100 over your budget. Pretty fairly loaded though in a portable 13.3" size.

Moon Silver
Processor: Intel Core i3-2367M 2nd Gen processor (1.4 GHz, 3MB cache)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Dell Outlet Inspiron 13z - 5323 Laptop
500 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
Intel HD Graphics 3000
13.3 inch High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with Truelife
4 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Dell Wireless 1703 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0
Dell Chiclet Keyboard with Multi-touch Touchpad
LCD Cover
65W AC Adapter
125V Power Cord
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1
Eligible for Microsoft Windows 8 upgrade for $39.99

 

[khel]

Hmm yeah too much for me right now.. books were expensive this quarter

I found this one on best buy..

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+1...lerId=15329835

worth it?

 

[lakedude]

Atom based machines are really slow. It will do if you can't afford anything better.

 

[khel]

Ohh that sucks.. Guess ill settle for either of these two

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...specifications

or
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...&skuId=4407761

 

[lakedude]

Here are some benchmarks so you can compare the 3 laptops you are looking at.

I added the CPU from my laptop for reference. Some of the benchmarks are in seconds where lower is better and some are scores where higher is better...

Looks like the 350 tops the list but the Atom does better in a few areas, especially power consumption!

 

[khel]

Thats really helpful! Ill settle on the 350 then! Thanks for the help @lakedude

 

[lakedude]

Here is a link in case you look at other options and want to compare:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

 

[lakedude]

Thats really helpful! Ill settle on the 350 then! Thanks for the help @lakedude

Do yourself a favor and go play with it before you buy to make sure it will work for you/her.

If the thing is too slow maybe ask a family member to chip in with you.

We have a couple $400 machines and they are fine/great for surfing. That E350 might be fine as well but I have no way of knowing for sure. Old single core Atom chips were terrible but what you are looking at is much better than that.

 

[khel]

I'll be doing that!

 

[Tushaar]

Buy a refurbished/second hand Thinkpad X61 or X200.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Ohh that sucks.. Guess ill settle for either of these two

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...specifications

or
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...&skuId=4407761

Both those are AMD E series processors, which are basically netbook chips. I would avoid them like the plague in a full size laptop.

You should be able to find a pentium dual core laptop for around 300.00, but not in a 13" size. If you are really limited to that amount, I would go for that despite the larger size. I mean will your mom be carrying the laptop around a lot, or will it basically be used at home on a desk?

 

[Anonemous]

If you live next to a microcenter this one is good too:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/360854/Iconia-6120_Laptop_Computer_-_Black

 

[RossMAN]

Here's a nicely equipped Toshiba laptop for $399 after rebate:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...ptop-Computer/

 

[RossMAN]

Asus laptop $299

https://deals.bestbuy.com/entertain...op++4gb+memory++500gb+hard+drive++matte+black

 

[khel]

Saw that asus laptop..its pretty good kinda bugs me though cd drive not included lol

 

[RossMAN]

Saw that asus laptop..its pretty good kinda bugs me though cd drive not included lol

My Dell XPS 15 laptop has a DVD burner which I've used twice in 2 years.

Is she really going to use it, frequently, or is it "would be nice to have, just in case?"

You know where are external CD/DVD drives for $30-ish?

 

[khel]

Yeah might just get that one. I'm sure using USB is enough to get pictures and stuff. Thanks for the help everyone

question
Do I request to close the thread when I got the help?