Looking for a cheap laptop $350 or less.

[All4jesus]

What I require from a laptop is the following.
6+ hour real world battery life.
11-14 inch screen.
4 gigs of ram.

It will be used mostly for typing office documents and web browsing on the go.
So what are my options?

 

[s44]

Just buy a Chromebook.

The Windows machines you can get at that price all have spinning disks and pre-Haswell processors, destroying speed/battery. The only alternative would be the T100, but that's got a smaller screen.

 

[All4jesus]

The Acer C720 was looking good when it was at $250. I hear you can put a full Ubuntu on it also. I thought maybe there might be a lot more options to choose from though. Maybe I should be looking for a tablet with a keyboard attachment? I am trying to stick with something that runs either a regular version of windows or Ubuntu.

 

[s44]

You can run Ubuntu pretty decently on 2gb, but you may also want to wait for another 4gb model to appear now that the C720 is only available in 2gb (can still get the 14" HP with extra RAM, but that's not as portable and the resolution sucks at that size).

Unless you have particular legacy apps you absolutely need, I don't see why you want a full OS for your uses.

 

[paperwastage]

if you need fully Microsoft Office compatible documents, you should stick with Windows OS

otherwise, you may run into headaches when opening a OpenOffice/Google-Doc created doc in Microsoft Office (or vice versa)

I like my Asus T100... 4GB ram isn't entirely necessary (on this device), but I can't disagree about the screen size if you want something bigger

 

[monstercameron]

lenovo g505 its a bit bigger at 15.6", the acer v5-122p but lower battery life and the lenovo thinkpad 140e although its abit pricier.

 

[All4jesus]

Would the Dell Inspiron 11 3000 work decently? I hear that one has decent battery life. I use Libre Office mostly.

 

[raildogg]

Would the Dell Inspiron 11 3000 work decently? I hear that one has decent battery life. I use Libre Office mostly.

Yes, it looks like a decent laptop. Going by your criteria, this laptop will work for you. I believe you can upgrade the RAM to 4GB according to the Crucial Memory Advisor.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...(3137)&Cat=RAM

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-11-3137/pd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSAMw6Va2DQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyGBjKfILWc

 

[zod96]

Yes it is easy to upgrade ram and hard drive on this laptop, I have it 🙂 Its 7 screws and the bottom opens. Its one fast little laptop and a great price...

 

[ToySoldier]

What I require from a laptop is the following.
6+ hour real world battery life.
11-14 inch screen.
4 gigs of ram.

It will be used mostly for typing office documents and web browsing on the go.
So what are my options?

I bought a college student a refurbished Dell 830 from Newegg ($230). Even though it was refurbished... looked BRAND NEW out of the box. Newegg ROCKS! She needed 5-6 hours of battery life too.

I upgraded the Ram from 2GB to 4GB ($60). Swapped out the DVD Drive bought a secondary modular battery ($30).

Between the Primary Battery and the secondary... she gets about 5+ hours of battery life. The primary battery that came with the d830 was like new (charged 100%).

120Gb Hard Drive is fine for Windows 7 and Office 2013. Down the road in a year or so... she can buy a Travelstar 500GB 7200rpm HD for $60 if she cares to. The Newegg Refurbished Laptop comes with a hard copy of Windows 7.

$230 - Refurbished Dell 830
$60 - Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB)
$30 - CB-4R084 6-Cell 48Whr Laptop Battery

Total - $320 + s/h

 

[BFGTech]

chromebook would be good option for that price 🙂 you can install ubuntu on it

 

[Bateluer]

What I require from a laptop is the following.
6+ hour real world battery life.
11-14 inch screen.
4 gigs of ram.

It will be used mostly for typing office documents and web browsing on the go.
So what are my options?

For those requirements, sounds like a Chromebook would suit you well.

But, if not, here's a few Windows machines in that price range that don't completely suck, from the MS Store so they're not bloated with a bunch of preinstalled junk.

Dell Inspiron 11 i3137 - $349
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...750sLV-Touchscreen-Laptop/productID.288729300

Toshiba Satellite NB15t - $349
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...-A1304-Touchscreen-Laptop/productID.289565700

Acer Aspire V5-122P - $349
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...P-0681-Touchscreen-Laptop/productID.283975600