Need a new laptop, not a lot of $$$. Sales?? Quality??

[Fun Guy]

Hey guys, need a new laptop. Thought I could wait until the first of the year, but it looks like I can't. Also not a lot of $$ to spend - $300, maybe $500 at most. Any suggestions?

My friends have not had very good luck at Costco in the past, so I am trying to stay away from them...although that was a while ago. They used to just have discontinued and or klunky machines... are they any better now?

What about Best Buy? I missed Black Friday, so I don't know if there are any deals now. Plus I don't like their constant upsell to their useless warranties. But I do like the idea of having a brick-and-mortar place to go to if need be.

I also have a Fry's near me, so that is an option.

 

[gmaster456]

What type of usage is it for? Screen Size? Any other preferences?

 

[ninaholic37]

Also not a lot of $$ to spend - $300, maybe $500 at most.

I can see two i3's at Best Buy in that price range right now:

HP - Pavilion 15.6" - 4GB Memory - 500GB HD $379
Asus - 2-in-1 13.3" - 6GB Memory - 500GB HD $499

I would just go into the store and try them out to see if you like them.
Avoiding the "extended warranty" is pretty easy, just say "Nah" over and over - lol.

 

[Naer]

Hp stream 11 from amazon

 

[gmaster456]

The MS Online store is the better place to buy the stream laptops. They come sans bloatware.

 

[xgsound]

Sam's club had a Dell: 15.6", I3 4030u, bluetooth, dvd for $399 last week. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/dell-15-6-notebook-intel-i3-4030u/prod15520474.ip

I don't have this exact one, but the price/ features looks fair.

Jim

 

[Fun Guy]

I can see two i3's at Best Buy in that price range right now:

HP - Pavilion 15.6" - 4GB Memory - 500GB HD $379
Asus - 2-in-1 13.3" - 6GB Memory - 500GB HD $499

I would just go into the store and try them out to see if you like them.
Avoiding the "extended warranty" is pretty easy, just say "Nah" over and over - lol.

Yes, have done that with people who I help to buy stuff there. Just did not seen anything of value in the price range I was looking for.

The MS Online store is the better place to buy the stream laptops. They come sans bloatware.

Amazing!!! Six laptops at $199 or less, and five more at $299 or less. HP, Acer, Asus - and some even come with no numpad!! (IMO just stupid on a laptop).
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/list/Laptops/categoryID.62685400

Sam's club had a Dell: 15.6", I3 4030u, bluetooth, dvd for $399 last week. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/dell-15-6-notebook-intel-i3-4030u/prod15520474.ip

I've noticed Dell laptop quality to be spotty the last few years...

 

[RossMAN]

This is like asking for which car to buy and only offering a budget, that's it.

What size do you prefer? 13.3, 14.1, 15.6 or 17.3"? I'm guessing larger since you mentioned a number pad?

Are you going to play any graphics intensive games?

Any preference regarding backlit keyboard, resolution, bluetooth, etc.?

If you can settle for a 15.6" with low resolution (1366x768) and no backlit keyboard, there are plenty of choices available.

MicrosoftStore has a nice deal on a loaded Lenovo Flex 2 but it's towards the upper range of your budget, however you get a lot of bang for your buck:

• 15.6 in Full HD LED (1920 x 1080), 10-finger multi-touch support
• Intel Core i5-4210 1.70 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.70 GHz
• 6GB DDR3L 1600 MHz
• Solid state hybrid drive (SSHD): 500GB HDD + 8GB SSD for caching
• Windows 8.1, 64-bit
• DVD R/W
• 2-in-1 memory card reader (SD/MMC)
• Dolby Advanced Audio v2
• Intel HD Graphics 4400 with shared graphics memory
• 1 USB 3.0 • 2 USB 2.0 • HDMI • Headphone output/Microphone input combo • LAN (10/100/1000)
• 4-cell lithium-ion (up to 6 hours)*
• 720 HD webcam
• 802.11b/g/n (Miracast enabled)
• Bluetooth Yes
• 15.04 x 10.47 x 0.87 in (382.01 x 265.93 x 22.09 mm)
• 5.59 lbs (2.53 kg)
• Color Black

 

[Ramses]

Every $400 laptop I looked at in the last month had something that was mightily annoying about it. I actually bought a Toshiba from BB, the case was flimsy and amazingly cheap feeling and Toshiba couldn't supply me a spare battery that worked for some reason, and the touchpad was an abomination. The Dell's everyone was screaming about the touchpad being garbage. I gave up and spent a grand on an HP Envy. It's ok, not great, but OK.
Note I was looking exclusively at 17" models, and I'm a picky SOB that plans to get five years out of a laptop (as I have out of the previous two). One would think in a 15" for the same money the quality would be higher, I'd be sure of the return/exchange policy before spending any money.