need help buying laptop

[Bordoh]

I'm buying a laptop for my sister as a Christmas gift, but have no idea what to buy.

all she knows is that she wants at least a 15" screen.

All she really needs it for is basic stuff, email, web browsing 'n such.

She also plays some dumb flash games from neopets and subeta a lot, so it would have to be able to run multiple windows of those pretty well, that's about it really.

The battery life won't matter too much, she'll mostly be using it at home.


I'd like to stay under $500 if possible, maybe $600 at most if I really need to.

Anyone have any suggestions on what kind of specs I may need for this?


Thanks !

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm fine with refurbished/open box stuff if that helps, I got my desktop refurbished a long time ago and had no problems.


I was looking around Newegg and was considering something like these, but I'm really not sure if its what I need. I was just going by price pretty much.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246487R

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127650R

 

[SandEagle]

buddy of mine bought a nice lenovo from best buy for $299. intel dual core and 4gb ram, 320gb hd (sucks). but he loves it and uses it primarily for email, surfing net, dvd

 

[Bordoh]

anyone know if dell laptops are good? I found a coupon code for the dell outlet refurbished site... a couple options on there were:

Processor AMD Quad Core Processor A8-3520M (1.6/2.5GHz, 4MB, 35W)
Operating SystemGenuine Windows 7 Home Premium
BaseDell Outlet Inspiron 15R - M5110 Laptop
Hard Disk Drive750 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Memory6 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Media Bay8X DVD +/- RW Drive
VideoAMD Radeon HD 6470M - Seymour XT 1GB
System ColorBLack
Laptop Screen15.6 inch High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife
Laptop Battery6 Cell Primary Battery, 48W
Network Interface CardDell Wireless 1702 802.11n/BT3.0 Networking Combo Card
KeyboardEnglish keyboard


for $314 after coupon code..

and..

ProcessorProcessor: Intel Core i5-2450M Processor (2.4GHz,6MB Cache)
Operating SystemGenuine Windows 7 Home Premium
BaseDell Outlet Inspiron 15R - N5110 Laptop
Hard Disk Drive750 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Memory6 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Media Bay8X DVD +/- RW Drive
VideoIntegrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 with up to 1.6 GB Dynamic Video Memory
System ColorBlack
Laptop Screen15.6 inch High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife
Laptop Battery6 Cell Primary Battery, 48W
Network Interface CardIntel Centrino Wireless-N 1030
Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6150
KeyboardEnglish keyboard

for $363..

there's also an option for the i5 one with a AMD Radeon HD 6470M - Seymour XT 512MB (Dual) .. for the same price.

are either of those good deals and would work for my needs? and which would be better?

thanks!

 

[stateofmind]

I'll suggest two options:

1. Cheap - K55N from bestbuy. A8-4500M, 4GB RAM, 15.6" laptop for 400$ - very good price for this capable laptop. The integrated 7640G will handle movies and such with no problem

2. Dell has a good deal right now - this E5530 for lower price. With 1080p screen and an I5 it is just slightly above 600$ and you get a 100$ gift card you can sell.
This is only for the 1080p screen which is much better than the 768p screen you usually get. You can sell the 100$ gift card.
You'll just need to buy 4GB RAM for this laptop, because it comes with only 2GB and the upgrade prices on Dell site are totally overpriced

 

[Bordoh]

I'll suggest two options:

1. Cheap - K55N from bestbuy. A8-4500M, 4GB RAM, 15.6" laptop for 400$ - very good price for this capable laptop. The integrated 7640G will handle movies and such with no problem

2. Dell has a good deal right now - this E5530 for lower price. With 1080p screen and an I5 it is just slightly above 600$ and you get a 100$ gift card you can sell.
This is only for the 1080p screen which is much better than the 768p screen you usually get. You can sell the 100$ gift card.
You'll just need to buy 4GB RAM for this laptop, because it comes with only 2GB and the upgrade prices on Dell site are totally overpriced

Thanks for the suggestions,

Is it hard to add ram to a laptop? I'm not very good with that kind of stuff usually

 

[stateofmind]

it is not hard and there are video tutorials on the web, but if you are not sure you want to do it yourself, maybe you should give it to some friend who will do it

 

[Bonesdad]

Thanks for the suggestions,

Is it hard to add ram to a laptop? I'm not very good with that kind of stuff usually

It's very easy actually. If you can run a small screw driver and push on a couple of tabs, you've got all the skillz you need.