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need sub $500 netbook for work.

L

lau808

Senior member
this will be used in the field. work on a sugarcane plantation on maui. researching ditchflow and need to use while running our hydrology equipment. doesn't need to be top notch. the researcher that trained me was using a netbook with an atom in it but id prefer something better than an atom. can be notebook too. my budget is $500. will be buying from newegg and shipping to Texas. then it will be mailed here. i will also be looking newegg. thanks in advance.
 
I have a few options that will hopefully make it a little easier picking one out. I'll try to point out a few of the things that are different. Article discussing some of the netbooks

$500 - Lenovo Thinkpad x130e
11.6" 4lbs @7:40 battery life, E-300 @ 1.3ghz,11.6" x 8.5" x 0.98"

$450 - Sony VAIO YB Series (silver is $40 cheaper than pink or black)
11.6" 3.2lbs @4:20 battery life, E-450 @ 1.65ghz, 11.42" x 7.99" x 0.99"-1.25"

$450 - HP Probook 4430s review of hp
14" 4.5lbs @4:45 battery life(review), 2nd gen core i3, 13.35" x 9.25" x 1.11"

I'm not sure which factors are most important to you, but I hope I gave you some solid choices, especially considering sales on some of them ($100 off HP) ($50 off Sony). I figure you could easily decide if you would prefer the Battery Life (Lenovo), raw power (HP) or somewhere in between (Sony).
 
If you're like most ATers and don't mind a bit of customization yourself, you can get a super mean ass system for $300 used.

1.6GHz Core2Duo/80GB SSD 12.1" 3.6lbs @ 6hrs with 8cell battery

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...tops_Nov05&hash=item1e6d25d8bf#ht_1110wt_1012

X61 thinkpad for $154 without a hard drive or power adapter
Get an intel 80GB SSD for $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167049
hard drive caddy for x61 for $3.50 here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Hard-Dr...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item27c51fd178
Power adapter for $15
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Lenovo-...ers_Chargers&hash=item1c25d2e1e4#ht_782wt_932
 
Last edited:
astroidea said:
If you're like most ATOTers and don't mind a bit of customization yourself, you can get a super mean ass system for $300 used.

1.6GHz Core2Duo/80GB SSD 12.1" 3.6lbs @ 6hrs with 8cell battery

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thin...tops_Nov05&hash=item1e6d25d8bf#ht_1110wt_1012

X61 thinkpad for $154 without a hard drive or power adapter
Get an intel 80GB SSD for $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167049
hard drive caddy for x61 for $3.50 here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Hard-Dr...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item27c51fd178
Power adapter for $15
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Lenovo-...ers_Chargers&hash=item1c25d2e1e4#ht_782wt_932
Click to expand...

That's a pretty good deal. ThinkPads are supposed to be pretty durable little mothers, and you never know, the tablet aspect could come in handy for the OP, though he'll need a disk to install XP, so maybe just update it to 7 and call it a day?
 
TheStu said:
Any particular reason for the intel SSD over someone else? Crucial M4 128GB is down to like $150 these days.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I'm a noob to SSDs, and the early reputation of intel has still stuck with me.
Interesting to see that there are a lot of better alternatives now. :thumbsup:
 
astroidea said:
Yeah... I'm a noob to SSDs, and the early reputation of intel has still stuck with me.
Interesting to see that there are a lot of better alternatives now. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I wasn't sure if it was for reliability reasons, the intel ones I think still get high marks for that. But the Crucial M4 is overkill for this anyway, it is a SATA3 device and the x61 is SATA2.
 
ok thanks guys. definitely want and e450 i guess. i will look into these suggestions this coming week. thank you, keep em coming if you got more 🙂
 
actually, if he is using it for monitoring work that means it probably wont be moved around much while its in use... and in that case a larger screen in better too... so 15" would likely be ideal

but at that size and price, a CULV or even a sandybridge i3 should be a much better choice imo. much much better in fact....

dont get me wrong, i use an n270 atom netbook as my main everyday laptop... but it moves constantly, banging and falling all over the place. in my case i can sacrifice speed for durability and cost of replacement 😀 (some netbooks are built really tough btw!)
 
I've got the Lenovo x120e with the AMD E-350. I can't even use my Atom netbooks anymore after having this. Plus, gets 6+ hrs of battery life, doesn't run warm.
 
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