Seeking Advice on Basic Laptop for Parents

[JosephBAdams]

My parents need a new laptop and I'm seeking advice on a basic system for them. They would like to spend no more than $450 on the purchase unless there's a compelling reason to spend more.

Here's what they are looking for in a laptop and what they usually do with it:
- Watch basic videos on the Internet (mainly YouTube)
- Read the news
- Do basic word processing
- Prefer something with a bright widescreen 15"
- Would prefer something that is not extremely heavy, but this is not a deal-breaker

I am looking at Lenovo's G575, which has 4 GB RAM and a 320 GB hard drive. They cannot wait until the summer for Windows 8, so they need to purchase a system now. Link

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, if anyone knows about the video playback quality of the Lenovo G575, I'd love to hear details.

 

[fralexandr]

i'd recommend any core i3 based notebook
if you don't mind going with a 14" the thinkpad edge is pretty nice
http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?s...llerid=2083092

otherwise 15" sandybridge notebooks are on sale regularly for ~$400
http://dealnews.com/ is pretty good for big ticket electronics deals
http://slickdeals.net/ is a better deal site, but has a lot more stuff to sift through

pretty much all of the cheap notebooks have generic TN panels, which are fine for brightness, though really lacking in contrast 🙁

 

[cardiac]

You will be hard pressed to beat this deal:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382829

 

[DaveSimmons]

Get them intel instead, the processor on that AMD is weak compared to even a dual-core sandy bridge pentium.

You can find i3 systems under $400 if you look for deals, but for an everyday price on a Lenovo this is $469:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834246282

The CPU is twice as fast, which will make programs like Word more pleasant to use.