Some decent, cheap Asus laptops at MC - USB3/HDMI/Webcam

[VirtualLarry]

$260 in-store - 2GB RAM, SB Celeron B815
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0386795

$300 in-store - 4GB RAM, SB Pentium B960
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0386796



According to the SD thread, these are budget laptops, and have their stock memory SOLDERED IN. They do have one SO-DIMM slot for DDR3-1333 laptop RAM.

And curiously, in the spec sheets, the Celeron reports VT-x support, but the Pentium does not. I haven't quite figured that out yet. CPU-World says that they think that the B960 should have VT-x, but they haven't seen one in the wild yet.

 

[qliveur]

Good to see that USB 3.0 and HDMI are becoming available on cheap laptops now.

 

[Mitch101]

Id like to see at least one budget laptop be able to be upgraded to 16gb so I can have portable VM's. 8 just wont cut it for me.

 

[borisvodofsky]

LOL, I read that title as Cheap "ASS" laptops at MC

 

[papaschtroumpf]

wireless is 2.4GHz only. kills the deal for me, looking for a cheap laptop for the kid for high-school, but must have 5GHz too.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've never seen a "cheap" laptop, that is also 5Ghz capable. Usually you have to pay for the higher-end dual-band Intel WiFi cards. I would say that would cost you at least $600-800 for a laptop with that.

Not sure why you feel you "need" 5Ghz though. It has horrible range.

 

[papaschtroumpf]

Not sure why you feel you "need" 5Ghz though. It has horrible range.

school mandates it. makes sense though. you're talking 30-40 students per classroom, hard to get that much coverage with b/g only. the issue here is density, not range.

 

[wirednuts]

um... 5ghz internal adapters are $15 on ebay. intel branded. why pay $200 premium price for a higher end laptop just to get a $15 part?

 

[papaschtroumpf]

I don't want to pay a premium either, which is why i'm monitoring this forum, but external adapters suck when carrying the laptop around or tossing it in a bag, begging to get broken off.

 

[NutBucket]

re-read, wirednuts said internal.