Which of these budget laptops would you pick? Any red flags?

[esheppard19]

I'm trying to pick a budget laptop for my wife that'll still give us some bang/buck and good longevity. She'll mostly just do facebook, watch dvds, word process etc.

Also I'm always worried there's some crap piece of hardware stuck in that I don't know to look out for, so if you see any red flags on any/all of these give me a heads up. Thanks!

- ($450) Lenovo G580 (59344054) Notebook Intel Core i5 3210M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1600 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 4000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834310634

-($550) Lenovo Essential G580 15.6" LED Notebook - Intel - Core i5 i5-3230M 2.6GHz - Dark Brown
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834312468

-($409) Acer Aspire E1-571-6680 Notebook Intel Core i3 3110M(2.40GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 4000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834314007

-($399) Lenovo G580 (59359688) Notebook Intel Core i3 3120M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 4000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834312429

-($380) Lenovo G580 Metal (59359079) Notebook Intel Core i3 3120M(2.50GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1600 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 4000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834312428

 

[Sleepingforest]

Warning: there is no such thing as longevity in laptops. 3-4 years is the most I expect before complaints of slowness and failure come in.

For your wife's usage, I expect there to be little to no difference between the most expensive G580 and the least expensive one, so go with that. If you feel comfortable installing an SSD, do so: it dramatically improves boot and load times, which will be more noticeable for your wife than an extra few MHz of processor speed. The only downside is reduced space (a 128GB drive is around $100, so you'll have to see how much space she currently uses).

 

[Heller]

get her a chromebook, there great or atleast the reviews say so...


there ~200$

 

[wirednuts]

Warning: there is no such thing as longevity in laptops. 3-4 years is the most I expect before complaints of slowness and failure come in.

For your wife's usage, I expect there to be little to no difference between the most expensive G580 and the least expensive one, so go with that. If you feel comfortable installing an SSD, do so: it dramatically improves boot and load times, which will be more noticeable for your wife than an extra few MHz of processor speed. The only downside is reduced space (a 128GB drive is around $100, so you'll have to see how much space she currently uses).

if youre talking about consumer laptops, i agree.

business class ones dont have nearly the same issues. my hp elitebook is better built then any other of my pc's...

 

[mnewsham]

Warning: there is no such thing as longevity in laptops. 3-4 years is the most I expect before complaints of slowness and failure come in.

3-4 years? My mother is lucky to get 18 months from hers, and they are 700-800 each :\

 

[esheppard19]

Thanks everyone for your input, especially sleepingforest, this makes me much more confident in making my decision!

 

[ThePolarSky]

...

 

[wirednuts]

3-4 years? My mother is lucky to get 18 months from hers, and they are 700-800 each :\

why not buy a used high end laptop then? you can get an i7 elitebook for that price. it might be a year or two old, but you wont be able to tell... and even in that state they are far superior machines to brand new budget ones.

budget laptops are terrible. they wear out just by opening and closing the screen. something always breaks.

compare the structural design of a budget laptop to a business one and its night and day. business laptops are like luxury cars, while budget laptops are like toys.

 

[wirednuts]

check out this used one on ebay- http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteBoo...98417697?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item4172c57621

it is very comparable to those i3 laptops you listed for hundreds less, but built so much stronger. minor blemishes, just add harddrive, ac adapter, and battery.. which you can get all for about $75.

or get something directly comparable in performance, but again miles better in construction- http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteBoo...19900698?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item2c6dc09d1a

software support is also excellent for these.

 

[frozentundra123456]

get her a chromebook, there great or atleast the reviews say so...


there ~200$

Some of them look nice, but I would be very reluctant to get one because it does not run windows. Perhaps I am just old fashioned, but I really prefer to avoid any cloud apps and find true MS Office very useful and any of the free office suites very limited and having compatibility issues if I try to transfer files to my work machines.

They may be "great" but at what??

 

[frozentundra123456]

3-4 years? My mother is lucky to get 18 months from hers, and they are 700-800 each :\

It is kind of a lottery. My wife's low end Toshiba and my grandson's asus gaming laptop are both still working after 3+ years.

On the other hand, some I owned have failed out of the box and again in less than a year for the replacement.

Overall though, I am much more confident of the longevity of a desktop, and it can usually be fixed fairly easily compared to a laptop which is basically throw it away if it has a major failure.

 

[mnewsham]

why not buy a used high end laptop then? you can get an i7 elitebook for that price. it might be a year or two old, but you wont be able to tell... and even in that state they are far superior machines to brand new budget ones.

budget laptops are terrible. they wear out just by opening and closing the screen. something always breaks.

compare the structural design of a budget laptop to a business one and its night and day. business laptops are like luxury cars, while budget laptops are like toys.

I told her to look at refurbs of higher end stuff last year, but she doesnt trust me with computer advice and just ignores me, odd considering she doesnt really know all that much about computers...

 

[Mide]

All the peeps in my fam have been using Thinkpads since the dawn of time and they have all lasted many years...way past 3. If that is your price range you can get a gen 2 i5 X or T series. Max the memory, get an SSD in there and it'll last a long while.

 

[wirednuts]

I told her to look at refurbs of higher end stuff last year, but she doesnt trust me with computer advice and just ignores me, odd considering she doesnt really know all that much about computers...

she is still asking for your opinion though. tell her if she buys a brand new craputer then she has to deal with it when it breaks

 

[sm625]

I jsut dont understand notebooks anymore. We're far beyond the point where notebooks should have no moving parts. I have a notebook that I cant use anymore because the fan is failing and it makes this sickly noise. I will not buy a notebook unless it is fanless with a SSD. It doesnt take a genius to figure out why the pc/notebook market is being eviscerated by ultraportables. Who the heck wants to deal with something as fragile as today's notebooks?

 

[wirednuts]

I jsut dont understand notebooks anymore. We're far beyond the point where notebooks should have no moving parts. I have a notebook that I cant use anymore because the fan is failing and it makes this sickly noise. I will not buy a notebook unless it is fanless with a SSD. It doesnt take a genius to figure out why the pc/notebook market is being eviscerated by ultraportables. Who the heck wants to deal with something as fragile as today's notebooks?

its because people arent willing to pay for a decent laptop. they cost more then $400 new, there is just no way around it. nearly all the sub $800 consumer laptops are fragile as hell, and they wear out just from normal use. the $1500 business series laptops are built to not wear out over time, they make a ton of them that get sold just after warranty for a fraction of the cost, and the software support is always better then consumer models.

its a no brainer to me. now that "older" models come with i5 processors and display ports, what is there to miss?