Best quality sub $500 laptops?

[bgc99]

Who would you say has the best build quality? Best screen quality?

Thanks,
BGC

 

[Pardus]

Sub $500 laptops have 1366 x 768 res which looks bad on laptops over 14" generally. Leonvo, HP, Dell all make good laptops, will vary based on what your looking for.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Quality, for that amount of $$$, I'd recommend Asus for build quality if you're aiming for new systems. As ActiveX stated, you're going to get crap resolution, but that really can't be avoided unless you go the refurb/used route.

. . . Of which I'd recommend you take (refurb, I can't vouch for used) if you want to maximize your bang for your buck (even then I'd say higher-res displays will be borderline impossible to find in this price range). Personally I've heard and seen much more positive reviews of refurbished items than horror stories and I've been very, very lucky with the quality of my purchases through Dell Outlet or Lenovo Outlet. You get the same manufacturer's warranty as new items and you save a fair amount of money; you can't beat that!

Here's a few finds that's within your budget:

- HP Pavilion g6-1b23ca/AMD A-Series A6-3400M/15.6"/6GB Memory/640GB HDD 5400rpm/AMD Radeon HD 6520G/$409.99

- Inspiron 14R - N4110/14.0"/Intel Core i3-2330M/4 GB DDR3 SDRAM/500 GB SATA Hard Drive/Intel HD Graphics 3000/$469.00

 

[ther00kie16]

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...px?brandid=2201&c=us&cs=22&fid=915&l=en&s=dfh
$599 refurb xps 15 with i5 & 525m. $100 coupon currently 683TPJ3SK6XNLJ which makes it $499.

 

[el_brio]

Make sure you check out the HP DM1 1040-US.

I got one a couple of weeks ago and am loving it.

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-dm...5782095&sr=8-1

It is small however... but that is why I got it. I previously bought and returned an Asus 13" U30SD. Way to big and heavy to lug around. Also, depending on what you are planning to do with it... you might want to consider a Asus Transformer Prime. You will not beat the IPS display on a $500 laptop.

 

[bgc99]

Basically, I'll use it for web surfing when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I've seen alot of Asus laptop refurbs for sale lately and that makes me a little nervous.

Do the Transformer prime tablets support flash and allow you to use any flash enabled site without some special kluge?

BGC

 

[Schadenfreude]

If you're looking for something that's not too obtrusive, and you're just looking to surf the web, why not get a tablet?

If anything, most tablets that even go for $200 have better quality (For example, the $200 Kindle Fire has an IPS display - good luck finding a sub $500 laptop w/ an IPS display) displays than their laptop counterparts . . ..

 

[el_brio]

Basically, I'll use it for web surfing when I wake up in the middle of the night.

I've seen alot of Asus laptop refurbs for sale lately and that makes me a little nervous.

Do the Transformer prime tablets support flash and allow you to use any flash enabled site without some special kluge?

BGC

With the popularity of the ipad and now android tablets, the web is rapidly moving away from flash. The tablet does handle some flash though. Are there some specific Flash sites that you are worried about?

Honestly, for browsing the web a tablet is hard to beat. The screen on the Prime is far better than what you would get on a laptop. Battery life is excellent. Turns on instantly etc.

I bought a regular transformer and the keyboard dock when they first came out. I have mine rooted with a custom rom on it and love it. I hardly ever use the keyboard though. I use mine like you said you would use yours... in bed at night. It is so much easier to use in bed than a laptop. Pick it up, turn it on and you are ready to go. With the laptop you need to take it out of the bag, power it up, wait for windows to load, plug the power supply in, enter your password etc. I am actually thinking about selling my original transformer and getting a prime. It looks like a winner once the initial new-release problems get ironed out.

If you are browsing the web and doing email a tablet is the way to go. You won't miss the flash support and as time goes on the web is moving away from flash.

 

[el_brio]

ohhhh.... and as far as the refurbs go...

I was a very early adopter of the Transformer. I got one with the battery sleep issue that was revised in later revisions. I called Asus, got an RMA and had the thing back in a week. It was a very pleasant RMA experience. You may want to check out the XDA Transformer Prime forum and get some user opinions there:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1411

 

[bgc99]

My concern with a tablet is can I go to any site I want the same as if I was using Chrome on a PC?

 

[el_brio]

No you cant. Some sites will not work properly. As i said above however, this is rapidly becoming a non-issue. If you have certain critical sites in mind, it might be an issue. If you are just generally worried, i wouldn't be. I was concerned about the same thing, but it is not an issue for me. Go check out a tablet in a store and see for yourself. Adobe is stopping developmet of flash. More and more web pages are moving away from it because so many people are using iPads and android now.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Adobe is stopping developmet of flash.

WAT? Somehow, I don't believe that at all.

Got a link?

 

[go_gordon]

What I do for a cheap laptop is wait for bestbuy to have a sale and then go pick one up. I've had good luck with both a Toshiba and a Compaq, but your results may vary. Just be sure to get the cheap on they advertise in the ad. If its not in stock, just wait a few weeks til the next sale. Be sure to format and install windows, that helps speed it up by removing the crappy programs they preload them with.

 

[bgc99]

Decrapifier should help that. If you even get restore discs with a new pc (laptop or prebuilt desktop), do you have the ability to just install windows or does it "restore" it to out of the box condition crap and all?

 

[el_brio]

What i meant to say is they are stopping dev of
flash mobile. This decision will have a definite effect on the whole web. Mobile users are becoming an increasingly large part of the user base. Site operators cant afford to miss out on 30% (or whatever) of their potential audience.

Tbqh... I hate flash with a passion anyway. It is the source of a lot of annoying advertising. Do you enjoy having stupid flash video advertising pop up (uncloseable) on every other page?

You are only really going to feel the loss in 2 areas:
flash game websites (apps replace this)
video websites such as hulu or nflx (again apps)

Once again I implore you... What sites specifically are you worried about missing out on?

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/m5x2j/html5_is_the_winner_adobe_to_stop_flash/#c2yed14

 

[Tom]

1. Tablet is not even close to a substitute for a laptop.
2. 1366x768 is just fine for any laptop up to 15.6 inch.
3. There are lots of laptops for under $500. Some are WAY under.

I just bought a refurb Asus laptop for one of my granddaughters for $250. It's a 15.6 with a Pentium B940. A low end "Sandy Bridge" chip. It's a very fast laptop and will even play a number of games very well. The screen looks good, the build quality is good.

Frankly, it's amazing.

btw, there are lots of people in this forum who for one reason or another say ridiculous things about screen rez on laptops. They tend to say anything that isn't the way they personally like it, is crap. Which isn't true.

 

[el_brio]

Tom, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something? Your post comes across as arrogant & combative, and did nothing to contribute to the conversation. Maybe your tone didn't come over properly in your post, but back off a little man. The OP stated that "Basically, I'll use it for web surfing when I wake up in the middle of the night." Because of this and his desire for a nice screen, a tablet seems to fit his needs well. I'm not sure I see the logic of buying a $250 15.6" laptop to browse the web in the middle of the night, but whatever. I guess you have to post something to get up to 10K posts.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

1. Tablet is not even close to a substitute for a laptop.
2. 1366x768 is just fine for any laptop up to 15.6 inch.
3. There are lots of laptops for under $500. Some are WAY under.

I just bought a refurb Asus laptop for one of my granddaughters for $250. It's a 15.6 with a Pentium B940. A low end "Sandy Bridge" chip. It's a very fast laptop and will even play a number of games very well. The screen looks good, the build quality is good.

Frankly, it's amazing.

No offense but I have used one of those laptops and the screen was absolutely horrible. The viewing angles are very poor, the contrast was awful, the color accuracy couldn't have been worse, and even on max brightness the screen was still very dim.

I also question the statement that it can play games well, my laptop has a Core i5 2410m and a HD3000 and while it can play many games on low setting it's gpu is also several times as powerful as the one used in the B940.

 

[SonicIce]

i, for one, like toms advice.

 

[Tom]

Tom, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something? Your post comes across as arrogant & combative, and did nothing to contribute to the conversation. Maybe your tone didn't come over properly in your post, but back off a little man. The OP stated that "Basically, I'll use it for web surfing when I wake up in the middle of the night." Because of this and his desire for a nice screen, a tablet seems to fit his needs well. I'm not sure I see the logic of buying a $250 15.6" laptop to browse the web in the middle of the night, but whatever. I guess you have to post something to get up to 10K posts.

right..I've been here for 12 years, that's not a lot of posts per year.

Umm, he is looking for a laptop, me suggesting a laptop is arrogant ? I've got nothing against tablets, that isn't what he said he wanted, and the posts implying some kind of equivalency between the 2 are not right.

I browse the web all the time in the middle of the night, in bed sometimes, and laptops are great for that. So are tablets. I guess. Not sure how you type on one while you're holding it ?

 

[Tom]

No offense but I have used one of those laptops and the screen was absolutely horrible. The viewing angles are very poor, the contrast was awful, the color accuracy couldn't have been worse, and even on max brightness the screen was still very dim.

I also question the statement that it can play games well, my laptop has a Core i5 2410m and a HD3000 and while it can play many games on low setting it's gpu is also several times as powerful as the one used in the B940.

the B940 gpu is better than 1st gen Sandy Bridge and worse than your HD 3000. At least as far as I can tell comparing real world gaming. I didn't say "it plays games well" anyway.

the screen on ours is great, not at all like the one you used.

 

[Meghan54]

Tom, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something? Your post comes across as arrogant & combative, and did nothing to contribute to the conversation.

Actually, I was wondering exactly the same thing about this post of yours......somebody piss in your cornflakes today or something, because you certainly came across as abrasive, abusive and rather combative for someone calling out another's post.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

the B940 gpu is better than 1st gen Sandy Bridge and worse than your HD 3000. At least as far as I can tell comparing real world gaming. I didn't say "it plays games well" anyway.

the screen on ours is great, not at all like the one you used.

What are you comparing it to in order to say that it is good? In my experience nearly all laptops have horrible displays, especially ones under $800 or so. Anandtech's reviews seem to agree with that since most of the laptops displays they have tested do very poorly.

 

[ultimatebob]

I'd just get a Dell Inspiron R15 for $500 and be done with it. Bonus points if you find a coupon code to get it cheaper.

 

[Schadenfreude]

1. Tablet is not even close to a substitute for a laptop.
2. 1366x768 is just fine for any laptop up to 15.6 inch.
3. There are lots of laptops for under $500. Some are WAY under.

I just bought a refurb Asus laptop for one of my granddaughters for $250. It's a 15.6 with a Pentium B940. A low end "Sandy Bridge" chip. It's a very fast laptop and will even play a number of games very well. The screen looks good, the build quality is good.

Frankly, it's amazing.

btw, there are lots of people in this forum who for one reason or another say ridiculous things about screen rez on laptops. They tend to say anything that isn't the way they personally like it, is crap. Which isn't true.

Your points are taken, however;

OP wanted something under $500 with the best screen quality, and to use as something to surf on the web when he wakes up in the middle of the night.

- My assumption on the matter is that he's not going to randomly wake up in the middle of the night and type up his masters thesis (no need for a keyboard).

- If he wants something by his bedside, a tablet would be a lot easier/simpler to pick up and use, moreso than a laptop.

- He did not ask what the most "just fine" display on a recommendation would be. IPS displays generally outperform their cheap TN counterparts in color accuracy and viewing angles; going back to my earlier example, the Kindle fire has an IPS display, and I am thinking - correct me if I'm wrong here - that your granddaughter's laptop does not. The Kindle costs $200 new, your example cost $250 refurb, lots of laptops are under $500, but it's fairly hard to find something around $200 that's still functional.

- On a side note, my hangup on higher-quality/resolution displays is that you can lower your resolution to 1366x768 on a 1920x1080 display/lower the brightness on a bright display but you can't up-res a crappy display. And it's generally nicer if you want to watch something with more than one person/playing video games/doing graphic design work, etc.; it becomes a priority when your laptop is the only computer in the house and/or if you travel. With the OP it may not be the case (as he is posting a thread here without his laptop, obviously) but you cannot upgrade a display on a laptop as easily as a desktop.

He is asking for recommendation, and I am giving my personal advice (as are you, I wholly accept that); but based on the reasons he listed, a tablet would be a legitimate recommendation that the OP may not have thought up of (once Flash is fully supported) and I felt it should be asked. You can certainly disagree and yes it turned out that it's not a good fit (due to the lack of Flash support), but there's no need to be snarky about it.