Is it posssible to get a good laptop for under 500 dollars?

Geri <3

what laptop?

why do you think its good?

pictures and info??

Answer
These days it is very easy to get laptops for under $500 ... or right around $500, maybe slightly more. It really depends on what you are looking to do ... if all you need is something to take notes for college classes, listen to/download music, save pictures, browse internet and check e-mail ... then you can certainly find one.

It is when you want to do any gaming or if you need/want to use applications like Adobe PhotoShop, or another program equally as resource-intensive ... that is when you will be looking at at least $700-800 for one. True gaming laptops can be much higher priced.

My first laptop was an Acer ... it still works great and I paid $2200 for it back in 2000. I now have a Gateway laptop I paid about $1500 for back in 2006 ... and it still runs all the current programs and even a few games, though not many because it's graphics memory is only 128MB and that is shared with system memory ... not dedicated.

I have helped many people get laptops and many of them have gotten them from Best Buy ... I prefer Gateway because I have had 0 issues with their support. Dell support is awful and HP I am not really impressed with as we have HP machines at work ... but that is in a work-environment too, so I'll cut them some slack.

It really all comes down to personal preference. The thing with laptops though is if you have some extra $$$, you should get something that is a little higher in system specs than what you need because they are much harder to upgrade (except for memory and hard drive space) than a regular desktop computer. Desktops can be upgraded later to save you the expense of buying a new one.

Laptop or desktop for college?

Jb

hey guys my college is giving me a dell lattitude for free to use. I played around wiht it and my god is it slow it can handle basic word processing and light web browsing but otherwise it sucks. Anyways i was debating whether to get a Desktop or laptop for college. I am goin got be commuting and went around the campus and nobody had a laptop in class so i was considering a desktop...i need help it has to be under 2000 and i dont care mac or pc it just has to be: Blazing fast, great multi tasking, good battery life(laptop), hi def screen and great multimedia playback...

Answer
Keep the Latitude, do a fresh reinstall of Windows on it without any of Dell's extra bloatware, and you will find that it is actually decently fast for things like websurfing or word processing. You can then lug that puppy around campus for WiFi access and schoolwork (library research, group projects with your classmates, etc.).

Then for your dorm room you can build yourself a powerful desktop PC to complement that laptop.

Since you already have that Latitude, might as well get as much mileage as you can out of it.

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what it is the difference between netbook and laptop?

best laptop for college under 2000 image

LSA

i am going to college so i would like to know if a netbook would be better for me or a laptop

Answer
the netbooks are smaller in size..usually 9-10 inch screens...also, most netbooks have no optical drive,,dvd drive. netbooks are less powerful usually that laptops....one big plus-they are very mobile and have the basic functions of a laptop-

The Netbook is generally a stripped down, small laptop with a less than a 10â screen, designed primarily for the mobile user that needs to access the Internet, respond to some email and write a few documents. They typically have limited features such as smaller, lower resolution screens, slower processor, less storage and lack a CD or DVD drive. They also typically cost less than $800 with some as low as $399. Many of the lower cost units come with Linux instead of Microsoft Windows and the ones that do have Windows generally have only enough power to run Windows XP not Vista. Donât confuse these low cost Netbooks with some of the sub-compact full featured notebooks that are also out there. Sony, Dell and others also offer small lightweight notebooks that have all the features of a full size computer in a tiny package but at a hefty price of $1400 and up. Take the under 3 pound, 11â Sony TT series that starts at about $2000 or a Decked out 12â Dell D430 for $1900. Some of these have plenty of power and features and up to 9 hours of battery life. These are real computers that are just packed into really small cases.

You want to think long and hard about what your actual needs really are. This is especially hard for you, seeing as you say that this is your first laptop. Having never owned a laptop before makes it very difficult to determine what features you would like or are most important to you. Lugging around a laptop on a few trips can definitely give you perspective into just how important size, weight, keyboard Size, screen size, and battery life really are. For some people these Mini Netbooks are the perfect road companion. Unfortunately for me, one of the key components for the real road warrior is missing from most of these Netbooks and that is the built-in Verizon, AT&T or Sprint Mobile Broadband card.

Is it posssible to get a good laptop for under 500 dollars?

Geri <3

what laptop?

why do you think its good?

pictures and info??

Answer
These days it is very easy to get laptops for under $500 ... or right around $500, maybe slightly more. It really depends on what you are looking to do ... if all you need is something to take notes for college classes, listen to/download music, save pictures, browse internet and check e-mail ... then you can certainly find one.

It is when you want to do any gaming or if you need/want to use applications like Adobe PhotoShop, or another program equally as resource-intensive ... that is when you will be looking at at least $700-800 for one. True gaming laptops can be much higher priced.

My first laptop was an Acer ... it still works great and I paid $2200 for it back in 2000. I now have a Gateway laptop I paid about $1500 for back in 2006 ... and it still runs all the current programs and even a few games, though not many because it's graphics memory is only 128MB and that is shared with system memory ... not dedicated.

I have helped many people get laptops and many of them have gotten them from Best Buy ... I prefer Gateway because I have had 0 issues with their support. Dell support is awful and HP I am not really impressed with as we have HP machines at work ... but that is in a work-environment too, so I'll cut them some slack.

It really all comes down to personal preference. The thing with laptops though is if you have some extra $$$, you should get something that is a little higher in system specs than what you need because they are much harder to upgrade (except for memory and hard drive space) than a regular desktop computer. Desktops can be upgraded later to save you the expense of buying a new one.

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What kind of laptop should I buy?

best laptop for college under 2000 image

asarean@ym

I'm going to be entering college, fall 2009, and I'm an art major. I really don't know what kind of laptop I should get. It seems that every art school uses Macs, but I've never used one before.

For preference, I want something that has high quality graphics (again, art major) and can run Photoshop and Illustrator well, has a lot of memory, and is relatively light.

Answer
As an art major, a Macbook will probably suit you better than a PC. However, that does not mean you should run out and plop down the cash for a Macbook.

As an art major, Macs have better software for art-related activities (audio/video editing, etc) than a Windows PC for free, however there are plenty of Windows programs that do these jobs just as well as Mac software and are often either free or only cost a small amount (under $50).

Photoshop and Illustrator really do run best on a Windows laptop. It's probably because Adobe has created both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of their programs for Windows, but there is no 64-bit Photoshop for Mac.

A Macbook at $1000 has the same specs as some $450 laptops. Unless you feel like it's absolutely necessary to buy the laptop that's $1000 over a laptop that's better spec-wise at $700, you should stick with Windows. Plus, you're already familiar with the software.

One person suggested what to look for, but had really bad suggestions. First, no self-respecting person buys an Acer laptop unless it's the mini-notebook that's about $250, because they are pieces of crap. If you want a notebook that is meant for art majors and runs windows, I suggest an HP. They've got the best software built in for movie editing, audio activites, etc.

You can find a Windows laptop with a 2GHz Dual-Core Processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB Hard drive (good specs) for about $600 new. Finding a Macbook with those specs can run up to 4 times the cost. While it's up to you, I know I would rather spend $600 on a Windows PC than $2000 on a Macbook for the same specs.

Security on a Mac is bogus, as Macs are virus prone just like Windows. Anyone that uses the excuse that Macs are more secure than Windows are idiots and their opinion on laptops should not be taken seriously.

What could have caused my newish Macbook Pro that is usually reliably awesome to spaz out? What can I do?

Skylark

Like a masochistic dork I installed an app called SelfControl on my three-month-old 15-inch Macbook Pro that I love and cherish to prohibit myself from accessing time-vacuuming sites while writing papers and studying for finals. The app lets you create a list of sites to "blacklist," and then prevents you from accessing them for the duration of the time limit you've set. Normally, the app works perfectly. For some reason, a couple of weeks ago it malfunctioned, and ever since then my laptop has been having tantrums. The timer wouldn't run out, so all sites I'd blacklisted were blocked for days. Even uninstalling the app and rebooting failed to lift the bans. Then, last Saturday the images on the screen became fragmented and frozen, and the laptop wouldn't let me restart it. I just unplugged the battery, let it completely die down, then plugged it back in and powered it on. It took considerably longer than usual, but the laptop did finally turn on. The really odd thing is that my screen image had changed on its own. Everything else seemed to work smoothly, and I could hop on to all the sites previously barred. Then one morning I woke up and the battery was totally dead. It won't take a charge now. Previously the battery health had been listed at 89%. Now it's 0%. This means that if the laptop is untethered from the cord for a nanosecond, it dies. It is also far more sensitive than before, and will sometimes just power off when I'm repositioning it on my laptop desk even if it's still plugged in.

Other oddities:
~ Sometimes when I log on the date will be listed as December 31, 2000, and apps won't function properly.
~ The system takes much longer to boot up

I admit to having mistreated the laptop a little, but it hasn't been seriously abused. I've never dropped it, and I never download torrents. I wrote over 220 pages in one month for five papers (college student), so I basically had it on nonstop. I kept it plugged in too often, which I know diminishes the battery power. A couple of months ago there was a tiny amount of liquid spilled on it accidentally, but the kind gents at the Mac store thoroughly examined it then and said no serious harm had been caused. Most people on my campus have Macs, and most of us have also been overworking our laptops, but none of my friends are encountering this problem. A ton of people use SelfControl without any woes.

Sorry my question is so long. I'm seriously wordy when I'm tired, haha. I am planning on posting this question in Mac forums and on the Apple discussion site, and I'm going to make an appointment for the Genius Bar. I would just love some feedback now. Is there anything I can do to fix some of these issues? Could the SelfControl app be responsible for these problems?
This is what the screen looked like after the first major spaz out when it rebooted:
http://s353.beta.photobucket.com/user/SkylarkMelody/library/
Does anyone recognize that screen image? Does it signify anything? It kind of looks like a variation of the default image.

Answer
try http://www.apple.com/community & discuss the problem. also have a tech look at it if still under warranty. sorry I couldn't be more helpful

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What type of laptop for gaming should I get?

best laptop for college under 2000 image

Nicholas

Price range: 2000$ - 2500$
I also need to be able to use it for college. I want to be able to play pc games like world of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, fallout, skyrim, and diablo 3.

Answer
If you are going to get a laptop for playing those games make sure you squirrel some of that budget aside for a very good under laptop cooling system because that sucker is going to heat up but good. I used to play WOW on a pretty good laptop and my thighs would be red and soaked after a few hours of play. My suggestion would be to get a really good gaming desktop because with that budget you should be able to get a whopper of a machine.

what it is the difference between netbook and laptop?

LSA

i am going to college so i would like to know if a netbook would be better for me or a laptop

Answer
the netbooks are smaller in size..usually 9-10 inch screens...also, most netbooks have no optical drive,,dvd drive. netbooks are less powerful usually that laptops....one big plus-they are very mobile and have the basic functions of a laptop-

The Netbook is generally a stripped down, small laptop with a less than a 10â screen, designed primarily for the mobile user that needs to access the Internet, respond to some email and write a few documents. They typically have limited features such as smaller, lower resolution screens, slower processor, less storage and lack a CD or DVD drive. They also typically cost less than $800 with some as low as $399. Many of the lower cost units come with Linux instead of Microsoft Windows and the ones that do have Windows generally have only enough power to run Windows XP not Vista. Donât confuse these low cost Netbooks with some of the sub-compact full featured notebooks that are also out there. Sony, Dell and others also offer small lightweight notebooks that have all the features of a full size computer in a tiny package but at a hefty price of $1400 and up. Take the under 3 pound, 11â Sony TT series that starts at about $2000 or a Decked out 12â Dell D430 for $1900. Some of these have plenty of power and features and up to 9 hours of battery life. These are real computers that are just packed into really small cases.

You want to think long and hard about what your actual needs really are. This is especially hard for you, seeing as you say that this is your first laptop. Having never owned a laptop before makes it very difficult to determine what features you would like or are most important to you. Lugging around a laptop on a few trips can definitely give you perspective into just how important size, weight, keyboard Size, screen size, and battery life really are. For some people these Mini Netbooks are the perfect road companion. Unfortunately for me, one of the key components for the real road warrior is missing from most of these Netbooks and that is the built-in Verizon, AT&T or Sprint Mobile Broadband card.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

What kind of laptop should I buy?

best laptop for college under 2000 image

asarean@ym

I'm going to be entering college, fall 2009, and I'm an art major. I really don't know what kind of laptop I should get. It seems that every art school uses Macs, but I've never used one before.

For preference, I want something that has high quality graphics (again, art major) and can run Photoshop and Illustrator well, has a lot of memory, and is relatively light.

Answer
As an art major, a Macbook will probably suit you better than a PC. However, that does not mean you should run out and plop down the cash for a Macbook.

As an art major, Macs have better software for art-related activities (audio/video editing, etc) than a Windows PC for free, however there are plenty of Windows programs that do these jobs just as well as Mac software and are often either free or only cost a small amount (under $50).

Photoshop and Illustrator really do run best on a Windows laptop. It's probably because Adobe has created both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of their programs for Windows, but there is no 64-bit Photoshop for Mac.

A Macbook at $1000 has the same specs as some $450 laptops. Unless you feel like it's absolutely necessary to buy the laptop that's $1000 over a laptop that's better spec-wise at $700, you should stick with Windows. Plus, you're already familiar with the software.

One person suggested what to look for, but had really bad suggestions. First, no self-respecting person buys an Acer laptop unless it's the mini-notebook that's about $250, because they are pieces of crap. If you want a notebook that is meant for art majors and runs windows, I suggest an HP. They've got the best software built in for movie editing, audio activites, etc.

You can find a Windows laptop with a 2GHz Dual-Core Processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB Hard drive (good specs) for about $600 new. Finding a Macbook with those specs can run up to 4 times the cost. While it's up to you, I know I would rather spend $600 on a Windows PC than $2000 on a Macbook for the same specs.

Security on a Mac is bogus, as Macs are virus prone just like Windows. Anyone that uses the excuse that Macs are more secure than Windows are idiots and their opinion on laptops should not be taken seriously.

What could have caused my newish Macbook Pro that is usually reliably awesome to spaz out? What can I do?

Skylark

Like a masochistic dork I installed an app called SelfControl on my three-month-old 15-inch Macbook Pro that I love and cherish to prohibit myself from accessing time-vacuuming sites while writing papers and studying for finals. The app lets you create a list of sites to "blacklist," and then prevents you from accessing them for the duration of the time limit you've set. Normally, the app works perfectly. For some reason, a couple of weeks ago it malfunctioned, and ever since then my laptop has been having tantrums. The timer wouldn't run out, so all sites I'd blacklisted were blocked for days. Even uninstalling the app and rebooting failed to lift the bans. Then, last Saturday the images on the screen became fragmented and frozen, and the laptop wouldn't let me restart it. I just unplugged the battery, let it completely die down, then plugged it back in and powered it on. It took considerably longer than usual, but the laptop did finally turn on. The really odd thing is that my screen image had changed on its own. Everything else seemed to work smoothly, and I could hop on to all the sites previously barred. Then one morning I woke up and the battery was totally dead. It won't take a charge now. Previously the battery health had been listed at 89%. Now it's 0%. This means that if the laptop is untethered from the cord for a nanosecond, it dies. It is also far more sensitive than before, and will sometimes just power off when I'm repositioning it on my laptop desk even if it's still plugged in.

Other oddities:
~ Sometimes when I log on the date will be listed as December 31, 2000, and apps won't function properly.
~ The system takes much longer to boot up

I admit to having mistreated the laptop a little, but it hasn't been seriously abused. I've never dropped it, and I never download torrents. I wrote over 220 pages in one month for five papers (college student), so I basically had it on nonstop. I kept it plugged in too often, which I know diminishes the battery power. A couple of months ago there was a tiny amount of liquid spilled on it accidentally, but the kind gents at the Mac store thoroughly examined it then and said no serious harm had been caused. Most people on my campus have Macs, and most of us have also been overworking our laptops, but none of my friends are encountering this problem. A ton of people use SelfControl without any woes.

Sorry my question is so long. I'm seriously wordy when I'm tired, haha. I am planning on posting this question in Mac forums and on the Apple discussion site, and I'm going to make an appointment for the Genius Bar. I would just love some feedback now. Is there anything I can do to fix some of these issues? Could the SelfControl app be responsible for these problems?
This is what the screen looked like after the first major spaz out when it rebooted:
http://s353.beta.photobucket.com/user/SkylarkMelody/library/
Does anyone recognize that screen image? Does it signify anything? It kind of looks like a variation of the default image.

Answer
try http://www.apple.com/community & discuss the problem. also have a tech look at it if still under warranty. sorry I couldn't be more helpful

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