Best budget laptop (NO Gaming). ASUS or Lenovo?

[shaqblogs2011]

What is the best available laptop within 500$ (Prefer no more than 400$)?
After searching around a bit, i find that Asus & Lenovo seems to have good pro reviews. Other choices are welcome.

Looking for something that is,
- Below 500$ (Prefer no more than 400$).
- Long life with good battery life.
- No gaming use. Just typical everyday use like browsing.
- Screen around 14" - 16" (a little flexible here)
- DVD ROM at least.

 

[Tradesman1]

For laptops, I prefer Asus, good quality products, I'd prefer 8GB od DRAM, but here's 1 w/ 6GB

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231229

 

[shaqblogs2011]

thanks
Since I live in India this model is not available.
Any other good popular model for choices?

Here's whats available
Budget 30,000 Indian Rupees

 

[Tradesman1]

http/www.flipkart.com/asus-f501a-xx187h-laptop-2nd-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8/p/itmdhcy22p8ejgem?pid=COMDHCXUDXJJUV3N&ref=e953cfa9-1e81-49ca-90ee-c24444bdefd7

This shows 4GB

 

[shaqblogs2011]

http/www.flipkart.com/asus-f501a-xx187h-laptop-2nd-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8/p/itmdhcy22p8ejgem?pid=COMDHCXUDXJJUV3N&ref=e953cfa9-1e81-49ca-90ee-c24444bdefd7

This shows 4GB

looks good enough. thanks.
Leaning towards this, unless some thing better come up.

Battery backup dosent look great - 3hrs according to the website. Not sure if I could better that at this price range.

 

[Tradesman1]

Might check others, I lean towards the Asus laptops, and primarily looked at them, in that price range, try to look to quality for longevity

 

[shaqblogs2011]

by better i meant, better battery life, not sacrificing build quality.

I'm Willing to sacrifice Performance a little since it is mainly for browsing and movies. I doubt this should be a worry, since a budget laptop better be able to do that

 

[Tradesman1]

I realize what you are saying on battery life, that is something to look at, was referring to the overall quality, don't want somthing that might die in 6 months or a year

 

[jaguarskx]

Between Asus and Lenovo laptops, I prefer Lenovo because Asus laptops generally have the battery sealed inside the laptop so if the battery dies you need to send it to Asus to be serviced. Most Lenovo laptops do not have the battery sealed inside the laptop as far as I know except for their ultrabooks.

 

[teknobug]

I'm in the same boat as you, but mainly for video streaming like Netflix, Google movies, Bluray, etc.

For you I'd say an AMD A4 5000, great battery life on those especially if the laptop has 6 cell since they're low power consumption, and you can't go wrong with Asus but don't be afraid to look at Acer or MSI either. Lenovo are OK, they're not like IBM used to be, I was a hardcore IBM laptop user for decades until Lenovo took over.

I'm personally looking at a couple Acer Aspire E1 models (one with an A4 5000 and one with Pentium 2020M).

 

[shaqblogs2011]

I am aware that ASUS is very reliable. Hence leaning towards it.
But, battery is a major concern if all it can give is 3 hours.

Edit: On power saving mode should probably give upto 4.5 hrs? Should be decent enough then.
Changing battery is not a concern. I could give it a shot myself since i tweak stuff regularly, or we can get it changed at a very low price back here.

 

[jaguarskx]

Lenovo are OK, they're not like IBM used to be, I was a hardcore IBM laptop user for decades until Lenovo took over.

I wouldn't mix the business and consumer level laptops together. IBM only sold business laptops, most notably the ThinkPad T series.I would only compare the Lenovo ThinkPad series to IBM ThinkPad series. I wouldn't bother trying to compare Lenovo consumer laptops like the IdeaPad series to the old IBM ThinkPads. Those laptops serves different purposes.

 

[shaqblogs2011]

http/www.flipkart.com/asus-f501a-xx187h-laptop-2nd-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8/p/itmdhcy22p8ejgem?pid=COMDHCXUDXJJUV3N&ref=e953cfa9-1e81-49ca-90ee-c24444bdefd7

Can you suggest an equivalent laptop from Lenovo? How good are they compared to ASUS?

I was recommended by a couple of dealers to not go with ASUS since they do not sell much back in India. So spares are not easy to find. Like Battery or charger.

 

[shaqblogs2011]

I got the F501A. Liking it so far.

Was a little reluctant going Win8 having used it in office desktops.
But with the touchpad its pretty good, so my inhibitions changed pretty quickly.

Sadly, the laptop does not get charged. When I plug into wall outlet, the PC dosent even detect that it was plugged in. Even a switched off PC does not show the charging light.
Will check in the morning using a multimeter if the charger dc out is working fine. If it is then the laptop is going back, if its not then at least the charger is conked. Either way have to revisit the store.

Also, the laptop has an onboard integrated memory. Since I can purchase 2 years extended warranty I decided to go for it.