Cheap Laptop for school

[Yamanater]

I just recently built a desktop and that I am planning on taking off to school next year, unfortunatly some of my schools requirements are to have a laptop for inclass work. So i am just wondering if anyone knows of a well priced laptop in the $300 to $600 area. Since I have a desktop, Disk space on the laptop is really not important, all i really want is decent processing power and a half decent battery life.

 

[WR2]

Is the new laptop for school in the fall? It might be a bit early to be shopping around.

A few ideas in 11.6" 13.3" and 14" size with better than average battery life.

 

[WR2]

Another option: HP Pavilion dm1 11.6" Dual-core AMD Fusion Laptop w/4GB RAM $375
With the optional $25 upgrade to E-450/HD 6320 graphics ~$400.
AMD E-450 1.65Ghz APU, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200rpm HDD, 11.6" 1366x768 LCD w/ HD 6320 graphics.
3.5lbs, 7+hr battery and a nice size for toting around in a backpack.
The AMD E-450 is about midway between 'Netbook and standard basic laptop in overall performance.

HP Pavilion dm1-4010us Review: Better Than A Netbook

 

[italiasian]

Ivy bridge processors are coming out soon, they are lower wattage so better battery life. The new ivy bridge i3 would be at the price point you are looking for and you it will be enough processing power for just school work.

 

[WR2]

Besides Ivy Bridge from Intel, AMD is also about to release it's new Trinity hardware.

 

[DarthTengil]

Normally I would search up and give you info about the best components in best price category for a new PC beacuse I am a hardware PC addict, but in this case the (most forbidden and deneiled) thought that came to my mind is: why not get a Ipad?

Nowdays those machines are becoming more and more equal with a simple laptop and even outperform them in some cases. OK - you will become very locked and limited and cannot use it like a PC, and the touchscreen keyboard maybe is more difficult to learn than a regular laptops keyboard. But in the other hand a Ipad IS made for just 3 things: surfing, communication and writing. It really have become a small computer and is very fast and dont freeze or hangs up like a PC always does!

The communications devices is way beyond the PC market and you will have both a mobile telephone, a computer, and a mobile broadband all-in-one machine with way better battery life than any PC laptop! Just perfect for school work with bluetooth interface. If I in the future is planning to buy a mobile computer as an complementary to my PC desktop I would choose an Ipad and not a laptop because I think you will get more out of one of those for the money. But thats just me becoming older and more greyish through the years...

 

[Yamanater]

Normally I would search up and give you info about the best components in best price category for a new PC beacuse I am a hardware PC addict, but in this case the (most forbidden and deneiled) thought that came to my mind is: why not get a Ipad?

Nowdays those machines are becoming more and more equal with a simple laptop and even outperform them in some cases. OK - you will become very locked and limited and cannot use it like a PC, and the touchscreen keyboard maybe is more difficult to learn than a regular laptops keyboard. But in the other hand a Ipad IS made for just 3 things: surfing, communication and writing. It really have become a small computer and is very fast and dont freeze or hangs up like a PC always does!

The communications devices is way beyond the PC market and you will have both a mobile telephone, a computer, and a mobile broadband all-in-one machine with way better battery life than any PC laptop! Just perfect for school work with bluetooth interface. If I in the future is planning to buy a mobile computer as an complementary to my PC desktop I would choose an Ipad and not a laptop because I think you will get more out of one of those for the money. But thats just me becoming older and more greyish through the years...

Surprisingly i actually originally considered this as an option, the only downfall to an ipad would be the fact that it has NO USB drives... honestly i hate having to buy all this blue tooth sea-rap just to plug a keyboard or a mouse into it. It sounds useful in theory but i think the ipad is a little to entertainment oriented to meet my school needs.

 

[Yamanater]

I think i will actually wait for ivy bridge and trinity to come out now that you mention that. Thanks a bunch guys