Help with buying a Laptop

[ClownWalker]

Hey guys! My laptop just died because I spilled juice on it (yeah I know). But college begins in one month and I'd like to buy a laptop for my homework and research. I do not want a 10 inch minilaptop but neither do I want a laptop over 450 because I'm in an average/tight budget since I'm only a student.

That being sad, the Ram and the Hard Drive of my oldlaptop are still intact : 4GB Ram and 320GB Toshiba HDD. I thought I could buy a laptop with low specs so I can replace the ram and HDD with my old ones. Doing so, I would pay less for a laptop. But I was wondering :
Would it be worth it? Do you have any ideas?

Also, What's better? : Acer, Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba, Dell, HP, Samsung or Sony? My number one choice is Asus for the moment.

 

[my414]

If all you need your laptop for is basic tasks then you can basicly buy any laptop they can all do what you need good enough.
You will start to hit limitations if you want to do more like watching blue-ray movies, video and photo editing, and gaming

If you just want to do basic tasks this is a good laptop for you with a pretty big 15.6" screen
It will not be that fast and will not do many demanding things but is good for what you need just a general laptop

1. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246633

note that this laptop only has 2GB of ram but it can be upgraded to 4GB if you put one of your ram sticks in there and can go up to 8GB if u want but not needed.

If you are like me and like to do some gaming then i would sugest this laptop that does everything u need plus decent gaming performance
I know this is over your 450 budget but its a great deal and will perform much better than the other laptop

*1. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215551

If you cant spend that much no matter what but still want decent gaming performance I would recomend this laptop since it is not much more than yours

2. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230457

But if none of those work here are some with a bit smaller screen, but not too small to where u cant see it and it looks like a toy

3. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214599 this system is a bit outdated but will still work

4. http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215397 this is a very nice laptop for the price with very good battery

Sorry about your last laptop but u know acidents happen and I wish you luck with college
hope there is something you like

 

[ClownWalker]

no gaming?

All I need for gaming is enough to run Minecraft and Leagues of Legends. I already have a gaming desktop PC and this will be for my other house and my homeworks, mostly.

 

[Solandri]

Most modern laptops are designed to channel spills away from the insides. The juice will short out the keyboard and possibly damage it, but everything else should still work. You just need to power it off, remove the battery, then disassemble it enough to remove the keyboard so you can assess the damage (if any) inside. Rinse off any juice you see with distilled water, pat it dry with paper towels, then blow-dry it with a hair dryer with heat turned off. Let it sit overnight to dry, then try powering it on the next day. Most of the time this will resuscitate the system. Usually the only casualty is the keyboard, and replacement keyboards for most models are available off eBay for $25-$50. The keyboard is connected to the motherboard via a ribbon cable. There should be YouTube videos showing how to disconnect it.

If it's dead Jim, with a $450 budget, if you're not adverse to refurbished systems, I'd recommend tracking Dell and Lenovo Outlet for a refurb or scratch and dent system. They'll frequently have i3 laptops for $250-$350. Occasionally an i5 or i7 for $300-$400. You gotta be quick though because the good ones go fast.

http/www.dell.com/outlet
http/outlet.lenovo.com

Some of the refurbs are customer returns. Others are canceled orders (i.e. new in box, never shipped - they're not allowed to sell them as new because they're custom built to order). Scratch and dent usually means a minor cosmetic flaw.

 

[ClownWalker]

...

Well, My laptop died about 2 months ago. When the liquid got in the keyboard, 2 seconds later, the laptop just shut down. As it couldn't be worst, it was plugged to the wall and it died in 3 seconds. The motherboard seems the worst, damaged and all. I tried drying it for days but it didnt work. I even got into a store and they told me I had to pay 400$ to repair it. (i paid 650 for it). So i only got my files back and I'll try to sell the HDD and the RAM.

I've always been skeptical about refurbished computer. But I guess I'll take a look.

I also have a store near me. It's like Bestbuy, but they're only selling computers at a lower price, even if they are brand new : because the box was open, there was a minor flaw or it was use as a demonstrative product in a shop.

So I'll take a good look, thanks for your advices, really helps!

 

[ClownWalker]

Best answer selected by ClownWalker.