In the market for a laptop or netbook

friendlyhobo

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Hello, I'm going to be coming into some money at the start of next month so I am now looking into getting a netbook or laptop for school. The details concerning this purchase are below:

■My budget is no more than $350.
■I want it to be as portable as possible while still being able to complete the tasks I will be using it for.
■Screen resolution isn't much of a concern.
■I would prefer as much battery life as possible.
■This computer will be for school work (word documents, powerpoints, etc) and web browsing only. No gaming or any really resource intensive programs.
■Storage isn't a big issue as I will only be storing school work a maybe a little bit of music.
■My preferred sites are Newegg, Amazon, and Tiger Direct.
■I plan to keep and use this laptop/netbook for schoolwork only until I am done with school all together (about 3 more years at least).
■I would prefer a BluRay for the optical so if I have down time I can watch some of my BluRay movies but it's not a huge concern. Price, portability, and battery life come first.
■I am a fan of all Asus products so I would have no problems buying from them. I have bought many products from them in the past with no complaints. I'm not really partial to any brand so just give suggestions and tell the strengths and weaknesses of each computer and your experience with the brand in terms of reliability and customer service.
■I am in the US so prices will be in US dollars and there will be no over seas shipping.

I'm looking forward to hearing back from you guys. Please give me suggestions and explain why you suggest it. And please no bias towards brands unless you can give a legitimate reason why. Thanks in advance!
 
Solution


Hi there,

I'm not sure why that laptop is currently listed at such a high price. However, the link you provided for the Asus seems like a great deal. Unless...

IsabellaWinTeam

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Apr 27, 2010
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Hi there,

You should check out the Asus Eee PC 1008HAB. It is very light-weight at 2.4 lbs and has great battery life. It also has a decent amount of storage (250 GB). It is a very popular netbook!

What do you think?

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 

cadder

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Netbooks almost universally will not have optical drives, but you can buy portable USB optical drives for under $50. You won't find budget laptops or budget external drives that will handle BlueRay though.

In your stated price range you can find some bargain basement laptops from the big retailers like WalMart, or you can find netbooks. The laptops will be 15" and the netbooks will likely be 10" so you have to decide how much size and weight you want.

I would also suggest ASUS if you decide to go with a netbook.
 

friendlyhobo

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I know that netbooks do not come with optical drives but in the event that someone found a laptop that met my criteria I was open to the idea of a BluRay drive. I'm going to look more into Asus netbooks. I could not find the Asus Eee PC 1008HAB on Tiger Direct, Newegg, or Amazon though so any other suggestions are welcome.
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi there,

Check out PC Scout to view more details of the Asus: http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/pc-scout/laptop-details.aspx?pcid=fcab3741-4fac-de11-89ea-02bf9d3bf32a. Although you cannot purchase a laptop directly through this site, it will take you to a place where you can buy the Asus.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 

friendlyhobo

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Wow, sorry for the very late reply. I've been busy with school having to study for mid terms and all. The 1008HAB available at Amazon (after following the link you provided), is almost $400 at $387. I simply do not wish to pay that much.

Looking at newegg I saw this one which seems capable of everything I need and boasts a high battery life.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220768

Any idea if I could get more for my money at this price or even if there are better netbooks for cheaper? I'm still open to suggestions. Thanks for all your help so far.
 

IsabellaWinTeam

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Hi there,

I'm not sure why that laptop is currently listed at such a high price. However, the link you provided for the Asus seems like a great deal. Unless you find some other netbook on sale, I think that is a good price!

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers,
Isabella
MSFT Windows Outreach Team
 
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