Lightweight Laptop under $650

[scallau]

Hi everyone,

I need to replace my 3 1/2 year old Toshiba laptop since it's starting to fail. I'm looking for something for just regular home use (no gaming). I'm petite, so would prefer a lightweight laptop for when I travel, which isn't that often. My max is $650, but if I can stay under $600 even better
thanks in advance!

What is your budget?
Up to $650

What country will you be buying this in?
USA

What size notebook do you prefer?
Thin and Light (13 - 14-inch screen)

What brands do you like or dislike?
Like: Toshiba, Dell, HP
Dislike: I haven't had much luck with Lenovo

Would you consider a refurbished laptop?
Yes

What are the primary tasks you need this notebook for?
Web Surfing, Office and Productivity Software, Listening to Music, Video Chat and Conference

I will mainly use it for e-mails, MS Office, Web surfing, photos and video chatting. No need for anything fancy, but would prefer a light computer.

Where will you be using this laptop?
Will stay on desk

Will you be buying online or in store?
prefer online but in store is ok as well

Which OS do you prefer?
Windows 7

Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen?
Glossy or Matte is fine

Is the laptops design important to you?
No

Approximately what date will you be buying this laptop?
Around 05/06/2012

How long do you want this laptop to last?
at least 3 years

How much storage capacity do you need?
I guess at least 320 GB

Are you interested in SSD for storage?
Don't know what it is, so I guess not

Do you want a built-in optical drive, what type?
DVD Burner would be nice

[mulzoffh]

SSD stands for Solid State Drive and basically is like a regular hard drive just much faster response times, sometimes read and write speed, and has no moving parts so in some cases it uses less power and is much less vulnerable to falls and such due to its high impact nature. Anyways, either 1 of these 2 would be pretty good if you want something with at least a little power and not like a atom

Newegg.com - DELL Vostro 3350 (469-1470) Notebook Intel Core i3 2330M(2.20GHz) 13.3" 2GB Memory DDR3 1333 250GB HDD 7200rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 3000
Newegg.com - TOSHIBA Satellite L745-S4126 Notebook Intel Pentium B960(2.2GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 5200rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics
Newegg.com - DELL Inspiron 14z (i14z-1424BK) Notebook Intel Core i3 2350M(2.30GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW Intel HD Graphics 3000

first one being smallest

and something with a alittle bit of graphics punch
Newegg.com - DELL Inspiron 14R (N4110) Notebook Intel Core i3 2350M(2.30GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW AMD Radeon HD 6470M

[idiot101]

You could also have a look at these
Amazon.com: Toshiba Satellite R845-S85 14.0-Inch LED Laptop - Graphite Blue Metallic with Line Pattern: Computers & Accessories
Fry's - Acer AS3830T-6870, Intel Core i5-2430,13.3" Screen Display, Notebook With 4GB Memory , 500GB Hard Drive,W7 Home Premium
Micro Center - ProBook 4430s 14" Laptop Computer - Metallic Silver

Please check out the Dell outlet for some deals on the Vostro 3350/3450 and the Latitude E6220/6320/6420. See if you can find any new laptops. Coupons for the outlet are available here Twitter

See if you can push the purchase by a month. New laptops with the latest from Intel and AMD are going to be available in June. They should offer you better designs with slight bumps in performance at the same price point.

[scallau]

Thank you so much for the recommendations. Also for explaining what SDD means. I will take a look at the options you sent. I might be able to wait until June. My computer crashed already, but I was able to recover my data and can use my husband's computer meanwhile. Do you think it will be worth waiting till June then?

thanks.

[idiot101]

The integrated graphics on the Intel chip has been drastically improved. So, you shouldn't have issues running some programs that take advantage of the GPU. In AMD's case, the Llano was a success. But the next generation Trinity has a few significant improvements over the Llano chip that should make it a real joy to use(again hoping that they get it right). You will see a lot of laptops with improved designs which should run longer and perform better than the existing laptops.

Hopefully there are some thin and light laptops from all the manufacturers with some design flaws rectified(especially over heating, flimsy/poor quality screens, shallow keyboards, wonky touchpads, etc).

May 15/16th is around the time when AMD will announce the new processors. The new laptops should appear soon afterwards. Manufacturers have announced that the new Intel laptops will be available from June 5th or so. And even if you are underwhelmed with the new laptops on offer, the prices of the last generation should drop even further.

Look for deals on Logicbuy, Deals2buy, Techbargain, etc.

[scallau]

Got it. Thanks so much for all your explanation. I think it makes sense to wait a little longer. It's only a month and I can use the other laptop or work laptop meanwhile

Thanks again!

[agusman]

The integrated graphics on the Intel chip has been drastically improved. So, you shouldn't have issues running some programs that take advantage of the GPU. In the AMD's case, the Llano was a success. But the next generation Trinity has a few significant improvements over the Llano chip that should make it a real joy to use(again hoping that they get it right). You will see a lot of laptops with improved designs which should run longer and perform better than the existing laptops.

Hopefully there are some thin and light laptops from all the manufacturers with some design flaws rectified(especially over heating, flimsy/poor quality screens, shallow keyboards, wonky touchpads, etc).

May 15/16th is around the time when AMD will announce the new processors. The new laptops should appear soon afterwards. Manufacturers have announced that the new Intel laptops will be available from June 5th or so. And even if you are underwhelmed with the new laptops on offer, the prices of the last generation should drop even further.

Look for deals on Logicbuy, Deals2buy, Techbargain, etc.

This is good info... I am in the market for something very similar to what the OP is looking for, and I think I will wait until mid June to make the purchase.

Even if I am not interested in any of the new laptops, the current ones should get a price drop by then...