Buying Very Cheap Laptops (and getting a good deal...
This is a guest post by Rob C, one of our new readers.
If you are like me, you probably don’t have a whole lot of money to spend on a new laptop. If you don’t get caught up in all the different features, there are some good quality, very cheap laptops on the market.
I highly recommend buying a laptop from a brand that you are familiar with. You can find brand name laptops that don’t cost much more than no-name brands, but you’ll have much better luck when you need to find a part for your laptop.
If your main purpose for the laptop is to check emails and use the internet, go for less memory. When the salesman says you must have 3 GB of memory, explain what you need the laptop for. Hard drive is another issue when looking for cheap laptops. A high capacity one is not needed if you’re browing some sites and answering a few emails each day.
To save money on a laptop, it’s very important to spend time thinking about what you will be using it for. If you will be using it on long trips, a laptop with a longer battery life will help a great deal. What size of screen do you want, the smaller they are , usually the cheaper they are. Do you want a bulky laptop or one that is slim and light in weight? Are you starting college and looking for deals on cheap laptops for students? Will it be used by your kids, your spouse or just yourself? These are all things to consider before shopping.
Pick and choose which features are most important to you because you will not get everything in a low priced laptop. Just remember the features that should be the most important are the ones that are almost impossible to change, or would be very expensive like the screen size, the design, the hard drive, the weight of the laptop, CPU etc. Cosmetics like memory, the battery, and DVD player can all be changed in the future and added for a low cost. If you are looking for the best cheap laptops, make a list of all the functions you will be performing before you shop. This should give you a good idea of what you need.
Another possibility is to consider a refurbished laptop. I don’t know much about them, but I know a few people who own one and they’re all very satisfied with their purchases.
Just do a little bit of research before shopping at a very cheap laptops sale, and always remember if you buy the older model there’s a good chance you will get it a whole lot cheaper than the newer one.
Update: One of our readers, Joe L. Allen, submitted his picks for five of the cheapest laptops on the market today:
1. The current leader in the low price laptop market is the Acer Aspire One at about $275. Originally a much smaller unit, the Aspire One now has a friendlier 10.1 inch display. Although this reviewer laments the passing of Windows XP Home (available on earlier models), Windows 7 Starter is an acceptable substitute on in-stock Acers currently sold.
2. Toshiba’s mini NB255-N240 Netbook PC shares much in common with the Aspire One. Both are netbooks; both also have the same display size, memory capacity, and hard drive capacity. The Toshiba has a slightly different Intel Atom N455 processor. How to choose? The tactile feel of the keyboard can make a huge difference. A buyer would be wise to try both keyboards if possible.
3. The ASUS 10.1″ Eee PC is a netbook very similar to the Aspire One. It has 1 Gigabyte of memory, a 10.1 inch display, a 160 Gigabyte hard drive, and Windows 7 Starter. The 6-cell lithium-ion battery in the ASUS is an excellent advantage that this model has over the Aspire One, the latter having a battery capacity of only half that of this ASUS.
4. The Silver Acer Netbook PC, is very similar to its earlier cousin, the Aspire One. The Silver One doubles the Aspire One’s battery capacity, however, opting for a 6-cell battery. This makes the Silver competitive with the ASUS. Another advantage of the Silver is a third USB port. For these two benefits, you will likely pay more for the Silver than the Aspire or the ASUS. Much of the issue comes down to price, especially if you don’t need the second port.
5. Be on the lookout for a newer Aspire One model. Slightly more expensive than the Intel Atom-equipped Aspire One netbook, the newer model (about $350) features an AMD processor with more cache and DDR 3 memory. If you are interested in a more robust Acer Netbook and are willing to pay $50 to $100 more for that power, the Aspire One with it’s AMD Athlon processor is the one to seek out.
Question for our readers:
What was the cheapest laptop you ever bought and were you satisfied with it?
Tags: battery life, buying a laptop, cheap laptop, cheap laptops, Cheap Laptops For Students, Laptops On Sale, Notebooks and Laptops, Very Cheap Laptops, XP
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