Ok Guys, I'm buying a Laptop, For reals this time

[Strike For The South]

I finally have the scratch and there seems to be no emergency on the hroizon

Budget is 500 pre tax/insurance

and go

[Lemur]

Have you looked at the various netbooks? They're quite nice. Or if you want to have some minimal gaming ability, I hear nice things about the Alienware M11x (R2), which is supposed to be able to handle some fragging. It's a couple of bills (http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?rn=286&SC=&c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh) more than you're talking about, but hey, how much is gaming worth to you?

[Strike For The South]

Not much at all
I need something to write my thesis and various other papers on. With the increased duties of work I need to get home and just write and write and write

I would also enjoy the internets

The netbooks look nice but the screen is rather small

[Strike For The South]

although the 11.6 could be right up my alley

I am also cpu illeterate

[Louis VI the Fat]

I finally have the scratch and there seems to be no emergency on the hroizon

Budget is 500 pre tax/insurance

and goNick one from the university library then buy 250 beers to celebrate

[Furunculus]

I finally have the scratch and there seems to be no emergency on the hroizon

Budget is 500 pre tax/insurance

and go

if you want portability and are not bothered about playing modern games I have just the thing for you:

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-pavilion-dm1.aspx

much better than Atom, and just as good battery life, best of all it can do light gaming and is cheap as chips!

[Lemur]

Oooh, that's the new AMD fusion platform, yes? I've been hearing about that for a while, entirely good things. Do what he says, Strike!

[Vuk]

Bah. Toshiba is the best laptop you can buy.
Check (http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops) out the Netbooks, Satellite, and Satellite pro esp. You don't get better than Toshiba...for under $500...

[Tellos Athenaios]

I need something to write my thesis and various other papers on. With the increased duties of work I need to get home and just write and write and write

I would also enjoy the internets

The netbooks look nice but the screen is rather small

Rephrased: “Don't care much about weight, or battery life; want a proper keyboard and a nice big screen so I can see a lot of text without squinting.”

In that case I would respectfully disagree on the merits of buying a Fusion based netbook-like machine. I would opt for a more Vuk like route and pick a generic ~15inch laptop. That tends to give you slightly better performance for generic applications (which don't make use of the GPU by themselves), too since they'll be using more powerful & power hungry CPU's.

Checking Vuk's tip, a machine like this might be an idea: http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/satellite/L650/L655-S5147 Unfortunately this is a MSRP so not entirely reliable, but slightly cheaper than the HP one too. The real downside here is that graphics performance will not be on par with the Fusion machine. Summary: nothing earth shattering and nothing particularly cheap. Never owned or used a Toshiba laptop at that price bracket so can't really say anything for build quality.

OTOH if you say that HP Fusion machine is hot, wish it had a bigger screen though; then maybe the following (from Furunculus' site):
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/msi-cr650.aspx?page=3 Hardware wise it is near identical, just has a MSI badge + chassis instead of a HP one, but it does have a 15.6inch screen. Cost is $20,- (with $499,- just within the budget) more though. Summary: just like the HP fusion though with bigger screen & keyboard but lesser battery life (and IMO lesser looks).

But speaking of HP's the following machine might be worth a few good looks as well: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Screen+size&v1=15.0+-+16.9&series_name=G62x_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/15.0_-_16.9/G62x_series

Spec says you'll get a Core i3 (much faster than ye olde Pentium, and much much faster than a Fusion APU), Intel graphics (meh, but you said you didn't care about gaming) with 15.6inch screen. Currently with nice “free upgrades” (aka: we're going for new models so we beef up the old ones in the meantime), such as 4GB of RAM and 500GB disk (where other options mentioned above stick with 250GB). $499,- but with shipping. Summary: no good for gaming but otherwise looks like it will be the most bang for your 500 bucks so far.

... As it stands I'd favour the HP here. But I'd also shop around a bit to see what the likes of Asus, Samsung, Acer, Dell have to offer. Note: since the whole Fusion thing is kind of “new” economics of scale and so on have yet to work their magic on price. Therefore, it may be worthwhile to wait a bit and see what the likes of Samsung (an economics-of-scale player if ever there was one) come up with and see how that effects price.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I got the Toshiba-Satellite l305 for 350$ at best buy, works great. Says it's 500 online, don't know what's up with that. Year and a half old now.

But just go to best buy and look for their cheapest laptop, and roll your eyes at the sales person when he tells you it won't be able to play hd video or whatever his line is.

[Furunculus]

can you spare $600?

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/05/alienware-m11x-starting-at-just-599-but-not-for-long/

[Tellos Athenaios]

Can't find the laptop deal on the US dell site, but didn't bother to look under every rock and hyperlink there. Anyway, from the looks of it I would not buy the alienware thing. First of all, the article only mentions something about a “baseline” configuration which sounds suspiciously like it is the baseline that sells for $599,- (if, at all: see above).

Taking Strike's wishlist into account I doubt that the somewhat grunty GPU makes up for a somewhat weak CPU (considering the price segment, not the form factor: a core i3 is better), and the rest of the machine is somewhat on the “meh” side as well. 2GB of RAM or 160GB of storage on a 5400 RPM disk does not excite, nothing particular about (wireless) connectivity either. So all in all not worth $600 when there are more well rounded machines on the market, making them superior choices.

[Strike For The South]

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/notebooks/G72t_series/3/computer_store

Got it at 5 even, thanks to eveyone for there help!

[Lemur]

You went with a 17" screen? I guess everything is bigger in Texas, like the saying goes. It's a good thing you're all pumped up and rippling with muscle, since that thing is going to be a brick to carry around.

[Major Robert Dump]

Bah, I remember 3 years ago when 17 inch screens on laptops bumped the new price up to 1700 bucks. I feel so stupid. For taking it to Afghanistan

[Samurai Waki]

I broke down and bought a Asus G73J. It's a little over twice your budget, but damn, it hasn't skipped a beat since I bought it a little over four months ago. :grin:

[Centurion1]

splurge and buy a mac. i hate my dell.

[Lemur]

splurge and buy a mac. i hate my dell.
$500 won't pay the Apple Tax. You can't even get much used (http://computers.shop.ebay.com/Apple-Laptops-Notebooks-/111422/i.html?rt=nc&Product%2520Family=MacBook&_dmpt=Apple_Laptops) at that price. Don't get me wrong, I think Apple makes a very nice laptop, and their OS is substantially more idiot-proof than Windows, but when somebody is going for rock-bottom price OS X is not a realistic alternative.*






* Unless you want to do some home-brew work (http://www.mymacnetbook.com/compatibility-chart/), which doesn't seem like Strike's cup of Texas tea.

[Centurion1]

I know it exceeds his budget. I would legitimately suggest waiting and increase your budget. I spent nigh on 900 for my dell and it sucks. The graphics card is jacked and i see little green dots all over the screen. the keyboard is jacked up and it is slow.

[Husar]

The graphics card is jacked and i see little green dots all over the screen.

That's a reason to send it in if it's still under warranty.

[Centurion1]

Im trying to but you know how hard it is to go without a laptop even for a little bit when your at uni i have to wait for summer break....