Best PC Laptop for Under $1000?

College Life
1

<p>My parents cringe at any laptop over $1000 and refuse to get me a Mac. So, I’ve gone back to searching for a quality PC. I want to find one by the end of this week. Any suggestions? I’ve had bad experiences with Dell and I’m not too fond of HP either. I see that a lot of people here recommend Lenovo. Is there a specific model that is the best value?</p>

2

<p>Yes, check out the T400. I’m typing on one right now (had it for ~6 months) and it’s an amazing laptop. It starts at $750, so you shouldn’t have any trouble keeping the price below $1000 once you’ve specced it out how you want it.</p>

3

<p>lenovo.com/cpp
familyandfriends</p>

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<p>how do you figure to ‘spec it out’ and keep it below $1k? No matter what I do, I am getting $1,300 at cheapest (after applying discouts or through cpp). You would have to leave it pretty much at stock to keep it below $1k. What king of build are you getting for that?</p>

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<p>I’d just increase the screen resolution to WXGA+ ($30), change the optical drive to DVD-RW ($70), add the media card reader ($10), and add Bluetooth ($30). That adds up to $140. Everything else is useless, with the possible exception of a 6- ($20) or 9- ($90) cell battery. In that case, you’d be adding $160 or $230, which would still keep you below $1000.</p>

<p>There’s not much of a point in upgrading the processor, as it will be throttled to 800 MHz when you’re running off of the battery anyway. RAM is much cheaper to purchase separately, such from [url="<a href="http://www.newegg.com/“]Newegg[/url”&gt;http://www.newegg.com/"]Newegg[/url</a>].</p>

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<p>Thanks! Would you go with thier warranties or no?</p>

7

<p>Do your parents refuse to get you a Mac because they are over $1,000? If so, you should check out the ‘white’ Macbook, with the well-equipped base machine listing at $999. With an academic discount, you could get it for $950, including an iPod.</p>

<p>I don’t want to revisit the tiresome Mac vs. PS debate, just to let you know that there are Mac options (slightly) under $1K.</p>

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<p>^Actually, there are sites where you can get the Macbook White for $899, like at reseller MacMall with a 3% off coupon and $65 mail-in rebate.</p>

<p>I also remember seeing the closeout aluminum Macbook on sale for $999 at the Apple Store’s clearance section (on-line) but I think they’ve sold out already. Of course, there’s the free iPod touch, which is nice, and they give you a $100 mail-in rebate if you order a printer from them.</p>

<p>Either way, you should easily get a Macbook for less than 1k, even with the educational discount at Apple Store.</p>

<p>Here’s a pricing guide/matrix to make your life easier to find a cheap Mac: <a href=“http://www.appleinsider.com/mac_price_guide/[/url]”>http://www.appleinsider.com/mac_price_guide/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>You should check out the laptops on Newegg.com. They offer a lot of brands that aren’t sold in mainstream stores, like Asus and MSI that offer cheap, well built laptops, although they are usually styled blandly…but then again a computer is a machine, not a fashion symbol.</p>

<p>Here’s an Asus with a 320GB high speed 7200rpm hard drive, 2.4GHz Core 2 and GT120 midrange dedicated graphics card for $999 or $899 after rebate. That’s some serious muscle for a cheap price.
[Newegg.com</a> - ASUS N81Vg-X1 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8600(2.40GHz) 14" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 120M - Laptops / Notebooks](<a href=“http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220519]Newegg.com”>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220519)</p>

<p>Also, the entry-level macbooks are worth a look. Don’t think you’ll be missing out on anything because you’re getting the entry level one. You’ll still have most of the benefits of getting a higher-end macbook, or a Pro.</p>