Can anyone recommend a good laptop for under $ 1, 000?

[Smarmie Doofus]

It's for my 15 y.o son. For schoolwork and social media -type stuff, mostly.

Good warranty and service package would be a MAJOR consideration.

Thanks.

[ChromeFoundry]

1. The important question is...

will he be using it for gaming too? At 15 yrs, it is doubtful that he will be doing any heavy computations in Mathematica or 3D renderings of the Sistine Chapel... Email, browsing, word processing and the other social media stuff does not require much raw horse power. I would certainly look in the $350 - $550 range. Anything over that will be overkill. I'm sure someone on here will provide some excellent recommendations, but they will need to know how your son will be using it.

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. Yes to gaming. But you are right about the rest.

No 3d renderings in sight.

I like the sound of that price range.


Thnx.

[ChromeFoundry]

12. The types of games also matter....

If he will be playing a lot of first-person-shooter games requiring a lot of frames-per-second (FPS).. these require a higher end graphics processor.

Most laptops are designed for business level graphics and DVD or streaming video. This is most likely well enough for the games he'd play on it. Try to get a 64-bit version of the OS of your choice, if you can, and a minimum of 4GB of RAM...

[steve2470]

2. check this HP notebook out for $485:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157822

HP ProBook 4530s (XU015UT#ABA) Notebook Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 320GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi Intel HD Graphics 3000

It comes very well recommended.

YMMV, caveat emptor, etc. Good luck ! :)

[Old and In the Way]

4. I agree....this class of HP computers are good machines....

I'm typing this on a 3YO Compaq Presario CQ61 - 15.6" screen (great for watching netflix movies), 5-i Digital media reader, 3 USB ports, 3 connect options - wireless, ethernet and a 56K modem. I bought it for $380.00. Like it so much, I bought 2 more for my kids (college). They're still using theirs without any problems as well. They sell these models below $400.00 today. Didn't buy the extended warranty, can't really justify the cost given the 12 month factory warranty takes care of any infant mortality problems. I've dropped it a few times...no problems. For a 15 year-old, I think these are pretty good machines.

Hard to justify a tablet when, at these prices, laptops offer so much more storage, screen size, DVD player and WIndows applications.

[Smarmie Doofus]

9. He likes the look of this and we are leaning this way.

Going to Sears later to see if we can look at one close-up.

Thanks for the info.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. 11" MacBook Air - $999

[hobbit709]

7. a G-note for a netbook size screen?

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. I like macs but he likes pc's.

And it is a lot of $$ for a small screen.

[Smarmie Doofus]

11. Thanks everyone who responded.

I'll revisit this thread and let you know how it turned out.

[lpbk2713]

5. If you can wait another month ...

there should be some good deals on Black Friday. See what's on sale and check the reviews.

Here's one site where you can check for good deals: http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9&intagid[]=9">{Click}

[struggle4progress]

6. for cheap machines, i'm liking the acer aspire one netbooks c. $250