I'm trying to buy a laptop but I don't want to throw down a lot of cash on it. I've done some research but I'm still not sure which one is best. I have to buy it from my local Walmart so I've narrowed it down to these 3 in stock. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
1. HP 15.6" 2000-314nr Laptop PC with AMD E-450 Accelerated Processor, 1.65GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 6-cell lithium-ion battery, 4GB memory; 500GB hard drive ($341)
2. Gateway 15.6" NE56R10u Laptop PC with Intel Celeron B820 Processor, 1.70GHz, 2MB L3 Cache, 6-cell lithium-ion battery, 3GB memory; 320GB hard drive ($300)
3. Acer 17.3" AS7250-3821 Laptop PC with AMD E-Series Dual-Core E-450 Processor, 1.65GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 6-cell lithium-ion battery, 4GB memory; 500GB hard drive ($368)
All three are pretty much the low end of specs of laptops netbooks you can get i would go for the last one due to the processor being the best one in the list of all three.
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Keep in mind this has been a few years, but back when I was running a small IT shop (well actually I was a 1 man IT department) I wouldn't buy anything but HP laptops. I've worked on Gateways and Acers in the last few years (I do some computer work on the side) and they've all been about as disappointing as I remembered.
OTOH this particular HP is such a low end model I don't know that it would be any better. Especially if it's the typical Walmart exclusive which generally means cutting some corners to hit a rock bottom price. Just looking at the Walmart website it seems like there are a lot of complaints about problems with the WiFi which may or may not be caused by outdated drivers. Without knowing for sure I'd be very cautious.
If you decided to go with one of the other 2 I'd recommend the Acer for the same reason borhan9 mentioned - plus the display size but that may not matter to you. From my own experience in the last few years, having worked on a handful of low end Acers and Gateways, I'd be concerned about battery life. I have one on my bench right now that's less than 4 years old and has a battery life of around 5 minutes. That also seems to be backed up by some of the complaints I see on the Walmart site.
Of course any laptop at that price will be a compromise.
Originally posted by vurbal: Keep in mind this has been a few years, but back when I was running a small IT shop (well actually I was a 1 man IT department) I wouldn't buy anything but HP laptops. I've worked on Gateways and Acers in the last few years (I do some computer work on the side) and they've all been about as disappointing as I remembered.
OTOH this particular HP is such a low end model I don't know that it would be any better. Especially if it's the typical Walmart exclusive which generally means cutting some corners to hit a rock bottom price. Just looking at the Walmart website it seems like there are a lot of complaints about problems with the WiFi which may or may not be caused by outdated drivers. Without knowing for sure I'd be very cautious.
If you decided to go with one of the other 2 I'd recommend the Acer for the same reason borhan9 mentioned - plus the display size but that may not matter to you. From my own experience in the last few years, having worked on a handful of low end Acers and Gateways, I'd be concerned about battery life. I have one on my bench right now that's less than 4 years old and has a battery life of around 5 minutes. That also seems to be backed up by some of the complaints I see on the Walmart site.
Of course any laptop at that price will be a compromise.
good point.id be looking at the internet card speed on all of these.doesnt do any good having a 50Mb connection if the card is only good for 25.these are pretty low end but if i had to choose it would be the acer.
Thanks a ton guys. You've given me a lot of good information. I've posted on a few other forums and more people seem to be leaning towards the Acer. I'll probably take the advice and pick up the Acer.
Also, I wont be purchasing this laptop for another week so if anyone has anything to add, I would love to hear it.
