RedDevil
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Posts posted by RedDevil
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Sears has a 14 inch ASUS laptop online right now for $208.99: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00310658000P
Update: Looks like it is sold out now ...
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will those be ok for just surfing the net? what about playing games........nothing major just kids' games with Flash on Disney and Nick Jr. type websites.
Yes, they should be sufficient for surfing and some basic kids games.
I would recommend the Lenovo with the AMD E-300 dual core processor over the Compaq with the (slower) dual core AMD C-60.
The AMD E-300 will also have significantly better integrated Radeon HD 6310 graphics.
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Thanks so much! Just saw that. Will keep my eye out for that one. I have always bought Dell...Are Asus's okay? She is only 11 so she doesn't need much.
Asus it the most reliable laptop brand, I think. They are in the top for sure.
I tend to stay away from HP/Compaq. At work we have nothing but problems with HP as well.
Lenovo in another very reliable brand.
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Thanks so much!!
You're welcome!
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The only thing my 11 year old daughter requested this year was her own laptop. She uses my husbands old one. She wants a pink one. Can anyone direct me to any of the stores that might have a pink laptop? Specs don't have to be great as she is only 11 and she doesn't play games on it. Mostly just goes to youtube for videos and such. Thank you so much.
Best Buy has a pink Asus. Current price is $312.99 it appears. SKU is 5732476.
Not sure if the link will work, but here it is: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus---14%26%2334%3B-Laptop---4GB-Memory---320GB-Hard-Drive---Matte-Pink/5732476.p?id=1218688220484&skuId=5732476
It's in the black friday ad as well for $249.99
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Do you think the $179 Compaq Presario laptop in the WM BF ad is this one:
Or is a "special buy" a specific one that they don't typically carry?
We've already bought one from BB for $250 back in September that was 2 GB/320 GB like this one, but we are trying to compare, since the BB one was a Toshiba and we paid $250. We are getting it for our soon to be 9 year old for the online games he likes to play (Roblox, Free Realms, Webkinz), as well as for school work, with the intention that this will last a few years, hopefully 3, at least...
No, that is not the correct laptop.
The $179 Walmart laptop is the CQ58-bf9WM listed here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Compaq-Pacific-Blue-15.6-CQ58-bf9WM-Laptop-PC-with-AMD-Dual-Core-C-80-Processor-and-Windows-8-Operating-System/21150616
They do have it marked incorrectly by the way. The processor is an AMD C-60. Not C-80 as they list in the title.
The AMD C-60 is a pretty weak performer. Way below the AMD E-300 even.
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jamieva was referring to the laptop from Best Buy, not Fry's. Weren't they different ones?
If the reference was to the 2011 BestBuy Lenovo G575 laptop it was: 179.99
You can see in here: http://www.stlpcwizard.com/BF2011/Best%20Buy%20-%20BF%202011.pdf
The laptops were similar, but the Frys one had better specs.
**Best Buy: AMD E-300 processor, 2 USB ports, 1 mono speaker (in most), 2GB RAM, 250 GB Hard drive: $179.99
**Frys: AMD E-350 processor (a bit faster), 4 USB ports, 2 stereo speakers, 3GB RAM, 320 GB Hard drive: $178.00
I noticed that the current cheapest 2012 black friday laptops (at Walmart [$179 Compaq] & Best Buy [$187.99 Lenovo]) have the old AMD E-300 [$187.99 Lenovo] and AMD C-60 [$179 Compaq] processors.
I would stay away from those unless you know how to install more memory, turn off Windows services, stop many programs from auto starting, and the like.
The C-60 especially is very weak. It will work for browsing and some light tasks and editing, but not real multi-tasking.
I'm surprised by the lack of real laptop deals so far to be honest. Like a $230/$250 Core i3 or so.
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I got the Lenovo BF deal at BB last year. It was either 179 or 199 and it's a brick. Locks up constantly and even when it did work it was extremely slow. Just know that if you get a sub $200 laptop it's nowhere near top of the line and if you want it to do anything beyond basic computing it will not work for that. Invest more and buy a $300-$400 machine or you will be buying another one in less than 2 years.
I respectfully disagree on both.
The laptop was $178.00
Look for yourself: http://www.stlpcwizard.com/BF2011/Fry%27s%20-%20Thanksgiving%202011.pdf
In addition, as I mentioned previously, you need to put some work into improving the speed like turning off unneeded services, uninstall junk software, etc. It's not a brick.
This can be achieved by free software (for example):
*CCleaner
*PC Decrapifier
*Autoruns
*Revo Uninstaller
and many others
Also follow some of these guides to improve the speed of your laptop even more:
* http://www.computingunleashed.com/speed-up-windows-7-ultimate-guide-to.html
* http://www.askvg.com/windows-7-services-that-can-be-safely-set-to-manual/
* http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-ways-to-speed-up-windows-7/3332
No need to do all the items mentioned. Just try it out and see what you prefer or need.
Once you are finished with that this $178 Lenovo laptop is far from a brick. (I'm typing on it right now.)
This will work for most computers.
Now, this black friday, most (if not all) laptops will have the new Windows 8. I'm not familiar with that yet.
In conclusion, I agree that a laptop with an AMD E-300, E-350, E-450, and the newer E1-1200 and E2-1800 are not fast. These are not even close to an Intel Core i3. However, if you know what to do to speed it up, $178 is an amazing deal!
Happy hunting!
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I think there will be plenty of sub-$300 laptops in the next few weeks. As I posted, Best Buy as been having one in the $249 range for the last couple of weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to see more $179 Doorbusters like last year. I recall two; one was at BB but I can't remember where the other was. Also, if they are doing college work (as mine is), you can invest in MS Office through Microsoft's website. College students can get the full version MS Office 2010 University for about $99. I got mine for less two years ago but it's a lot better than $120 for the Home & Student Edition but you can get it for $149 for 3 users but it only has 4 programs with it. Plus, if you buy MS Office University 2010 now you get to upgrade to MS Office 2013 for FREE (next spring).
http://dri1.img.digitalrivercontent.net/DRHM/Storefront/Company/msstore/images/software/pdp/en-US_Office_University_2010_Buy_Now_AE_3TF-00001.jpg
If you want to save more money, you can download a FREE program called OpenOffice from HERE. It is a great alternative and fully compatible with MS Office. I've had both over the years.
http://www.openoffice.org/images/AOO_logos/OOo_Website_v2_copy.png
Even though OpenOffice is free, I prefer MS Office. When I was on a budget, I was using OpenOffice. It works great and is not something someone through together; It is a top notch program IMO. Hope that helps.
Frys.com had a doorbuster dual core, 3 GB RAM, webcam Lenovo laptop for $178 last year. It was available online as well. I'm typing on it right now.
I imagine this year we will see a $160 (or so) 15.6 inch laptop.
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Thanks. I actually got the email from Best Buy this morning and purchased the laptop you just posted $274. I went back and checked on the Chromebook and even though it said it was shipping same day it was back ordered in my account. Plus I just realized that she couldn't add iTunes to it which is kind of a big deal because I would like to get my iTunes library back. We were sharing and I'm tired of listening to Kids Bop!
I would highly recommend not getting this $275 BestBuy laptop. It has an old and very slow processor. It has an AMD E-300. BestBuy's doorbuster laptop 12 months ago has this same E-300 and it sold for $179. Now this same processor is yet another year older. This is not a deal. I'm sorry. There will be much better deals.
Look at the frys.com deals every friday morning (4 AM or so). I just got a new ASUS X54C 15.6 inch laptop from them for $218 (no taxes either for me) with an Intel B820 processor, HDMI and USB-3. It's almost 3 times faster compared to this underpowered AMD E-300. The E-300 is similar to an Atom netbook processor. Unless you know how to turn off a lot of the Windows processes, turn off Areo, use an antivirus that has a small footprint, etc.: stay away from the AMD series with: E-300, E-350, E-450 and the newer E1-1200 and E2-1800. Too slow and will bog down quite quickly.
You can look them up at: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
:-)
My 2 cents.
Official Black Friday LAPTOP Discussion Thread
in 2012
Posted