any good cheap laptops?

i am looking for a laptop in the sub $600 range. does anyone know of a laptop that has relatively robust performance? i am not looking for a crazy gaming laptop, but something that is going to hold up and perform better than the 1.7ghz single core (intel m), 1gb ram that i have now.

anyone know of any good deals? is refurbed the best way to go here?

thanks!

http://www.dell.com/outlet

Nothing but good luck. I have a laptop going on 6 years from the refurb site.

Dell also has the new mini but I think it is to light in the performance for what you want. Fully loaded $500 to good to pass up.

http://www.dell.com/content/product...top-inspiron-9?c=us&cs=19&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs

If you're looking to game, netbooks like the mini are out of the question. If gaming isn't an issue, and you do want a netbook, look no further than the ASUS Eee PC 1000H for $450. For another $30 you can add a 2gb stick of RAM.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009302&prodlist=celebros

Ashura said:

If you're looking to game, netbooks like the mini are out of the question. If gaming isn't an issue, and you do want a netbook, look no further than the ASUS Eee PC 1000H for $450. For another $30 you can add a 2gb stick of RAM.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009302&prodlist=celebros

Click to expand...

The Asus Atom machines have the processing power of the old Pentium III's and since he already has a P4, he needs something more substantial if he wants to see a performance boost.

I don't think you will find much under $600 that will show a big boost. Those p4-m machines are pretty nice (I just bought one p4-1.8ghz for a friend).

Just keep an eye out for the Best Buy ad.

Every Sunday we have a $500-600 laptop. Typical stats for the $500 are Dual Core Pentium (Core based), 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive, 15.4" screen. Typical stats for the $600 are either: 15.4" screen, Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz 2mb L2, 3gb ram, 250gb hard drive, Intel 4500/3100 Integrated or a 14.1" AMD Turion/Athlon X2, 3gb/4gb, 250gb ram.

Just make sure you walk in on Sunday or Monday and not a day after that or you'll be stuck having to pay for the "optimized" ones or they'll be sold out entirely.

A very good laptop can be had for $600 if you're willing to pay tax. Just this week, Best Buy has this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9035572&type=product&id=1218010849257
Toshiba for $499 with Dual Core AMD, 3gb, 250gb hard drive, ATI integrated card, 15.4". It's ugly, but I promise you it's better than buying a "used Pentium 4 M" laptop on Craigslist.

If you don't want to go with those, get a Dell Outlet. Those are AWESOME. Check Slickdeals.net coupon forum for coupons on them. You can sometimes get as much as 30% off an outlet Studio or Inspiron. Typically the deal will be $500 can get you a Core 2 Duo, 320gb, Bluetooth, 3gb ram, wifi, webcam, any color you want. $600 can get you dedicated graphics card on a studio laptop.

Dell is pretty much the cheapest option.

Combined with the dell student discount, you get a really great deal.

Buy used corporate leased laptops. Many of these will still have 1-2 years of factory warranty remaining on them. Ebay also has some great deals on used business notebooks.
Ex: http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-6910P-Busine...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14