Cheap New Laptops - Three Of The Best

I realize that "cheap" is in the eye of the beholder.This laptop weighs a little over 6 pounds, which
Not only that -- the laptops in this article might notmakes it lighter than the comparable Dell laptop.
even be as cheap as something you could get offWhen you add the AC adapter it brings the whole
eBay or even as inexpensive as a refurbished laptop.thing up to a little over 7 pounds.
But, face it: new laptops are almost always going toThe screen is 15.4 inches wide, with a kind of a shiny
be more expensive than the equivalently configuredfinish that makes colors very bright and vibrant,
desktop PC because of the need for miniaturizationalthough it gives the appearance a bit of a glare in
of the components. And laptops have to usebright sunlight or next to a window.
different (more expensive) technologies to maximizeThe keyboard is very comfortable. The touchpad has
battery life.an on-off button. This is very cool because it keeps
Bottom line: you're going to pay more for a laptop; oryour cursor from flying off in the wrong direction if
you're going to get less laptop for your dollaryour hand passes over the touchpad while using an
compared to a desktop PC.external mouse. This laptop has a decent number of
That said, these three laptops -- Sony VAIO, HPports including a FireWire port, a VGA port, S-video
Pavilion, and Dell Latitude -- are all solid buys in aand 3 USB 2.0 ports. You also get a microphone jack
range of prices that is very competitive for brandand two headphone jacks.
new equipment. And they come from decentAs far as processors go, you have a couple of
companies and offer you a range of features as well.choices. You can do a 1.86 GHz Celeron or a 2.0 GHz
Let's get started...Core Duo. This laptop can be configured for up to 2
Sony VAIO N170GTGB of RAM, and it'll work with hard drives of up to
The nice thing about this Sony model is that it200 GB in capacity.
doesn't have a lot of junky frills on it. It is a cleanBottom line: it's got lots of entertainment features,
looking design that is stylish, too. The screen is veryyou can configure it lots of different ways and it is
bright, yet you don't get a lot of glare. The speedvery affordable. Brand-new out-of-the-box, you can
and performance is okay -- nothing to brag about,get one for as little as $600-$800 plus tax and
but for the price it's not bad. The battery is good forshipping.
probably around four hours. That's enough to watchDell Latitude D600
a movie if you're on a plane flight, but again -- nothingThe D series laptops from Dell use the Pentium M
to write home about.which comes in 1.3GHz, 1.4GHz, and 1.6GHz speeds--all
On the downside, this laptop uses an older Intel Corepaired with Intel's new 855PM chipset. You can this
Duo processor. This processor comes with integratedlaptop with between 128MB - 2GB of fast 266MHz
graphics, which means that the performance is not toDDR SDRAM. It also comes with a faster 40GB hard
be that great. But again, you're not paying a lot ofdrive, or a choice of 20GB, 30GB, and 60GB drives
money, relatively speaking, or this laptop. If you'rerunning at slower speed.
going to install Windows Vista on this machine you'reIt's got a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics
going to want to upgrade the memory.chip. There are a number of swappable modules for
Overall, this model of Sony's VAIO gives you a goodthe single internal bay, including CD, DVD, CD-RW,
price, but doesn't give you a really powerfulDVD/CD-RW, floppy, a second hard drive, or a
processor. But the laptop looks great and it's verysecond battery.
stylish and attractive. If looks count and you want toThe average-sized, 14.1-inch screen isn't super. But it
save some bucks, this is a great machine. Brand-new,comes with a pretty good 1,400x1,050 native
out-of-the-box this model will set you back aboutresolution. (You can also save a few bucks by opting
$1100 plus tax and shipping.for the 1,024x768 display instead.)
HP Pavilion dv6205usIt's very fast, and it includes an integrated wireless
This laptop is part of the HP Pavilion DV6000 series,antenna that is of the dual-band type. This means
and it is designed to appeal to the mass market. It isthat if you are within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot that
a very stylish laptop with a shiny finish -- designed toruns either "b" or "g" wireless protocols, this laptop
appeal to the same customers who might consider awill be compatible with either protocol. It also has
Sony or an Apple laptop. It's got a series of high-endbuilt-in Bluetooth.
components and multimedia features at a price that'sOn the downside, this laptop is part of the D-series
lower than the comparable Dell laptop.notebooks for Dell which means it will not be
For example, this laptop has some pretty nice stereocompatible with C-series Dell laptops. This means that
speakers from Altec Lansing. They're located aboveif you have a C-series docking station, you're out of
the controls. But be aware that if you close the topluck. And if you have media modules that are for
the sound gets can get muffled. This laptop also hasanother C-series notebook you'll have the same
a 1.3 megapixel WebCam built right in, as well as twolimitation.
microphones. There is a row of buttons above theOverall, this is a very thin and light notebook
keyboard that launches different features like thecomputer at a fantastic price -- $400, plus tax and
media player, volume-control and playback. The keysshipping.
look nice, but they make a really annoying beepingConclusion
sound when you press them (and you can't reallyNo matter how you define "cheap," these three
turn that off either).laptops give you a great value.