CHEAPEST LAPTOPS OF 2008

So you have been looking for the latest great deal on a laptop, eh? It seems like everyone is these days. With the way the economy is doing and the fact that everyone is scraping by on pennies does not throw out the need to continue running your business and upgrading your equipment.


I want to let you know that instead of actually testing these for myself, I am basing my reviews on consumer reports.


The first laptop is the Dell Vostro 1500. The price tag is usually somewhere around $500.00. Some have labled it the best cheap laptop overall and I would agree. It is supposed to be a business laptop but does have the power to handle a lot of the other stuff you might want to use it for as well. Many have described it as an “ugly duckling” as there really is nothing special about this one. One other thing to note is that you might consider upgrading this one which would put the price closer to $600.00. For this price you will be in good hands with a nice Core 2 Duo processor, 2 gigs of RAM, and a hefty 250GB hard drive, not to mention a DVD burner. This little fatty is 7 pounds and has a 15.4 inch screen, again, not the prettiest.


I am a fan of Dell as I had my own Dell laptop and never had any problems with it. So, I will stick with the same brand and give second place to Dell’s Latitude D630. The reason it sits at second place is because it is a bit more expensive. Unlike the Vostro 1500, this one does have a newer look to it. It has the lightweight construction that many people are wanting as it weighs in only at 4.5 pounds. This is again another business oriented laptop but still has a lot of power to do other things with it.


The third laptop would have to be given to Asus Eee PC 4G. This laptop is the cheapest of the three with a price tag of about $350.00. The downside is that this thing is not made for old people with bad eyesight. It has a tiny 7 inch display screen. This also probably is not for the non-technical group either. This laptop actually runs Linux, a less popular, but more stable operating system than Windows. This also means several types of software will not be ran on this machine without a little bit of configuring. Another downside is that it only holds 4GB of data. The upside is that it is supposed to be good for kids or beginners to play on. The limitations on it though would prevent it from being ideal for all buyers.


Your best bet is to not be afraid to shop or around or ask other technical gurus around you what would be best for your situation. If you are into downloading lots of applications and movies and that type of thing, you probably need lots of storage. Whereas, a gamer would be looking for a higher end video card and less emphasis on the storage space that it has. The casual internet surfer would probably be looking for just a good all-around system and utilize only an on-board video source with potential to upgrade in the future. Basically, do not be afraid to shop around, there are several types of laptops that will fit what you need all within the same price range. Make sure you find one that will fit what you want to use it for or you may find yourself with something you are not happy with.