Best Laptop For The Money?

I want to surprise my wife with a much needed new laptop. My budget is under $500. Is there anything good out there for the money?

Mainly, she just uses Office, e-mail, and saves pictures.

Any ideas/recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

 

I know Dell makes a notebook/netbook in that price range. Laptops usually start in the $1100 range and up.

 

Have you heard of a netbook?

For what your wife wants, I think that would be a good way to go. I just ordered an Asus and have done a little reserch on it if you are interested.

 

I bought my mom an Asus Netbook with Windows 7....its pretty good I suppose but they are a tad slow IMO.

 

Just ordered a newer version (suppose to be out 1/15/10) that has more capasity and should be quicker ((better intel chip ) But yes I have heard the knock about speed (although poeple still love their netbook) . . . which is why I decided to wait rather than get the current version.

 

Just stay away from Sony, HP and more recently, Dell.

Stick with Asus, Lenovo or Toshiba.

 

We buy a lot of Dells for the company and they are all great. The trick is - is not to buy the consumer versions (Inspirion) - but to go for the small office/home office models (Vostro) - you do not get all the bells and whistles for the buck, but you get much better construction and long-term reliability.

 

I've found in the past 5 years, Dells have gotten increasingly unreliable. Had a lot of issues with blinking amber power supplies.

 

I have an iBook and an iMac

I'm a Mac man.

 

yeah, i'm loving my macbook.

 

I like HP laptops now. Solid and reliable. For desktops, Dell has been good for me.

Wife has something similar to this one and she loves it:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP - La...lack/9545138.p?id=1218122580087&skuId=9545138

 

www.bluehippo.com

 

I have been rocking a Vostro 15XX for quite some time now. I think I bought at least 10 of these babies for the company over the last couple of years. Not one of them gave us any problems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200027

 

Thanks for the input, guys! .......................processing.

Question: If I purchase a laptop with XP or Vista, can I somehow upgrade to W7 for free?

 

you should be able to but why not just buy it with it already installed? depends if they have upgrade pricing, but if you're buying a clearance computer, probably not.

 

No, you can't upgrade for free, but I doubt you'll find any new computers with XP on it.

 

I've been upgrading my desktop lately, and have bought from all of these places at different times.
ewiz.com
axiontech.com
ncixus.com
pcconnection.com
zipzoomfly.com
and newegg.com of course.

 

DANG!! I think I just may jump on this deal.

Thanks!!