Hardware What's a Decent Yet Cheap Laptop?

[Joom]

My wife is looking for a laptop in the $400 to $500 range or so that she can use for light tasks like using a word processor and checking email. I'm not all that familiar with OEMs so I figured I'd ask here. She doesn't need anything that can do intensive multitasking or anything like that. She also wants something with a 15" screen. Is there anything out there with an i5 and like, 4 gb of RAM that would meet this budget? Storage and GPU don't have to be anything insane.

 

[jurassicplayer]

Chromebook ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[NandoLawson]

Wouldn't work with Microsoft office ;D
I'd recommend Lenovo notebooks. They have good products with great quality in every price range.

 

[jurassicplayer]

Microsoft is dumping their stuff into cloud services. It doesn't specifically even have to be Microsoft Office anyways.

 

[FAST6191]

" using a word processor and checking email."
That can be done on anything really, even more so if you want to put a SSD in it.

Go find a refurb business laptop, probably something from the Dell, maybe HP or IBM/Lenovo range if you do a bit of further looking. Make sure it is the business ranges though as the cheapo consumer ones are just as bad as any other vendor in the race the bottom.
As people have to get stuff done they usually have nice keyboards, screens that stand a chance of working in normal light, are not necessarily built like tanks (though you can buy those from the same sorts of vendors), parts are usually available if you do decide to spill/drop/get a new battery and docking stations are really nice once you start using them. Bonus is they can be had for an awful lot less than $400.
Things to watch out for. Not all will come with webcams, some may still be on Windows 7 (a bonus from where I sit but not to all), not so many come with fancy graphics chips (again a bonus from where I sit for as low performance as Intel graphics chips are they still play videos and rarely cook themselves) and not all are of the fancy consumer "lighter than a feather and slip it in between the pages of a bible" that there were still the occasional 1 gig of RAM and celeron/atom options.

 

[Joom]

I'm thinking about getting this one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M...ovo+laptop&dpPl=1&dpID=414N4sfcfKL&ref=plSrch

 

[FAST6191]

Looks like one of their consumer range. DDR3 apparently (not that I am expecting office and email to need more than 8 gigs any time soon) and only a 5400rpm spinning rust drive.

Also "17.3 inches and 6.61 lbs (about 3kg for those that don't measure in cretin)"
I like desktop replacements and roll around with a hiking rucksack as my everyday bag, however most women I meet are less inclined to carry that kind of mass and size around. If you want big for sitting in the office and occasionally going out with then do look into a docking station and just use a normal monitor (s?) and keyboard.

Also the screen is 1600x900. Workable enough but you can do better if you wanted.

 

[Joom]

She won't be using it away from home, and also suffers from aniridia. She wants a large screen with a low resolution because it's easier on her eyes.

 

[NandoLawson]

The device lools good imo.

But as @FAST6191 said, it will be a bit heavy for a notebook. But the display or the hard drive wouldn't bother me for this kind of tasks.

 

[doughmay]

If your really on a budget A decent older i5 laptop, such as a latitude e6420 from Dell, or a thicker HP elitebook

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...gclid=CMK9ldbOo9QCFQQLaQod5sEFqA&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Originality]

If you have particular requirements for the screen and don't need portability, consider a decent monitor and either a microPC (small form factor) or an ITX build.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

If just word processing, media consumption, and storing documents is really what the laptop is going to be used for; you shouldn't be throwing money into a Laptop that has something like this (in terms of specs): Intel Core i7 @3.5Ghz+, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, 1TB HDD, or even Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti M+ Gfx, or even Radion HD 6400M+. Specs like that are something more so in the gaming area. If you want something more cheap, and light; go for something like this: Intel Core i5 (Hell even core i3 will be fine), 4GB of DDR4 RAM (You can push it to 6GB, but that's just not necessary), a 512GB SSD would be fine, and Intel HD 4200+ Graphics would be fine as well.

You won't need a powerhouse of a laptop for basic functions; you can even get Windows 10 to work on Laptops from 2006. So, go for something light. Even Chromebooks are an option; and you can manage to get Windows 10 on there. But, whatever you do.... DO NOT..... BUY A MACBOOK!

 

[Originality]

MacBooks are definitely decent, but not cheap. So I would say that last part of your advise is unwarranted when the OP is looking for a decent yet cheap laptop.