Needs Suggestions for $400-$500 Laptop

[deedubbadoo]

My mother-in-law is looking to purchase a new laptop. She doesn't need anything too terribly fancy, but something that will be a solid performer for years to come.

Basic requests:

15.6" Screen (No 17" as she will be taking this with her frequently)
No CPU preference (Intel i Series or AMD APUs would be fine)
At least 4GB Ram
Preferably a 500GB HDD (for pictures of the kids)

She is looking to purchase something this week.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jmsellars1]

I would go for either a Sandy Bridge i3 (ie. i3-2xxx) or an AMD A6 or A8. They should all be decent performers and come with decent graphics and acceptable battery life. Basically good all around performance.

This seems like a really good deal to me, the A8's should be a bit better than an i3, supposedly competitive with mobile i5's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215258


This should be pretty close in performance if you choose to go with Intel (The AMD one should be slightly better in most aspects though):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834158284

 

[deedubbadoo]

The HP machine you linked to was the same one I was looking at this morning. I tried to build one on their site, and it looks like a pre-configured one on Newegg was a little cheaper.

 

[deedubbadoo]

Ended up going with the HP. It arrived today, and setup was a breeze. Pleasantly surprised by the little amount of bloatware on the machine, not to mention, its pretty snappy!

 

[deedubbadoo]

Best answer selected by deedubbadoo.

 

[jmsellars1]

Great! Glad it's treating you well.