On the Cheap: Best Buy to Sell $249 Laptop

I'm wondering how that would match up against, say, a pentium m 1.6 laptop. Those can still be gotten off of craigslist.

Acer is Linux friendly and this will make descent laptop right after you wipe the DRM infection off the HD and install Linux.

I was going to say the exact same thing only minus the DRM stuff...

Would make an excellent Linux box. I like the idea of Linux on laptops since most of the time you can't really play games on them anyhow so its the perfect situation to install a nice Linux distro.

And Vista bloated with ads and evaluation software, and will blow up in a year or two... And what do people who buy this say to us whet it does blow up? "Hey I know nothing about computers, the guy at the store said it was a really good machine!" and what do we tell them? "Hep, you get what you pay for. And that guy got his commission."

anyways, +1 to Regulas

I'm sorry for my last post, it's just that I HATE cheap ass products and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone except for really short term use. It's just like that first

huh? something went bad, my last post got cut... Here's what follows:

It's just like that first under-100$ blueray player we had here on the news last year: just happened to be a darn pile of crap that catches fire after a few weeks/months.

Its not a laptop its a netbook. Laptops a little larger go for about 400-500.

DAMN!

I've gotta buy my daughter her first laptop for next school year and I sure as hell ain't gonna wimp out and buy her a piece'O'Crap just cause I could save a few hundred dollars on it.

I want to make sure I get her something she will be able to use for All her school work no matter what the work may be, whether it's graphics, movie production, Arts, 3-D rendering, Programming, what ever she may need it for.

After all, you get your child a cheapo laptop, you're only limiting what they can do where as if you get them something really good, at least they may be able to do better than they otherwise would have done.

Remember, you get what you pay for and education is not something to go cheap on.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Acer laptops.

I guess this is the one they are talking about.

"Asus - Eee PC Netbook with Intel® Celeron® Processor - Black: Our Price:$249.99"

Here is the spec:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+- [...] Id=9447495

By the way... that is from Asus.. not Acer. I have not found any laptop/netbook w/ Celeron at $245 from Acer on Bestbuy's website yet (as of 11/11 2:27pm EST)

outch, that's gonna hurt our trust towards TH

The spec of that Asus seems not fit w/ the laptop Toms was talking about.

Since, Bestbuy has seperated laptop and netbook... so they may be talking about a upcoming $245 "laptop" not "netbook".

If that was the case... then my bad...

outch, that's gonna hurt our trust towards you

Laptop for school - Your daughter may need graphics and 3d capabilities, but when I was in school, I used openoffice and a few web games. I struggle to think of anything else I really needed. Typing notes in class, writing papers, making presentations, using spreadsheets. This is what most every student will need. You are the exception and their sales will definitely agree.

It will probably end up under $200 in Canada since the U.S dollar is sinking like the titanic.

1 CAD (closing) = 0.9457 0.9523 USD

And it has been like that for weeks, even months.
The strong CAD was more than a year ago! Keep up pal

Sorry dudes, already sold out.

ugh... finally... I found the one they were talking about.

"Acer - Extensa Laptop with Intel® Celeron® Processor - Black " "Model: EX5230E-2177 | SKU: 9632183"


Cadder was right, It is $249.... but it is already sold out on website... now store only.



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+- [...] Id=9632183

Indeed, I had noticed the Acer laptop earlier. Never the less, $299 isn't a bad deal for those looking for basic laptop computing power.

Why is the writing always so sloppy in these articles?
"The dawn of netbooks have meant getting..." HAS, it's has.

McEntegart is also guilty of misusing "to beg the question," but I have a feeling that is too pedantic a point for this crowd. Cheers.

@pharge

thank you. i really could not find it at first.

Its amazing how many people will buy this cheap machine, just to replace it in a year or two with another cheap machine. Its adequate for email and basic web surfing. Or running linux. As basic as basic computing gets. Once you include the bloatware that does in fact come installed (F-ing Norton!!!), it's not even adequate for basic computing since it's too busy protecting itself.

It's a laptop that's sold at $249. Clearly, a lot of people still don't understand the exact term for a netbook. Price doesn't explain shit for netbooks. (No offense)

Not to mention that Norton doesn't even protect it against the nasty stuff, rendering the whole laptop useless and forcing them buy a new laptop.

Well, schools are not standing still these days, they are progressing as technology becomes more prevalent in the classroom.

I'll spend what I have to for my daughter's education. As it is, she'll be needing MS Office. For Graphics and Web development I'll probably get her the CS4 package. That should cover most of her software needs. For any other specific needs, I'll consult with her teachers.

In our household, I'm the Systems Administrator which means that I will have full control over my daughter's laptop, what get's installed on it and how it gets configured.

Did anyone notice it's on Windows 7 64-bit with the required minimum of 2GB RAM? They should of just stuck with the 32-bit version since many consumers might not even know the difference between 64-bit and 32-bit, causing.

Education is nothing to go cheap on(tuition and books are killing me), but you can't justify buying a laptop for extensive applications like graphics rendering, programming, video editing, etc. You'd need a desktop for that and you'd save so much more money for getting the performance you'd want for your daughter with a desktop than paying a lot more for very limited performance with a laptop.

Straight from the Best Buy release (linked in the article but can be found here):

"The assortment, coupled with new technologies and promotional offers like the $249.99 Acer laptop, are intended to help both customers who want to upgrade their own gear with the arrival of Windows 7, and who have computing on their wish lists for holiday."

I can easily justify spending the money on a laptop that would have the performance requirements for such needs. A Multi-core 64-Bit Windows 7 Laptop with at least a 17" or larger LED screen.

I can Justify this a lot easier than spending the money things I don't need such as a Lift Kit for my Jeep or games for my computer or my Gaming Console or what ever else I might be tempted to spend my money on that I really don't need.

As for a Desktop, we already have more than one system that would easily fill the application needs. Although I hope to build a new one after I get my daughter a new laptop.

That notebook is sold out online already.

" Acer laptop is sold out online, may still be available at your local store!


Today only, Wednesday, November 11th, Best Buy is offering the Acer Extensa 5230 Laptop w/ 2.2GHz Processor, 2GB Memory, 160GB Hard-Drive, DVD Writer, 15.4" Screen and Windows 7 Premium for $249.

This is Best Buy's lowest-advertised-price laptop to date. These won't last long and quantities are limited! "

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