Laptop recommendation needed

[halo71]

I need some help. I need to find a laptop for my 14 year old daughter. Her's went out yesterday. Something wrong with the graphics card I think. No display. I hooked up another monitor to it and still nothing.

Anyways...I prefer to stay away from Toshiba and Gateway. I don't know enough about Lenovo's, ASUS is out of the budget. I've always had good luck with HP laptops. It must be something from Best Buys since it is going on the charge card! Budget needs to be in the $300 range. Prefer it to have at least 4GB memory.

It has been so long since I bought a computer I really don't know what to look for these days. Any help would be appreciated.

[zane77]

Check CNET.com to see what their recomendations are for a pretty good start

[Syndil]

$300 isn't going to go very far at Best Buy. I'd skip them and head right for the Lenovo Outlet at http://outlet.lenovo.com/ . Inventory changes constantly (even minute by minute) so you never know what you'll find there. I've scored some insanely good deals there. At the time I am writing this, looks like the best bet in the $300 range is this G580:

http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary...&Code=59RF0011

i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, webcam, 15", 500GB HDD. There's only 8 left but they get new stuff in all the time.

Next best deal appears to be this one:

http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary...5&Code=6272XF1

$380, but worth it to me for the faster 7200 RPM HDD, and the fact that it's a business-class laptop rather than a consumer laptop. Of course, only one left, so it might be gone by the time you read this.

[WilliamM2]

We buy a lot of laptops and have always had the best reliability from Toshiba, Asus, and Lenovo, especially on cheaper laptops. Not many choices for $300 though.

This Lenvo looks pretty good, but it doesn't specify if it's 64 bit Win 8 or not.:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo+-...&skuId=8814643

This Toshiba is rated higher than most the Lenovo's, specifies 64 bit, and has a larger drive for $20 less:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+...&skuId=7705045

Too bad you are limiting yourself to Best Buy, credit cards work anywhere.

[WilliamM2]

$300 isn't going to go very far at Best Buy. I'd skip them and head right for the Lenovo Outlet at http://outlet.lenovo.com/ . Inventory changes constantly (even minute by minute) so you never know what you'll find there. I've scored some insanely good deals there. At the time I am writing this, looks like the best bet in the $300 range is this G580:

http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary...&Code=59RF0011

i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, webcam, 15", 500GB HDD. There's only 8 left but they get new stuff in all the time.

Next best deal appears to be this one:

http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary...5&Code=6272XF1

$380, but worth it to me for the faster 7200 RPM HDD, and the fact that it's a business-class laptop rather than a consumer laptop. Of course, only one left, so it might be gone by the time you read this.

Refurbs?

[Syndil]

Yep, with 1-year warranties.