Talk to me about PC laptops...

[wvasweetness]

It pains me to even talk about it since I'm a Mac girl all the way... :p

We just found out that DH will be working out of town for awhile (will be home on the weekends) - he leaves on Monday! :(

We need to shop this weekend for a small laptop for him to take with him... basically something to surf the internet, check email... the basics. Either want one with a built-in camera or buy a camera separately to plug in so that we can talk with him in the evenings.

I don't really want to dump $1000 into a Macbook Air, so I think a small-ish PC laptop will be the way to go. Maybe one of the Mini ones, or just a smaller basic one...

Any recs? Or any that you DON'T rec?

[disneyaddict]

We have always had Dell laptops, except for one Acer. We've never had any problems with them.

For your husband, I would suggest a Netbook. We have a small Gateway (it had the longest battery power) that is great. I have Microsoft Office installed on it; and it can run that without any problems. For what you guys need, it would serve its purpose, plus if you travel much, it fits into your purse (if it's a bigger size) perfectly so it would serve a purpose long term. (That's why I got the Netbook.)

[Randa]

I have a gateway laptop and really like it. But I wouldn't say the battery power is great...about 2 hours at best per battery.
I have 3 friends with those tiny Acers (they use them for work) and they love them.

[AmyM]

I got a Dell and so far love it. Last computer was Dell and it lasted 7 yrs. Still going, but you can imagine what a dinasour it is now. Mine is a discontinued model I grabbed on clearance. Inspiron 1750. 500gb hard drive, 2. something processor, 17.3 screen, windows 7, microsoft office, webcam, and other stuff I don't know how to use LOL for $600.

As bad as I hate wal-mart, you might can find some deals at places like that.

5 hour battery, but less if you have the screen cranked all the way up on bright. I can't complain with that

[DawnMarch]

We have a little Toshiba Netbook for traveling. It is good for e-mail and web browsing on the road but I can't recall if it has a camera. The down-sides to the netbooks are the tiny screen which can be annoying and the smaller keyboard.

[MamaBee]

My hubby just got a Netbook for Christmas... he loves that it's light and super ease to travel with... but it is small and took a bit to get use to. After a lot of research (hubby is an engineer and really into technology...) he decided on the Acer Aspire. It's our second Acer we have had... no problems. It has a nice little price tag of $299 (at Office Depot (http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/814914/Acer-Aspire-One-AO532h-2588-10/), where we got ours)... which looks like the same price at Target and Walmart, give or take $$ for color.

ETA: It is pretty powerful for the size... my hubby also edits huge audio files on it.

[MadiLove918]

DH purchased a Toshiba laptop for me for my birthday and I have had nothing but an awesome experience with it. It's speedy, I love the Win 7 OS, and the keyboard is very comfortable. My mom and her BF both own Toshiba laptops and adore their's, as well.

DH also purchased a Compaq for himself last month (Best Buy had a steal of a deal) and he has had nothing but a positive experience with his laptop as well.

We both have full sized computer with 17" screens. I'm not sure how much he paid for my computer but I know he scored his Compaq for $300 and it's right up there with the specs of mine.

GL with your hunt!

[disneyaddict]

Quick note- the Gateway netbook that we have does have better battery life than the regular notebooks that we have- I think it is right around 6 1/2 to 7 hours- and it gets every minute of that.

[g8rbeckie]

http://www.woot.com/

today's deal at WOOT - an Acer netbook for $239.