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[A Man]

I'm looking to get my daughter a entry level laptop for x-mas.
Nothing too fancy, she just needs it to do the usual net surfing, downloading music, power point presentations for school, etc, etc..
Looking to keep it under $400.00

How are those Acer laptops? Any good or should I be looking at something else?

TIA

[Mike Christy]

Jon,

My friends and I have had real good luck with the Dells, the Inspirons. The 15 is at your price but the software will bump it up unfortunately. Don't know aobut the Acers...

Mike

[Dave Barto]

I have had an Acer Aspire One netbook (8.9" screen) for the past year and I love it.  It is small, but it does all of what you are wanting and it is at or under your price point.  They have 2 models now with larger screens but the same base components.  I have not had any issues with mine except for a cracked screen which was my fault (stupid overhead bins on the plane!).  The only down side is the audio sucks (small 1 inch or so speakers, and they don't get very loud) but I use desktop speakers with it when I am home or headphones on the road.  

It doesn't come with a cd drive (I have this one) or come with any software (I bought this and updated all of my home computers at the same time).

I'm going to be buying this one for my fiancee for Christmas.

[ed:sp]

[Tom Reid]

I recently replaced my thinkpad tablet with an "inexpensive" laptop.
My choice was the Asus K50IN.
I've been pleased with the performance, battery life, display, etc.

Thenerds.net currently has them for $512.

http://www.thenerds.net/ASUS.K50IN_X7S_Notebook.K50INX7S.htm l?affid=8&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=K50INX7S%5E~%5EASUS

Around here, kids get the handmedowns and the grownups get the newer more powerful machines ...Good to be King.
Yeah I know, ya don't give someone a used laptop for a gift.

You or her would be pleased with Asus.

[Mikey Brown]

I got my mom an HP for $399.00 last year. A little bigger than most but fine for her. They are out there, Staples, Office depot usually have some pretty good sales. But being a soundguy I would recommend one of theose Netbooks with XP. Under 300 and you ditch Vista.

[Charlie Zureki]

   Hello Jon,


  A netbook might be the way to go. Although, they don't have a CD/DVD drive, if there was ever a need, you could get a separate plug-in Drive.

 I/ve seen them priced as low as $160. for a brand name model.

 Acer is the king of netbook computers worldwide, Asus takes second place. Asus was founded by an Engineer that worked for (and prodded) Acer to actually Make/Market the first netbook.

 When they said "no" to his idea.... he started his Asus Company.

Either of these would probably be a wise choice since they combined have about 85% of the Market, with HP coming in third (and rising in sales)

 I've seen some really well packaged netbooks for about $200.

My kids go thru computers like I go though cellphones (I was going to say girlfriends, but...never know who's reading this ) The netbooks will be their Laptop's replacement....

Good Luck, I'm sure she'll be excited with any model you get her.... you're a good Dad

Cheers,
Hammer

ps. if you buy from BB, get their warranty that covers dropping/breaking... it has come in handy....

[Ben Johnson]

Mikey Brown wrote on Wed, 16 December 2009 16:10

But being a soundguy I would recommend one of theose Netbooks with XP. Under 300 and you ditch Vista.

I hate not having a disk drive on my netbook.  Yeah, I could buy a separate burner.  But that plus the lack of CPU power has my idling shopping for a full size laptop instead.

I'd probably give the netbook to my girlfriend, who would have no problem with it, for doing lots of writing and paperwork.

Ben

[Mikey Brown]

True, and if i was a kid I'd probably want something larger, that I could watch dvd's and game on. But do those kids even use disks anymore. lol

[Adam Whetham]

Ben Johnson wrote on Wed, 16 December 2009 16:53

Mikey Brown wrote on Wed, 16 December 2009 16:10 But being a soundguy I would recommend one of theose Netbooks with XP. Under 300 and you ditch Vista. I hate not having a disk drive on my netbook.  Yeah, I could buy a separate burner.  But that plus the lack of CPU power has my idling shopping for a full size laptop instead. I'd probably give the netbook to my girlfriend, who would have no problem with it, for doing lots of writing and paperwork. Ben

Meither my netbook and Motion computing tablet don't have disc drives... Then again, I really don't have a need for a CD drive anymore... Everything I do is network or USB based. I have a USB CD drive from a few years ago That i take with me when their might be the chance I need it.

I guess everything I run on site doesn't need that much power. Yamaha studio manager, audio playback. I don't do much system tuning yet as I don't own a copy of Smaart.

[Andy Zimmerman]

I bought my wife an Acer a couple of years ago at one of Wal Mart's pre-Black Friday sales for $350. It is a decent entry level computer - plenty for her to sit and surf the net. No complaints yet - the only issue came when my oldest daughter spilled a glass of apple juice all over the keyboard. Ended up having to replace the keyboard.