Should I buy a Acer Laptop for my cousin?

[slimlite]

Hi I'm really confused about Acer Laptops. My cousin's b-day is coming up soon and he wants a laptop he said he would use it for teen stuff like music, videos, and pics and school hes 16 by the way i dont want to spend no more than 500 on it should i get him a acer laptop or are there any other brands out there please help me.

 

[justgofaster]

Micro Center has an Acer Aspire laptop for just $360.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0279267

It only has 512 MB RAM, so Vista will probably torture him. But he can upgrade the RAM himself, or install ubuntu on it.

(It's not the most advanced laptop out there, but it's a good buy).

 

[mike_n_herrin]

you are going to be hard pressed (i think) to find a new laptop for your price range.

if you are ok with refurbished laptops or "older" models then you could check out tigerdirect: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:2509|&Sort=4
those in that link are 14" screens though.

here is a decent older acer that has been recertified for only $419
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115459

 

[justgofaster]

^ Thanks, Mike. I forgot about tigerdirect. They've got several acer laptops for under $500:

Acer Aspire 4315-2963 $470
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3612364&CatId=1905

Acer TravelMate 2480 2779 $400
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3387786&CatId=1905

Acer Aspire 3050 1066 $500
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3119177&CatId=1898

Acer Aspire 4315-2004 $400
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3521315&CatId=1905

Acer Aspire 3680 2633 $450
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3387657&CatId=1905

Acer Aspire 5315-2142 $480
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3636181&CatId=1905

Acer Aspire 5315-2142 $500
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3591484&CatId=1905


I'd still say the best buy overall is the $360 acer laptop from Micro Center, though (see above). The only reservation I have about the Micro Center acer is that the optical drive will not burn DVDs (plays DVDs and CDs, but burns only CDs). It's a very nice gift, though. (And if he really needs it, for $70, the kid can get a usb DVD DL burner from Micro Center - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0258348).

 

[Apollo]

Look around the stores for laptops. I found my Acer laptop for 500 bucks from Best Buy brand new. It came with 2GB Ram, 1.9ghrtz processor and Vista Home Premium with built in camera and microphone, and all the other cool things. It is the best computer I have ever had.

Look on Best Buy and Circuit City's websites. Also, if you have a Fry's in your city, they have really good refurbished laptops and some new laptops for cheap. Microcenter and Tigerdirect or great too. IMO, as a last resort, check eBay.com

 

[slimlite]

Thanks for all your help he said that he would not use vista but downgrade to xp.

 

[Apollo]

Thanks for all your help he said that he would not use vista but downgrade to xp.

There is nothing wrong with Vista, anymore at least. If you get a laptop with less than 1GB of RAM, than you should go down to XP, but if you get 1GB or more, than there is no need to spend extra money of XP.

 

[hunky]

I just bought myself an Acer 4250 and I just love it. It has 2gb memory, but I decided to leave it with xp.