recommended laptop for under $800

[openeyes]

If you just needed a basic laptop for web surfing, watching DVDs, and nothing more intensive than watching online netflix videos via internet explorer (firefox not supported for this application), didn't mind spending up to $800 including the warranty (if any), and portability wasn't a major issue, what laptop would you go for? Also, what kind of warranty would you look for on such a cheap computer? My 6 year old IBM T30 (still doing surprisingly well aside from a burned out RAM slot that limits it to 512 megs) came with a $300 4 year warranty that was well worth it, but that was just 10% of the laptop's price.

[JimC]

I would of course recommend Dell for budget computers.

Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop Product Details

You could always get a $600 Toshiba at Wal-Mart (even though Wal-Mart is evil).

With Toshibas, I would recommend a 2 year warranty because their LCD backlights tend to go out early. With Dell, you could do 1 year, they are a little better in quality.

Just about any modern laptop is fine for watching DVDs and what not, as long as it has a DVD drive.

[WageMage]

Yeah, I'm with JimC on this one - any old thing you buy new these days will do you. Dell is an option, Acer is another... but really *shrug* same difference.

That's one of the good things about present-day computing... your standard-off-the-rack machine's got power in spades for anything but serious gaming. Incresingly, the wizard matters a lot more than the wand

[SunnKali]

I have a Dell laptop for work, and an Acer Aspire 5920G for my home laptop. The Acer is far superior to the Dell for listening to music and watching DVD's.

[aussieNickuss]

A friend of mine bought a Lenovo laptop from Big W (Australia's version of Wal-Mart) a couple of months ago for $550.

So far it has proved an exceptionally good buy!!