Laptops Arena

Under $300 laptops can now be found on a lot of refurbished laptop websites. For instance, check out www.usanotebooks.com and look at the Dell Latitude D410 for as low as $295. It is powered by a 1.73 GHz Intel Pentium M processor which comes combined with 1 GB of RAM. It may not bee the most optimal combination for running multiple applications but it will do if you consider the low price.

The hard disk storage capacity is 40 GB. The graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 which can support up to 128 MB of video memory. It features a 12.1 inch display which uses the TFT technology. Unfortunately, there is no integrated optical drive only an external CD writer and a DVD reader which add some lbs to the total weight of the laptop. It has both a touchpad and a pointing stick. It has 3 USB ports, one VGA port, one Ethernet port, one port replicator used for connecting a docking station, one modem port, one infrared port and the regular headphones and microphone jacks. You can either request this laptop with the Windows XP Pro operating system or you can pay an extra fee of $20 and get the operating system plus some preinstalled software like an antivirus program and the Microsoft Office suite.

As you can see, these under $300 laptops can easily be found everywhere. For the same price of $295 you can buy the IBM ThinkPad T42 with the similar 1.70 GHz Intel Pentium M processor and 1 GB of RAM. It also has 40 GB of free disk space. The difference between the 2 models is made by the ATI Radeon 7500 with 32 MB of video memory. The 14.1 inch display also uses the TFT technology and offers a native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. The selection of ports and connections is bit different than that of the laptop mentioned above. Is has 1 USB port, one parallel port, one external monitor port, 2 PS/2 ports and one headphone and one microphone jack. It comes with only one choice for the operating system which is the Windows XP Pro. It also has a 6 months warranty (in fact, both laptops have the same warranty period) and it weights 4.9 lbs which is not exactly the ideal weight when you want a portable unit.

If you are on the market for a very portable unit, check out the Acer Aspire One netbook which can be purchased for as low as $295. It is a 2.8 lbs notebook with the dimensions of 10.2” x 7.2” x 1” and this makes it small and light and highly portable. It has a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor and 1 GB of RAM. It comes with a hard disk which has a storage capacity of 160 GB. The graphics card is also the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. The 10.1 display can support the maximum resolution 1024 x 600 pixels. It has 3 USB ports, one VGA port and one headphone plus microphone jack (even if the unit already comes with an integrated microphone).