Laptop for college, $1,000 budget

[Technochicken]

My sister is headed off to college next year, and we are looking for a laptop to get her for around 1000$. It needs to have a 13-14 inch screen, and she prefers Windows to OS X. She does not do any heavy computing or gaming, and will probably be using it most for documents, internet, music, and movies. However, she is not exactly patient with computers, so I think she would appreciate having a solid state drive, if that can fit within the budget. I have been looking through the Dell and HP lineups, but everything with a SSD seems restricted to the high end.

Any recommendations? Thanks for any input.

-TC

 

[LinkedKube]

I suggest buying a quality notebook for 700 usd and buying and installing an ssd yourself, it takes 5 minutes and can save you a hundred bucks.

 

[greatman05]

I suggest buying a quality notebook for 700 usd and buying and installing an ssd yourself, it takes 5 minutes and can save you a hundred bucks.

I agree with this; I'd also make sure you look for at least a Core i3 processor. To me, this processor series (Core i3, i5, and i7) feels pretty future-proof and also provides very good performance for the price. SSDs are a good option, but my only concern is the reliability of the drive; I haven't heard too many good things about them on that front.

 

[Zen]

I would just like to step in here real quick and inject some options. All option are well within the desired budget!

The Toshiba M640-BT3N25X lap top computer
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cdetland.to?poid=509543

The Dell Inspiron lap top computer
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+...lack/1697111.p?id=1218281188971&skuId=1697111

And the Sony Vaio lap top computer
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...lack/1891036.p?id=1218299588866&skuId=1891036

Just some options, doesn't hurt to have options!

 

[Route44]

I suggest buying a quality notebook for 700 usd and buying and installing an ssd yourself, it takes 5 minutes and can save you a hundred bucks.

Agree also. Many people are doing this but for what she is needing it for a harddrive at 7200 rpm and 4 gigs of RAM will do her quite well.

Also, seriously look into either Lenovo's T-Series or Asus U or N series notebooks. Excellent quality and Lenovo is releasing new models with the second generation Intel cpus.

Lenovo's Thinkpad Edge is another consideration with the Intel processor and 14" screen. I bought two Edge recently in both the i3 and AMD Turion II cpus and I am impressed with their build qualities.