Need a good laptop $500-$700

[SethLive!]

Hey guys, I'm heading off to school in a month and I need a decent laptop. My budget is about $700. If you come across any good deals please post them

HD size is not overly important to me, but I would like at least two gigs of ram to deal with vista.

currently im looking at this one but I'm not sure if i could get something better for the same price.

[Bamboo]

I actually just bought my wife a new laptop, and I know it isn't in your range, but I got a couple models up from the Toshiba you linked to for $799 at bestbuy, on sale from $999. It has 4 gigs of ram and actually came with Vista64. I haven't tried gaming on it since it is hers, but in doing everything else it feels just as fast as my gaming rig.
I actually did a ton of reading of reviews on lots of sites, and lots of people liked the Gateway 6850FX for gaming. Even anandtech.com likes it, saying it is the best midrange gaming laptop out. But it is $899. With it though you could still play PR while at college.
Gateway - Laptop with Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - M-6850FX

Really though before you can get good suggestions you need to decide if you want a 15" or 17" monitor, and if you want a dedicated GPU, so you can do some gaming.

[com_kieffer]

gaming on a laptop ==> bad idea from expereice you always have issues with overheating.

For day to day use look up the EeePC from Asus its in your price range, small and will cover most of your non gaming needs

[[R-MOD]Eddiereyes909]

Originally Posted by com_kieffer

gaming on a laptop ==> bad idea from expereice you always have issues with overheating.

For day to day use look up the EeePC from Asus its in your price range, small and will cover most of your non gaming needs

The OP said he was looking for one to go to school with.

IMO, buy a toshiba, and dont fall into the mac craze

[Ninja2dan]

I'll post a few suggestions from the place I purchase all of my computer products. I don't normally deal with laptops, I primarily build desktops using custom-selected parts. But this company has some pretty good deals and their customer service is awesome.

Toshiba Satellite A205-S5852 $699.99
This model has the same processor as the one you are looking at, but includes a 200GB HDD, webcam, and a dual-layer burner. If HD size is not that important though, I would go with your suggested model over this one.

Sony VAIO VGN-NR330E/S $699.99
This model is about the same stats as your suggested model, but I personally trust Sony more than others for higher-quality and overall better performance. Still, with the price being about $50 higher than your suggested, I'd go with yours if brand names are not important.

Toshiba Satellite A205-S5872 $669.99
Faster processor, larger HDD, and DL burner in addition to the stats of your suggested, for about $20 more. Worth the extra cost in my opinion.

*Acer Aspire 7520-5185 $649.99
Faster processor, 3GB DDR2, DL burner, larger screen, webcam, and all for the same price as your suggested.

Acer Aspire 5520-5156 $649.99
Faster processor, DL burner, 250GB HDD, and webcam for same price as your suggested.

Toshiba Satellite A205-S5871 $649.99
Faster processor and a webcam in addition to the stats of your suggested, at same price.

They have a lot more models available, more than I could or should link here. They also have a lot of refurbished or open-box models that are a lot cheaper than their original retail, so if you don't mind that fact you can get a much better PC for the same price range. The best option I found though that might fit your needs is the one listed above and in bold. It matches the price of the model you are looking at but it adds a slightly faster (1.8GHz) processor, has 3GB DDR2 RAM, an integrated webcam, a larger (17") WXGA+ screen, and I have known Acer to be better at customer service than Toshiba.

[[R-DEV]Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by com_kieffer

gaming on a laptop ==> bad idea from expereice you always have issues with overheating.

For day to day use look up the EeePC from Asus its in your price range, small and will cover most of your non gaming needs

Really? I'm using a laptop to do my everyday tasks (includes hard gaming with an overclocked GPU). I’ve been a laptop user for a long while now. I’ve owned 2 Toshiba’s, a Dell, an Acer Aspire, and my most recent notebook being an ASUS. It all depends on the laptop and whether it can handle what you throw at it. I would suggest you avoid integrated graphics chips such as the Intel X3100, ATi Express cards, etc. They are basically useless for anything other than simple computer stuff while multimedia or gaming isn't very good or possible with these chips. My suggestion is a laptop with at least a Geforce 8400M GS/GT or equivalent ATi HD X2400 and above. Visit Notebook and Laptop Reviews website and at the discussion section of the site you’ll find a chart to fill out and people will find you the best laptop for you based on the provided information.

[Fullforce]

If you want a small, mini notebook, go for the MSI Wind or the Asus EeePC. Both are incredibly good value for money in such a small tiny package. I'm buying a Wind for Uni, because it'll be invaluable carting something so small around with me so I can work whenever.

If you're going for something more expensive, HP are brilliant. Acer are excellent value for money, too.

[Ninja2dan]

One more quick note about the Acer Aspire 7520-5185, with the larger 17" display comes a larger keyboard area. This means that a 10-key is included on the keyboard, which is quite hard to find on a laptop and is very useful for school or business work. A computer without a 10-key is like a basketball player with one arm. Sure, you can manage...but it won't be nice.

The Dolby Theater sound is also pretty good, making this laptop good for watching movies or listening to music without headphones. Many laptops have underpowered speakers compared to powered speakers on a desktop, but these sound pretty decent. If movies aren't your thing, remember that in college there are a lot of instructional videos and learning software too.

I almost bought this model myself, but ended up dropping about twice the amount on a tablet PC.