Question

I'm a mac user, and i'm looking to buy a cheap PC laptop to leave at my girlfriend's so I can do some work there. I'll be doing mostly web dev (no big compiles), with some light photoshop and web surfing (maaybe the occasional netflix viewing), so I think I can get away with something pretty low-end. Best Buy currently has a couple of machines for under $350. (toshiba, acer) (i'm posting this from my phone or i'd copy the specs over.)

I played around with them in the store yesterday and they seemed fine, but the salesman was trying to get me up to the $450-500 level. Their specs seem decent for the price, esp. Compared to my 2-3 yr old macbook, or the corp dell I have at work.

what do we think? Am I going to hate this machine? $350 is almost a "why the heck not?" price...

Answer 1

The new EEE PC 1101 is very nice. It has a 1366x768 resolution, much more pixels than the 1024x600 bunch, and almost a full size keyboard. It's nice built, 1.1 kg weight, and runs up to 8 hours, so really portable. The processor seems a little slower, but you can set the frequency anywhere from 1.33-1.8 Ghz in the Bios. Simpel Photoshop work runs great on it, but pick an old version for best results (CS1 runs great).

Answer 2

The MSI Wind U123 is very nice also the cpu is 1.66 ghz, 1gb of ram, 160gb hdd 10.2" screen size, 1024 x 600 resolution weighs about 3.2lbs for only $379. It will work good for photoshop . For more info and reviews of laptop go to MSI Wind U123 review