If you're a student, we feel sorry for you. Tuitions have ballooned past the $100,000 mark for four years at many institutions, record gas prices are sucking the lint out of pockets and hunting down a job in a recession can be a real pain. The good news? Shopping for a laptop has never been better, with the sub-$1000 market brimming with models that would have been top-of-the-line or unimaginable just a few years ago. Here are a few value-packed highlights.
This laptop started the Netbook craze in the US, and serving up enough power for web surfing, movie watching and office applications at great price points. G-series models retail for around $350, while 900-series units sweeten the offer with touches like a 9-inch screen (up from 7 inches), at least three times the storage twice the ram and a mouse that offers multi-touch support for around $550. Buy it now! More about Asus' Eee PC
The roaring success of the Eee PC has brought fierce competition to the Netbook scene, and one of the rising challengers to the popular Asus is HP's Mini-Note 2133. The pricier, slightly larger Mini-Note trades the perfect mousepad of the 900-series Eee PC for a perfect, comfortable keyboard, along with arguably sexier styling and better fit and finish. Buy it now! More about HP Mini-Note
The 13-inch Macbook, begins life with a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo processor, a 120GB hard drive, a built-in web cam, 1GB of memory and OSX 10.5 Leopard wrapped in a tough and stylish polycarbonate shell. Yes, its starting retail price of $1099 stretches the $1000 barrier with average hardware, but Apple is offering a free iPod Touch or Nano to those purchasing the unit for college, as well as a $100 education discount...theoretically knocking almost $400 off the price. Buy it now!
There shouldn't be a laptop capable of out-of-the-box gaming in the price range we're working with...and there isn't. For $350 more, however, Gateway's P-6860FX, available at retailers like Best Buy, makes such a strong case we can't resist. If you want the impossible-graphics capability good enough for 3D modeling or playing Crysis, excellent fit and finish and a budget price...this is your only choice. Buy it now! More about Gateway's P-6860FX
Dell's new Studio line successfully merges the style and performance of the XPS with the value proposition of the Inspirons, packing in features like a built-in remote control, a slot-loading drive and a host of colors and stylistic touches pegged right around the price point Inspirons were selling for a few years back. If you're looking for a good all-around machine, we suggest checking out Dell's stock "better" configuration of the Studio 15. Buy it now! More about Dell
5.6-inch screen and a profile that can fit in a jacket pocket make Fujitsu's Lifebook U810 more of a UMPC (ultramobile pc) than a Netbook. What really makes the U810 special, however, is that it's also a tablet. The U810 boasts a decent keyboard, Wifi, Bluetooth and a design that's simply cool for a price that hovers between $850-$1000...better than most UMPCs. Buy it now! More about Lifebooks
Before they had a powerful gaming line and stylish machines, Dell ruled the value segment of the computer market. The price-above-all mentality still shows in the company's Vostro laptops, configurable to deliver the essentials of what you need...for cheap. $399 nets you a Vostro 1000 that boasts a 15.4" screen, 80GB hard drive, an 802.11 b/g wireless card, 512MB of RAM and a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combination drive. Buy it now! More about Dell Vostro