What is your $225 or less laptop pick?

Look at a Net Book instead,smaller screen size but more bang for your buck at $225.

If new is a requirement and you can pretty much live inside a browser you might want to look at a Chromebook.

In the 700 range this would be my current pick considering the deal they have going on. That is a good deal for 600.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1963030&Sku=M977-140101

Plenty of off-lease machines in that range.

My $500 Toshiba serves me well enough that I’d recommend Toshiba. Don’t by used unless you plan to replace the battery ASAP. Refurbs generally have new batteries though. But for what you want, a Nook tablet or Chromebook would do just fine.

I got mine, a Gateway nothing-or-other from Walmart for about $300 a year ago. It’s doing well enough.

If $225 is the number, I’d get a decent Android tablet and a USB keyboard attachment.

In that range you’re definitely better off getting a tablet with a keyboard like others have mentioned.

I too would suggest Chromebook, starting at $199. or HP Mini 1000 Notebook.

For $700 range my pick would be this.

I would advise against the HP Mini. They’re slower than many tablets, woefully underpowered even at that price, and have other issues.

I tried a ASUS laptop, I have their gaming laptop so I can’t speak for the “cheaper” laptops, but I think they are a great brand.

Now, I know your price was $225 but these laptops are pretty nice for the price. I put my laptop on a Amazon credit card and had interest free for first year. Not sure if that is still going on I bought mine going on 2 years ago now. Figure it will build my credit can and I have over thousand on credit can use plus still paying on something else I bought.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_36_1?keywords=computer+asus&sort=reviewrank_authority&qid=1386136616&rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A541966%2Cn%3A565108%2Ck%3Acomputer+asus%2Cp_89%3AAsus%2Cp_36%3A-30000%2Cp_72%3A1248879011&rnid=2421885011&low-price=200&high-price=300&x=20&y=16

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-X401U-Laptop-HD7340-Windows8/product-reviews/B00DHBDY8Y/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-G71GX-RX05-17-1-Inch-Notebook-PC/product-reviews/B002RTL32Q/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

PS I’ve heard mostly bad things about Windows 8.

I bought an Acer c720 Chromebook for my daughter recently, and now the whole family is using it. There are 3 versions of this:

- $199 (2GB RAM)
– $249 (4GB RAM) – this is what I have
– $299 (touch screen, on sale next week some time)

My little HP notebook rocks.

FYI, I base my opinion on the HP Mini 1000 on a side-by-side comparison of that model HP and my old, first-gen Acer. Even then, the Mini 1000 was slower (in fact, half the speed!), and it wasn’t just me who said this; many benchmarking places backed up my observations, telling me it wasn’t a fluke.
Acer updated their machines as technology advanced, but HP stuck with the N270 chip. Or did they? A cynical part of me wonders if the reason the Mini 1000 is still around and at a low price is simply because HP overestimated demand 5 years ago and got stuck with millions of unsold units way back when, when the N270 was still relevant. Personally, I wouldn’t use a computer that was considered slow 5 years ago if I had any choice at all.