Consumers Digest

What is the best brand laptop or netbook to buy that is affordable?

I saw a 15inch compaq on the best buy website for only $329 and I am on a budget. My other computer completly died so I have to get another one.

Public Comments

1. It depends on your use, for $329 do not expect to play and high 3d games, if you can afford it buy a system around $600-$700 with dedicated/discreet video memory and ATI or Nvidia graphics. If you do not care about the high 3d Games and are using it mostly for Word, Internet, and E-mail then it is a good fit.
2. HP= ENTERTAINMENT + STYLE DELL=BASICS + SPEED Anything else cheaper than these are not very reliable and will not perform as well with what you would be spending £200-300 $300-400 you want to be spending around £400-500 or $500-600 for a decent spec laptop that is slightley over adverage :D
3. I'm in the same space as you, and I can only afford second-hand computers. My Dell Latitude was bought second-hand for AUD $250 and came with Windows XP SP3, and it works fine. But from personal experience, Compaq and Dell laptops are the best budget-priced computers. But good luck finding a brand new one on a budget; you'll have more luck looking online for refurbished or second-hand ones, or going to second-hand stores.
4. I'm not sure I'd trust HP or Compaq again, my friend got a new Compaq a few years ago, sophomore year of High school right after I bought a used ThinkPad on eBay. I used my ThinkPad like crazy and he used his Compaq like crazy, but by senior year his Compaq screen was completely detached from the base of the laptop while my nearly-10-year-old ThinkPad still had rock-solid hinges. I got an HP for graduation, he got a Dell, my HP has had the motherboard fail completely a month or two out of the 1 year warranty and it cost $500+ to get the board replaced, and 6 months after that was fixed (which was just a month ago) the screen started flickering because the LCD cable went bad. Seeing as HP and Compaq are the same company now, I don't trust either brand (I used to like HP a lot too, but their current offerings overheat and have cheap hinges that break under normal use). If I was going to buy another laptop, I'd save up and buy a ThinkPad (from Lenovo now). The only reason is that I have a 10 year old ThinkPad that still gets a lot of use and it still feels like new, any other laptop I've seen the hinges would be so worn out the screen would just fall over and that's if the motherboard even worked.
5. SAMSUNG.................
6. I think ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-X3 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop is the best choice. 2.53GHz Intel Core i5-430M Processor 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM, 2 SODIMM Slots; 8GB Max 500GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM); Super Multi Optical Disk Drive; Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn 15.6" Full HD 1920x1080 LED LCD Display; NVidia GTS 360M Graphics Engine with 1GB DDR5 dedicated VRAM Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) Operating System; Bluetooth; 2.0MP Webcam; Backlit Chiclet Keyboard http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0037QGK30?ie=UTF8&tag=digitsy-marina-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0037QGK30