New Laptop

I don't think a chromebook is suitable for this person as (what it seems to be) their only computer. They seem ok in that they boot up quick and have long battery life, but it runs googleos which is made for doing everything in the "cloud" - in other words online.

Others have mentioned some computers that would be well suited for the OP. Probably any computer available today, even at such a low price point specified, will be powerful enough for the needs of most internet marketers.

I've seen some laptops at Walmart for under $300 that will do everything you need it to do.

I just checked out LukePeerFly's request. MAN! I HOPE it DIES! At first, I thought "NEAT, it is like a HIGH END 'NETBOOK' with a small SSD, cheap, etc...". BUT, NOTE How I quoted netbook! When I first heard about netbooks, they did NOT mean/describe a 'netbook'! They were NOT talking about what we call netbooks. They were talking about a system such as THIS! Widespread acceptance of a system such as this is the first step in recovery of corporate control, and the obliteration of the consumer computer market as we know it. THAT is the end goal of what people have been marketing as "the cloud". For YEARS some have been claiming that Bill Gates was going to lose his spot to this. I thought "It would NEVER sell"! But they DO keep trying. They failed the first time, they tried a SECOND time, and went to what is NOW called the netbook, and this is like their third attempt. Something almost like a hybrid between the first two.

This system is FINE for general internet use. In fact, it may be BETTER than a regular computer because all is optimized for it, and it is kind of foreign(read less chance of viruses, etc....). Writing ebooks or essays may be more difficult. Playing most games would be out of the question.

I wanted to recheck some things, and found sites like: Chromebooks Are Doomed to Fail | PCWorld

I agree 100% with all tony has said there!

Anyway, you should post what kinds of games you want to play, and people can give you better advice. A netbook seems like a better deal overall! It will cost about the same. I think they have about the same memory now. and pretty much the same features. They may EVEN have the same processor, though it is similar. So WHAT is different?

PROS(What the "netbook" has that the chromebook DOESN'T)

1. An average of one extra USB port
2. Up to about TWICE the battery life.
3. up to about TWENTY times the disk space, although it isn't SSD.
4. MORE STANDARD
5. MORE UPDATEABLE
6. Can freely buy/write new software

CONS

7. may weigh a LITTLE more
8. You don't get the paltry 100MB free EVDO. 100MB really Is paltry. NICE for free, but paltry. That's an average of 1000 to 3000 pages, or about 1/6th of a 1CD movie. BTW if you want, some phone companies give you netbooks for a SONG and for a rather low cost MORE EVDO! It is the same sort of deal they give with phones. EVDO is essentially high speed internet over the cell system.

Steve

I just bought a laptop last month and went through the same thing. I don't have the patience to spend hours on the fine point - I wanted a certain keyboard layout (which elimiantes Dell for me these days), big memory and big amount of space.

Got a Sony Vaio for $470 which was a deal for everything it has. Friends you have several laptops all prefer the Sony and those are the best recommendation for me.

Amazon has this one for $469 - Walmart has it a bit cheaper I think (they were out of stock for a while).

kay

I like how you stuff your affiliate id links in there :rolleyes:

To the OP, what kind of games are you talking about? I'm guess non-intensive going by what you briefed about your current slow system. Lot of newer games are more graphics and processor intensive so you'd have to step up money wise, but sounds like thats not the case for you. Besides my Macbook Pro I've always had excellent experiences with HP laptops and desktops.

If you want you can also browse around Craigslist, plenty of people selling laptops still under warranty. You could get a laptop barely used that will be a step up performance wise for the same $ your looking to spend new. Just an idea.

Netbooks are good for browsing and doing regular writing type work etc, not good at all for games or anything slightly intensive, processors aren't made for that and can get bogged down easily when trying to multitask in general. GF has an Acer EeePc . The other thing is their usually in the range of 10-11" and that is small to be working on all the time. My 13" Pro is my limit for small size for personal/biz use, no way in hell would I work on my GF's 10" netbook lol.

Best machine I've ever had is my Lenovo. Didn't know that Costco has them now.

Mac was the worst.

They are interesting, but only work online, as mojojuju mentioned. That rules them out for a trip to the cottage, or typing on the train, etc. I need something with long battery life for those times when I'm not near the net or an electrical outlet.