Laptop prices

[Chris Blount]

For the first time in a long time I wondered over into the laptop section of Best Buy yesterday. My mouth dropped. Is it me or have laptop prices dropped substantially over the past year or so? It seems that for less than $1000, you can pick up a very nice laptop that cost well over $1500 just a few years ago.

[ntexasdude]

It's not just you. If you need one just to surf and type letters on and occasionaly need some lightweight graphics capabilty you can get one as cheap as $400. A really nice machine can be had for $1000 and a super duper model still chips away at $2000. Heck, a full version of XP Home is what, $180?

[Chris Blount]

I thought so. When I got mine about 18 months ago, it cost me about $1200 and it was a lower end model. I saw one yesterday that was better than mine for about $700. I saw a few that were $499.

[harsh]

Is it me or have laptop prices dropped substantially over the past year or so? It seems that for less than $1000, you can pick up a very nice laptop that cost well over $1500 just a few years ago.Actually, for under $500, you can get into something with Wireless, Bluetooth, DVD dual layer burner, modem and a 15" screen.

The prices had to come down because they haven't really come out with much new in the last couple years. Windows XP is a real blight in this respect. Vista will really put the hurt on progress in the notebook computer market.

A friend bought the $480 Acer at BB and it claims to be "Vista ready". How's that for porcine aviation?

[Nick]

My Compaq laptop was open-boxed at $500 nearly two years ago -- I
waited for it to come off display and go 'open box' at CC -- another
incredible bargain at the time.

[Mark Holtz]

I picked up my laptop cheap last year. It has what I needed which was a DVD-ROM drive (CD-ROM was a bonus), wireless and wired LAN connection, modem, and such. It also came with 512MB of RAM, but I expanded it to 1 GB within about three months. While it's not fancy, it is good enough to do a term paper and watch DVD movies.

[DonLandis]

I wanted to upgrade my travel laptop with one smaller/lighter and some new features but one I couldn't stand in the new models was the screen. Why do they ONLY offer the screens that glare like a mirror. These are impossible to use with back light outside and are very annoying to watch with reflections from around you galore. Is there a solution to this disappointment? I'm still stuck with my now 3 year old machines.

[ApK]

Why do they ONLY offer the screens that glare like a mirror.

Because it's easy to add an aftermarket glare filter to a clear screen, but it's impossible to make filtered screen clear, and most people want clear.
http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/KTKLX141.html
http://www.ergoindemand.com/laptop-protection-computer-filters.htm
http://www.goergo.com/prod_laptop-unv.html

No endorsement, just examples.