Low end rig, advice needed.

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jfenwick

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Ok, so the wife wants a computer she can lock me out of, "no touchy" allowed! Although I'm used to hearing those words...not usually for the computer. So, here are her list of priorities:

- size: small but with DVD drive (no netbooks)
- portable
-decent battery life

Uses:
- 60% office, excell, powerpoint
- 30% internet
- 5% photoshop (nothing crazy)
- 5% watching movies or stuff

She plans on taking this to work everyday so light and small is good, they don't provide teachers with laptops and her department has to share a single desktop. She likes to scrap book so it should be able to hold and organize her photos, some music, etc...

So that's it in a nut shell, here is what I've found for around the $500 CAN mark:

Gateway: Buy the Gateway NV5378U Refurbished Notebook PC at TigerDirect.ca (30 day warranty)

ASUS: Buy the Asus K50IJ-RX05 Refurbished Notebook PC at TigerDirect.ca (30 day warranty)

Acer (-$30 special): Canada Computers - Acer Aspire AS4810T-8194 (Refurbished) Notebook w/ Olympic Logo - Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300, 14" HD, 4GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, GMA 4500M, DVD-writer, Wireless N, Gb LAN, Bluetooth, HDMI, Webcam, Card Reader, Windows 7 Home Premium (LX.PM2 (1yr warranty)

Ok, so need some feedback here, i'm not usually one for refurbished laptops but at this price range I wonder if the usual crap for under $500 is worth it. Anyways, I like the brand name ASUS over either of the other two but my wife really likes small and light so the Acer is ahead in that category despite its CPU. What do you guys think, will she really notice the dip in cpu power with the above tasks? My better judgement warns me agains the acer, value wise, but it does seem to meet her needs best at this point.
 
Say hi to my friends in Toronto!

Anyway. That usage is manageable. I never (except in one case) buy refurbished. You do not know what was wrong with it, and if it breaks after the warranty period, you're wasting money.

I agree, ASUS is superior. I'm sorry, you are going to have to pay a little more for what you want. What you can do, is buy a netbook, and buy an external DVD burner (USB)
 
I dont' know, to be honest I think netbooks are a waste if you're actually going to use it as a computer. I don't think my wife understands how anoying a little 10-11' screen and mini keyboard will be after using it daily for a year. She does find the 15'+ to be too big and in most cases too heavy so I'm wondering if I should go with the acer. The guy at the local shop will sell me the demo laptop there with a brand new never used factory battery for $500 flat. It looking at it it sill looks new, not even a visible scratch anywhere.

Just wondering if the happy wife factor is worth more than the little extra performance gain that she'll probably never even notice or appreciate.
 
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