$600 Notebook Roundup - Crowning the Affordability King
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 29, 2005 10:38 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Final Words
The first and most important point that we want you to take away from this roundup is that for $600, you can actually get a pretty decent notebook. The build quality of all of the notebooks here was far from poor, and any of these notebooks have the performance and battery life to work just fine as entry level machines.
The next thing to keep in mind is that it is very easy to have a $600 notebook turn into a $1000 notebook with options and upgrades that manufacturers will push on you before you check out. If we could have anything on these notebooks, it'd be: more memory and wireless support. Not a single notebook in this roundup offered us more than 256MB of RAM, and for Windows XP these days, you need 512MB to keep from swapping to that slow 2.5" hard drive. The Compaq offerings all gave us built-in wireless, but generally for less than $50, you can add wireless support to both the Gateway and Dell solutions - and for a notebook, it's definitely worth it.
With those points aside, which notebook gets our recommendation? While the Dell offered the best all-out performance, the Gateway NX200S actually offered the best overall package. Delivering significantly longer battery life and competitive performance all in a more compact and portable package than the Compaq and Dell solutions, it's hard to find fault with what Gateway has delivered. Our only complaint? Ours didn't come with wireless by default, but it looks like the unit now does come with integrated wireless while still selling for less than $600 after mail-in rebate.
So it is with great honor and appreciation that we give Gateway our Editor's Choice Gold Award for the Best $600 Notebook.
Our second pick would probably go to the Compaq Presario V2000, but given that it is bigger and has a shorter battery life, there's really no reason to consider it over the Gateway.
As we mentioned earlier, we look forward to reviewing Dell's latest additions to their Inspiron line to see how they stack up to the Gateway and competitors.
The first and most important point that we want you to take away from this roundup is that for $600, you can actually get a pretty decent notebook. The build quality of all of the notebooks here was far from poor, and any of these notebooks have the performance and battery life to work just fine as entry level machines.
The next thing to keep in mind is that it is very easy to have a $600 notebook turn into a $1000 notebook with options and upgrades that manufacturers will push on you before you check out. If we could have anything on these notebooks, it'd be: more memory and wireless support. Not a single notebook in this roundup offered us more than 256MB of RAM, and for Windows XP these days, you need 512MB to keep from swapping to that slow 2.5" hard drive. The Compaq offerings all gave us built-in wireless, but generally for less than $50, you can add wireless support to both the Gateway and Dell solutions - and for a notebook, it's definitely worth it.
With those points aside, which notebook gets our recommendation? While the Dell offered the best all-out performance, the Gateway NX200S actually offered the best overall package. Delivering significantly longer battery life and competitive performance all in a more compact and portable package than the Compaq and Dell solutions, it's hard to find fault with what Gateway has delivered. Our only complaint? Ours didn't come with wireless by default, but it looks like the unit now does come with integrated wireless while still selling for less than $600 after mail-in rebate. So it is with great honor and appreciation that we give Gateway our Editor's Choice Gold Award for the Best $600 Notebook.
Our second pick would probably go to the Compaq Presario V2000, but given that it is bigger and has a shorter battery life, there's really no reason to consider it over the Gateway.
As we mentioned earlier, we look forward to reviewing Dell's latest additions to their Inspiron line to see how they stack up to the Gateway and competitors.
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trexpesto - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link
Didn't notice much about screen quality.cactux - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Hello,Such articles are great, but you say nothing about the Linux compatibility of these PCs.
In only 5 minutes, you could test them, using for example a Knoppix. This Linux distribution boots are works from one CD.
This would allow you to say what works and what fails (sound, screen, nouse, etc.)
Regards
Yann
CB1 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Want Linux? Get an Acer. A version of the Acer TravelMate TM2312LCi has been sold briefly with a Linux boot disk and no OS. There is an Asian linux distro linked at Acer's website.HP has had an Ubuntu option available in Europe.
I've just booted a Compaq X1000 from the latest Ubuntu live disk, and it produces a perfectly working desktop, at the correct screen resolution. I wasn't in a location to check the modem or wireless, but I doubt there would be problems. Win 2K wouldn't give me the proper screen res or colours without the Compaq driver disk.
Short of gaming, you'll have as many issues with Win as Linux. I don't think it requires special consideration in the test.
nullpointerus - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
I'd love to see a test like this, too.In the meantime you take a look at building your own laptop from Linux-compatible parts:
http://www.anandtech.com/news/default.aspx?newdate...">http://www.anandtech.com/news/default.aspx?newdate...
artifex - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
...because a couple of weeks ago, we bought my sister a v2000z, with a 3000+ chip, for $400 or so after rebates. I think the office supply company that sold it to us figured out they screwed up, because it hasn't been that low, since :) Anyway, at these prices, look at the Sunday ads before you buy, because if one is substantially cheaper than the Gateway, like ours was, go for it instead.Myrandex - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
I have seen plenty of laptops for sale under $600 with 512MB ram. Well at least on a sale and not a regular price. I wouldn't buy a machine w/ 256MB of ram at all anymore :-/bupkus - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
What's with these 90 day warranties?unclebud - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
heartily enjoyed!and also printing out to share with my coworkers -- the most asked question for me "is how good is this laptop?"
can just give this to them (to read) instead...
MacLean - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
You can't review low price great bang for the buck laptops without including a model from Acer. The Acer AS3003 is AMD Sempron based, has WI-FI and all the of the specifications reviewed for the other models.I am very interested to find out how the integrated SIS Mirage 2 graphics go head to head vs. Intel and ATI.
Hardly a beauty contest if you don't invite all the contestants.
CB1 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
I too was surprised by the absence of a model from Acer. They are ubiquitous in the market here in Vancouver, and have a good reputation for quality. Their bottom end models, both Cel M and Sempron, use SiS chipsets. I could care less about gaming capabilities of the onboard video, but would really like to know about the performance and battery life of the Cel M Acers with an SiS chipset.Please include one when you test the new Dell model.
Otherwise, this was a very well done and thorough test, up to the usual Anandtech standards. The idea of testing the loss leader versions was brilliant.
Bottom end model locally is the Acer TravelMate TM2312LCi-H.