Budget Laptop for School

[elecxonica]

Hello all, I currently have a laptop, specifically a HP 6730b notebook I got for free ex-business which I use for school. Unfortunately, however,  I've been having issues with battery life, weight and thickness that has lead to me looking into a new machine. 

 

Currently, the main machine I've been looking at is the Lenovo G50, which from what I can see has some issues but is pretty good for what I need. That said, I've decided I'll ask on here just in case.

 

I have several requirements

 

1. needs to be less then $500 (closer to $400 is better however)

2. Needs dual band wifi N/AC (so no HP Stream unfortunately)

3. lasting 4 or more hours is pretty important to me, as I have days where I have classes until 6 at night, and while I may not be using it all day, I do use it fairly often

4. Needs to be avaliable in Australia.

5. A decent amount of power would be nice, but isn't crucial for my uses.

6. A chrome book isn't preferable.

 

I can wait a few weeks to pick it up, but I'd rather it be available reasonably soon.

 

Thanks.

[Revel]

The Lenovo looks pretty decent, also in your price range you wont find any laptops with 5 star reviews, that's just a fact.

[E1C]

I am in the same boat as you, I have the Hp probook 6550b which I got  cheep from a school, was great but does weight a bit and had good battery life but has decreased over time, I would recommend looking at your education discounts for computers which in NZ is Hp, Toshiba and Apple are company's which do this I am not sure what it is in Australia but if your I.T people are still in school currently you may be able to ask them about the education discounts 

[redaz]

i am in the same situation as you and i would have recommended the hp stream 13/11 but since you dont want it ill give some other choices

(i dont know if some of these are available in australia)

 

asus eeebook x205ta:

Amazon.com: ASUS EeeBook X205TA-DS01 11.6-inch Laptop includes Office 365 (Gold): Computers & Accessories

 

acer aspire es1-311:

Acer Aspire ES1-311 13.3-Inch Laptop (Intel Celeron 2.16 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD, Windows 8.1): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

toshiba sattelite pro r50-b-10g

Amazon.com: Toshiba Satellite Pro R50-B-10G: Computers & Accessories

 

 

 

and in case you change your mind

HPstream 13

Amazon.com: HP Stream 13 Laptop Includes Office 365 Personal for One Year (Horizon Blue): Electronics

[PaulKolby]

Hello all, I currently have a laptop, specifically a HP 6730b notebook I got for free ex-business which I use for school. Unfortunately, however,  I've been having issues with battery life, weight and thickness that has lead to me looking into a new machine. 

 

Currently, the main machine I've been looking at is the Lenovo G50, which from what I can see has some issues but is pretty good for what I need. That said, I've decided I'll ask on here just in case.

 

I have several requirements

 

1. needs to be less then $500 (closer to $400 is better however)

2. Needs dual band wifi N/AC (so no HP Stream unfortunately)

3. lasting 4 or more hours is pretty important to me, as I have days where I have classes until 6 at night, and while I may not be using it all day, I do use it fairly often

4. Needs to be avaliable in Australia.

5. A decent amount of power would be nice, but isn't crucial for my uses.

6. A chrome book isn't preferable.

 

I can wait a few weeks to pick it up, but I'd rather it be available reasonably soon.

 

Thanks.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Z50-15-6-Inch-Laptop-80EC0087US/dp/B00NNQFNV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1432517360&sr=8-3&keywords=lenovo+amd+a10

 

it doesnt have an ac wireless cad but you can upgrade it for like $20 bucks and even then it is under your budget

[elecxonica]

i am in the same situation as you and i would have recommended the hp stream 13/11 but since you dont want it ill give some other choices

(i dont know if some of these are available in australia)

 

asus eeebook x205ta:

Amazon.com: ASUS EeeBook X205TA-DS01 11.6-inch Laptop includes Office 365 (Gold): Computers & Accessories

 

acer aspire es1-311:

Acer Aspire ES1-311 13.3-Inch Laptop (Intel Celeron 2.16 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD, Windows 8.1): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

toshiba sattelite pro r50-b-10g

Amazon.com: Toshiba Satellite Pro R50-B-10G: Computers & Accessories

 

 

 

and in case you change your mind

HPstream 13

Amazon.com: HP Stream 13 Laptop Includes Office 365 Personal for One Year (Horizon Blue): Electronics

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Z50-15-6-Inch-Laptop-80EC0087US/dp/B00NNQFNV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1432517360&sr=8-3&keywords=lenovo+amd+a10

 

it doesnt have an ac wireless cad but you can upgrade it for like $20 bucks and even then it is under your budget

I feel honored that a post I made back in december got replies in the last 2 or so days. I actually did end up getting a Stream 11, size wise, it's surprisingly not as bad as I expected

[redaz]

I feel honored that a post I made back in december got replies in the last 2 or so days. I actually did end up getting a Stream 11, size wise, it's surprisingly not as bad as I expected

how is the performance of it ,and i would like to ask if the storage is representing any problems, because the only reason why i'm hesitating to get a stream is the 32GB of storage 

finally if you did download any games on it, how well does it play them

because i might actually buy it in the next week or so

[elecxonica]

how is the performance of it ,and i would like to ask if the storage is representing any problems, because the only reason why i'm hesitating to get a stream is the 32GB of storage 

finally if you did download any games on it, how well does it play them

because i might actually buy it in the next week or so

Performance I've found is decent for the price. Chrome does seem to get it to slow down a bit when there's more then a handful of tabs open. Not sure about games however, the only one I've installed is Game Dev Tycoon. As for the storage, it's tiny, there's no real getting around that. Putting an SD card in it does help as file storage, but it still could be a bit better.

[redaz]

Performance I've found is decent for the price. Chrome does seem to get it to slow down a bit when there's more then a handful of tabs open. Not sure about games however, the only one I've installed is Game Dev Tycoon. As for the storage, it's tiny, there's no real getting around that. Putting an SD card in it does help as file storage, but it still could be a bit better.

thanks, i appreciate the mini review, and yes the storage is the only thing that is keeping me from buying it, but i fell like it is bound to happen

and if you do get to download any games please feel free to notify me on the performance