Let me start by saying, yes, I'm Asian. And I don't know squat about electronic gizmos. I'm also bad at math, cannot pick a ripe fruit if my life depended on it, and I don't dry clean my own suits.

Now with that out of the way, I need an inexpensive PC-compatible laptop. My hope was I could use boot-camp, VMWare, or some similar partitioning program to make my Mac 'all-in-one'. Turns out, all those programs suck and I still can't do certain crucial work-related tasks without an actual PC (still not sure why).

Requirements. Not much. Don't need a highly customized laptop. One with basic features out of the box will likely suffice.
Screen size? Not sure. Probably not one of those super small ones, but otherwise, not a big deal.
Web surfing for my wife.
Decent video performance for movies and for my daughter who will need some entertainment on longer car rides once she's a bit older.
For me, light weight (I have an super outdated 8 year old Dell that weighs about 20 pounds), runs basic PC operations/programs, and I can use it for datalogging purposes for my car

Where do you suggest I buy from? Any online retailers that routinely have good deals?

Thanks y'all.

 

check their computer section

B&H Photo Video Digital Cameras, Photography, Camcorders

 

T-Series Thinkpad.

 

First place I thought of. But are they the best deals around?

My wife is using an old Thinkpad she got from her previous job right now. Errr....not so good. I realize the tech is different, but once you have a experience, kinda spoils it forever.

 

always seemed fair to me

pick a model and google it, see who comes out on top

 

Costco - Computers - Shop All Laptops

 

Haha. I was just there yesterday which is what spurred on my search. Walked by the computer section and took a brief gander. Had no idea if they were any good or not. Any of those look decent to anyone?

 

It really depends on what you want to use it for and the features.

Brand means nothing. It all depends on what is inside.

Here are what I would consider to be the key features that you won't want to skimp on.

1. At least a second generation Intel Core i5 processor running at 2.3 GHz.
2. At least 8 GB of RAM (preferably 12GB if you are running Windows 7 64-bit OS).
3. At least 1 GB of dedicated video memory - preferably a brand name video card like Nvidia or ATI. Stay away from integrated video if possible.
4. A good optical drive that is Blu-Ray compatible.
5. Wireless N 1030 compatible Wi-Fi.
6. Most will try to sell you a 6-Cell battery but if you watch movies on it or travel, opt for a 12-cell - you won't regret it.

Screen size is the other big variable. Don't worry as much about size as you do resolution. I would not want a screen with a native resolution under 1920 x 1080 which is full HD. This is necessary to take advantage of the Blu-Ray capability.

The diagonal screen size really boils down to how portable you want the unit to be. Most people like bigger if they don't have to lug it around.

Hope that helps.

 

Target was having a sale today on a ACER laptop for 250$, not sure how cheap your looking to go but just throwing it out there

 

^ The Acer Aspire is classified as a "Netbook" and is likely too barebones for bonehead.