Michelle Thatcher, Senior Associate Editor March 27, 2007
If you've got $4,000 to spend on a laptop, you can get a Dell XPS M1710 with the latest high-end graphics card, a high-definition disc drive, and flashing case lights. But what if (like most laptop buyers) you've only got $1,000 to spend?
The good news is you've got choices. Manufacturers have heard the demands for a decent sub-$1,000 laptop, and they've responded in force. Gateway offers the $699 Gateway NX270S with a Celeron processor that provides decent performance for basic word processing and Web surfing. The Lenovo 3000 line dances around the $1,000 mark and includes the Core 2 Duo-based C200 and N100 models. HP brings its shiny, entertainment-oriented laptops to the masses with the base configurations of the Pavilion dv2000t and the dv6000t. And Toshiba's all business with the $999 Tecra A8.
None of these laptops is going to be a number-crunching, game-winning powerhouse. But if you're looking to buy a laptop for a student or just want a second machine for surfing the Web from the couch, any one of these low-cost portables will meet your needs.
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