The $1,000 question: Should you buy a cheap laptop?

Computer prices continue to fall. There are even predictions of $398 laptops appearing on Wal-Mart shelves this holiday season--though they'll likely be dreck. Nevertheless, today's lower-priced laptops deliver better designs, battery longevity, and feature sets than their predecessors, and even a $1,000 laptop will often deliver more than enough computer for the average student or home user. Of course, at that price, you won't get the premium components of costlier models, but you may be pleasantly surprised at just how much a grand--or less--will buy.

We asked vendors to send us the best machines they could build for less than $1,000. (Since then, the HP Compaq Presario V2300's price jumped to $1,024, but you can still get it for less than a grand if you can find the right rebate.) We didn't expect any speed demons or 3-pound ultraportables, but we were impressed with what we got: for the most part, good-looking midsize laptops with respectable midrange components that offer up to 6 hours of battery power. The Acer, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, and Toshiba laptops we tested are all capable enough for ordinary activities such as Web surfing, e-mail, productivity, and a smattering of multimedia tasks.

All five notebooks have integrated graphics, built-in 802.11b/g wireless, and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive. Three feature roomy 60GB hard drives, and all but one include 512MB of memory. Both the Dell and Gateway laptops are powered by midrange Intel Pentium M processors--still our top choice for laptops, though we're growing increasingly fond of AMD's less expensive alternatives.

Though the Gateway NX500X was the fastest performer, we were most impressed with the Dell Insprion 6000's overall combination of components, performance, and design. Its 15.4-inch wide-screen LCD provides lots of work space, and its big keyboard is comfortable for marathon typing sessions. The processor/memory duo delivers adequate multitasking muscle, its 60GB hard drive allows for plentiful storage, and its six-cell battery held out for nearly 4 hours in our tests.

Despite its 1.4GHz Celeron M 360, Acer's $799 TravelMate 2350 (we tested the 2355LCi model) performed surprisingly well, edging out Dell with the second-highest BAPCo MobileMark 2002 score. It couldn't maintain the pace for long, however; the battery drained in just a hair more than 2 hours.

HP's Compaq Presario V2300 was the only AMD-based system in the roundup. Its 1.8GHz Turion 64 ML-34 processor came in last in our tests, close behind the 1.5GHz Celeron M 370-based Toshiba Tecra A5-S116. But despite its low scores, the solidly designed HP laptop ably handled routine tasks and featured a 12-cell battery that ran for nearly 6 hours between charges. We think it's among the best budget options.

This story originally appeared in Computer Shopper magazine.

Gateway NX500X Dell Inspiron 6000 Acer TravelMate 2350

HP Compaq Presario V2300 Toshiba Tecra A5-S116

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