Legit Reviews

Is there any way to build a lightweight portable 12" laptop for around $500-600?

I know the answer is probably no, but it would be perfect for my wife. She needs a thin and light notebook for surfing the net, email, very low-tech games such as Yahoo! games, mah jongg, etc. She will need to be able to reliably use a webcam and voice chat when she travels.

I am thinking that it is probably way out of the budget to build such a computer. Right now we are looking at the Dell B120 w/ Celeron M 1MB L2 processor (I can't think of the speed ATM), 512MB memory, internal wireless, 40 GB HD, internal modem, etc.

The big drawback is that it is a 14" widescreen on a platform that can accomodate a 15.4" screen. This is too big and heavy, but the price is great compared to the smaller 12" laptops.

Our budget of $500-600 is firm.

Impossible?

sadly yes, unless you go the ebay/forusm route. The real bang for the buck is in the 1k area, you can build a lot more computer for 1k than you can buy and on the top end too. but under 1k it gets really hard, and OEM's like dell have the advantage of scale.

when building a cheap notebook or one with integrated graphics it's hard to beat the offers Dell has when you can use coupons. I'd honestly try to go that route.

Thanks for the responses, that's what I figured. I did see some refurbished 12" Averatecs on their website in the $750 range. Just a bit too expensive. They look really nice though, and much better prices than most of the other 12" notebooks out there.

Well, we actually broke our own budget and went $99 over on a no name laptop that is pretty much decked out.

I'll add a couple sticks of cheap RAM and a faster HD down the road and she will be good to go.

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2

Processor: 1.4 GHz Intel Centrino Pentium M (1 MB L2 Cache)

Memory: 256MB HighSpeed DDR-RAM (pc2700) / Upgradeable RAM socket.

Hard Drive: 40GB Toshiba Hard Drive, 4200 RPM. Ultra DMA 33/66100/133 supported / 2.5" 9.5mm

Optical Device: Liteon combo (DVD-ROM/ + CD-RW (8x DVD-ROM, 24x CD-R, 24x CD-RW).

Display: 12.1 TFT W-XGA Color display, 1280x800 pixel (15:10)

Graphic: Intel? Extreme Graphic 855GME Chip shared momory.

Audio: 4 Speakers (1.5W) with Intergraded AC97 sound system

Network: 10/100 Mbit Fast Ethernet Lan port

IEEE 1394: FireWire IEEE 1394 for connecting digital device

Wireless LAN: Intel PRO/wireless 2200BG (54Mbps)

Battery: 6-Cells, Li-lon battery / Long life rechargeable (est- 4.5 hours)

I/O Port: 1xIEEE 1394, 2x USB2.0, 1x PCMCIA Type II, 1x VGA, 1x TV-out, 1x LAN (RJ45), 1x modem (RJ11), 1x microphone in, 1x Line in, 1x Audio jack. 1x Memory slot MMC/SD/MS/xD

Measurements: 11.4 x 1.2 x 9 (W/D/H inch)

Weight: 4.1lbs

Misc: Intergraded touchpad with 2 mouse buttons, 8 hotkeys. Modem: Internal 56K Modem (V90

Software: CyberLink Powercinema entertainment (DVD playback, MP3 audio, digial picture) without boot in Windows.

About Tatung: Founded in 1918, Tatung is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacturing of a wide variety of digital consumer products, including consumer PCs, LCD TVs, videophones and home appliances. With its overseas branches spreading across 12 countries, Tatung products are in homes everywhere, from the United States to the UK, Japan, Canada and many others.

That popular brand name screen you've seen? It might just be a Tatung wearing someone else's name tag. Buy the original: Tatung.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... ifications


I do have one question though... I checked on the Kingston site and they say this laptop is only upgradable to 1GB of memory, but it is based on the 855GME chipset which is upgradable to 2gb. Wouldn't that mean this is upgradable to 2GB? It has two memory slots, one of which is empty and the other has a 256MB stick in it.