Cheap laptop for my sister

BetsyD

My sister doesn't want to spend more than $300 for a basic laptop what is the best deal she can get? I know that right now there are some good sales for back to school. @CB suggested a chromebook but she wants to be able to have Office on her machine and thinks the chromebook sounds too limiting.

She uses Word, watches internet video, plays flash games, Facebook, sometimes watches a DVD but could live without that.

MrTRiot

I second the chromebook suggestion. She can use open office for her writing/formatting needs

shwaip

open office is terrible if you need to share work with other people.

does she have preferences about screen size / weight?

It seems that some of the oems haven't released their haswell line yet, I'd probably try to make sure that the new machine has a haswell processor in it.

NiGHTS

Methinks you'd use google docs if you're going to buy a chromebook, though I agree with Shwaip - the sharing isn't necessarily any better by comparison.

For $300, I think the only screensize that will really be available to her is 15.6.

ardichoke

Yeah, unless you hack it, you could only use Google Docs Drive on a Chromebook. Web apps only.

d3k0y

Your sister can top my lap, amirite?

But seriously, keep an eye on Woot, they tend to have lots of laptops on sale, you might be able to find one for around 300 bucks.

BetsyD

She is planning to go back to grad school in the next year and wants the full capabilities of office. she's not particularly tech/internet savvy so it's probably just safer for her to have what she's used to.

I stumbled across this Lenovo that looked good but wondered if you guys knew of any better ones.