Laptop for mom

My mom decided to take her Master's in nursing online, so I figured I'd buy her a new laptop to work on. She definitelly needs a replacement for her 6 year old eMachines laptop with a busted battery, busted headphone jack, and a display that's comming apart.

  • My budget is no more than $500
  • It has to have a CD/DVD drive
  • Screen size around 15"
  • A good screen, since she watches movies on her laptop all the time
  • Front camera and mic
  • Enough processing/graphics power for HD video playback and multitasking (she doesn't play games)
  • Storage space is not improtant, but 250 gigs would be enough
  • RAM - at least 4 gigs
  • I'd prefer something newer (2013/2012), even if it runs Windows 8

 

Some laptops I found: 

HP ProBook: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256985

Asus K55N (seems like a great deal): http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-K55N-DB81-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Black/dp/B00COR29XI/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

I'm leaning more towards that Asus laptop on Amazon since it seems like a better laptop for a cheaper price.

Stay away from HP, I had a couple of HP laptops and they just gave me headaches!
Also the AMD laptop processor are not good at all.
I know it is 79 USD more, but for your mom it would be good enough for years to come!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230988

How about this one 

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i14z-1000sLV-14-Inch-Ultrabook/dp/B009FX7CFE/ref=sr_1_36?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377542142&sr=1-36&keywords=laptop#productDetails

For 420 $ you get a i3, 6 gb ram, 500gb hdd and a ssd all in a very portable 4 pound ultrabook laptop with a sleek design and good build quality. The downside is that it only has a TN panel, but i wouldnt know of asub 500$ ips screen laptop with a dvd drive.

 

Looks like a good one!

Why are AMD's processors bad? I've only heard good things about the A series. Doesn't it also have a more powerful GPU built in than 3rd gen i3's, i5's? The laptop you recommended might be a bit big for her, and also it's over my budget. I definitely appreciate the recommendation, it just seem a bit overkill for what she actually needs.

I've had some bad experiences with Dell before, but spec-wise it does look good. I don't think the screen is actually a downside, can't be any worse than what she currently has. Couple that with the fact that the whole top portion of the laptop is comming apart...

BTW, this is her current laptop: http://www.amazon.com/eMachines-D620-5777-Emachines-Notebook-Computer/dp/B001OARFIU

Anybody else have any other recommendations?

I am not a fanboy, but when it is about laptops Intel>>AMD.
Also this is a 750 USD laptop with a price cut, so IMO is a good investment.

 

Well, since the laptop BearVirus recommended just dropped to $500, I bought it. Thanks for the recommendation. Hopefully, she'll get used to the larger size.

Glad I could help! :D

 

 lenonvo z500 i3 6gb ram 1tb harddrive 16.5inch screen? (costs -should do the trick my dad has one its quite snappy for light browsing word processing and looks like a mackbook but isnt as terrible

agreed I have a HP laptop and the AMD is more headache than its worth.