If you're willing to look at Apple, I'm a really big fan of the 11" MacBook Air. The reconditioned ones can be had for around $750 US.
Lydia: Its removal from Burma is a felony and when triggered it has the power to melt human eyeballs.
Giles: In that case I've severely underpriced it.
'Potential'
Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."
Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!
NoiseDesign - Aug 20, 2014 8:04:47 am PDT #23986 of 25496
Our wings are not tired
Sue - Aug 20, 2014 8:24:30 am PDT #23987 of 25496
hip deep in pie
The refurbished ones on the Apple site are $1K in Canada. (Note that the exchange rate doesn't really bear the cost difference.) I was hoping to get away with cheaper.
NoiseDesign - Aug 20, 2014 8:45:28 am PDT #23988 of 25496
Our wings are not tired
Totally understood. The stock of reconditioned ones is also always changing. I just purchased 9 Mac Minis for $509 and now those aren't on the site.
Dana - Aug 20, 2014 1:04:38 pm PDT #23989 of 25496
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
I'm on my second Toshiba and am pleased with it.
dcp - Aug 20, 2014 2:06:31 pm PDT #23990 of 25496
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
I am very happy with my Toshibas. The big laptop I bought in 2007 as a desktop replacement and the small laptop I bought in 2010 for travel are both going strong.
Whatever you get, I recommend Windows 8 only if the machine has a touch screen.
Sue - Aug 20, 2014 2:24:20 pm PDT #23991 of 25496
hip deep in pie
I fear it will be hard to avoid Windows 8 on a new machine.
EpicTangent - Aug 20, 2014 3:18:40 pm PDT #23992 of 25496
Why isn't everyone pelting me with JOY, dammit? - Zenkitty
I'm in the same boat as Sue and I'm curious about memory. My needs are pretty much exactly as Sue described (surfing, email, word processing, limited gaming [nothing fancier than Candy Crush or Plants v Zombies], some TV/movie watching). How much memory is, "it'll run fine", how much is "that'll be awesome for your needs", and how much is "you REALLY don't need that much, save the $200-300 difference"?
dcp - Aug 20, 2014 3:26:29 pm PDT #23993 of 25496
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
I'd go with 4GB is fine, 8GB is more than you'll need for what you listed.
EpicTangent - Aug 20, 2014 3:42:58 pm PDT #23994 of 25496
Why isn't everyone pelting me with JOY, dammit? - Zenkitty
What about hard drives? I'm assuming that either the 500GB or 750GB that I'm mostly seeing are probably sufficient to my needs, and 1TB would be overkill (no matter how awesome it sounds conceptually)?
Dana - Aug 20, 2014 4:11:35 pm PDT #23995 of 25496
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
If you need extra space later, you can always get an external hard drive. Unless you're storing a lot of digital video, you don't need tons of space.