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Best Back-to-School Laptops for 2011

Jun 16, 2011 06:48 PM EDT by Michael A. Prospero, LAPTOP Reviews Editor  

While tablets are all the rage, students looking for a physical keyboard, gobs of storage, and enough processing muscle for serious multitasking should still make a laptop their primary computing device. But which is the right notebook for your budget? The good news is that you can find plenty of versatile machines for the same price as a slate—or less. As you go up the price ladder, you’ll find faster dual- and quad-core CPUs, discrete graphics for playing the most demanding games, and Blu-ray drives for watching the latest HD movies. Some of these systems are so powerful that they can easily double as your dorm’s entertainment center.

Here’s our top 14 laptops for the back-to-school season in every size and price range, from under $400 to $1,500.

Acer Aspire AO722 ($379)

Weighing just 3.2 pounds, Acer’s new 11.6-inch laptop provides plenty of punch and portability for under $400. The Aspire A0722 features a 1-GHz AMD C50 Fusion processor with ATI Radeon HD6250 graphics, 2GB of memory, and a 500GB hard drive. This notebook’s six-cell, 4400 mAH battery should last up to seven hours. Color options include Espresso Black or Aquamarine, and the system has a molded lid that looks like a pond after you’ve dropped a pebble into it, making it one of the more stylish netbooks we’ve seen at this price.

Starting at $379
us.acer.com
Read Our Acer Aspire AO722 Review

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Comments (9 Responses) 

9 Responses to “Best Back-to-School Laptops for 2011”

  1. Jordanbob Says:
    June 17th, 2011 at 12:25 am

    Review the hp dm4x!

  2. TrackSmart Says:
    June 17th, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Just a heads-up, but I think you’ve got the wrong image for the Acer Aspire AO722 ($379). No 11.6″ netbook is going to have a full number pad. That must be a 15.6″ or larger system pictured there.

  3. NocoLoco Says:
    June 29th, 2011 at 5:07 am

    A pretty solid list, though I’m having a HP dv6zqe built with power-sipping AMD A6 Fusion processor

  4. Jon Fingas Says:
    July 11th, 2011 at 11:10 am

    Having been through college (or university if you want to be finnicky): get the 11-inch MacBook Air.

    Lugging around textbooks is bad enough; you want something that won’t double the weight of your bag. The small storage is about the only limitation for a student. Just wait until Apple refreshes the line with Core i5/i7 models — possibly this week.

  5. Bryan Says:
    July 11th, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    I think the Toshiba Portege is a better option at $799. All of these specs plus it’s only 3.2lbs.

  6. Dave Says:
    July 11th, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    I think Samsung has been releasing some nice laptops lately… they aren’t even mentioned. Sure they look and feel like macbooks but they are half the cost, and lets face it… isn’t everyone trying to look and feel like a macbook?

  7. anon Says:
    July 16th, 2011 at 11:51 am

    I’m sorry but that whole tear-dropped shape BS apple has going on is an UGLY design. I sure hope the iphone 5 isn’t tear-dropped shape. Seriously…. I like my laptop looking like a laptop, not something that can be easily crushed. I own a REGULAR macbook pro. Forget the macbook airs…. they are most likely to have problems.

  8. julie Says:
    August 2nd, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    Does this laptop have a dual core? Can you use Skype?

  9. zana Says:
    August 2nd, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    that’s my laptop ! but I bought it only $300

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